The use of the term “French tanker” by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, rankles more than the French. The “flag-waving” plays well politically, noted Mobile (Ala.) Press-Register columnist George Talbot. “But consider that its chief end is to prevent Airbus and its American partner, Northrop Grumman Corp., from investing $600 million in a new U.S. assembly plant. . . . Ultimately, the problem is not that the tanker contract would be a jobs program for European workers, as Tiahrt asserted. It’s that the jobs would be located in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi instead of Washington state and Kansas. The next time Tiahrt and other pro-Boeing backers argue that Alabama isn’t part of the U.S., remember that the state and its Deep South neighbors send an outsized number of young men and women into military service. And that the region, improbably, is leading the U.S. out of a recession that has crippled domestic manufacturers across the Rust Belt.”
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15 Comments
Tiahrt probably has a difficult time finding Kansas anymore, being as he’s now bought and paid for by his beltway darlings.
Todd Tiahrt knows where Alabama is.
Todd Tiahrt wrote and received $2.2 million dollars in earmarks for Radiance Technologies, locate in Huntsville.
Todd Tiahrt also received at least $28,700 from Radiance Technologies and from his former aid, Bill Ayers who lobbies for Radiance Technologies thru his Legislative Initiatives LLC .
Why do I have a suspicion that American taxpayers are going to be the losers what ever way this tanker contract is awarded?
Is there a third alternative, or fourth, to build this refueling tanker, if it is truly needed, to avoid soaking taxpayers for this questionable monstrosity of a project.
How about spending the same amount of money for building a national AMTRAK network including a major middle of America stratoliner railroad station in Wichita’s historic downtown Union Railroad Terminal.
Of course, Tiahrt, a South Dakota engineering school dropout, wouldn’t think of this.
How would trains help refuel airborn planes?
The point of the article? That our Kansas representative should not doing his best to bring jobs to Kansas?
And as I recall, during the presidential campaign McCain caught hell here for messing with the Boeing tanker deal, which benefited the French company (Airbus). Now, Tiahrt catches it for supporting Boeing, “flag waving” and calling a French company French?
Question: How many sides is the Eagle gonna take on this issue? Answer: Apparently, any side that tweaks Republicans.
Behind the face of Tiahrt, and the jackass from South Carolina (Joe Wilson not Gov. Sanford) behind the angry old white faces at the tea parties and town halls, behind the angry old faces of Glenn Beck, Dick Armey and Sam Brownback, behind Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, we see the faces of Charles and David Koch, Koch Industries and the Koch Family Foundations.
It’s not that complicated.
Just follow the money.
Obama is going to bring World Peace and eliminate all nuclear weapons.
So why do we need a new tanker jet?
You are such a flip flopper Rhonda. You want Tiahrt to bring home the Boeing jobs Kansas and then you right an article opposing Tiahrt bringing home the Boeing jobs to Kansas and Wichita.
Not to mention the money going to small machine shops that contract with Boeing.
You cannot have it both ways. Make up your mind.
You either support Kansas and Wichit or you don’t.
I understand the Kochs want to fight to keep every dollar, i.e. not pay taxes, but holy cow! At least let them show their own faces instead of Dick Armey’s and Tanker Todd’s.
I see Rhonda’s point that the simple-minded cartoon rhetoric that Todd Tiahrt spouts to appeal to his supporters overly simplifies issues to the point where rationality disappears entirely.
Like his ridiculous, pandering, town hall tactic of asking “Hold up your hand if you want more government interference in your health care.”
He plays his constituents like we are rubes at a carnival.
If one bothers to read Rhonda’s linked article:
That might be convenient for Boeing, allowing it to capture the $40 billion order without a fight. But it could hardly be considered a good deal for American taxpayers or the military, who stand to benefit from competition.
Boeing backer and U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., led the protectionist charge, saying that the “French tanker” should be disqualified from the contest.
Boeing, of course, is a multinational corporation with a Chicago mailing address – and a global player that has outsourced thousands of manufacturing jobs over the past decade.
Airbus & Boeing are both big evil corporations.
They should both be taken over and run by Government.
The WTO finally ruled on a decades old charge that Airbus received hundreds of billions in illegal subsidies. It is not fair to boeing to compete from such a disadvantage on a defense project that tips the scale to the govt. subsidized industry. Airbus should not be allowed to compete.
when you can find Airbus on the NY Stock Exchange, I will agree it is an American company. Until then, US taxpayer dollars—especially for US military– should stay in this country.
Maybe we would be better off if we don’t fly our planes so far from home that they need mid-air refueling.