Shelby: If I Don't Get Pork, the Terrorists Win

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Do you think the tea party is going to put his head on a stake, or are they going to conveniently ignore his transgressions.

Judging from the reactions here by some of our resident RWN's, I'd say the latter.

[Pooky 3,792]

"Sen. Shelby has placed holds on several pending nominees due to unaddressed national security concerns," Shelby spokesperson Jonathan Graffeo said in a statement.

And in this case, "unaddressed national security concerns" can be roughly translated to mean "defense earmarks for Alabama."

Or, it could mean the games being played over the USAF tanker contract, which is now in its third iteration thanks to the games being played by politicians and Boeing.

In its first go around, Boeing won the competitive bid, only for the whole thing to be scrapped due to irregularities on the part of Boeing and the fact they were hit with a $615m fine by the US government.

In its second go around, the Airbus proposal won the competitive bid, only for Boeing to lodge a complaint, upheld in Washington, that got the whole bid process knocked back to square one.

Now in its third go around, and with a specification written by a politician and not by the USAF based on their requirements, Airbus understands clearly which way the bid will go, regardless that they have the better proposal for the needs of the USAF, so they are prepared to pull out of the bidding to avoid throwing good money after bad.

The irony of the situation is that not only did the Airbus proposal have more US content than Boeing's, but Airbus had committed, if they had been awarded the contract, to assemble all of their A330F freighter and tanker aircraft at a purpose built plant in Alabama, thus bringing jobs to the area in large numbers. Unlike Nebraska, this has a little more to it than a simple pay-off for votes.

Maybe Senator Shelby has a point after all.

[scandal 951]

Shelby voted against Bernanke's reconfirmation hearing. Just saying.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Or, it could mean the games being played over the USAF tanker contract, which is now in its third iteration thanks to the games being played by politicians and Boeing.

In its first go around, Boeing won the competitive bid, only for the whole thing to be scrapped due to irregularities on the part of Boeing and the fact they were hit with a $615m fine by the US government.

In its second go around, the Airbus proposal won the competitive bid, only for Boeing to lodge a complaint, upheld in Washington, that got the whole bid process knocked back to square one.

Now in its third go around, and with a specification written by a politician and not by the USAF based on their requirements, Airbus understands clearly which way the bid will go, regardless that they have the better proposal for the needs of the USAF, so they are prepared to pull out of the bidding to avoid throwing good money after bad.

The irony of the situation is that not only did the Airbus proposal have more US content than Boeing's, but Airbus had committed, if they had been awarded the contract, to assemble all of their A330F freighter and tanker aircraft at a purpose built plant in Alabama, thus bringing jobs to the area in large numbers. Unlike Nebraska, this has a little more to it than a simple pay-off for votes.

Maybe Senator Shelby has a point after all.

Ok, so let's say you are in a particular department of a larger business. You are hoping to land a big contract, but the exec's have their reservations on it. In the meantime, the exec's are waiting for you to finish interviewing some potential new hires so they can fill those positions. Are you going to tell the exec's that you won't move forward with the new hires until you get your pet project approved? What a way to run a business.

[Pooky 3,792]

Ok, so let's say you are in a particular department of a larger business. You are hoping to land a big contract, but the exec's have their reservations on it. In the meantime, the exec's are waiting for you to finish interviewing some potential new hires so they can fill those positions. Are you going to tell the exec's that you won't move forward with the new hires until you get your pet project approved? What a way to run a business.

Total BS. The USAF tanker contract is nothing like the imaginary situation you put forward. For starters, it's a real-life fustercluck that is putting strain on the USAF's capabilities and putting lives at risk.

You don't stall a contract like that for 10 years, all the time letting your existing 50 year-old tanker fleet (yes, 50 year-old) get closer to their airframe life limit, all the time playing politics to make sure the plane that replaces them has an American name, if not American content.

Shelby is pushing to bring a new employer and skilled jobs to his constituency and, as a sidebar, kick the US government of whatever shade it may be, to give the USAF what it needs (desperately).

Why not stick to real life for your analogies? There are always more shades of grey there than the black and white of your imagination.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Total BS. The USAF tanker contract is nothing like the imaginary situation you put forward. For starters, it's a real-life fustercluck that is putting strain on the USAF's capabilities and putting lives at risk.

You don't stall a contract like that for 10 years, all the time letting your existing 50 year-old tanker fleet (yes, 50 year-old) get closer to their airframe life limit, all the time playing politics to make sure the plane that replaces them has an American name, if not American content.

Shelby is pushing to bring a new employer and skilled jobs to his constituency and, as a sidebar, kick the US government of whatever shade it may be, to give the USAF what it needs (desperately).

Why not stick to real life for your analogies? There are always more shades of grey there than the black and white of your imagination.

Oh, so then he obstructed Bush appointees over this personal cause he's championed for 10 years? Hmmm? Hmmm? Fail, Pooks...major fail.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Recess appointments made by President George W. Bush

• A. Paul Anderson to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner August 22, 2003. [1]
  
• Michael J. Bartlett to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [2]
  
• Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December 2006. [3]
  
• Andrew G. Biggs was named to be Deputy Director of the Social Security Administration April 4, 2007.
  
• John R. Bolton as U.N. Ambassador in August 2005, after having been blocked by the Senate. Bolton was Bush's 106th recess appointment. (FSRN 1 Aug '05)
  
• William B. Cowen to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [4]
  
• Susan E. Dudley to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 4, 2007.
  
• Eric S. Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy to replace Douglas Feith in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon. "Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Carl Levin of Michigan, their ranking member, stalled Edelman's nomination to force the release of documents related to a specialized intelligence unit Feith set up before the conflict." [5]
  
• Gordon R. England to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 4, 2006. [6]
  
• Alice S. Fisher to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, after the "nomination stalled over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility." [7]
  
• David W. Fleming to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Public) August 22, 2003. [8]
  
• Peter Flory as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, after having been blocked by the Senate. [9]
  
• Sam Fox was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenifotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium on April 4, 2007.
  
• Cynthia A. Glassman to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. [10]
  
• C. Boyden Gray to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary January 17, 2006.
  
• Jay Phillip Greene to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [11]
  
• Floyd Hall to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Hall was appointed in a recess appointment. [12]
  
• Tracy A. Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. [13]
  
• Isacc C. Hunt, Jr. [14] to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. [15]
  
• JoAnn Johnson to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002. [16]
  
• Peter N. Kirsanow to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [17]
  
• Charlotte A. Lane to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. She was nominated on June 7, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [18]
  
• Robert D. Lenhard to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [19]
  
• Deborah Matz to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002.
  
• Ronald E. Meisburg to be General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [20]
  
• Steven Kent Mullins to be United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota, vice James E. McMahon, January 9, 2006. [21]
  
• Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement), January 4, 2006. [22]
  
• Daniel Pearson to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. He was nominated on November 14, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [23]
  
• John Richard Petrocik to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [24]
  
• Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to Federal Appeals Court January 17, 2004, from which he had been blocked twice by the Senate. [25][26]
  
• Daniel Pipes to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace August 22, 2003. [27]
  
• Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 4, 2006. [28]
  
• Anthony J. Principi as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, as well as eight members of the Commission, April 1, 2005.
  
• William H. Pryor, Jr. to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals February 20, 2004, "in the face of a Democratic filibuster of the nomination." [29][30]
  
• Otto Juan Reich to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 11, 2002. [31]
  
• Ellen R. Sauerbrey to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration), January 4, 2006. [32]
  
• Eugene Scalia to Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor January 11, 2002.
  
• Peter C. Schaumber to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on August 27, 2010. [33]
  
• Dorrance Smith to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, January 4, 2006. [34]
  
• Enrique J. Sosa to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Sosa was appointed in a recess appointment. [35]
  
• Michael E. Toner to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission March 29, 2002, for the remainder of a term expiring April 30, 2007; first announced November 21, 2001, and nomination sent to Senate March 4, 2002. [36]
  
• Juanita Alicia Vasquez-Gardner to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. She was nominated on July 24, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [37]
  
• Hans von Spakovsky to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [38]
  
• Dennis P. Walsh to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 17, 2006.
  
• Steven T. Walther to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [39]
  
• John Paul Woodley, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) August 22, 2003. [40]
  

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Edited February 6, 2010 by Galt's gallstones

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Recess appointments made by President George W. Bush

• A. Paul Anderson to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner August 22, 2003. [1]
  
• Michael J. Bartlett to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [2]
  
• Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December 2006. [3]
  
• Andrew G. Biggs was named to be Deputy Director of the Social Security Administration April 4, 2007.
  
• John R. Bolton as U.N. Ambassador in August 2005, after having been blocked by the Senate. Bolton was Bush's 106th recess appointment. (FSRN 1 Aug '05)
  
• William B. Cowen to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [4]
  
• Susan E. Dudley to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 4, 2007.
  
• Eric S. Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy to replace Douglas Feith in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon. "Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Carl Levin of Michigan, their ranking member, stalled Edelman's nomination to force the release of documents related to a specialized intelligence unit Feith set up before the conflict." [5]
  
• Gordon R. England to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 4, 2006. [6]
  
• Alice S. Fisher to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, after the "nomination stalled over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility." [7]
  
• David W. Fleming to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Public) August 22, 2003. [8]
  
• Peter Flory as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, after having been blocked by the Senate. [9]
  
• Sam Fox was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenifotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium on April 4, 2007.
  
• Cynthia A. Glassman to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. [10]
  
• C. Boyden Gray to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary January 17, 2006.
  
• Jay Phillip Greene to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [11]
  
• Floyd Hall to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Hall was appointed in a recess appointment. [12]
  
• Tracy A. Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. [13]
  
• Isacc C. Hunt, Jr. [14] to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. [15]
  
• JoAnn Johnson to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002. [16]
  
• Peter N. Kirsanow to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [17]
  
• Charlotte A. Lane to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. She was nominated on June 7, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [18]
  
• Robert D. Lenhard to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [19]
  
• Deborah Matz to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002.
  
• Ronald E. Meisburg to be General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [20]
  
• Steven Kent Mullins to be United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota, vice James E. McMahon, January 9, 2006. [21]
  
• Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement), January 4, 2006. [22]
  
• Daniel Pearson to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. He was nominated on November 14, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [23]
  
• John Richard Petrocik to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [24]
  
• Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to Federal Appeals Court January 17, 2004, from which he had been blocked twice by the Senate. [25][26]
  
• Daniel Pipes to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace August 22, 2003. [27]
  
• Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 4, 2006. [28]
  
• Anthony J. Principi as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, as well as eight members of the Commission, April 1, 2005.
  
• William H. Pryor, Jr. to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals February 20, 2004, "in the face of a Democratic filibuster of the nomination." [29][30]
  
• Otto Juan Reich to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 11, 2002. [31]
  
• Ellen R. Sauerbrey to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration), January 4, 2006. [32]
  
• Eugene Scalia to Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor January 11, 2002.
  
• Peter C. Schaumber to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on August 27, 2010. [33]
  
• Dorrance Smith to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, January 4, 2006. [34]
  
• Enrique J. Sosa to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Sosa was appointed in a recess appointment. [35]
  
• Michael E. Toner to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission March 29, 2002, for the remainder of a term expiring April 30, 2007; first announced November 21, 2001, and nomination sent to Senate March 4, 2002. [36]
  
• Juanita Alicia Vasquez-Gardner to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. She was nominated on July 24, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [37]
  
• Hans von Spakovsky to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [38]
  
• Dennis P. Walsh to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 17, 2006.
  
• Steven T. Walther to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [39]
  
• John Paul Woodley, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) August 22, 2003. [40]
  

link

So, do you make any money being a shill for Think Progress. et al?

