San Francisco Reaps What It's Sown

SAN FRANCISCO: Navy scuttles plan to commission warship here, citing local politics

Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter vetoed plans to commission the Makin Island, the Navy's newest and most powerful warship, in San Francisco in 2008 because of a perception that the city is anti-military.

Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. J. Michael Myatt, chairman of a high-powered committee that was to support a commissioning ceremony for the Makin Island, said he has been informed that the ship would not be commissioned in San Francisco, as scheduled, but in San Diego.

Myatt said he had been told that the Navy was concerned about San Francisco's refusal to provide a homeport for the retired battleship Iowa, which would be turned into a museum, and for the city school board's decision to abolish junior ROTC training in San Francisco high schools.

One of the factors that turned the Pentagon against San Francisco, he said, was widely quoted anti-military remarks made by various city politicians. Some of the remarks got considerable attention, especially ones made by Gerardo Sandoval, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who was quoted on national television as saying national defense should be left to "the cops and the Coast Guard."

Call it a very justified "perception." Maybe they were worried about the Molotov cocktails recently favored by San Francisco anti-war protesters. Or maybe they just didn't feel welcome. For some odd reason.

Some tasty snark on the news from Michelle Malkin at Hot Air V-blog.

[Cross-posted to Baldilocks.]