Daily Archives: Sept. 16, 2012

Pompeo chose poor time for partisan rant

Sept. 16, 20126:01 a.m.

Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran released aptly somber, nonpolitical statements after the killings of U.S. diplomats in Libya. Then there was U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, whose Thursday statement started out similarly but veered into shameless and tone-deaf partisan rhetoric that linked the attacks to the president’s “Carter-like” lack of “resolve and leadership.” Pompeo said: “The lessons from 1979 have been lost on this administration. It is not difficult to understand that our enemies see a green light to attack us when American leaders apologize and express moral equivalence between those who obey the rule of law and those who plot to destroy our country.” He also called Obama’s public response to the attacks “feckless,” finding the president insufficiently tough on the Egyptian government. “It is clearer today than ever before that the president’s foreign policy is fraught with failed leadership. Our military, Foreign Service and nation deserve better,” Pompeo concluded. Pompeo’s feelings about Obama are no secret, but his timing and tone were off and unproductive.

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Congress, Foreign affairs, Kansas delegation | Comments Off

Romney has Brownback-like plans for arts funding

Sept. 16, 20126:00 a.m.

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has Brownback-like plans for the arts. Asked by Fortune recently about his targets for spending cuts, Romney listed “various subsidy programs” he would eliminate: “the Amtrak subsidy, the PBS subsidy, the subsidy for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS, I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to stand on their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf.” But as the Washington Post noted, “in fiscal year 2012, the federal government spent $1.42 billion on Amtrak, $444 million on PBS, and $146 million on the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities. Getting rid of all these subsidies would have saved the government about $2 billion this year – chump change relative to the scale of cuts that Romney wants.”

By Rhonda Holman | Filed under Presidential race | Comments Off