The only people who bludgeon with, or are bludgeoned by that citation are people who don't understand it in context. I would urge you to read Ike's farewell address in its entirety.
Eisenhower had been part of the military as it built up and mobilized for both WWI and WWII. As he reflected on the state of the world in 1961, he saw that there would not be the time for the nation to ramp up for a future large scale conflict and that in the context of the cold war, the nation needed to be in a high state of military readiness at all times. He actually argued that the, "military industrial complex," was an unavoidable necessity, but because it changed the paradigm dramatically, it was one that needed to be watched and given close scrutiny. Nothing liberal at all about that.
Furthermore, in his farewell address, the military industrial complex was but one of two developing trends Ike cautioned against, and the second is conveniently forgotten, overlooked or ignored by liberals who spout off about the MIC. The second was the, "scientific-technological elite." Ike saw how federally funded research projects were being used to drive public policy and warned against it. When you go back and read his address, think about the EPA and global warming nonsense and how his warnings have gone unheeded.
I always ram that down the throat of anybody who spouts off about the "military industrial complex," and without fail, it catches them off guard.
I blame Eisenhower for Earl Warren and William Brennan, two criminal coddlers on the SC who made it easy for murderers to kill and terrorize. The crime rate went through the roof.