Lou Dobbs seems to have a problem with the Air Force’s recent decision in regards to the Tanker Deal.  He complains that, among other things, the U.S. should be buying American made planes rather then European made planes.

I challenge this guy (or anybody for that matter) to explain why the Air Force should choose the Boeing plane over the European plane when the BOEING PLANE SUCKS, as an Air Force General noted, albeit using different terms.  What are some of the challenges to why the Boeing plane is better, you ask?  Well, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D, Commerce Cmte.) just said (among some of the other bullshit stuff she said) on CNN that the Euro plane is bigger and therefore less fuel efficient.  Excuse Madam Senator, but the damned plane is bigger so it can carry more, it’s more available, more flexible and more dependable, and that’s what the Air Force wanted!  You’re telling us that you, Sen. Maria Cantwell, knows what the Air Force wants?

Furthermore Dobbs says that American jobs, in relation to the aerial refueling market, will go overseas because of this deal.  In fact, this deal comprises less than 5% of Boeing’s defense market, something it could easily recoup with other projects.  And because it is such a small share of Boeing’s market, the company has yet to announce it will have to lay people off because it can’t afford to keep them without a new shiny tanker for them to screw up on (maybe they should make such an announcement to throw things in their direction).  To top it off, Boeing didn’t even begin to mention that if awarded the deal they could do it cheaper.  They just said, oh were sorry we thought you wanted a different plane…. so we really should just have a, do over!  Retarded argument, at best, I liken it to the “dog ate my homework” bit.

I generally don’t agree with the exporting of our Defense Industry, as has been the trend in recent years, but why should our military be forced to buy American made crap when they can find better elsewhere?  This is not a problem the Pentagon needs to deal with, it’s a problem the defense industry needs to deal with, and not by crying about it.  First they need to, at the very least, start getting projects completed, on time and within budget.

Finally I would like to note that the Politicians are complaining, “we shouldn’t be handing out deals to EADS because they get European state sponsored aid,” and they are suing them over this very matter through the WTO.  But those same politicians are just hunky-dory about giving ‘aid’ in the form of subsidies to American oil companies.

Not only is there a double-standard, but this whole affair muddles the real issues, and the arguments surrounding the Tanker Deal are, as I have shown, weak at best.

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