Gillespie: "Kerry voted to cut intelligence budgets in the past"

[cthrumatrix]

snip

In a speech to the Republican winter meeting today, Gillespie plans to attack Kerry's past votes to cut intelligence budgets. The votes "do not support his assertion that his approach to national security will make us safer as a nation," Gillespie said in an interview.

http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+Dems%27+race+takes+on+wider+scale&expire=&urlID=9072979&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fpoliticselections%2Fnation%2Fpresident%2F2004-01-28-after-nh_x.htm&partnerID=1660


Good thing the "media" is pushing Kerry to be the candidate vs bush.

[Uzybone]

1. Desperate

GOP talking points are now common fare here in DU.

[bearfartinthewoods]

23. on cspan now

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. I think it's great they are shooting their wad now

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. Yep. They're doing everything they can to stop Kerry now

those exit polls showing the broad support for Kerry must be a nightmare for them. He's got the doves, the hawks, the old the young, the rich (well Democratic rich) the poor, ....

They'll have a tough time avoiding a blowout in November.

[cthrumatrix]

16. funny ..I don't see Gep or the DNC running a "OSAMA ad" like they

did vs Dean.

I'm shocked...

[eileen_d]

3. So you agree with the meme that Democrats are "soft on defense"?

Please elaborate.

(Edit: I just said meme. Somebody shoot me.)

[maddezmom]

4. honestly, after what the RNC did to Clark about his testimony

I could give a damn what he has to say about any of our candidates. His job is to tear down the frontrunner, no matter who it is at the moment.

[rfranklin]

5. $30 billion and they still can't get it right....

So we should give them $1 trillion and when they still can't get it right....?

[rogerashton]

11. That's the key point.

Our intelligence services have been a joke for decades. They were never designed to protect the country from Islamist terrorists -- or Wingnut terrorists like McVieh, either. They are desinged to find the commies under the bed. They need to be recreated from the ground up -- and who has proposed to do that? Certainly no Republican. Let's see: what former President is also a former chief of the CIA?

[sangh0]

6. Good!!

Now Kerry can point to the failures in our intelligence on 9/11 and Iraq WMD's and say "Why should we give more money to agencies that are failing us when we haven't made any effort to determine what we did wrong? Bush* is stonewalling investigations into 9/11 and Iraq WMD's and as a result, our nation's security is being damaged so that Bush* can exploit your fears for politcal advantage"

[Feanorcurufinwe]

7. What is your opinion of this GOP attack?

[maddezmom]

8. mine is: who the hell cares what little eddie says. n/t

[sangh0]

12. Who cares?

Republicans

And cthrumatrix

[cthrumatrix]

15. are you saying Voting Records are unimportant and security is not

important....i guess you are right..we should not look at ANY records.

[eileen_d]

17. I still haven't figured out what *you* are saying

You think Kerry is "soft on defense" and therefore unelectable?

[cthrumatrix]

22. I posted his voting record (per Gillespie the pug). I find such

hypocrisy how Kerry "attacked Dean's defense record"...when we are in a terrorist war...and he's want to cut the "intelligence budget"...

[eileen_d]

24. I give up.

Remember: Dean didn't LOSE in Iowa -- he just was prevented from winning by the voters!

[maddezmom]

25. listening to the speech, he's talked about a vote circa 1995 & FBI

not sure he mentioned any others, because I just tuned in.

[codegreen]

9. they've got nothing

that is so baseless! i hope Kerry starts talking about this more, because he makes good points.

what he wanted to do was shift the priorities and spending in the intelligence community to more man-on-the-ground, spy-type activities. EXACTLY the type of intelligence we are sorely lacking in, EXACTLY the type of intelligence that could have helped avoid 9-11 and EXACTLY the type of intelligence we needed to actually know the truth about Iraq's lack of WMD's on a more definitive level.

this is yet another issue in which Kerry was on the right side all along.

the Smirk has presided over two of the most massive intelligence failures in our history. he's got nothing on our man Kerry.

[flpoljunkie]

10. I say to you what Kerry said to RNC flack Gillespie, "Bring it on!"

Gillespie and the rest of the Rethugs are running scared. John Kerry is their worst nightmare.

"We're a little older, a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for our country." - John Kerry, standing with his band of brothers, his fellow veterans.

[evil_orange_cat]

14. Budgets of the same inept and dopey intelligence community...

... that swore to God Saddam had WMD's?

[Catholic Sensation]

18. dude that sig you have is great

:)

[TexasPatriot]

19. there were a LOT of people in that community

who were very plain about not supporting some of those assertions - and had their objections dropped into footnotes and off the page. It's the politicians who abuse the intelligence who are at fault here.

Hell, did you see the thing about Powell refusing to include the Cheney insert about Iraq developing strategies to deliver wmd to US targets at the UN. Even Powell wouldnt go that far. I think a lot of the intelligence has probably suffered the same cut and paste mentality that you're seeing the RNC use on Clark's testimony.

[bearfartinthewoods]

20. he's laying out their playbook folks

[bigtree]

21. Republicans, oooo!

:scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared: