"Cancel Your Chopper !" : McCain to Obama | FISCAL SUMMIT - Washington DC | FEB 2009

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SpinTellyCH1
February 24, 2009

From the audience, the Senator suggests a cost saving idea to the President. ------ [FEB 23 09] President Barack Obama never had a helicopter, which he says might explain why he's perfectly hap...

From the audience, the Senator suggests a cost saving idea to the President. ------ [FEB 23 09]

President Barack Obama never had a helicopter, which he says might explain why he's perfectly happy with the current White House fleet and doesn't need a more costly one. At the conclusion of a fiscal summit Monday, Obama faced questions from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including his former presidential rival, Sen. John McCain.

McCain bemoaned cost overruns in military procurement. The new fleet of 28 Marine One helicopters being built by Lockheed Martin Corp. — now over budget at $11.2 billion — will cost more than Air Force One.

Obama said the helicopter he has now seems adequate, adding that he never had a helicopter before and "maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it."

Obama said he has already talked to Defense Secretary Robert Gates about reviewing the program and its ballooning costs.

"It is an example of the procurement process gone amok, and we're going to have to fix it," Obama said.

The Navy — which is in charge of overseeing the helicopter program — reported to Congress in January that its price tag had nearly doubled. That notification triggered a formal process mandating the program be re-certified as a national security requirement by senior Pentagon leadership.

The Navy waited nearly a year before formally disclosing the information to lawmakers as it sought to find ways to keep the program within budget. Those efforts failed.

Gates already has warned of tough cuts in the upcoming fiscal 2010 budget as the Pentagon faces the pressure of paying for two wars during a recession.

Lockheed Martin spokesman Troy Scully said in a statement, "We are committed to the program's success and are confident we can deliver the required number of helicopters compliant with the specifications that emerge from the ongoing review."

A Navy spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment Monday evening.

The helicopter, which will be outfitted with communications equipment, anti-missile defenses and hardened hulls, is dubbed Marine One whenever the president is on board. The aircraft is expected to be similar to Air Force One, unlike the 30-year-old helicopters they would replace.

[ ASSOCIATED PRESS ]

CONTINUE STORY : http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireSt...
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Category: News & Politics

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barack obama president presidential senator john mccain helicopter chopper stimulus white house press military department spending cost overrun conference fleet economy question answer complain complaint money recession idea bank bailout suggest defense tax taxes laugh suggestion joke joking airplane aircraft fly budget federal flying airport air republican democrat congress bill marine one procurement force deprived race candidate economic army navy united states pentagon political rival

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This is a video response to "Nobody Messes With JOE !" : Obama | Address To Congress - " State Of The Union " | FEB 2009

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charadester (1 week ago) Show Hide

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Funny how it isn't mentioned that this was a project approved during the Bush Administration, and Obama inherited its completion. Politics as usual in the USA.

allgoo19 (3 months ago) Show Hide

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lisalinke: "The audacity!!!!.."

Truly true.

And don't forget the new and upgraded Air Force1 that W. Bush ordered. Incredibly, nobody objected to it!!!

On top of all that, it's a good idea to eliminate health care for all the congress members. It's such a waste and in-efficient government plan.

Deathnotez123 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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mcain and obama were on same grounds it was nice to see how happy mcain was to see obama agreed and replied nicley to him he knows that his campaign against him was just mean/unfair and i honestly think he was not leading the majority of the mudslinging mcain is a generally nice man

kahl777 (5 months ago) Show Hide

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the presidential helicopter program costs 6.8 billion dollars. What a crazy amount of money and waste of tax money.

oehieze (7 months ago) Show Hide

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Pathetic old man.. HE DIDN"T ORDER THE COPTERS.. the order was placed even before he won. You need to tell the people feeding you info to do a better job

nThErEsYeRsIgN (6 months ago) Show Hide

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Nobody's criticizing that, nobody's reporting that. That's what happens when you're spoonfed Olberman's drivel every day. Show me one place where anyone said Hussein ordered a helicopter. The issue is that he can kill the order and everyone pushed for that.

Where do you live, in one of the 54th or 55th states?

miroku105 (7 months ago) Show Hide

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fucking liberal

nThErEsYeRsIgN (8 months ago) Show Hide

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You're missing the point hut, the existing Marine 1 is fine. And your point about McCain? He's the one that warned all of us about the economical meltdown if we didn't regulate more, this was in 2005, Look it up. What was Barry doing at the time? Doing blow, or giving someone a bj?Wait, that was prior and it was Biden's daughter doing the blow, no, Obama to, sorry.

So tell me hut, what do you think of the decisions Barry's made so far? Do u want the gov in more aspects of our lives?

ft3rrazas (6 months ago) Show Hide

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ehhh... the problem really started in 2000 and you know who was in power of congress then? it just blew up and up til 2005-2006 when we all said DANG o.0 woops...

nThErEsYeRsIgN (6 months ago) Show Hide

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ehhh, no it was prior to that, 98/99 iirc. So the Reps had control of Congress, but Frank and company forced the issue and the Reps gave in.

It was fine until the subs came due and killed the economy, everyone and their brother had investments all backed by real estate to some degree, but this is somehow Bush's fault? Tell me, show me how and where please. The Bush taxcuts worked and still do for the most part, but once Barry's shit kicks in, it's all over, poverty will be felt by everyone!

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"Cancel Your Chopper !" : McCain to Obama | FISCAL SUMMIT - Washington DC | FEB 2009

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