Jimmy Carter's Military Buildup.

One bit of propaganda that the media in general has swallowed hook, line and sinker is that Carter cut the military budget and then Reagan increased it.

This is part of a pattern that paints the Democrats as weak on defense and haunts John Kerry today.

It might just be true, except for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which seemed to turn Carter around.

Jimmy Carter's Legacy, Angelo Codevilla, The Claremont Institute

We should not forget that it was Mr. Carter who began the great anti-Soviet military buildup generally attributed to his successor. Mr. Carter would have built 200 MX missiles; Ronald Reagan meekly accepted 50. Mr. Carter imposed the grain embargo on the Soviet Union; Mr. Reagan lifted it. Mr. Carter kept Americans out of the 1980 Summer Olympics. Mr. Carter sent weapons to the Afghanis. Mr. Carter's National Security Council, not Mr. Reagan's, stated the goal of forcefully changing the character of Nicaragua's Sandinista regime.

-HJC