Mainstream Media reports …. crickets.
Via Baldilocks comes a report from Ed Morrissey that Obama let slip to NBC’s Today Show host Meredith Viera on Tuesday that he met with the Congressional Budget Office.
VIERA: But — not to beat a dead horse here, but again, the Congressional Budget Office is looking at those bills that are out there, and they’re saying they do not contain costs. Any one of those bills, would you sign them, based on what you see?OBAMA: Right now, they’re not where they need to be. But I promise you, I just met with the Congressional Budget Office today, so I know exactly what they’re saying. And what they’re saying is, is that the cost savings that are in those bills right now, some of them may actually work, but they’re not enough to offset the additional costs of bringing in 46 million new people to provide.
Outside of Obama’s chutzpah in misrepresenting what the CBO has been reporting about the debacle that ObamaCare would cause America, he seems to be confident that no one in the MSM will question his attempt to intimidate or unduly influence the CBO — created in 1974 specifically to oversee the President’s budget submission..
The only other report I can find on this “meeting” comes in paragraph 15, softballed by AP
Obama took the unusual step of inviting the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to the White House Monday to discuss health care costs. Doug Elmendorf made big news — and dealt a major setback to Obama’s push for overhaul — last week when he said that the legislation pending in Congress would not reduce health care costs.
It also confirms Ed’s assumption that Obama’s oblique CBO reference was about Elmendorf.
Unusual? Yeah, it was just having coffee.
***************************
UPDATE Fox News Video: “Makes you go hmmmmm.”
Doug Elmendorf blogs the meeting. Heh.
Comment by SDN on 7/22 @ 9:39 am #
Wish some Repub Congresscritter would grow enough of a spine to impeach this thug.
Comment by cranky-d on 7/22 @ 9:41 am #
Racist!
Comment by BJTexs on 7/22 @ 9:44 am #
Obama: “Doug Elmendorf? You got some splainin’ to do!!”
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 9:47 am #
Is there anything more satisfying than the final scene where the cowardly bully, hiding behind his minions, receives his comeuppance in the form of a Rassmussen wedgie?
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/22 @ 9:47 am #
Scratch a leftist, find a fascist.
Comment by A fine scotch on 7/22 @ 9:56 am #
Didja hear the House suddenly has the radical notion that the closing of car dealerships over the last couple of months may have been politically motivated, too? http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/21/house.dealerships.closures/index.html
Nice to see someone’s noticing this stuff…
Comment by bigbooner on 7/22 @ 9:57 am #
This is not the Elmendorf that I knew.
Comment by Joe on 7/22 @ 10:00 am #
I saw it on Fox this morning (Ed notes it too). It is a separations of power issue for sure (remember the shit Cheney got for talking to the CIA and that is an executive agency last time I checked), but I suspect Obama was trying to “glamor” as opposed to threatinging that Congressional Budget Office director/auditor. Then again, given how Michelle reacted to this one, anything is possible.
Comment by B Moe on 7/22 @ 10:17 am #
Slide, Obama, slide!
H/T Maggie’s Farm
Comment by mr. peabody on 7/22 @ 10:34 am #
Typical wingnut projection.
Let’s take a voyage back in time…
“Just how serious the administration had been about passing that monstrosity became apparent after the bill was safely signed into law, when it became known that the administration had covered up internal estimates of the true cost of the legislation, which was limited to $400 billion by the congressional budget resolution. Any amount higher than that would have been subject to a point of order that at least would have delayed the legislation and more than likely derailed it altogether.
The Congressional Budget Office, under pressure from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, published a 10-year cost estimate of $400 billion, even though CMS chief actuary Richard Foster knew that the cost would be at least $534 billion. As the Wall Street Journal observed, “It is undeniable that the Medicare bill wouldn’t have passed in its current form had $540 billion been the accepted cost fiction.” The CMS administrator threatened Foster’s job, and the true cost of the program was not revealed until after the bill had passed.
