Policy Research: “Did Clinton ‘Gut’ the Military?” Interesting to see common perceptions, reinforced by years of political campaigning and media spin, combatted with black and white facts. I did similar research this summer, when hanging out with someone on a sporadic basis who said this same thing on a regular basis when I was with her. Truth of the matter, when looking at actual budget numbers, is that Democrats don’t necessarily spend less, or have less of a committment to defense spending, than Republicans. Having said that, this is not the issue I usually have with the Democrats, it’s fiscal responsibility. Oddly, they have turned the tables on that as well in recent years.