Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson took a turn on “Morning Joe”, defending their deficit proposal and speculating that they may in fact be close to gathering 14 votes for their plan on the Commission they co-chair. One of the interesting points of discussion was the cost of the thousand military bases maintained by the United States overseas. (Talked about that question on this blog last week) While the Bowles-Simpson proposal has taken some heavy flak from the left, Joe Scarborough highlighted some Republican opposition, including the ridiculous assertions of Newt Gingrich on the matter. Joe also asked the questions that Republicans never want to answer. How do you justify spending $2 billion a week in Afghanistan? And if you really think it is in our national security interest to be there why won’t you raise the revenue you need to conduct the war(s). Alan Simpson pointed out that wars have traditionally been “paid for”. I guess that is an outdated concept. Some interesting “rubber meets the road” action coming on the “deficit commission”. Lets see who is serious about balancing the budget and who was posturing for political gain.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy