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[...] Some progress... CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive – McCain backs Obama opposition to fun... [...]

Who cares what or who McBush supports....HE IS ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT....like his party.

john mccain needs to get on a jet out old of the country,and take palin with you,and david gergen, and the gop with you,as well ... mccain is a joke...... who cares what he thinks or says (cnn) it means (nothing)

@ TCM July 13th, 2009 3:17 pm ET - sure, why not….further weaken our country's defense, and cause even higher unemployment…hey McCain, why don't you jump over the fence too, like Spector?
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TCM, You certainly seem to have a lot of time to express your opinions, all wrong-headed. Senator McCain is just being the man he was before running for POTUS. Just because he has sided with President Obama, and rightly I might add, does not mean he is weak or irrelevant. By-the-by, why don't you get a job instead of blogging all day.

The Defense Dept. has been trying to stop these planes for years. Thank God someone in Washington is finally listening!

My husband flies the F-22. Even he would agree with McCain, there are much more important places for our defense dollars. I have no problems with staying ahead of the technology curve, but do we need to replace every air-to-air jet on a 1:1 basis? No. The F-35 also has an air-to-air component to their mission, at a much cheaper basis, despite the fact that there are no air-to-air adversaries anywhere on the near horizon.

I'd much rather see us funding technology to serve troops on the ground than to double our stock of high-end toys for the fighter pilot mafia running the AF.

Dont worry about TCM, he's headed for a stroke because his 'values' have been rejected and his team is getting beaten badly in the court of public opinion. Its tough to be reduced to a whining, irrelevent relic of the GOP . Let him work himself into hateful frenzy.....thats when you know they have been beaten.

TCM.....lifelong, self-loathing loser

read the article - If Bob Gates, McCain and Obama all say stop buying F-22 and the F-35 is better

let's stop buying F-22

A republican being supportive of President Obama?

Did anyone else feel that??

The earth just shivered on it's axis.

Mitch, try to read a little more carefully. Congress is trying to fund the F-22. Sec of Defense says they don't need it. So go ask Rush why Bill Clinton is responsible.

July 13th, 2009 3:06 pm ET
Mark of St. Louis wrote:
"too bad McCain jumped on the Obama bandwagon. The Obama approach is typical of Libs: cut defense and make America more vulnerable. Good Job!"

Actually, military spending cuts began in the early 90s under Bush 41 as a result of the end of the Cold War and his cuts were deeper than Clinton's. This is the problem with Americans, we believe all the generalizations that our party wants us to believe. Lets start thinking for ourselves people.

I think our government should just disband our current military and outsource it to other countries to the highest bidder.

Actually, lets just go to an all volunteer military or militias. Might as well with all the cuts to the DOD.

The F-22 Raptor is a money pit. Short and simple. One plane, not including deveopment costs, runs $138 million. It costs $44,000 per flight hour to maintain. Much of it to repair the constantly damaged radar absorbsion coating. (An ageing F-15 costs $14,000 less per hour to run). The F-22 does not, and will not, have a helmet mounted cueing system, the "look at it and shoot" system currently used on a number of currently operational aircraft and on the F-35. In contrast, the F-35 is significantly cheaper to acquire. Anticipated costs are $65 to $120 million per aircraft depending on configuration. (One version of the F-35 is capable of vertical take off and landing). The F-35 can carry more ordinance and is more flexable in application. McCain and Obama got it right.

Are we not allowed to advance our self defense unitl all the dope smokin'n, non working liberal have once again helped themselves to all the tax payer money they can steal? That is the Obama idea and he will never finish stealing our money. AND FOLKS IT IS OUR MONEY NOT THEIRS, LIBERALS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT.

Well we offically have 141 in service with another 36 currently under construstion at 137 million a piece. If the conservatives want to cut back on some spending this is a small piece/price at 3 billion but it is better than nothing

we spend more money on the Military than the rest of the world combine. We need mwrap vehicles, better body armor, better training more soldiers with language skills. Yes these are great systems and it feels great to be 10 or 15 years ahead of everyone else but we need what we need to fight today's battles. Finish the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq first then we can look at adding these systems. The missile defense system that we keep pissing Russia off with doesn't work and it never did. SDI never worked it was designed to bankrupt the Soviet Union mission accomplished not the US. You can't have everything while people who are out of work or can't get healthcare. the Defense budget is Half of the discretionary budget.

@ TCM, who said "further weaken our country's defense"

Typical misrepresentation. It's almost artithmetic. It does not weaken us to stop making something of which we have enough. Nobody suggested destroying the ones we've already got. Ergo, this maintains status quo...it does not degrade our defense....particularly in light of th eintent to focus on a more technological advanced alternative. Leave the decisions to the rational people and go back to playing in the sandbox.

We don't need F-22's any more. The Pentagon and CIA are now distributing the lyrics to Kumbaya to all our enemies as part of our new way forward. Now, everyone sing along...

Hmm, "critical military construction projects." Funny how republicans get to complain about Socialism when it comes to the Stimulus/Recovery Act and the use of government money to create jobs, yet turn around and whine about job losses when the administration shuts down an unnecessary defense program. It must be fun to be a hypocrite, I should give it a try.

