Thursday, September 09, 2004

Kerry in NC, Part 2

But Kerry was just warming up after the snide impersonation of Bush. (See below.) He flung himself pockets and all into berating Bush on the Battle in Iraq and its costs:
He promised America this war would cost $1 billion and that oil from Iraq would pay for it," Kerry said of Bush. ''It's almost $200 billion now, and I say to everybody in North Carolina, that's $200 billion that we're not investing in health care in North Carolina, that's $200 billion we're not investing in schools in America, that's $200 billion that we're not investing in prescription drugs for seniors, that's $200 billion we're not investing in better jobs, in science, stem-cell research, technology, the future.
Now the $1B might be a copy error at the BG, or a helping hand to Kerry by the BG, or just a speaking error by Kerry. Putting aside the lie that Bush promised anything with respect to the cost in Iraq, I can allow for this, even if it is a speaking error by Kerry (we all mispeak sometimes). But the number is $100B and it is the high end of the original estimate with a lengthy list of provisos.

Let's look at what Kerry is saying, which is not a speaking error but statement of policy intent. He would have taken the additional $200B and spend it somehow, somewhere. Note, Kerry does not envision JQ Public saving that money, just that his children will be liable for it in the future. No, Kerry wants to spend it.

For Kerry it is important to spend it here not spend it there. And where, actually, is here? Kerry seems to want to spend it in NC: " ... $200B ... in NC ..." for anything on a long list of programs. Now is this a perk to NC for having Edwards on the ticket or does Kerry plan on using this line in other states. If the latter, that sounds like a deficit buster for sure. Estimated cost for Kerry visiting all 50 states by November: $10 trillion.

But on a more serious side, what I want to know is what money he WOULD have spent on the War on Terror. First, I am not sure where Kerry gets his $200B figure. Is it from this paragraph which is a summary of expenditures/appropriations from this Report to Congress(?):



where this Table is referred to, listing Defense Department appropriations relating to the WoT(?):



That's $103B of the $200B he wants to spend elsewhere. But in the Summary above, the $87B Appropriation Bill he voted against is mentioned. It was all about Iraq right? It's part of the $200B he wishes could have been spent elsewhere. Here's the Table (CRS-5) breaking down the $87B:



Apparently Mr. Kerry doesn't like spending money for Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) or Homeland Defense or Afghanistan Reconstruction or other Global WoT.

Now, I can't reconcile the $103B from the summary above with the first Supplemental Appropriation of $79B but it must be a part else the $200B would be much more than that. Here is the breakdown of the $79B Appropriation from March 2003:



Mr. Kerry obviously just doesn't care for spending on Homeland Security ($5B) when NC could use it fund schools. We can only hope it will have a rider for defending schools from things like this:


(via MyWayNews)

And of course Kerry would have Air Force One so why keep private airlines ($2.4B) in the skies. Maybe he thinks keeping them on the ground will prevent more terrorist attacks.

Kerry's message is that this all this money was ill spent. There were better purposes to put this money to. Afghanistan wasn't good enough. Homeland Defense wasn't good enough. Keeping airlines solvent wasn't good enough.

But what would Kerry do about the WoT? He doesn't say, but he does say he would do it more effectively, do it better, do it smarter, do it ....

Who knows, maybe he would meet for peace talks with the enemy in Paris.


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