Let me see if I get this straight.
In 1995, John Kerry recommended cutting $1.5 billion from the intelligence budget over a five-year period. The cut equaled about 1 percent of the overall intelligence budget for those years and targeted money the National Reconnaissance Office received but didn’t spend.
Despite the fact that congressional Republicans approved a $3.8 billion cut from the same budget, Bush and his lackeys now insist that Kerry’s proposal — which they argue would have “gutted” our intelligence capabilities — disqualifies him for the presidency. Got it.
Flash forward six years, to mid-September 2001, and the priorities of Attorney General John Ashcroft.
In the early days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration budget document shows.
The document, dated Oct. 12, 2001, shows that the FBI requested $1.5 billion in additional funds to enhance its counterterrorism efforts with the creation of 2,024 positions. But the White House Office of Management and Budget cut that request to $531 million. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, working within the White House limits, cut the FBI’s request for items such as computer networking and foreign language intercepts by half, cut a cyber-security request by three quarters and eliminated entirely a request for “collaborative capabilities.”
The document was one of several administration papers obtained and given to The Washington Post by the Center for American Progress, a liberal group run by former Clinton chief of staff John D. Podesta. The papers show that Ashcroft ranked counterterrorism efforts as a lower priority than his predecessor did, and that he resisted FBI requests for more counterterrorism funding before and immediately after the attacks.
Kerry recommended a 1% cut in a budget for unspent money in 1995; Ashcroft rejected counterterrorism efforts immediately after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The GOP believes Kerry is unfit for office, but thinks Ashcroft is doing a great job.
I wonder if the Republicans ever get tired of being so wrong, so often.