Exactly.
Nancy Pelosi wants to keep the C-17 line open as well.
Not for military readiness, but for her own pork-barrel project.
Letting this type of politics cloud the system endangers valuable programs.
I'll be sure to pass that along to the folks I know who are being laid off and / or dispersed around Boeing.
(Besides, McCain has staked his career on battering both the the plane and the manufacturer.)
PS: To all those preaching for unmanned combat platforms...remember back to the guns versus missiles debate of the fifties and early sixties.
Missile armed F4s sucked when the time came and there are guns on everything flying or designed today because technology looked better than it performed.
When those pilotless 'platforms' go up against an enemy I'd really like to think we had adequate back up in the event of a wipe out.