But as is so often the case in Washington, the truth did eventually come out, disclosed by reporter Amy Goldstein in the Washington Post on January 31, 2004—almost six weeks after the drug benefit had been signed into law by President Bush. She reported that the $534 billion estimate, which eventually appeared in the president’s budget, was widely known among those who negotiated the final provisions of the legislation. The CBO was eventually forced to admit that its original estimate was off and that the 10-year forecast should have been $557.7 billion.”
Comment by B Moe on 7/22 @ 10:38 am #
Take a voyage back through this blog and you find all of us were upset by that piece of shit, also.
Comment by Darleen on 7/22 @ 10:42 am #
geez, mr. peabody, two things
find where anyone here on PW supported non-fiscal-conservative GW’s expansion of entitlements
where in the article does it show the head of the CBO being personally summoned to the White House?
You can try the pathetic distraction again, but the point remains…even the Obama-ankle-licking Ass.Press characterized the summoning of Elmendorf as “unusual.”
Comment by BobM. on 7/22 @ 10:44 am #
#10 – Wow, I thought the lefties liked that prescription drug benefit bill – didn’t a lot of democrats in congress support it and then Bush signed it? Besides, were only talkin’ about 534 – 400 = 134 billion difference. That’s nothin’ these days compared to Porkulus, Cap N’ Tax, and Obamacare.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 10:50 am #
Mr peanut and its ilk opposed that prescription drug plan because Bush advanced it, and they wanted to spend hundreds of billions more than Bush. To argue after the fact like that is aggressively dishonest.
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 7/22 @ 10:53 am #
mr. peabody don’t know much, does he? Bob, I’m betting this guy is a hard core libertarian. Which, except on certain foreign policy issues, I’m pretty down with. But the fact is, if he thinks that PW is some hard core republican playhouse, than he’s either ignorant or stupid. I’ll let him decide. But he’s probably getting ready for his Ron Paul support group right about now anyway.
Comment by mr. peabody on 7/22 @ 10:55 am #
It has nothing to do with the legislation, everything to do with your notion of “pressure.”
Here is how the pros apply pressure…
Administration Knowledge
McClellan on Wednesday said that the matter seems to be “a dispute between the former administrator of the CMS and the CMS actuary.” When asked if the administration had been aware of Foster’s cost estimates, McClellan “repeatedly declined to answer directly,” CongressDaily reports.
Comment by BobM. on 7/22 @ 10:57 am #
# 14 JD – you are correct. Remember back in those days it was called “compassionate conservatism”.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 10:57 am #
Also quite comical about mr peanut is how it wails about not knowing the true cost of a bill when passed, when now the standards are not knowing the true cost and actual contents of a bill prior to being passed. Good Allah, the cognitive dissonance that should have produced should have turned mr peanut’s head into peanut butter.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 11:03 am #
Who’s to say that Obama won’t have one of his lawyers call Elmendorf and give him the choice to retire or be fired? “You’ve go 30 minutes to make your decision.” Not unprecedented by any stretch.
Obamazatool
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 11:03 am #
“Nice budget office you got here Mr. Elmendorf…”
“It’d be a shame if somethin’ happened to it…”
A budget neutral health care plan; The Chicago way…
Or, you know, Rahm could mail out some dead fish!
O!
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 11:06 am #
“Here is how the pros apply pressure” Gerald Walpin could not be reached for comment
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 11:06 am #
Apparently mr peanut has its marching orders and talking points. It would be interesting to see where this meme originated. It would also be interesting to see the various names this one has posted under, as we have seen it before.
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 11:08 am #
Damn beaten by Bob and Alp I should get a slow server handicap/headstart;)
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 11:10 am #
It’s good to know that Walpin is still in the consciousness Danger.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 11:16 am #
I rather enjoyed the irony of Barcky trampling all over the legislation that he sponsored in re IG’s. The mostest ethical and transparent government EVAH !!!
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 7/22 @ 11:18 am #
He hasn’t been scrubbed out yet, al. No matter what political leaning way mr.peabody leans, it is odd that he’s already forgotten about Walpin, though. Is his hate for Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuushhhhhh so intense that he gives obvious bully pulpitting from O!bama the look away?
