Obama Hasn't Done Ship

Ever since the 2012 election, events keep transpiring that seem to vindicate Mitt Romney and his campaign. Googling "Mitt Romney was right about everything" shows articles from Politico, the Washington Post, Buzzfeed, CNN, and on and on and on. From Russia as the number one geopolitical foe, to the woes of implementing Obamacare, to Detroit going bankrupt - well, there's certainly evidence to make the case.

Let's call this one the umpty-bumpth item on the list, to use official JOM lingo.

In the last presidential debate of 2012, Mitt Romney brought up the issue of military spending and zeroed in on the Navy:

ROMNEY: Our Navy is old -- excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now at under 285. We're headed down to the low 200s if we go through a sequestration. That's unacceptable to me.

I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy. 

And just like Obama did in responding to Romney's statements on Russia - he countered this Romney statement with . . . a joke:

OBAMA: ...I think Governor Romney maybe hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works.

You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we're counting ships.

Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.

And yet here we are in 2015, counting away because we do not have the ships our military needs. Just like Romney warned:

Faced with a shortage of U.S. Navy ships, the Marine Corps is exploring a plan to deploy its forces aboard foreign vessels to ensure they can respond quickly to global crises around Europe and western Africa.

The initiative is a stopgap way to deploy Marines aboard ships overseas until more American vessels are available, said Brig. Gen. Norman Cooling, deputy commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa. [...]

The U.S. Navy has 30 amphibious ships but says it needs 38 to fulfill war fighting requirements. It won't reach that level until 2028 because of budget constraints, according to the Navy.

Obama is going to be madder than anyone just as soon as he finds out about this in news reports.

Look, I'm just going to throw this out there: maybe - just maybe - having a community organizer as the Commander in Chief isn't the greatest idea.

 

Link to Last Page of Thread.

Comments

[NKonChrome]

Altgeld Gardens meets the US Navy. What could go wrong?

[Threadkiller]

Add to the vindication list:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-jokes-about-his-birth-certificate-obama-campaign-accuses-him-of-embracing-birtherism/2012/08/24/bda35810-ee14-11e1-b0eb-dac6b50187ad_story.html

[Extraneus]

Will anyone else shove that down his throat?

[narciso]

So our passports are hacked, ou va is backlogged, and we have fewer ships than the wahington confrence era is that bout it.

[Captain Hate]

Ailes pulling out all stops to bring deep political insights to the folks:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4303044022001/which-gop-candidate-is-stealing-meghan-mccains-heart/?intcmp=obnetwork#sp=show-clips

[Captain Hate]

We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them.

I still can't get over what a horrible response that was and why the tomato can didn't shove it up his pansy ass.

[Captain Haiku]

Ship count soon one less
Country quickly going way
Of the Titanic

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Perhaps we could contract with the PRC for some shipping for our troops if they decide to invade Taiwan.
Wait, that would mean defending an ally. Never mind.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

I'm afraid missile technology is rendering our carriers the battleships of the 21st century.

[Dave (in MA)]

I still can't get over what a horrible response that was and why the tomato can didn't shove it up his pansy ass.

This is offensive. I like tomatoes.

[Thomas Collins]

Sean Combs is my rap gansta' of the month for his sublime combination of thug skills with helicopter parenting.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/college-football/story/_/id/13131896/diddy-arrested-ucla-campus-charged-assault-deadly-weapon

[Cecil Turner]

We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them.

Inexcusable. But Romney's number crunching was unconvincing, and he should've gotten pithier, like:“We’re an 11-carrier navy in a 15-carrier world.” – Read Admiral Thomas Moore

And even that is understatement. We've got 10 carriers now, and are probably declining to 8 in the near future.

[henry]

Haven't we been replacing blue water ships with the Littoral ones as well?

[NKonChrome]

Thomasc@12:39-- OK TomC winz the internetz with that one. Too funny.

[NKonChrome]

A bit of Soccer: the USWNT has the best players yet they are playing completely lackluster ball. No imagination, no attacking plan. The quarterfinal game with China will be boring as hell. BTW the Rapinoe thugette is suspended for accumulated Yellow Cards... Good. She gives away so many cheap fouls she is a liability at this stage of the tourney. Sit her down and use her as a sub, if needed in the Semis.

[Threadkiller]

Report: Tom Brady “testifying under oath” at appeal hearing

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/23/report-tom-brady-testifying-under-oath-at-appeal-hearing/

[Dave (in MA)]

People are calling for @Andy_Benoit of SI's head for saying that womens' sports in general aren't worth watching. How dare a guy who writes opinion pieces for a football web site have an opinion.

