Base-closing dims Republican star

chicago sun times ^ | August 22, 2005 | Robert Novak

[flixxx]

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission will have finished its work by week's end, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota probably will be closed forever. That also will close Sen. John Thune's tenure as national Republican poster boy following his victory last year over Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. This is a cautionary tale of what happens when politicians forget politics.

[flixxx]

Pretty harsh from Novak...too bad for Thune but wasn't the purpose of the BRAC to take the politics out of the decisions and base the closings on the best available evidence???

[Jim_Curtis]

Put all of our bases on the border.

[DB]

Where military bases are shouldn't be a matter of politics.

If the military wants to close a base because that's what's best for military operations and/or cost benefits then so be it.

Needless pork from the White House is not what I voted for. We have far too much of that already coming from the White House.

If Thune's career depends on needless military bases then as a tax payer I say too bad.

[SDGOP]

If it wasnt for the BRAC then no military base would ever be closed.

[johndpringle]

Will you think that when we lose a Senate seat? One vote may decide the future make up of the Supreme Court. One vote may decide the future of Social Security Reform. One vote may decide U.S. foreign policy.

[FreeReign]

Will you think that when we lose a Senate seat? One vote may decide the future make up of the Supreme Court. One vote may decide the future of Social Security Reform. One vote may decide U.S. foreign policy.

The consolidation will help our war effort. We have 2,500 servicemen who have made the ultimate sacrafice.

The voters of So. Dakota should realize this. Novak should wright about something more useful.

[Cicero]

I'm not always an admirer of Novak, but I'm afraid he's right on this one. Especially telling is this paragraph toward the end of his column:

North Dakota's Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, two of the most partisan Democrats in the Senate, were able to save Grand Forks Air Force Base even though it fell below Ellsworth in most measurements. Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman's firm received $400,000 from the city of Grand Forks to argue its case. An Air Force old boy exercised more clout than a rising GOP politician.

[johndpringle]

We may not have a war effort because the Senate may hold hearings like the Fulbright Committee's during the Vietnam war. The hearings helped turn American's against the war.

It is easy to say what the voters of South Dakota should do but then perhaps you do not vote in South Dakota.

[fallujah-nuker]

"If it wasnt for the BRAC then no military base would ever be closed."

Lots of bases were closed before BRAC ever existed, e.g. Suffolk County AFB on Long Island, and Stewart AFB up river from New York City. Both had fighter interceptor squadrons for homeland defense back in Eisenhower's day. I wonder if a few fighters on alert would have ever been proved useful at those bases?

[Vicomte13]

The Republicans' star is dimming in general, over right-to-life issues, over the border, over runaway spending, over the handling of the war. It is painful to watch, but these wounds are self-inflicted.

[fallujah-nuker]

Consolidating all our military into fewer bases will also save the chicoms money, fewer aimpoints needed to disarm their enemy. I remember one of the first bases cut by BRAC was Loring AFB up in Maine, one cost cited was a million dollars per year for snow removal. It was the closest base in ConUS to Europe and it was closed!

It could have been maintained as a standby base at least, with a reserve unit based there for snow removal. Would have been a good base for a couple TDY's in summer, a squadron could have gone TDY and brought their families when the kids were out of school. Lots of recreational opportunities for military families in good weather.

[oceanview]

indeed, Novak is right on this. our side just doesn't know how to play the game.

[fallujah-nuker]

"The Republicans' star is dimming in general, over right-to-life issues, over the border, over runaway spending, over the handling of the war. It is painful to watch, but these wounds are self-inflicted."

And the costs of closing are probably overstated, the savings overestimated, and are smaller than what we will flush down the toilet during the same time period as aid to Egypt.

[FreeReign]

The consolidation will help our war effort. We have 2,500 servicemen who have made the ultimate sacrafice. The voters of So. Dakota should realize this.

It is easy to say what the voters of South Dakota should do but then perhaps you do not vote in South Dakota.

Non-sequitur.

What the voters of So. Dakota should do has nothing to do with the ease in which I say it nor the state in which I live.

What I said above stands.

[DB]

Right is right.

Spending hundreds of millions if not billions of tax payer money just to keep a senate seat is wrong.

Simple as that.

Clinton did it. And he still didn't save his man. What a huge waste of money.

[fallujah-nuker]

"Novak is right on this. our side just doesn't know how to play the game."

My dad told me that the thing never to forget in politics was to "dance with the person what brung you to the dance." The GOP has a hard time grasping that concept.

Chapter 19 of the second book of Samuel seems to mirror what goes on today:

1 Joab was told, "The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom." 2 And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, "The king is grieving for his son." 3 The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle. 4 The king covered his face and cried aloud, "O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!"

5 Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, "Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. 6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. 7 Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don't go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now."

What happens to good guys like Lt. Colonel West and Lt. Pantano reminds of these verses.

[neutronsgalore]

"What happens to good guys like Lt. Colonel West and Lt. Pantano reminds of these verses."

I wonder how much of the Senator's opposition to CAFTA was involved in Bush's decision not to help save the base? And if the BRAC is supposed to take politics out of the equasion than how come the Dems managed to keep two inferior bases?

[cookcounty]

Thune has more than 5 years before the next election. Plenty of time to recover.

[fallujah-nuker]

What goes unmentioned is that the base is a bomber base, so its fate seems related to the cutbacks to the bomber force under Bush and Rumsfeld. We should be increasing the size of our bomber force, not slashing it!

Also, if we have another large mobilization we have to acquire bases too now, instead of having a large reserve ready. Same deal with navy ships, we used to have a large mothball fleet. Now at Bremerton we have several large carriers awaiting to be sunk. If they were in mothballs we could bring them out if we lost a few to the chicoms.

It is amazing to read the sycophantic drivel from Bushbots fawning over his "strategic vision." The way he is configuring our military for brushfire wars rather than China reminds me of the British before the first world war. In the event of war with China he will be judged harshly by history.