Apparently, the Pentagon and the GOP have fired all their PR people. That could be the only reason that they're ending combat pay in Iraq and farming out fundraising telemarketing to India (respectively).
Let us walk through these together.
1. You're the Pentagon.
You're running two major combat operations on top of the usual slate of peacekeeping jobs and the overhead of running the world's most powerful military force. The cost of the aftermath of the Iraqi war is higher than expected -- for some bizzare reason, the brain trust running this thing had no experience producing oil and thought it was just "magic." (And, yeah, someone keeps blowing up the pipelines.) So, you need money to keep the budget on level. Something has to be cut.
Do you:
a. Quietly require supervisor approval for budget purchases and make due with the current supply of paper clips;
b. Reduce administrative and contract staff through attrition
c. Cut combat pay for soldiers who are already fatigued and have pissed off families tired of being told they're "unpatriotic" for normal whining.
2. You're the Republican Party.
Your election war chest is already the largest in history. You could give every American who voted in 2000 an ice cream cone -- with sprinkles -- and still have enough cash left over to crush all opposition in '04. Your #1 starter, the President, is the donor development equivalent of an industrial milking machine. Let's be honest, you aren't going to run election commercials on TV as much as sponsor every prime time show in America. Still, a little more milking wouldn't hurt, especially in these low-revenue House races. Time to hire a telemarketing firm.
Do you hire:
a. An outfit in Sioux Falls, SD, staffed with 850 red-blooded Americans who are paid $8/hour
b. A call center in Harligen, TX, staffed with 850 red-blooded Americans and green-card holding Mexicans who are paid $7.50/hour
c. Two firms in India staffed with 1900 Indians who took a two week crash course in American English and are paid $3/hour, keeping in mind that in doing so you just sent 1900 jobs that could have stayed in the USA even while using every chance you can to extol the virtues of creating jobs in America?
If you answered C for both questions and are unemployed, consider sending your resume to Mark Racicot and/or Don Rumsfeld.