[narciso]

Another travismockasam complete with pouch, lcs are about as sturdy as those paper boats one used to put in the pond.

[narciso]

Somewhat similar to what the brazilian soccer federation said, mor crimethink

[MarkO]

I have wondered who prepared Romney for that debate. They had a marvelous opportunity to trap Obama with this "terror" quote in the Rose Garden and yet did not set it up and could not even use it when Candy gave Romney the opportunity to ask her where she got the transcript and to ask to read directly from it and the statements Obama made in the following week.

That likely would have changed the race. For a Harvard guy with money, Romney seemed unprepared and callow.

Obama, another Harvard guy, is just not that smart.

[NKonChrome]

Dave-- has AndyBenoit never watched beach volleyball?

[Threadkiller]

The Consent Decree Players must have run the mock debates for Romney.

[NKonChrome]

The post 9/12 debate was beyond dissappointing. Romney clearly won the first debate, and was doing well in the public polls. Then idiots (like me) thought it was best to rein him and and coast to November. Debacle.

[Putin]

As they say--timing is everything--but sometimes it is hard to sit back and wait for Hillary to finish things off.

I'm having a hard time being patient but then Ivan will say--

"Vlad could you reduce the U.S. military like this? Could you crush the middle class of America, The American Dream and capitalism like this?"

This is when I have to sit back and let Obama do the job I won't do quite yet because I am--humbled by his--how shall we say this ...efficiency.

Obama, he is doing things I could only dare to dream of in my younger KGB days....sigh.

And then Ivan will always say--

"Just wait for Hillary!"

(Vodka shots all around )

[daddy]

For those keeping records on the Chinese Hack at OPM:

Initially we were told by the Govt

4 June---4.2 Million hacked

A week later we were told

14 Million.

Today we are told by the FBI: 18 Million

Today FOX New's source says Up To 30 Million.

Cavuto asks Sen John Bozeman (R) Arkansas "How much can we trust the Govt when they tell us numbers? Are they lying to us or do they just not know?"

Bozeman replies they are simply massively incompetent, saying they have no idea what is on their computer systems, (i.e.) ignorant, sloppy and shoddy.

[Cecil Turner]

The post 9/12 debate was beyond dissappointing.

His biggest problem was personal narrative: class warfare and Romneycare. Neutered him on the two big issues.

That said, I think he was still winning up until Sandy. The late-break from the incumbent didn't happen (and in fact was slightly reversed). I credit that in part to the national crisis making the executive look good (per usual, a stroke of blind lucky timing); and that truly stupid boxing up of care packages video (especially the excerpt at the 1:10 mark). Lousy ground game sealed the deal.

[Dave (in MA)]

NK, he said "in general". That said, he must be cast out for thoughtcrime.

[narciso]

Well stay puft casablanca impression didnt help,

[Captain Hate]

Perhaps we could contract with the PRC for some shipping for our troops if they decide to invade Taiwan.
Wait, that would mean defending an ally. Never mind.

I haven't trusted any President other than Eisenhower, maybe Kennedy, and Reagan to support Taiwan if push came to shove. Maybe GWB would have if Strobe Talbot in a skirt didn't talk him out of it; mercifully we didn't have to put that to the test.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

P Diddy and Snoop Dog's kids on the same team?

UCLA bucking to become the U of Miami of this era?

[Beasts of England]

I'd like to hear Danube's opinion on this matter. And while I could liky guess his general response, he'd offer an insight that few of us here could garner.

[Putin]

Oh yes, we have meetings with the Chinese and the Iranians.

China is suppose to be testing your computer security with help from one of our newest citizens Snowden. We hear he is hero in your country too--I don't quite understand this but then my younger staffers say--"Reddit!" (They love this thing and comment there all day)

We are suppose to be testing your NATO alliances and Iran is doing what they do.

Just between us--we know of a faction inside Iran that keeps trying to sabatoge the Iran deal. They hijacked some ships, that didn't work. They leaked the 15 billion investment in various "war efforts", and that didn't even slow it down. Finally some of the more senior guard said this calls for something old that has always worked-- chant "Death to America!!" but make it extra special and do it in parliament. My people watched all day --didn't even make CNN. On FOX we saw that your Obama people said it has no effect on talks in Vienna, it was then that I realized Iran might have tasked themselves with testing America's collective sanity. (Quite honestly I still have shocked face).

[Captain Hate]

The U had Sean Taylor and Ed Reed in the same defensive backfield; the ThugBruins have two 404 level players with fathers who can stand the sight of them.