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/22 @ 11:18 am #
but… but… BOOOOOOOSH!
did I get that right, mr. peabody?
man, that’s easy.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/22 @ 11:19 am #
and fun. Always love a chance to use the caps lock.
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 11:20 am #
Walpin’s not going away either. Catch him getting any decent healthcare on Obama’s new plan. “I’m sorry Mr. Walpin. We’re going to have to amputate your head.”
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 11:21 am #
Well, I think, though Obama is the most famous facial expression in history, he’s trying to make GWB the most famous real person.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 11:22 am #
Darleen – Which other names has this troll psoted under?
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 11:25 am #
JD, If I had a guess it would be something like:
Tiny Wiener
Jello Arms
Hugh Jass
Seaman Gulper
I.M. Douchenozzlelickerandsucker
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 11:27 am #
Walpin’s civil trial discovery should be of great interest to our Mr Peabody since he seems so concerned about undue influence
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 11:32 am #
And every night McCain says, “and I lost to this guy!” Then fires an empty .44 round into his mouth falling sound asleep to dream of fresh little candies and dancing Mexican children.
How many more lives do you need to ruin Obama?
Comment by cranky-d on 7/22 @ 11:46 am #
I wish McCain would retire from the senate and spend more time with his family.
Comment by Pablo on 7/22 @ 11:55 am #
The Bush administration on Wednesday endorsed plans for an HHS investigation into claims made by Richard Foster, CMS’ chief actuary, that he was told by former CMS Administrator Tom Scully not to reveal to lawmakers his estimates for the Medicare legislation….
The pressure! Bloody brilliant.
Comment by Joe on 7/22 @ 11:55 am #
A metaphor for Obama getting blocked on health care, Gates getting arrested by a Cambridge cop, or both?
This is hilarious.
The accused speeder’s voice reminds me of a very pissed off version of this guy.
Comment by happyfeet on 7/22 @ 11:58 am #
McCain is an impediment.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/22 @ 12:03 pm #
you can say that again, hf. I was so annoyed at the few seconds I heard him on CNN yesterday. something about “It’s never been used in Iraq and Afghanistan” yeah, doofus, we’re never gonna be fighting anywhere else.
Comment by Darleen on 7/22 @ 12:05 pm #
JD
peabody = c. bernaud = j. bynum of Twin Lakes, WI.
Busy little Obama cultist, ain’t he?
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 12:09 pm #
So not Jello Arms?
Comment by cranky-d on 7/22 @ 12:11 pm #
Building the F-22 was one of the few government projects that is actually constitutionally mandated. Almost all of this other stuff isn’t. McCain is a putz. It was hard to support him. I’m glad I don’t have to any more.
Comment by Salt Lick on 7/22 @ 12:13 pm #
peabody = c. bernaud = j. bynum of Twin Lakes, WI.
Who knew the internet would be such a boon to multiple personality disorder? Which one mixes the meds?
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 12:15 pm #
Darleen – I must be psychic ;-)
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 12:17 pm #
McCain still holds a grudge against the Air Force for the botched Boeing Tanker lease program
Comment by BJTexs on 7/22 @ 12:17 pm #
Pay no attention to the transcendent irony put forth by peabrain – c bernoid – j binuts that allows him to cackle at underestimating a program by 140 billion while the CBO is talking in the trillions of underestimated cost in the health care bill.
Remember, narrative bimbo, when we were assured that Medicare would grow from 3 billion in 1970 to 10 billion in 1980? The actual cost ended up being 103 Billion. BOOOSH was no fiscal conservative but he’s bloody Milton Friedman compared to this administration.
Come on, narrative bimbo, chant it with me: Trillions thrown against the wall! Trillions thrown against the wall! … What will stick? What will stick?
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 12:20 pm #
“So not Jello Arms?”
I prefer choice 5: I.M. Douchenozzlelickerandsucker
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 12:20 pm #
Liz Cheney’s got the biggest balls of ‘em all.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 12:22 pm #
Hell, BJ. They do not even have a final number on TARP yet. Did I see a guess of $27,000,000,000,000 last night?
Beignet/bynum/peanut is a dishonest barck-gobbling lying douchenozzle.
