John Kerry on Late Show with David Letterman - Live Thread

Late Show with David Letterman ^ | September 20, 2004 | xjcsa

[xjcsa]

I haven't started one of these before, but I thought a live discussion thread might be appropriate. Post away!

[dead]

I was tuning in and out, but the audience seemed quite into it. They were very pro-Kerry, but considering that NY is one of the ten states Horsehead will win, that's not very surprising.

[Bubbette]

Oh yeah, and the terrorists are stronger now...excuse me, how many have we captured and killed???? That's right, you want to talk about global warming instead, that will keep us alive you lying sack of "let's pretend it will be all better after the INTERNATIONAL community comes to fix it!" Ok, I can't do this anymore...

[feedback doctor]

Well, I will sleep better tonite after Kerry's awful performance.

If Kerry had anything close to a sense of humor, in a few years he'd say, "All my life I wanted to run for president in the worst way, and in 04 I did just that."

[ride the whirlwind]

I predict that on election day, those in the Kerry's secret service detail who vote, will pull the lever for Bush/Cheney. 'Cause they know him up close and personal, and they have my sympathy!

[Christian4Bush]

"Help me, I don't know where to move if Bush wins." (from DU)

To quote Stitch Jones (Mario Van Peebles) from "Heartbreak Ridge":

"Don't go away mad, just...just go away. Ya been told."

[HawaiianGecko]

<I'm not as up to date on Halliburton as most of you FReepers, could you explain why no-one else can do what Halliburton does or direct me to a site please. My roomie is asking and I just told him so far that they have a lot of experience and that Clinton gave them no bid contracts but other than that I do not know.>

 

Hallibuton

Contrary to all screaming about Hallibuton,  the work WAS done under a competitively awarded contract system known as the U.S. Army Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, or LOGCAP. The LOGCAP system came about because of the military's need to perform complex jobs, specifically peacekeeping in Bosnia and  intervention in Haiti, on sometimes very short notice. In such situations, American troops require lots of logistical support; camps have to be built, utilities have to be supplied, food has to be cooked. By the early 1990s, as the size of the active-duty force shrank, the Pentagon began to "outsource" much of that work, that is, pay civilian contractors to do it rather than tie up soldiers with non-essential tasks. Instead of going through a months-long competitive-bidding process for each job, the military came up with LOGCAP.

LOGCAP is, in effect, a multi-year super-contract. In it, the Army makes a deal with a single contractor, in this case Halliburton, to perform a wide range of unspecified services during emergency situations in the future. The last competition for LOGCAP came in 2001, when Halliburton won the contract over several other bidders.

The next question was how large the contract should be. That was a difficult problem, because no one knew how big the problem would be. Would all the fields burn? Would none of them? Just a few? The Army assumed a worst-case scenario and decided the contract could be worth any amount between $0 and $7 billion (a common contracting practice known as ID/IQ, which stands for indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity).

Of course the democrats (specifically Waxman) immediately began calling the KBR deal a $7 billion contract.  Because most of the anticipated disasters did not take place, the Army has asked KBR to do much less work than the original worst-case scenario envisioned, and the contract has therefore been worth far less than it might have been. "We will come nowhere close to the $7 billion figure," says Lt. Col. Pawlik. Pawlik says, the task orders issued to Kellogg Brown & Root totaled about $214 million.