[DebinNC]

Future debate prep win have to include the "moderator" pulling a Joe Wilson and yelling, "You lie!!!"

[Captain Hate]

The Iranians haven't flown a Confederate flag.

[daddy]

Jack,

The hung Witch ancestor in Salem is Rebecca Nurse

One of her sisters was also hung, while the 3rd sister beat the rap, but Rebecca is the famous one, and the only one they have any idea of where she is buried. The family dug her up and buried her at her homestead of Salem Village, which is about 7 miles out of the town of Salem. The Visitor Center in the middle of downtown had a decent video on the current understanding of the prime reason for the Witch hysteria, and one of the guys behind the counter had some decent verbal info I didn't find in the brochures.

The Town itself didn't do much for the daughter and I, but the boys will probably like it. We enjoyed getting out of town and seeing Rebecca's surviving home out in Salem Village, since it was pretty much the only ting still existing from that era.

[lyle]

The Iranians haven't criticized Obamacare.

[Captain Hate]

lyle, some Iranian demonstrations have had images of the JEF that would cause the MFM to reconsider their opposition to the death penalty if those had been in a Tea Party rally. The Ferret must have worked overtime to make sure ESPN didn't televise any of it.

[lyle]

One of Insty's guest bloggers quote Tobin:

Merely referencing Obama’s family and his connections to Muslims (or even his middle name Hussein) is considered evidence of prejudice by many of the president’s supporters. But it was particularly egregious of Foxman to claim these words showed Oren was engaging in “conspiracy theories.” But Oren wasn’t claiming the president was a Muslim rather than a Christian or an agent of Islam, as some rabid Obama-haters claim. As a historian, he was merely exploring the president’s own autobiography to see what in his background helped formed a mindset that led him to see an Islamist regime like Iran as a worthy focus of American engagement.

I don't "hate" Precious when I simply observe that his actions are thoroughly consistent with someone who lurves him some Islam and hates Jews and Christians. If some one can proffer a counter example, I'd like to see it.

[Threadkiller]

"US won't prosecute hostages' families who seek to pay ransom to terror groups"

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/23/us-wont-prosecute-hostages-families-who-seek-to-pay-ransom-to-terror-groups/

Now all they need are more hostages.

[narciso]

Oren takes one step too far, who in zaphods social circle is awowedly pro israel, however foxman then takes a leap into the 'sea of monsters,

[narciso]

There's an excerpt in oren's memoir where zaphod decries cut to unesco, saying they support holocaust education?? That was a shirley moment that isnt elaborated,

[Captain Hate]

There's always the "too many Coronas" defense:

http://www.weaselzippers.us/227216-clinton-cash-author-demolishes-hillary-clintons-self-defense/

[narciso]

The removing all doubt is happening fast and furious on rupert pupkin,

[narciso]

Just assume lillian helman test to her remarks, every word including the & and

[Eric in Boise]

Saw that little tidbit on the hostage ransom policy too, TK. This little missive from my friend the Captain seems to apply to just about everything these days, as many have noted.

Just incompetent?
If malevolent what would
He do differently?

Sickening.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/06/hillary_foundering_on_the_uranium_sale.html

[narciso]

The salem brouhaha more resem les events in Charlottesville and Durham than anything else

[NKonChrome]

CH-- schweizer asks:
"In the absence of such answers, Americans are left to believe only one of two potentialities regarding her involvement in the transfer of 20 percent of US uranium to Vladimir Putin: She was either dangerously incompetent or remains deeply dishonest."

Personally I think she is both dangerously incompetent and thoroughly dishonest.

[Captain Hate]

Corrupt, depressed, drunk and surrounded by lunatics is a hell of a combination for a leader, NK.

[NKonChrome]

Sounds like LBJ in 67-68 CH.

[Thomas Collins]

If The Hill wins and takes office in a Woodrow Wilson like state of incapacitation, the battle between Huma Abedin and Bill Clinton for control of the POTUSey will be epic. My $$$$ would be on Huma.

[Captain Hate]

Welp I don't believe in history repeating itself per se, but we're so deep in the shitter that another Reagan is badly needed.

[Captain Hate]

Slick can always be sidetracked by cooch so, yes, Huma is the odds on favorite. That celebrated Presidential scholar, Calypso Louie, called it his "well known weakness" on Meet the Depressed.

[NKonChrome]

ThomasC-- Is Huma natural born?

(I'll see myself out now)

[Threadkiller]

Huma is as natural born as Valerie Jarrett.