Comment by BJTexs on 7/22 @ 12:25 pm #
And JD pushes narrative bimbo’s irony meter from transcendent to intergalactic.
TO GO WHERE NO TROLL HAS GONE BEFORE!!!
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 12:28 pm #
If Bob Reed was around, I would like to ask him what, in the absence of the F-22, will be the primary US air superiority fighter?
Comment by alppuccino on 7/22 @ 12:29 pm #
in the absence of the F-22, will be the primary US air superiority fighter?
Obama’s air of superiority
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 12:35 pm #
“If Bob Reed was around, I would like to ask him what, in the absence of the F-22, will be the primary US air superiority fighter?”
Just wait about a year and a bunch of congress members with their reelection riding on the jobs that the F-22 brings to their community.
But to answer your question we will just have to do more with less. Which we are sadly getting used to.
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 7/22 @ 12:35 pm #
Well, fool me once, I guess. Sorry, I gave mr.nobody the benefit of the doubt.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/22 @ 12:37 pm #
Comment by mr. peabody on 7/22 @ 10:34 am #
LOOK!!! BUNNIES!!!!!11!!!11eleventy!!!@@
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 12:38 pm #
“Obama’s air of superiority”
Alp wins the thread :P
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 12:40 pm #
alp, that nearly cost me a beer. But really, do the congressvarmints think the F-35 is going to do the job? What is the plan?
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 12:42 pm #
Whatever the plan, it is Bush’s fault.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 7/22 @ 12:45 pm #
“But to answer your question we will just have to do more with less. Which we are sadly getting used to.”
Carter, Redux.
See.
I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 12:46 pm #
OI – You are a bigger man than I, a better person ;-)
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 12:50 pm #
Well, colour me confused, but if you look at 5th gen fighters, we only have 2 in the west: the F-22 and the F-35, and however good the Lightning is, it is a hell of a lot slower than any air superiority fighter out there. I guess in the Age of the Unicorn, we don’t have any real enemies anymore, and rainbows of Skittles from Dear Leader’s arse will protect us.
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 12:51 pm #
The F-35 is meant to replace the A-10 and eventually F-16CG along with the Harrier on the Marine corps side.
Its specialty is ground attack.
The current plans call for 187 of the F-22s to be built to eventually replace the 450 inventory of F15s
Comment by BJTexs on 7/22 @ 12:58 pm #
One of the evil obstructionist Rethuglicans has expanded his ideas for a common sense national health care reform
How to Make Health Care Reform Bipartisan – Bobby Jindal
Note the following element sadly lacking on the elephantiasis Pelosi mess:
I know, I know, narrative bimbo! Jindal is talking about reform from the consumer level rather than tossing the whole shebang over to the same MENSA heads who run Medicare and The Veteran’s Admin. I’m sure this makes him some kind of wingnut obstructionist or, better still for the narrative, a kooky exorcism fanatic or some such.
Comment by geoffb on 7/22 @ 1:04 pm #
There are some other gems in that Kaiser Network link.
So the bid by a far left Representative to find information to sink the Medicare Drug bill was because there was an attempt to have competitive bidding against the government health plan.
The flap wasn’t about saving costs. It was about saving the power of a government bureaucracy.
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 1:11 pm #
Thanks Danger – I know the F-35C will be the Navy’s replacement for the F-18. What strikes me is the numbers – If the F-22 programme is canceled, what replaces the F-15?
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 1:17 pm #
“If the F-22 programme is canceled, what replaces the F-15?”
