Harry Reid keeping it classy

[caradoc]

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/03/19/harry-reid-links-marine-deaths-to-sequestration/

Harry Reid links Marine deaths to sequestration
The Marines immediately issued an indefinite moratorium on firing of all such mortars worldwide until an investigation clears as safe the type of weapon and ammunition in the tragedy. The moratorium could last for weeks or months.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity said it was not immediately clear whether the mortar exploded prematurely inside its firing tube or whether more than a single round exploded......
Ah, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid already knows the true culprit: sequestration.  Courtesy of RealClearPolitics, here’s what he said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning:
....
HARRY REID: As I indicated, it was quite a big explosion. We’ll follow this news very closely. I will do whatever I can going forward to support the United States military and the families of the fallen Marines.

Mr. President, it’s very important we continue training our military, so important. But one of the things in sequester is we cut back in training and maintenance. That’s the way sequester was written.


It's disgusting.  Obama and his pals are so desperate to make this tiny spending cut seem as painful as possible they're even willing to dance on the graves to accomplish that goal.  I imagine the recent asteroid flyby's were due to the sequester too.  Oh, wait, that was global warming:
http://now.msn.com/deb-feyerick-cnn-anchor-seems-to-link-global-warming-and-asteroids

[Morgan]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

But for Reid to use this incident only a few hours afterward for his own political purposes is disgusting.

[CBWx2]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

But for Reid to use this incident only a few hours afterward for his own political purposes is disgusting.

Translation: It's possible that he was right, but he just shouldn't have said it.

Makes perfect sense... 

[BucfanNC12]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

Please stop.

[Morgan]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

But for Reid to use this incident only a few hours afterward for his own political purposes is disgusting.

Translation: It's possible that he was right, but he just shouldn't have said it.

Makes perfect sense... 

there's a time and a place to say it - but I wouldn't expect you to make sense out of that

[Morgan]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

Please stop.

Hopefully we won't see this happen

[Biggs3535]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

But for Reid to use this incident only a few hours afterward for his own political purposes is disgusting.

Translation: It's possible that he was right

lolz

[spartan]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

But for Reid to use this incident only a few hours afterward for his own political purposes is disgusting.

Translation: It's possible that he was right, but he just shouldn't have said it.

Makes perfect sense... 

The Marines don't think so:

"NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports: Now I can tell you, Marine Corps officials this afternoon are taking a strong exception to what Harry Reid implied. Saying that this exercise, for example, was planned well in advance, had nothing to do with the budget cuts. There were no corners cut, and if they couldn't afford to have all the safety precautions into place, they wouldn't do the exercise.

And in fact, one Marine Corps official told us a short time ago that he considers this nothing but pure political posturing on the backs of these dead Marines."

And I am betting the grand total of Govt Employees currently on furlough a week after sequestration is the grand total of zero.

[CBWx2]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

But for Reid to use this incident only a few hours afterward for his own political purposes is disgusting.

Translation: It's possible that he was right, but he just shouldn't have said it.

Makes perfect sense... 

The Marines don't think so:

"NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports: Now I can tell you, Marine Corps officials this afternoon are taking a strong exception to what Harry Reid implied. Saying that this exercise, for example, was planned well in advance, had nothing to do with the budget cuts. There were no corners cut, and if they couldn't afford to have all the safety precautions into place, they wouldn't do the exercise.

And in fact, one Marine Corps official told us a short time ago that he considers this nothing but pure political posturing on the backs of these dead Marines."

Jim Miklaszewski apparently overreached in his comments:

UPDATE: 8:40 p.m. -- Marine spokesman at the Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told The Huffington Post that the comments from the unnamed Marine official cited in the NBC report "are unsubstantiated and certainly do not reflect the Marine Corps' position on this matter."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/harry-reid-sequestration_n_2909706.html

BTW, I wasn't saying Reid was right, I was merely commenting on the logic of Morgan's statement.

In truth, the premise of this thread is based on a politically motivated hit job from a right wing hack that purposely read more into Reid's comments than his actual words suggest he meant.