[maryrose]

I think the health of Hil and Bill will be a factor
Sanders will rise and Biden may get in the race
Hil will struggle in Iowa and New Hampshire
South Carolina may surprise her also

[Threadkiller]

FBI Files Document Communism in Valerie Jarrett's Family

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/06/fbi-files-document-communism-in-valerie-jarretts-family/

[NKonChrome]

What does Valerie Jarrett have to do with being
POTUS..... hey wait!

[Threadkiller]

TC was talking about controlling the POTUS. I was trying to figure out what Natural Born had to do with that.

[Captain Hate]

Maybe Sally Quinn should chime in:

http://twitchy.com/2015/06/23/how-is-this-not-racist-wapo-gives-airtime-to-blatant-bigotry-about-bobby-jindal/

[henry]

Those Asians succeed without govt help -- their even more privileged than Whites!

[Old Lurker]

Fast track passes the 60 test, huh?

This will not end well.

[Threadkiller]

Was this ths bigoted quote?

“There’s not much Indian left in Bobby Jindal,” 

Let's try that with Cruz:

After renouncing the citizenship as it appeared on his Canadian birth certificate, there's not much Cannuck left in Ted Cruz.

Didn't the Founding Fathers want us to distance ourselves from our other allegiances?* It seems the author of the Jindal quote is trying to make him more like that all-American Taquia Ted.

*strangely naturalized citizens, who legally sever their other allegiances by oath, don't fit the Founders' mold for eligibility. The hint of foriegner is strong with them.

[narciso]

Well suits is back tomorrow, then again so is that occupy series.

[Extraneus]

I never knew Hillary Clinton was once a Walmart board member. What a sick country we live in.

[NKonChrome]

THE CANADIAN MENACE!!!

That old chestnut?

[narciso]

Pearson cross aparently doesnt think is is an issue of concern re an interview in a local publication in April

[narciso]

Thats my line but its@ only to transcanada ventures

[henry]

NK, might force the networks to show hockey games.

[Captain Hate]

A member of the Horde said that Peter King is considering running for President. Is there anybody outside New York that would even consider voting for him?

[Threadkiller]

Cruz has given a maple leaf styled middle finger to his country of origin. I don't think he will get the hockey stick where he wants it.

[Extraneus]

DublinDave's on a roll.

GOP speaker of Mississippi House: Time to get rid of the Confederate symbol here, too

[Extraneus]

Number affected by hack soars to 18M

"I don't believe anyone is personally responsible," OPM Director Katherine Archuleta said Tuesday.

[henry]

Ext, that is the call of the prog... "don't blame me" used whenever a cisnormal hetero cislogical person can't be blamed.

[Captain Hate]

Has Trent Lott said anything dumb about the Confederate Flag yet? He's usually the GOPe's go-to guy for stepping on his johnson in this type of setting.

[GUS]

Without the LIES of BENGHAZI. Obama loses.

[Old Lurker]

And with that statement, Ext, the Progs have reached their highest level of Heaven ( otherwise known as our Hell).

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce was slattering Archuleta, prefacing every invective with "I don't get any pleasure from saying this about a woman but".

[narciso]

It was one april fools day, but that's just another dY ending in y

[Cecil Turner]

"US won't prosecute hostages' families who seek to pay ransom to terror groups"

Nor should they. But Obama went further than that, informing families it was okay to negotiate with terrorists without fear of prosecution . . . which is not okay.

Cavuto asks Sen John Bozeman (R) Arkansas "How much can we trust the Govt when they tell us numbers? Are they lying to us or do they just not know?"

They don't know. And having helped run a couple C2 systems in a former life, I'd observe that there's no way to keep an online database secure from talented hackers. If you don't want it hacked, put it behind the (secure backbone) firewall. Then at least they'll have to get somebody like Chelsea Manning to work for it.

That said, the number of records really doesn't matter. What matters is the few thousand records of sensitive government positions with SSBIs and polygraphs, and all the personal data attached. A foreign intelligence officer's wet dream.

[maryrose]

OL
It is of a piece with Al Gores
No controllingng legal authority
I literally can't wait to see their heads roll if the SC decides the King vs Burwell correctly
Two good articles today
One in Commentary and one by Thomas Sowell

[DebinNC]

Pres. of Louisville FOP pens public letter
Thoughts? Clearly, every LE officer in America should join the FOP asap imo.

[Old Lurker]

Maryrose, I am nervous about KvB. Too many have been assuming the plain words win.

