THE SCRAPBOOK has felt compelled to criticize John McCain's ill-advised campaign reform schemes in recent weeks, but our fair and balanced character requires us to offer praise when it is due. So we are pleased to highlight McCain's speech on the floor of the Senate last week, during the budget debate, on behalf of the one cause that received perhaps the least attention -- the first responsibility of the national government, defense.
Rising on behalf of an amendment to increase defense spending a modest $ 100 billion over the next ten years (an amendment that failed, incidentally), McCain said:
The imperative for increasing military readiness and reforming our military is . . . strong. . . . The cure for our defense decline will neither be quick nor cheap. The proper solution should not only shore up the services' immediate needs, but should also address the modernization and personnel problems caused by years of chronic under-funding. Only the U.S. has the global responsibilities that cone with being the lone superpower. Our foes can employ asymmetric forces against our weaknesses and achieve a disproportionate level of success.
The fight for an adequate and responsible level of defense spending is an issue on which conservatives can wish McCain a disproportionate level of success.