McCain's speech last night was so mind-deadening and his delivery so boring that you were probably sound asleep when he got to the part about foreign aid. Here's what he said:

"We're going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much."

Umm, $700 billion?

According to official US government figures, the United States in 2006 delivered a total of $23.3 billion in foreign aid to the entire world. More than one-third of that total, by the went, went to Iraq ($8.8 billion). Another big chunk went to Afghanistan ($3.6 billion). In other words, nearly half went to support the faltering US efforts at nation-building in those two war-torn countries.

The USAID and entire State Department official 2008 budget request, which includes a long, long list of every possible foreign aid appropriation -- counterdrug initiatives, such as the Andes; HIV-AIDS funding; famine assistance; peacekeeping operations, etc. -- totals $36.2 billion. Yes, about one-twentieth of what McCain told the GOP we're "sending ... to countries that don't like us very much."

Republicans have long enjoyed bashing the idea of US foreign assistance. Let's leave aside the facts: (1) that the US is among the very stingiest in foreign aid, on a per capita basis; (2) that much US foreign aid is nakedly in the US self interest, in support of governments we like (i.e., Israel). That McCain could be so obviously stupid and rabble-rousing in his big speech says all you need to know about McCain's understanding of how the world works.

Or perhaps McCain was including the $600 billion-plus US military budget in his category of foreign aid. In that accounting, the bombs that we rain down on other countries and the military behemoth that supports that effort are "aiding" those countries. (No wonder they "don't like us very much.") But I doubt that McCain wants to reduce military spending.

Comments (2)

1. Uh, Mr Dreyfuss?

   I believe McCain was speaking of the 700B a year we send overseas for the OIL we buy....not foreign aid, military or otherwise.

   Posted by Maskdelta at 09/05/2008 @ 12:04pm

2. Hey..don't make fun of Grampa. Its not nice to sass your elders. Just give him his oatmeal and set him in the corner to drool a while.

   Posted by leftofcenter at 09/05/2008 @ 12:04pm