Tom Cole actually said...

"Nobody did politically on either side. I don't think the services did. And we stumbled into a really bad situation that you are having to deal with."

"I think you and your counterparts in the other services are making tough decisions because we haven't, as a Congress and an administration, made our tough decisions."

"I would suggest, I don't think anything is going to happen between now and November, but we need to make the tough decisions as soon after that as we possibly can."

"we are also going to eliminate seven AWACS, and they are the entire Reserve capability that we have in that area."