Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, coming to a town near you soon to make you scared. (Reuters)
Sens. John "Maverick" McCain and Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham are very, very, upset and they want you to be, too. Their problem? How can we invade Iran if the defense cuts in the Budget Control Act (which McCain voted for) happen?
You remember the Budget Control Act, the result of negotiations between the White House and the Republican Congress to keep the nation from economic free fall and raise the debt ceiling. Immediately, the attack Iran crowd in the Senate—McCain and Graham bleating the loudest—announced their intention to renege on the deal. Now they've decided to take their show on the road.
The idea: Rile up military constituencies in states like Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and New Hampshire to intensify pressure on President Barack Obama and wayward lawmakers into cutting a pre-election deal to soften the blow on defense programs. [...]
McCain and Graham are calling for reinforcements on their possible road trip, reaching out to some of their closest allies like Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), hoping to hit military installations in key swing states starting as early as next week. McCain said Monday more details would be announced later this week. [...]
Graham and McCain are considering whether to swing by Jacksonville, Fla., on their trip, according to Rubio, who spoke with the men about the matter. But if the senators begin to aggressively advocate new revenue to cut a deal, it could put Rubio and other Republicans in a tricky spot.
The tricky spot? How to come up with the revenue to offset larding up defense spending. It puts a lot of Republicans between the rock of defense contractors and the hard spot of Grover Norquist.