The short answer is nothing but I don’t think they are talking about killing off the program completely just the extra funds to allow the assembly lines to remain open and add aircraft to the current 187 funded numbers.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 1:26 pm #
SW,
In lieu of the F-22, which admittedly has it’s share of bugs to be worked out, a lot of eggs are being placed in the F-35(JSF) basket…
I’ll say up front that I’m uneasy with this decision; for all the same reasons that replacing the F-14 with the F/A-18’s made me queasy. You see, unlike the JSF, the F-22 is optimized for an air superiority role; the same situation as with the F-14…
But, I have to trust that the guys at the top know a lot more than I do about both what is in the pipeline as well as the available upgrades to the F-15 Eagle; which is admittedlt a pretty awesome aircraft…
My biggest fear is that in the name of cost cutting (a false choice really because the more units produced, the better that R&D costs are amortized resulting in successively lower unit costs) we will put our pilots in an inferior position; and all engineers are aware of the adage that when any platform is “optimized” to fill many roles, it will never really excel at any one of them-but at best be “adequate”. I’d sure hate to be facing down the bad guys knowing that my aircraft was merely adequate…
Still, in the end I have to agree with Danger. Over the next year as the mod term election contests get into full swing, a whole lot of legislators will suddenly “get religion”, and realize that we need to field at least 350 F-22 to face down any Russian built opposition in serious combat…
Oh, and just as a note, I am way pissed at McCain for his vocal opposition; but, you know, what does an bomber pilot know about fighters anyway…
Best Wishes to All
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 1:27 pm #
Danger, I’m sorry, I understood the programme was being cancelled. Of course, there are super military geniuses on the left who say this is a very good thing.
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 1:31 pm #
Thanks Bob, those were my thoughts too. 187 eventual F-22s isn’t going to cut the mustard. Unless Dear Leader plans on outsourcing the job to India?
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 1:34 pm #
If every one of begnaud/bynum/peanut/RD/meya’s personalities started working on this right now, it could be solved overnight.
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 7/22 @ 1:40 pm #
I’m not so sure about that, but I thought he may be coming from the libertarian angle. Most of the ones I read hated Bush, but also pretty much hate O!bama, too. That guy is a lying panty waste. Oh well.
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 1:41 pm #
SW,
That article was a little misleading take a look at these:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000003167122
“Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin , D-Mich., assured senators that he would bring back the F-22 amendment he and John McCain , R-Ariz., are pushing. It would delete $1.7 billion from the bill to procure seven more F-22 fighter jets. President Obama opposes the additional funding, seeking to halt production of the planes at 187 jets. He has threatened to veto the legislation unless the funding is deleted.”
http://alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15339323.htm
“President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the annual defense bill if it includes the money to buy the extra F-22 jets. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has proposed stopping production at 187 jets.
As of March, there 134 F-22s in service and the Air Force said they cost about $143 million each.”
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 7/22 @ 1:43 pm #
To be completely honest, I don’t know much at all about the F22 (pros and cons of needing it), but this is coming from the same douchebag(s) that dropped missile defense because they thought it was too offensive to the soviets. WTF?
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 1:48 pm #
SW,
As much as I admire Russian aircraft, engineered for spectacular performance as well as be maintained by liquored-up 18 year olds with channel-locks and a ball-pein hammer, the thoughts of the US Air Force fielding Suhkoi fighter aircrat, and necessarily relying on some other nation for spare parts, just doesn’t set well with me.
Perhaps if it were at least manufactured here, under liscence of course…Naaaaaah!
I’ll just have to attend extra Novena’s, and pray that congress “sees the light!” on the F-22 fleet; regardless of “Dear Leaders” wish to essentially emasculate the military-at least from my point of view!
Until then, as I said, there will always be electronic and missle upgrades for the F-15…
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 1:52 pm #
Please don’t get me started about missle defense OI…
In addition to my head exploding I may accidentally comment about something I shouldn’t be discussing…
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 1:53 pm #
OI, the standard line is that we will not be fighting either Russia or China, so we don’t need a dogfighting air superiority fighter in large numbers anymore. And from Danger’s link, McCain thinks 7 more F-22s are going to fill the gap.
"It would delete $1.7 billion from the bill to procure seven more F-22 fighter jets."
I’m not so sanguine about friction between NATO/Russia, especially in the Ukraine. I would like to see our air superiority maintained, but I’m old fashioned that way.
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 2:00 pm #
Well Bob, you may blanch at the thought of the US outsourcing military equipment, but the UK are to cease making our own rifles and buy in M-16 variants. Imagine – the British Army using foreign made rifles. God help us.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 2:10 pm #
SW,
That is a travesty, no matter what I think of the M-16; what happened to the L85 and L22? And will it at least be manufactured in Britain?