[Pooky 3,792]

Oh, so then he obstructed Bush appointees over this personal cause he's championed for 10 years? Hmmm? Hmmm? Fail, Pooks...major fail.

You are obviously incapable of accepting any argument that someone other than a Democrat can have a worthwhile cause, so I'll lay it out plainly, just so you can understand why your last comment was so utterly flawed.

For the latest RFP, written at the start of 2009, the specification for the contract has been written in such a way that Airbus considers it has no chance of being competitive, despite being the preferred bidder of the USAF last time around. Sen. Shelby is fully aware of the politics in play, and the obvious desire in Washington to keep a Boeing name on the plane that gets chosen, despite the content and jobs issue. So he does his level best to put pressure where he can to benefit his constituents and try to level the playing field (again). In other words, he does his best to serve the people that elected him - unlike the vote buying his Democrat colleagues engaged in over the heathcare farce.

As for your lame-brained 10 year joke, you obviously failed to understand that until the second round of the bidding was thrown out at the end of 2008, he had no reason to object. The first bid result was thrown out because of Boeing corruption. The second was voided due to "failings" in the specification and because Boeing threw a hissy fit.

Next time, try reading what was written and not what you want to read.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

You are obviously incapable of accepting any argument that someone other than a Democrat can have a worthwhile cause, so I'll lay it out plainly, just so you can understand why your last comment was so utterly flawed.

For the latest RFP, written at the start of 2009, the specification for the contract has been written in such a way that Airbus considers it has no chance of being competitive, despite being the preferred bidder of the USAF last time around. Sen. Shelby is fully aware of the politics in play, and the obvious desire in Washington to keep a Boeing name on the plane that gets chosen, despite the content and jobs issue. So he does his level best to put pressure where he can to benefit his constituents and try to level the playing field (again). In other words, he does his best to serve the people that elected him - unlike the vote buying his Democrat colleagues engaged in over the heathcare farce.

As for your lame-brained 10 year joke, you obviously failed to understand that until the second round of the bidding was thrown out at the end of 2008, he had no reason to object. The first bid result was thrown out because of Boeing corruption. The second was voided due to "failings" in the specification and because Boeing threw a hissy fit.

Next time, try reading what was written and not what you want to read.

LOL...so Pooks, you think he would have obstructed a Bush appointee over this? Of course he wouldn't have. For all the b!tching you do about the 'Dimocrats' and 'Republicants', you show an selective inconsistency. This is pure ####### for tat Washington politics...and you're ok with it. You just nullified any previous complaint you'd had over Washington politics. You lose.

[natty bumppo 297]

LOL...so Pooks, you think he would have obstructed a Bush appointee over this? Of course he wouldn't have. For all the b!tching you do about the 'Dimocrats' and 'Republicants', you show an selective inconsistency. This is pure ####### for tat Washington politics...and you're ok with it. You just nullified any previous complaint you'd had over Washington politics. You lose.

steven is still blaming bush ... one year later ...

how typical ...

[Pooky 3,792]

LOL...so Pooks, you think he would have obstructed a Bush appointee over this? Of course he wouldn't have. For all the b!tching you do about the 'Dimocrats' and 'Republicants', you show an selective inconsistency. This is pure ####### for tat Washington politics...and you're ok with it. You just nullified any previous complaint you'd had over Washington politics. You lose.

I have friends and relatives in the USAF. I want them all back in one piece.

Keep your partisan BS and your arrogance for someone who values your opinion.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have friends and relatives in the USAF. I want them all back in one piece.

Keep your partisan BS and your arrogance for someone who values your opinion.

And you like cottage cheese on your toast. ####### does that have to do with Shelby obstructing an appointee?

[natty bumppo 297]

And you like cottage cheese on your toast. ####### does that have to do with Shelby obstructing an appointee?

you are still in denial ... blaming bush

[one...two...tree 2,762]

you are still in denial ... blaming bush

Put down the bottle.