Romney hits Obama on defense cuts in Fla Navy town
US Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters at a rally at Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida, on October 27, 2012. AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel DUNAND (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)
Mitt Romney stuck to his argument for a bigger Navy while campaigning in the north Florida city of Pensacola Saturday.
Despite President Obama's criticism that Romney doesn't understand the modern nature of the military, Romney has argued for months that increasing the number of ships is crucial to America's future security, reports CBS News.
"A modern Navy is one of the critical elements that allows us to protect sea lanes and to keep the world more free and prosperous," he said.
"I believe in a modern Navy, and that's why my plan is to increase the number of ships that we're building to maintain our strong commitment to our military."
Obama's best zinger from the final foreign policy debate criticized Romney for wanting more ships, saying the US also uses fewer horses and bayonets too.
Romney hit back against Obama in his speech to 10,000 supporters in Pensacola, reports NBC News.
"You may recall in our most recent debate I made the point that our Navy is now smaller than any time well, in almost a hundred years, and the president’s response was, well, you know, we don’t use bayonets and horses anymore. And, uh, in fact we do use bayonets, and a modern Navy is one of the critical elements that allows us to protect sea lanes and to keep the world more free and prosperous," Romney said.
“His vision is not greatness in America’s Navy or America’s military. His vision is to cut our military spending by a trillion dollars,” the Republican candidate added.
“And by the way, a trillion dollars in cuts would cost about 41,000 jobs here in Florida, and think of all the businesses that depend on all those jobs.”
Pensacola is the right place to make an argument for more military spending.
The city is home to a naval air station that employs 23,400 people, reports the Los Angeles Times. It is also the place where former GOP presidential candidate John McCain went to flight school.
Saturday is also the start of early voting in Florida, a state where Romney is hinging a lot of his hopes of taking the white house on November 6.