From a military standpoint it makes me nervous to consider outsourcing weapons, or even the components of weapons systems. I guess that’s an old fashioned notion in the era of “globalization”, but, well, I’m a conservative guy just about every level…
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/22 @ 2:17 pm #
cowboys and indians was a fun game
cuz my weapon was my pointy finger
pckoo..pckoo..pckoo..
ur dead / i shot u
nunt nah
unh ha- ur dead..
i denounce my itchy trigger finger
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/22 @ 2:19 pm #
and popsicle sticks that we used to grind on the
sidewalk into shivs..
mommy/ when’s daddys parole hearing?
pckoo pckoo!
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 2:20 pm #
Bob, there were so many problems with the SA80 (L85A1) that Heckler & Koch, who were owned by Royal Ordinance at the time, had to sort them out. I am assuming the L22 carbine will also get scrapped. I don’t know what the agreement on possible licensing of the new rifle will be.
Comment by cranky-d on 7/22 @ 2:37 pm #
One airplane is pretty much the same as another to the senate yahoos. “We can have more F-35s for the same price as F-22s? Then we build F-35s instead!”
Seriously delusional. Then again, I think the replacement for the A-10 should be more A-10s. That sucker can fly with half a wing shot off. I doubt the F-35 could, and I happen to like the F-35.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 2:40 pm #
SW,
Well there’s always the good ol’ FN-FAL! That was a pretty good piece…
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 2:42 pm #
I want a fly-past of A-10s at my funeral. Just so you know.
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 2:47 pm #
cranky-d,
There’s nothing like the A-10 when it comes to close in tactical air support and flexible ground attack…
The jeeen-yuses at DOD have convinced themselves that aerial refueling, hover capability, and smart munitions somehow trump incredible loiter time, battlefield survivability, outstanding low speed maneuverability, and that sweet, sweet, 30 mike-mike gun…
Plus, they have helicopters!
Me? I’d just start a whole new production run of A-10’s…
Because there is a world of difference between precision target attacks and close-in tactical air support-just ask any infantryman or tank commander…
Comment by B Moe on 7/22 @ 2:47 pm #
wtf?
Comment by Silver Whistle on 7/22 @ 2:47 pm #
Bob, we already had the FN/FAL – we called it the L1A1. There is no way the UK would go back to the 7.62 for the standard service rifle. We’ll either get M4s/M16s or some godforsaken combined Euroweenie rifle.
Comment by pdbuttons on 7/22 @ 2:48 pm #
low and slow
Comment by Bob Reed on 7/22 @ 2:48 pm #
OK y’all, gotta go ut for a while…
Catch y’all on the flip side!
Comment by Danger on 7/22 @ 2:53 pm #
Duty calls so I gotta go
See ya tomorrow
Comment by geoffb on 7/22 @ 2:53 pm #
My hometown ANG used to fly A-10s. Now they are switching to C-21s. It won’t be the same at all. Loved those planes flying overhead every day.
Comment by Pete on 7/22 @ 3:22 pm #
The F-15C should be around at least another 10+ years. We’re currently testing an Active Electronicly Scanned Antenna (AESA)–similar to the F-22’s, to retrofit the remaining F-15s–gives it a significantly increased capability over the current radar. We also just went to the A-10C with a glass cockpit and GPS guided weapons capability–with the expectation of keeping them in the fleet for another 10+ years. As the F-35 comes into the inventory, the F-16 older versions (block 30 and earlier) will go out first, then probably the block 40 F-16s before we start killing off the A-10s.
I really don’t see the loss of 7 F-22s as making a big impact. It wouldn’t change the tide in a China strait scenario, which is probably the most challening one we face. And we’ll still have the remaining F-16s, F-15s, and the new F-35s–all with significant air-ro-air capability. Not to mention our Navy and Marine brethren and all their capability.
Comment by SBP on 7/22 @ 3:40 pm #
Typical wingnut projection.
Buh-bye, Bynum.
