I can see why America is turning on the GOP because it is just another pork-pumping, DC spending mess that produces failures. Duncan Hunter, who until now I saw as a refreshing new face in the GOP, turns out to be another DC pol backing failed pork just as he backs failed immigration policies. If this project is any indication of his ‘good idea’, then those of us bucking him on the comprehensive immigration package can take some solace in the fact that his other grand scheme never got off the ground either. Literally:

Members of Congress watched videos today of what they got for $63 million spent on an experimental aircraft the military did not want: repeated crashes and significant failures.

The plane, designed to take off like a helicopter and then fly at high speed, failed to remain in the air for more than a few seconds in 49 separate tests last year, according to John Kinzer of the Office of Naval Research.

…

Since 1986, Pentagon analysts have consistently rejected the aircraft design as “technically flawed”; but Congress has continued to pour money into the project.

Congressman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has led the effort on behalf of a hometown company, DuPont Aerospace.

In testimony today, Hunter said he considered the investment “prudent from a financial and risk perspective.”

What a waste of money. The plane looks like a bad joke. We have lots of good ideas out there for new planes and weapons systems. What we do not need is Congress pushing pet projects that don’t meet requirements and have been a proven FUBAR for years. This is why the luster is off the GOP. Between those members found to be nothing more than alcholics looking for the next bribe, to pork wasters, to impediments to progress on matters like immigration, the GOP has collapsed. They have spent three years bashing our President and the leader of their party. What else does one need to know about the honor and trust of the GOP when it treats its own so badly.

I think this just about kills off Duncan Hunter’s chances at President. These kinds of things just don’t spell “success” in anyone’s book.