Paul Ryan Says He ‘Really Misspoke’ in Calling Military Budget ‘Smoke and Mirrors’
- Posted on April 1, 2012 at 4:18pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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CNN
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Sunday said he “misspoke” when he accused Pentagon generals this past week of not being truthful to Congress about their budgetary needs amid deficit reduction measures.
Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said during an event Thursday: “We don’t think the generals are giving us their true advice….I think there’s a lot of budget smoke and mirrors in the Pentagon’s budget.”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey responded by saying he stood by his testimony on the Pentagon’s spending request, the Washington Post reported.
“I really misspoke, to be candid with you,” Ryan said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about his comments. “I didn’t mean to make that kind of an impression. So, I was clumsy in how I was describing the point I was trying to make.”
He said he’s spoken with Dempsey to clarify what he meant, which was that the Pentagon should not have had to conform to the budget number presented by the White House, and that it should have been reversed.
“What I was attempting to say is, President Obama put out his budget number for the Pentagon first, $500 billion dollar cut, and then they began the strategy review to conform the budget to meet that number. We think it should have been the other way around,” Ryan said.
Ryan reiterated the “misspoke” explanation on ABC’s “This Week.”
Watch below, via CNN. Ryan’s comments about the generals begin at the 5:40 mark:
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DeOppressoLiber
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 10:45amGeneral Dempsey you are in a very tough spot please do not MANAGE but LEAD. Read Napoleon Maxim LXXII, Gen. McMaster’s Dereliction Of Duty. and Col. John Boyd’s To Be or To Do.
Report Post »“Tiger, one day you will come to a fork in the road,” he said. “And you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go.” He raised his hand and pointed. “If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.”Then Boyd raised his other hand and pointed another direction. “Or you can go that way and you can do something – something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide you want to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference.”He paused and stared into the officer’s eyes and heart. “To be somebody or to do something.” In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision. To BE or TO DO. Which way will you go?” ~COL John Boyd
Robert999
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 10:40pmRyan made the mistake of telling the truth. The top generals do what Obama tells them because all they care about are their promotions and their pensions. We need a military stronger than the next 3 combined, plus the ability to fight the War on Terror. No matter what the expense, we must bear it, except without increasing taxes.
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 10:03amSome how, I think he was more correct than he was ‘wrong.’
Report Post »resme
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 4:31pmLmfao, Are you high? Where will this money come from?
Report Post »Trading_barracuda
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 8:45pmAnother flipper.
Have you ever heard Ron Paul change his story?
Never.
Satantorum changes his every 60 seconds. Sometimes in the very same sentence.
It’s disgusting.
Report Post »usedCZARsalesman
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 8:58pmId take Paul Ryan any day over the INSANE foreign policy of Ron Paul. They are both equally fiscally sound, but at least Ryan would keep out military strong enough to defend the Islamic extremism that will try to kill us no matter if we are in the middle east or not. Anyone that thinks we should shut down the vast majority of our foreign bases are certifiable
Report Post »BehindBlueEyes
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 9:33pmRon Paul would make a good secretary of the treasury. I agree, Ron Paul’s foreign policy is a show stopper.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 10:35pmYou can see the extreme slant here by what is and is not said in the lede. Here are the relevant comments:
“We don’t think the generals are giving us their true advice. We don’t think the generals believe that their budget is really the right budget,” Rep. Ryan said at a budget summit held in Washington by the National Journal magazine. “I think there’s a lot of budget smoke and mirrors in the Pentagon’s budget.”
Gen. Dempsey, the military’s top officer, took sharp exception to the chairman’s comments.
“There’s a difference between having someone say they don’t believe what you said versus … calling us, collectively, liars,” Gen. Dempsey told reporters aboard a U.S. military aircraft after a four day visit to Latin America. ”My response is: I stand by my testimony. This was very much a strategy-driven process to which we mapped the budget.”
Gen. Dempsey said the budget “was a collaborative effort” among the top officers of the military branches as well as combat leaders.
So Paul Ryan called America’s top leaders liars. They called him out on that. So, suddenly he “misspoke.” No he didn’t misspeak, he just made up stuff and got called out for it by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Oops, I guess his lies got the attention of the wrong people, which would not include the people on this website, but did include to top brass.
I don’t expect any better of Republicans though, so this kind of stuff is no sh
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 11:32pmThree words, “ZERO BASED BUDGETING”
You first agree on objectives. Then, those
Objectives determine needs. The needs determine the budget.
Or, you can be like Congress and just give everybody 10% more than last year and let them do as they please. As long as they were good and spent all our money last year, they will get a full budget increase. In private business, the budget runs out toward the end of the year, and you make do until the beginning of the year (new budget). In government, as the year end approaches, you rush out and spend all your remaining budget so you can justify your increase next year.
What do you say we pay our representatives based on how LITTLE they spend. If your congressman is part of a congress that CUTS our budget and deficit by more than 10% in a congress, they get a million dollar bonus! But they had to vote for the budget cuts. If they do not, they get minimum wage.
Or, you can be like democrat people like Scary Reid who just doesn’t pass a budget for 1069 days (3 years).
Report Post »Marine25
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 9:34amI don’t want policy and legislation based upon the greed of the legislators. Constitution is pretty clear on that too.
Report Post »resme
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 4:33pmPaul ryan is far from fiscal conservative, Balanced budget in 30 years niceeeee….
Rand Paul balanced budget in 3 years.
Report Post »G.E.R
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 5:47pmThis guy is a putz
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 6:02pmRYAN can do no wrong. I understand him. WHat the H. is the President TELLING the Pentagon what their budget should be in the first place??? He doesn’t know enough to come in out of the rain OR (big OR) he’s trying to dismantle the US of A for our enemies, his bosses, anyway. The Pentagon SHOULD say this is what we need and let CONGRESS oversee it…if it’s out of reach, then CONGRESS works with PENTAGON…not this dope we have for a PRESIDENT. BUT hey, Congress can‘t come up with a budget in over 3 years so they might not be able to and Obama’s Budget is so LOUSY that it’s totally voted down.
WE
NEED
A
REAL
LEADER.
I hope it’s ROMNEY/RUBIO for 2012!!!
Report Post »Robert999
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 10:43pm@PATTY, Rubio can’t be VP (or president) because he isn’t a natural born citizen. His parents became citizens 4 years after he was born.
Report Post »Marine25
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 2:50pm@Robert999
Report Post »Rubio is a natural born citizen according to the Constitution. For the same reason Obama is, and for the same reason most of us are; he was born in the United States. Please stop letting Orly and Sherriff Joe fill your head with all that birther crap.
Steverino
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 5:32pmI like this guy.
Report Post »Steve
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 5:16pmUnder Kaiser Obama and Panetta the military forces will be stretched, bent and broken until the nation is nothing more than a defenseless, fourth rate power.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 5:14pmRyan & Rand Paul ; now that would be a presidential ticket either way..
Report Post »HKS
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 4:50pmMaybe not, that budget pays for every favor in Washington. So technically it’s correct.
Report Post »Tamminator
Posted on April 1, 2012 at 4:27pmPaul Ryan, will YOU run for President? Pretty please?
Report Post »Marine25
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 2:46pmRyan calls the Joint Chiefs liars and people call for him to run? What a sad place the GOP is in.
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