I’ll stop TrollHammering you if you ever post a justification for earning more than your fair share, i.e., $8,000/year.
But you won’t. You socialists are only about stealing from people who earn more than you. The people who have less can go fuck themselves.
Not just a thief, but a hypocrite.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 4:15 pm #
SBP – And a coward that hides behind sock-puppets.
Comment by cranky-d on 7/22 @ 4:33 pm #
I’m glad to see other A-10 fans here. If I were president, I’d let the army have them, the “no fixed-wing aircraft” rule for the army be damned. The air force doesn’t seem to like them very much. Helicopters are cute and all, but they are quite fragile compared to the A-10. Nothing against the apache, it just cannot take the same level of punishment and still fly.
Comment by SBP on 7/22 @ 5:12 pm #
And the Blowbama fail just keeps coming. Now Durbin says that there WON’T be a vote on “health care” before the August recess.
Yeah, that’s some prime leadership you’ve got there, Dems. Control of both Houses of Congress and the Presidency, and you can’t even manage to pass your Presentdent’s key issue.
I’m sure this will turn out to be the fault of the “Republicans” somehow, though.
Snicker.
Comment by cranky-d on 7/22 @ 5:28 pm #
He’ll blame the Republicans. It’s a done deal, and it will probably have some impact, though perhaps not as much as it did previously. Most people don’t pay enough attention to know how much of a minority the Republicans are right now.
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 5:31 pm #
Those evil Republicans. Damn them.
Ironic, since it is the Dems that are doing the heavy lifting on this one.
Comment by B Moe on 7/22 @ 5:49 pm #
I just saw a Facebook poll with over 76% against government run health care.
That fucker is dead.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/22 @ 5:53 pm #
shut up, B Moe. The American People want health care reform (which of course means government run). Obama keeps telling me so.
Comment by geoffb on 7/22 @ 6:11 pm #
Professional pressurization
Opens some obvious questions that won’t be asked.
Comment by Obstreperous Infidel on 7/22 @ 8:27 pm #
That’s because you’re a partisan fucknut, meya. Oh, I left out, really fucking stupid, too. But, you know both of these things already. I’m sure of it.
Comment by Abe Froman on 7/22 @ 8:33 pm #
It is very easy to believe that dubya never invited the Congressional Budget Office to give him a briefing about a piece of key legislation.
How do you manage to be such a persistent bore without lapsing into a coma?
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 8:37 pm #
Where did RD go, meya? Which other personalities are going to come out to play?
Comment by JD on 7/22 @ 9:33 pm #
I wonder how meya chooses which personality gets associated with which name?
Comment by Blind Howling Moonbat on 7/23 @ 5:07 am #
…pretty much anything if you ignore history and facts.
Comment by SBP on 7/23 @ 5:16 am #
Shorter SFAG: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Sorry, SFAG. Bush isn’t in office any more. You’ve got both Houses of Congress and the Presidency.
OWN IT! Take responsibility for SOMETHING, just ONE TIME in your pathetic exuse for a life. You’d be amazed at how good it feels to be a grownup for a change.
Comment by meya on 7/23 @ 6:24 am #
“Where did RD go, meya? Which other personalities are going to come out to play?”
You guys are really awesome Internet sleuths.
“OWN IT! Take responsibility for SOMETHING, just ONE TIME in your pathetic exuse for a life. You’d be amazed at how good it feels to be a grownup for a change.”
Sure. I wonder who doesn’t think it responsible for the president to get a presentation from the CBO. Specially since “You’ve got both Houses of Congress and the Presidency.” Whoever ‘you’ is.
Comment by SBP on 7/23 @ 6:35 am #
Sure. I wonder who doesn’t think it responsible for the president…spin, dissemble, lie, lather, rinse, repeat.
I ask again: just who do you think you’re fooling, SFAG? Yourself?
I mean, you can’t REALLY be dumb enough to believe that your incompetent lies will work on this crowd, can you?
You and your Boy Jeeenius Presentdent are going to have to learn that criticism and performance aren’t the same thing. Did you see that deer-in-the-headlights look he got last night when the reporters started asking him something other than softball questions?
