It's hardly a surprise to see a politician saw one thing to make political points and then act the opposite way when it comes down to brass tacks. The most recent addition to this club is Congressman John Boehner (R-OH) who attacked Democrats over the budget, claimed that defense spending needed scrutiny, and then voted to approve an alternate and unneeded engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The only people who want this engine are politicians and the manufacturer - Secretary of Defense Gates, the Pentagon, and the services that will fly the plane all say that it adds unnecessary expense and delay to a program that is already over-budget and beset by delays.
Boehner likes to claim that the alternate engine is needed for redundancy of supply chain, but reality is that the manufacturing plant is near his district, which will make his constituents happy. This is hardly he first, or last, program that we've seen this with. All you have to do is look at the space program for some clear examples. The problem here is that we have an opposition leader working the field while no one is looking.
h/t: Pat Garofalo.
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