Most overlooked cynical comment in the GOP debate
by digby
It's hard to choose but this one caught my eye. It's from Rubio:
Let me begin by saying that we have to understand who ISIS is. ISIS is a radical Sunni group. They cannot just be defeated through air strikes. Air strikes are a key component of defeating them, but they must be defeated on the ground by a ground force. And that ground force must be primarily made up of Sunni Arabs themselves, Sunni Arabs that reject them ideologically and confront them militarily. We will have to embed additional American special operators alongside them to help them with training, to help them conduct special missions, and to help improve the air strikes. The air strikes are important, but we need to have an air force capable of it. And because of the budget cuts we are facing in this country, we are going to be left with the oldest and the smallest Air Force we have ever had. We have to reverse those cuts, in addition to the cuts to our Navy and in addition to the cuts to our Army, as well.
I would love to know how the fight against ISIS requires more money for the navy.
Yes, I know that planes are often launched from aircraft carriers but this particular fight is not a naval battle. Using the "war on terror" to justify trillions in new spending on the navy. Of course the hawks want this --- they always do. But using ISIS to justify it is as cynical as it gets.