Inhofe blasts Obama at Grove town hall
by MIKE SIMONS (Backward) Tulsa, OK
U.S. Sen. Jim Infofe said at a town hall in Grove Wednesday that President
Obama is disarming the military, destroying everything good about America and
determined to turn foreign terrorists loose on U.S. soil.
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 9/2/2009 5:56 PM
Last Modified: 9/2/2009 10:14 PM
GROVE — Right-thinking Americans can only hope the country will survive the
next 16 months of the Obama administration until Republicans can regain control
of Congress, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Wednesday.
“I never dreamed I would see an administration try to disavow all the things
that have made this country different from all others,” Inhofe told more than
300 people at a town hall meeting in the Grove Community Center.
“I have never seen so many things happening at one time so disheartening to
America.” Inhofe found a highly receptive audience. Many wore T-shirts of a
local organization called Get America Back. Its Web site promises “a plan to
eliminate the socialist government and return Americas (sic) freedoms.”
The “plan” is a link to a YouTube video by Lloyd Marcus, a Florida artist and
singer making the circuit of anti-Obama “Tea Party” rallies.
Wednesday’s audience was similar to those at town hall meetings throughout
northeastern Oklahoma in recent weeks. Concerns centered on the administration
and Democratic-controlled Congress.
Inhofe gave his constituents plenty to worry about.
“Every institution that has made this country the greatest nation in the world
is under attack,” he said at the end of the 75-minute session.
During those 75 minutes, Inhofe said President Barack Obama is disarming the
military, is destroying everything good about America and is determined to turn
foreign terrorists loose on U.S. soil.
The good news, he said, is that he does not think the Democratic leadership can
push through
health-care reform or the more controversial parts of its energy bill.
He also said he continues to be proven correct in his claim that global climate
change is a hoax.
“More and more, with each month that goes by, more scientists agree with me,”
he said. “We are winning.”
Inhofe opened by saying the noisy debate over health care has caused Americans
to overlook other important issues, including climate change and energy policy.
He is also alarmed, he said, by the proposed closing of the detention camp at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Obama administration wants to shutter the camp
because of its association with torture.
Inhofe said: “There has never been a case of torture there. The people there
are treated better than in the federal prisons.”
He continued, “I don’t know why President Obama is obsessed with turning
terrorists loose in America.”
The administration says it wants to bring 60 to 80 prisoners to the U.S. for
trial. Some Republicans have said those acquitted could be released in the
U.S., but authorities say they would be deported as foreign nationals.
Inhofe’s third concern, he said, is that “Barack Obama is disarming America.”
He conceded that Obama requested more military spending, but he criticized the
elimination of several weapons systems, including the F-22 fighter.
Obama, at the urging of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, also scrapped one of
Inhofe’s pet projects, a cannon that was to be assembled at Elgin in
southwestern Oklahoma.
Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration, advocated abandoning high-tech
systems such as the cannon and the F-22 for cheaper, more reliable weapons.
“Those of you who think like I do,” Inhofe said, “hope this country can hang on
another 16 months.”