The first LOGCAP was awarded in 1992. Four companies competed, and the winner was Brown & Root. The multi-year contract was in effect during much of the Clinton administration. During those years, Brown & Root did extensive work for the Army under the LOGCAP contract in Haiti, Somalia, and Bosnia;  In 1997, when LOGCAP was again put up for bid, Halliburton/Brown & Root lost the competition to another contractor, Dyncorp. But the Clinton Defense Department, rather than switch from Halliburton to Dyncorp, elected to award a separate, sole-source contract to Halliburton/Brown & Root to continue its work in the Balkans. According to a later GAO study, the Army made the choice because 1) Brown & Root had already acquired extensive knowledge of how to work in the area; 2) the company "had demonstrated the ability to support the operation"; and 3) changing contractors would have been costly. The Army's sole-source Bosnia contract with Brown & Root lasted until 1999. At that time, the Clinton Defense Department conducted full-scale competitive bidding for a new contract. The winner was . . . Halliburton/Brown & Root. The company continued its work in Bosnia uninterrupted. That work received favorable notices throughout the Clinton administration. For example, Vice President Al Gore's National Performance Review mentioned Halliburton's performance in its Report on Reinventing the Department of Defense, issued in September 1996. In a section titled "Outsourcing of Logistics Allows Combat Troops to Stick to Basics," Gore's reinventing-government team favorably mentioned LOGCAP, the cost-plus-award system, and Brown & Root, which the report said provided "basic life support services — food, water, sanitation, shelter, and laundry; and the full realm of logistics services — transportation, electrical, hazardous materials collection and disposal, fuel delivery, airfield and seaport operations, and road maintenance."  In Bosnia Waxman correctly points out that the Halliburton’s payment far exceeded original estimates, but he fails to mention that a 1997 GAO report placed the blame on the Army, and not Halliburton/KBR. "Our review shows that the difference in the Army's estimates was largely driven by changes in operational requirements once the forces arrived in Bosnia," the GAO wrote. "Specifically, the Commander in
Chief of United States European Command decided to increase the number of base camps from 14 to 34 and to accelerate the schedule for upgrading troop housing." Halliburton/KBR was paid more because the Army wanted more.

Commander-in-Chief, United States European Command was Wesley Clark by the way.

[patriciaruth]

You nailed it.

The average American is going to love the message that we can't do something without help from the French.

[madison46]

thnx

[feedback doctor]

>>>Keith Olberman(sp) posted his pic and his REAL NAME !!!!<<

Someone ought to post Mr Olberman's home phone # and address.

[rdl6989]

I don't know if you've been over to their site, but they are going completely insane!

[faithincowboys]

Ok. I just thought you were representing Massachusetts. NY ain't much better. You're gonna give that POS a lot of electoral votes and a lot of popular votes.

[tiki]

Haven't you read the book "When good things happen to bad people?" LOL

[BoBToMatoE]

Personally, I thought it was rather telling when sKerry made the comment that "he would have to wait to see how big the mess was" before he could decide what to do in iraq.

Also noticed when talking about how to "fix" things with foriegn countries he was all over the place.

Keep in mind that this was in a friendly setting. I have got to wonder what is going to happen during the debates. I hope people really listened to some of the things he is saying. All bull, no substance.

By the way, what happened to that poll that was supposed to happen at the end of the show?

It looks like I wasted time from watching MNF and History channel. Argh.

[faithincowboys]

I think Pataki is more of a stand up guy than either Hagel or McCain.

I think Mitt Romney is a real conservative and an attractive candidate. ROmney could be someone's Veep. He'sa fiscal conservative, conservative on all the social issues and handsome and good on tv.

I also like Mark Sanford from SC. Other than that, we have a pretty weak bench. I do love Governor Barbour. He is so down home and likable.

[patriciaruth]

Source(s) for the info on Halliburton, etc.?

I've copied to Word, and I want to be able to source so I can pass this around.

[feedback doctor]

I can only take Natalie Merchant in one form; with 10,000 Maniacs doing that "unplugged" cover of Patti Smith's "Because The Night,"

I was a DJ back in the late 70s when Patti Smith had that song out. I remember a story that Debbie Boone (the 'you light up my life' song girl) showed up at some party that patti smith was also attending. Patti attcked her saying "you don't represent rock n' roll" and patti pulled her hair and such. Well a few months later Patti was asked to be on a variety show, and guess which song the host wanted her to sing with him? Not 'Because the night' but . . . you guessed it.

[faithincowboys]

Yeah, and one minute he's b*tchin that we don't have Bin Laden (meanwhile we have gotten lots of AQ operatives) then when Dave asks, what if we get Bin laden in the next few weeks, he says, "Well, Dave, Al Qaeda is more than Bin Laden and we are creating lots of terrorists."

God Help me, I hate John Forbes Kerry.

[Bonaparte]

Thankyou. PJ's ordered. And I've accessorized!

[Graymatter]

The actor man on the street. I'm old enough to remember Steve Allen's man on the street bit. Louis Nye, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, Bill Dana---that was funny.

[patriciaruth]

Sorry, Bubbette.

Gekko, could you source the info on Halliburton, etc for me as I've copied it to Word and want to source it before passing it out.

Don't want to pull a Dan.