He was basically saying that the sequester could lead to issues with training and maintenance that, if left unresolved, could lead to similar situations arising in the future. He never said word one even remotely blaming the event that took place on the sequester. So basically, the author manufactured it, and you guys ran with it.

[BucfanNC12]

We have thousands of Federal employees who support the military mission that are being placed on unpaid leave due to the budget sequestration.  It's very possible that this tragedy and others would be prevented if they were at work.

Please stop.

Hopefully we won't see this happen

[spartan]

Jim Miklaszewski apparently overreached in his comments:

UPDATE: 8:40 p.m. -- Marine spokesman at the Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told The Huffington Post that the comments from the unnamed Marine official cited in the NBC report "are unsubstantiated and certainly do not reflect the Marine Corps' position on this matter."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/harry-reid-sequestration_n_2909706.html

BTW, I wasn't saying Reid was right, I was merely commenting on the logic of Morgan's statement.

In truth, the premise of this thread is based on a politically motivated hit job from a right wing hack that purposely read more into Reid's comments than his actual words suggest he meant.

He was basically saying that the sequester could lead to issues with training and maintenance that, if left unresolved, could lead to similar situations arising in the future. He never said word one even remotely blaming the event that took place on the sequester. So basically, the author manufactured it, and you guys ran with it.

I am thinking this is more along the lines of "not authorized to speak on the matter" than over-reaching.

I observe that you have been pretty keen on cuts to the Military, and by a lot more than being imposed by the sequester, so I don't think your argument holds credence. Plus, I think the point was that sequester had nothing to do with this incident, so to use it to make a political point, on the morning the event occurred doesn't say much for Harry Reids moral fortitude.

[John Galt?]

I didn't know Harry Reid had any "moral fortitude"

[CBWx2]

Jim Miklaszewski apparently overreached in his comments:

UPDATE: 8:40 p.m. -- Marine spokesman at the Pentagon Lt. Col. Chris Hughes told The Huffington Post that the comments from the unnamed Marine official cited in the NBC report "are unsubstantiated and certainly do not reflect the Marine Corps' position on this matter."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/harry-reid-sequestration_n_2909706.html

BTW, I wasn't saying Reid was right, I was merely commenting on the logic of Morgan's statement.

In truth, the premise of this thread is based on a politically motivated hit job from a right wing hack that purposely read more into Reid's comments than his actual words suggest he meant.

He was basically saying that the sequester could lead to issues with training and maintenance that, if left unresolved, could lead to similar situations arising in the future. He never said word one even remotely blaming the event that took place on the sequester. So basically, the author manufactured it, and you guys ran with it.

I am thinking this is more along the lines of "not authorized to speak on the matter" than over-reaching.

I'd say that saying his comments were "unsubstantiated and certainly do not reflect the Marine Corps' position on this matter" is more of a repudiation than simply saying he wasn't authorized to comment.

I observe that you have been pretty keen on cuts to the Military, and by a lot more than being imposed by the sequester, so I don't think your argument holds credence.

You are correct about my position on the military industrial complex. My problem with the sequester isn't that it cuts the military. It's it's timing and implementation. The sequester doesn't just cut the funding of new tanks, bombs, etc. The sequester also cuts specific programs and military functions, such as the ones that Reid was commenting on. While I support military cuts, I don't support cutting those specific things, nor do I support it during a time when our economy is struggling to recover from a recession. It's stupid, clumsy, and ill-timed.

Plus, I think the point was that sequester had nothing to do with this incident, so to use it to make a political point, on the morning the event occurred doesn't say much for Harry Reids moral fortitude.

I'm not particularly fond of Harry Reid myself, but the point of this thread was to imply that Reid blamed the event on the sequester, which he never did. An ill-advised tie-in? Sure. But did he say anything about the sequester being the root cause of the death of 7 Marines? Not in the slightest way did he say that.

[spartan]

I don't think he blamed the sequester, but it was tasteless to bring it up.

[Morgan]

He brought the topic up while speaking about the accident - so I seems that he's linking the two.