Tom Cotton gave his first speech in the Senate yesterday. His call for more defense spending was covered in news reports. How would he pay for “the immediate increase of $200 billion” a year that he suggested? Tom saved that for the end of the speech.
"Can we afford all this? The answer is yes—without question and without doubt, yes!"
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Where would the money come from, Tom?
“The genuine driver of our long-term debt crisis: retirement and health-care programs. The Budget Control Act ultimately failed to reform these programs.” |
$200 billion is about a quarter of all survivors, retirement, and disability benefits paid last year. The program still operates at a surplus with $2.7 trillion in the trust fund. That’s our money.
The speech was billed at C-Span as Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) Maiden Floor Speech
Tom’s maiden floor speech was titled:
Ending America’s Retreat, Restoring America’s Military Dominance
The transcript is posted at the Senate website, but you’ll miss the spectacle of Tom, in all of his virginal purity, preaching about America’s need and yearning obsession for dominance.
Surely, there must be other ways this man could satisfy himself, alone or with another consenting adult, who’d have to be as cracked as he is.
Everywhere Tom looks, he sees danger.
An alarm should be sounding in our ears. Our enemies, sensing weakness and, hence, opportunity, have become steadily more aggressive. Our allies, uncertain of our commitment and capabilities, have begun to conclude that they must look out for themselves, even where it’s unhelpful to stability and order. |
His delivery is pro forma, like he was reading the telephone book. His demeanor doesn’t match the urgency of his words.
He pointed out how fake he is by recalling the 1930s when the world faced real danger. Think of FDR’s theatrical and exaggerated oratory style. It matched perfectly with the importance of the message he wanted to communicate to the public.
Tom raced through a long list of villains but his words carried no weight:
- radical Islamists, check.
- Iranian-backed Shiite militias, check.
- Basher al-Assad’s outlaw regime in Syria, check.
- the resurgence of Russia, check.
- China’s rapid military expansion, check.
All fear, no facts.
When this weasel starts sniffing around our Social Security and Medicare money the reaction of every American should be.
Over. My. Dead. Body.