And even if we do win it, GOPe will screw up the fix for sure.

[Threadkiller]

That was the first paragraph of the link Cecil:

WASHINGTON –  In a softening of longstanding policy, the Obama administration will tell families of Americans held by terror groups that they can communicate with captors and even pay ransom without fear of prosecution — part of a broad review of U.S. hostage guidelines that will be released Wednesday.

How do they negotiate a ransom?

[henry]

Cecil, half the problem is they gave full ROOT access to those systems (behind the firewall) to foreign nationals employed by outsourcing firms. That is a management problem, not a technical one. In the private sector, the courts assign blame very quickly to to the executives responsible.

[James D]

Ext @ 3:29

The next question for the (hopefully soon to be former) OPM Director should be:

"If no one is personally responsible, then why are we paying your salary, and the salaries of the people underneath you? Why are you and they employed, if you and they have no responsibility for things that impact 18 million people whose data you are legally required to protect?"

[Cecil Turner]

That was the first paragraph of the link Cecil:

That's what I was referring to. Not prosecuting is laudable mercy to people in an impossible situation. Announcing it in advance is misfeasance.

Cecil, half the problem is they gave full ROOT access to those systems (behind the firewall)

Yep. My point is that it didn't matter . . . they were going to get hacked if anybody serious wanted in. The only way to avoid that is to encrypt the entire system and the backbone it runs on (i.e., whatever the current version of SIPRNET is) . . . and you still have to be careful who you let in the door.

[NKonChrome]

ya see James... there you go using logic and reason again. Jeez, when will you ever stop these microaggressions against wise latinas and government officials?

[lyle]

GOPe Senate just sold the country down the river ob trade.

[lyle]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/245798-obama-laments-distorted-impression-of-muslims

I lament his distortion.

[lyle]

And in the "Surprise To No One" dept.:

https://stream.org/scientific-pantheist-who-advises-pope-francis/

[lyle]

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2015/06/is-obama-supporting-shiite-isis.html

Here's some non-distortion, Barry

[Dave (in MA)]

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/boston-ma/02108/weather-forecast/348735

Tornado Watch
Tornado Watch in effect until 11:00 PM EDT. Source: U.S. National Weather Service

[lyle]

AmSpec's, Emily Zanotti with your daily emetic:

Back when she first announced that she was running for President, Hillary Clinton made such a big deal of opening an office in Brooklyn that most people thought she’d jettison the pantsuits for some high-waisted Jorts and a crop top from Urban Outfitters. Here was a candidate of yesterday, so tained with the scent of the 1990s that her very presence reminded everyone of padded headbands and Seinfeld, openly embracing the new hipsterdom of organic, fair trade, vegan coffee bars and food trucks run by people who use their profits for mustache wax. A miracle!

[MarkO]

If I recall, the fascists were clear that their railroads would run on time.

This, just in from inside the Brady Hearing:

The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. `Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round.

`I'll fetch the executioner myself,' said the King eagerly, and he hurried off.

`Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

`No, no!' said the Queen. `Sentence first--verdict afterwards.'

http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports/newengland/football/patriots/2015/06/23/new-memo-unearthed-by-espn-refutes-nfl-claim-tom-brady-would-have-unlimited-defense-time/

[Jane]

On my dark sky it looks like Maine and NH are worse off then we are. I had to talk Amy out of her basement at 11:00 this morning, and I'm hoping it will miss us.

[Jack in Bah'sten]

daddy,

Thanks. We are only doing the museum on our way out to Hanover. But having the name will be helpful in having the boys surprise the doyens with their question about Rebecca:)

CT,hp

I count 10 CVN's active at sea or in port or finishing heavy overhaul. The CVN78 Ford gets commisioned this year I believe. Of the ten, I have the Washington in the Sea of Japan to be replaced by the Reagan sometime this summer. The Vinson is in the Arabian Gulf and the Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea - I imagine they mix it up pretty much over there. The Bush, Stennis and Ike are in some coming and going status of certification or operations quals or port duty. Reagan either on the way or getting ready. Truman in Port Norfolk, Mimitz in Bremerton for another year? Lincoln has been out for close to 2 years for major overhaul but returns in 2016.

So we have basically 3 out of 10 at sea with the Reagan to join them but only as a replacement. At present we are only able to utilize 33% of our Carrier strength. Numbers are from April so there could be changes since then.

[NKonChrome]

CecilT-- if a gov't official has an impossible job to accomplish, it is their duty to resign and come clean. Don't lie to us about records being secure.

[lyle]

You're such a dreamer, NK.