Mccain really isn't so bad. He is actually more moderate than he is consevative, and I for one appreciate his stance on this one. Of course, my president is always right.... Love you Mr. President and First Lady..

Stop building them. We have enough of them here at Langley to spread around the country. Not to mention they bust out windows whenthey fly overhead.

Steph July 13th, 2009 3:05 pm ET

What do all the other senators think? Why on earth do I care if McCain agrees or disagrees with our current president?!?!

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Because he is a senior senator you idiot.

For once, even the defense dept.(they know best, Ha Ha) say they don't need any more of these aircraft. What wrong with the politicians? Oh, that's rite, they're politicians! I'm glad to see John McCain is back to being the good guy he's been for almost his entire life. (After getting seduced by Sarah Palin's politics of pandering)

Mission Accomplished John....

Bravo to the President and Senator McCain for removing spending on the F-22. Sure, it is impressive but really not needed. There is no great air war coming unless Al-Queda develops an Air Force. Even if China happened to start an air war, the existing crop of F-18, F-16, and JSF are far more technically advanced than any thing China has in its aresenal. Sure, blame President Obama for everything under the sun folks if it makes you feel better, but this is a smarter use of money by the President and the Pentagon.

TCM – The Pentagon, the DOD, the Armed Services comittee and any reasonable militar analist disagree with your whinning fear mongering rethoric.

WOW... the only reason John McCain supports the President on this issue is because he came off looking very stupid when he stood up and brought this issue up during a Press Conference and Obama slammed him down!!! So here he is trying to save face yet again.

These two Georgian republicans no doubt support increased military spending. I wonder if they are evangelicals or fundamentalists ? Strange how SOME of those people love their weapons

Mr McCain figures "if I can't crash em, nobody can"

Oh, be careful McCain you will be kicked out of the Repub party for agreeing with President Obama. LOL

Actually it is rather nice to hear a Repub acting like an adult.

We don't need it. In our histroy we have heard those words alot.

F-4 , F-15 , F-14, Corsair, Hellcat, Thundercheif.

These are examples of some airplanes in point or another that congress said we didn't need. Once you hide your wepons will be the point that you find you needed most. The F-22 is the future of air combat. BILL CLINTON

Once again, John's the man.

Senator McCain is right on the money. We already have plenty of these planes. China and Russia now have more sophisticated ways other than a shooting war to make our lives difficult if they want to. We already could bomb them back into the stone age if we wanted to. This is the age of robots and drones. Put the newly unemployed to work on these. What we need now is better computer security.

Nice job John McCain.

If you look inside that defense budget you'll find billions more of wasteful spending. I know, I used to work for a defense contractor.

Maybe Lockheed could re-tool to build high-speed rail cars at the Marietta plant. Have major components made in surrounding states; interiors made by laid-off workers at Blue Bird bus company in Middle Georgia. just an idea

sure, why not....further weaken our country's defense, and cause even higher unemployment...hey McCain, why don't you jump over the fence too, like Spector?

Do the words "lucrative defense contracts" ring a bell? These boys think that it is business as usual in D.C. You know: $600 hammers, $8000 toilets etc.

Way to keep your eyes on the ball Obama and Mc Cain.

People like Isakson will tryo to get this unnecessary expenditure approved by tugging at the ole patriotic heartstrings. It is not going to work this time bubba. Even if the contractor of said jets promised you a nice little kickback in return, it is NOT going to fly!

The F-22 is incredibly impressive, but this is the right decision

Aaaaaaand, where is the F-22 manufacturing plant? Georgia perhaps?

So for the people pushing this the main concern is not national defence, but jobs in their districs. Good for Obama and McCain standing up to this.

So, we're going to spend millions building jets which we already have, and even the Joint Chiefs say we don't need. Sounds like normal government spending to me, what's the problem? Why spend it on actually taking care of soldiers and their families, or getting effective fighting equipment for the current missions?

too bad McCain jumped on the Obama bandwagon. The Obama approach is typical of Libs: cut defense and make America more vulnerable.
Good Job!

Mr McCain has always understood that military-industrial complex is a self feeding machine, if the DOD or the president did not request this aircraft, why in the world world do we need it.

Only the southern republican zealots in the congress would insist on this expenditure in a time when americans of all backgrounds are suffering economically.

This is just more of the same old bullsh- Wait, this actually sounds very reasonable. Both McCain and Obama agree on not buying things that nobody wants or needs? It must be some sort of Socialist plot.

What do all the other senators think? Why on earth do I care if McCain agrees or disagrees with our current president?!?!

McBush finally did something right. I'm shocked.

Let's see, on one side the Pentagon, the White House and the Armed services Committee of the Senate. On the other side Saxby 'no problem to call veterans traitors' Chambly.
Is there really a doubt on which side is right?

Let's see, on one side the Pentagon, the White House and the Armed services Committee of the Senate. On the other side Saxby 'no problem to call veterans traitors

I think he decided it's easier to do this than to fight the Defense Department's decision. Don't let this fool you as a YES.