"Millions for Defense"

Eli Lake's first piece in em>Newsweek <nicely sums up the Republican defense dilemma:

My favorite quote:

“The Democrats were artful enough to put the squeeze on Republicans by in effect making them choose between raising taxes and cutting defense expenditures,” says former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, who has served in senior national-security jobs in Republican administrations since Reagan.

What's hilarious about Bolton's line is the way it mistakes the structure of reality for a Democratic ploy. If you want to balance the budget - and unless you intend more or less to abolish the domestic functions of the US government - then you almost arithmetically must raise some revenues or cut defense. The deficit is just that big. And if (like me and presumably like John Bolton) you want to preserve defense, then you must open your mind to taxes.

Which means the tax absolutists represent just as big a problem for national security conservatives as President Obama himself.