-By Warner Todd Huston
Representative Cheri Bustos (Dem., IL 17th) entered Congress in 2010 claiming she was “for the troops.” But all it took for her to skip the latest vote for defense spending was a photo OP with Barack Obama, the very guy trying to gut the military.
Bustos was one of the nine no-show voters on July 24.
But instead of staying in Washington for the latest vote on the Department of Defense Appropriations bill, Bustos was hobnobbing with Obama during his rehash “jobs” speech in Galesburg, Illinois.
Rep. Bustoes with Obama and Senator Claire McCaskill (top of stairs)
Still, she claims she is “for the troops.” Check out what Bustos says on her own website:
A strong military is in the interest of the nation as a whole, as well as our region. The Rock Island Arsenal in the Quad-Cities, the Air National Guard unit based outside Peoria, and major aerospace companies in Rockford employ many thousands across our district. I will work to ensure our vital military assets are enhanced and protected to meet the challenges of the future.
I guess it’s nice to be “for the troops” when it is convenient, but when a photo with Obama OP is calling, I guess the troops have to take a back seat.
Finally, it should be noted that spending on the military is one of the only areas of spending required by the Constitution of the United States of America. So Bustos skipped out on one of her main Constitutional duties for a photo OP.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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