But hey, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! BUNNIES!!!!!!!!!!!
Pathetic. Laughably so.
BTW, how’s “RD”’s picture window? Still worried about hordes of marauding RepubliKKKan zombies throwing Bibles and Ayn Rand novels through it in the dead of night?
Heh.
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/23 @ 8:02 am #
Comment by maggie katzen on 7/23 @ 8:12 am #
oh and…
UNITARY EXECUTIVE!!!!ELEVENTY!!!
Comment by The Monster on 7/23 @ 10:06 am #
If I were President, I’d ask Congress to merge the Air Force back into the Army.
Failing that, an A-10 isn’t so much an “aircraft” as it is a BAG with wings. If the AF must be a separate service, its role should be air superiority, bombers, missiles, and space. The Army should have close air support assets, whether they be rotary or fixed-wing, just like the Marines do.
Of course, the obvious problem with that is the need for AF fighters to escort the A-10s, most likely flying from the same air bases, which still means tight coordination between Army and AF. Perhaps merging the Department of the Air Force back into the Department of the Army and recasting the AF as the Air Corps, analogous to the Marine Corps as a separate service from the Navy, but operating under the Department of the Navy, would be sufficient.
Comment by Spiny Norman on 7/23 @ 2:13 pm #
If you wanna talk about “merging” or eliminated branches of the Military, why do we even need an Army, let alone an Air Force? Wouldn’t it be better to give the combined Army/Air Force budgets to the Navy and Marines (which is what a lot of Navy brass want, anyway)?
Comment by meya on 7/23 @ 5:11 pm #
“If you wanna talk about “merging” or eliminated branches of the Military, why do we even need an Army, let alone an Air Force? Wouldn’t it be better to give the combined Army/Air Force budgets to the Navy and Marines (which is what a lot of Navy brass want, anyway)?”
The constitution only gives congress the power to fund and create an army and a navy. But who cares more toys and f-22’s for all.
Comment by The Monster on 7/23 @ 5:13 pm #
Well, Spiny, there is a Constitutional basis for the Army and Navy being separate critters, with different limitations on how they’re funded and everything.
Clearly, the Framers didn’t want a large standing army, and preferred the militia to be the main land defense component. A navy can’t be built out of a Sea Militia nearly as easily, and even in times of peace having naval patrols to go after pirates was seen as a good thing.
From this we have the tradition that the President could use the Navy/Marines (the latter for short-term land engagements, overthrowing Banana Republic dictators, etc.) without needing a Declaration of War from Congress, but he shouldn’t send in the Army without one. Anything that requires the Army means the whole country ought to be mobilizing for war production like we did in WWII.
Unfortunately, we never declared war in Korea, or in any subsequent conflict. If we had, it wouldn’t have been so easy to give up on Vietnam, Lebanon, etc. the way we did.
Comment by Rusty on 7/23 @ 6:09 pm #
#115
The constitution also obligates the government to protect us. Hence the need for the F22s.
I know you don’t, but I rather like the fact that we have such cutting edge technology and our potential adversaries don’t.
Comment by SBP on 7/23 @ 8:28 pm #
SFAG thinks she’d be better off under Chinese rule, Rusty.
Comment by JD on 7/23 @ 8:41 pm #
Did meya really question whether the Constitution allows for the means of providing for the common defense? That was rather breath-taking, even for that lying twatwaffle(s).
Comment by meya on 7/23 @ 8:51 pm #
“Did meya really question whether the Constitution allows for the means of providing for the common defense?”
It enumerates an army and a navy. But then again I think we can do more than that.
Comment by SBP on 7/24 @ 5:55 am #
Nobody cares what you think, SFAG.
Hint: that would be because you are a pathological liar.
And not even an entertaining one.
Comment by Rusty on 7/24 @ 11:13 am #
#120
Article 1, section 8 “Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and (provide for the common defense) and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; ”
Do more how, maya?
Comment by Rusty on 7/24 @ 2:32 pm #
maya’s madly flipping through her Readers Digest abridged version of the United States Constitution as we speak
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