John McCain was against Future Combat Systems before he was for criticizing Barack Obama for being against it
As I noted yesterday, the McCain campaign has been dinging Barack Obama for proposing a slowdown in funds for Future Combat Systems, the Army’s $200 billion modernization program. Well, the indefatigable Noah Shachtman has kept digging, and he’s found a doozy. John McCain’s top economic advisor, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, submitted a budget plan to the Washington ...
As I noted yesterday, the McCain campaign has been dinging Barack Obama for proposing a slowdown in funds for Future Combat Systems, the Army's $200 billion modernization program.
As I noted yesterday, the McCain campaign has been dinging Barack Obama for proposing a slowdown in funds for Future Combat Systems, the Army’s $200 billion modernization program.
Well, the indefatigable Noah Shachtman has kept digging, and he’s found a doozy. John McCain’s top economic advisor, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, submitted a budget plan to the Washington Post‘s editorial board in July. In it, the McCain campaign says it will eliminate — not slow — FCS entirely:
Balance the budget requires slowing outlay growth to 2.4 percent. The roughly $470 billion dollars (by 2013) in slower spending growth come from reduced deployments abroad ($150 billion; consistent with success in Iraq/Afghanistan that permits deployments to be cut by half — hopefully more), slower discretionary spending in non-defense and Pentagon procurements ($160 billion; there are lots of procurements — airborne laser, Globemaster, Future Combat System — that should be ended and the entire Pentagon budget should be scrubbed).
Whoops. Shactman comments:
McCain aides are privately furious about the contradiction, I’m hearing. But there’s been no official comment, so far, about the mix-up.
More from Foreign Policy

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America
The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense
If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War
Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests
And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.