Two of the bigwigs going at it yesterday with regards to soaring deficits, quoted from the Associated Press: Hastert: Then, more seriously, he said: "If you want to see sacrifice, John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda (two Washington area military hospitals). There's the sacrifice in this country. We're trying to make sure that they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to be able to do it. And at the same time, we have to react to keep this country strong not only militarily but economically. We want to be able to have the flexibility to do it. That's my reply to John McCain." McCain stood fast in his reply to Hastert. "The speaker is correct in that nothing we are called upon to do comes close to matching the heroism of our troops," he said. "All we're called upon to do is not spend our nation into bankruptcy while our soldiers risk their lives. I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility." The conflict erupted as Hastert laid down a budget making it easier to pass future tax cuts regardless of their impact on the federal deficit. McCain and a group of GOP moderates in the Senate want to rein in deficits by making tax cuts harder. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040519/ap_on_go_co/hastert_mccain_2
It is funny that a man who has never fought in a war tries to tell a man who was a POW about sacrafice. And, I really don't think the men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda give a sh*t about a tax cut, they want more body armor.
It's also funny how so many people talk about how so and so politician was in the military and so his opinion is more important than some other politician who wasn't. How come most of those same people never raised the comparison when Clinton was in office? Besides, NO politician (whether in the military or not) is worth a damn - they are all fundamentally parasites with the sole function in life to keep getting themselves elected by lying, dealing, and doing whatever they have to in hopes that they can get one more term to suck on the collective lifeblood of taxpayers. Party affiliation only dictates who they're inclined to f*ck and who they're inclined to pander more to (usually while still f*cking them too, but at least they'll give them a kiss on the cheek while they're doing it). Washington is the perfect "it's all about me" area and definitely a No Statesman Zone.
AA, Well put. The positions stay the same, only the arguments change. Now the tax raisers are trying to take the high moral ground using the "sacrifice" rhetoric. I thought the point of economic policy was to do what is best for the economy, not punish ourselves. Maybe Congress could give us an example of sacrifing something themselves before they ask us to. Their lavish pension program would be a good place to start.