McCain Lie Watch

I despaired over finding something so early in the morning. But, finding something from yesterday at Crooks & Liars, I was relieved to discover that McCain wouldn't disappoint. In brief, with actual words to follow in a bit, on the one hand, John McCain is out-Bushing Bush, campaigning to make his 2001 tax cuts permanent. In an effort to appear fiscally sensible, however, his campaign is arguing that, along with eliminating earmarks, cutting the defense budget might do the trick. So far, OK.

I'll leave aside the campaign strategy stuff for now, and focus on the odd sight of John McCain cutting the defense budget. What follows is from an article John McCain published in Foreign Affairs:

Along with more personnel, our military needs additional equipment in order to make up for its recent losses and modernize. We can partially offset some of this additional investment by cutting wasteful spending. But we can also afford to spend more on national defense, which currently consumes less than four cents of every dollar that our economy generates — far less than what we spent during the Cold War. We must also accelerate the transformation of our military, which is still configured to fight enemies that no longer exist.

So, do we cut the defense budget to pay for tax increases, including a ten-percent reduction in corporate taxes? Or do we spend more money on defense? Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? Does either hand care?