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Hunter lashes at Pentagon bureaucracy

The first siege of Fallujah was under way in April 2004 when a furious Marine lieutenant grab-bed a satellite phone and shouted a stream of expletives at the House Armed Services Committee chairman.

"Dad, we've already taken four K.I.A.," hollered Lt. Duncan D. Hunter. "But we're sweeping through the city, and
we just got orders to stop attacking. What are you guys doing?"

Within minutes, Duncan L. Hunter “the lieutenant's father and the Armed Services chairman“ was on the phone to the Pentagon, demanding answers for why American troops were pulling back.

These days, the 59-year-old congressman from Alpine is running as a long-shot candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. His 30-year-old son, now a captain deployed with the Marines in Afghanistan, is one of three GOP candidates for the House seat the congressman has held for 27 years.
Their relationship helps explain the elder Hunter's quixotic quest for the White House. An Army Ranger in Vietnam and the son of a Marine who served in World War II, Duncan L. Hunter is running for president as a frustrated patriot fed up with Pentagon bureaucracy as, he says, "freedom is hanging in the balance" in Iraq.

"He was a grunt in Vietnam, and he has taken that with him," said Gary Jacobson, a professor specializing in congressional politics at the University of California, San Diego.

"He is very pro-soldier, not at all pro-brass, and that has served him well with his constituency."

His anti-brass appeal also extends to the campaign he is waging against the "free traders" he complains have taken over his Republican Party. He bemoans U.S. factory jobs vanishing as a trade imbalance threatens American security, funding a Chinese military buildup "with money they're getting from us."
Meanwhile, Hunter publicly chafes over lagging construction on his signature legislative achievement – an 850-mile, double fence he pushed in Congress to rescue what he called "the thin green line of the U.S. Border Patrol" and fortify a "border out of control."
What drives him is revealed in his story on the battlefield call from his son. In an Oct. 13 interview, he tells how his son's unit advanced on Fallujah after mutilated bodies of four U.S. Blackwater contractors were hung from a bridge. When the attack was aborted, the congressman said, "He chewed me out and had a few choice words for all politicians in general."
Seven months later, U.S. forces would retake Fallujah from the insurgents. Arguing the first Fallujah attack was mishandled, Hunter said, "It was a pretty good lesson to him, and to me, about what's going on on the ground and what the bureaucracy is doing in the United States."
So in a hotel ballroom in Reno, Hunter stood before the Conservative Leadership Conference, vowing to shake up the Washington elite and its bureaucracy. He pledged to stop unfair trade deals, promote a stout national defense and return the American economy to its industrial roots by restoring manufacturing jobs he called "the arsenal of democracy."
He assailed his party for shunning working-class Americans and enabling China to undercut U.S. products.
"We've got too many Republicans now who feel that the words 'free trade' cover anything and make an excuse and rationale for other people to cheat," Hunter said. "One thing I will do as president is stop China from cheating on trade, bring back high-paying manufacturing jobs and hook this party back up with the middle class and the Reagan Democrats that brought us victory ... when we knew we were the party of working Americans."
He is a populist conservative who touts his father, Bob Hunter, "a rock-ribbed Republican" and subdivision builder who refused to buy discounted foreign steel.
But it is hard to tell what Hunter is running harder for – his underdog, swan-song presidential bid or his son's House race.
Opening his Reno speech, he said, "The first thing I want to say is I'm an unabashed supporter of another guy running for Congress – Duncan Hunter."
His son decided to run for the seat after making presidential speeches for his father after his Iraq tour. Since recalled to Afghanistan, he is barred from campaigning while on active duty but expects to complete his tour in November.
So the father passes out the son's brochures, saying: "The Marines are looking for a few good men. He's looking for a few shekels to keep his campaign going."
With a dig at the political class, he boasts of the younger Hunter's earlier help in his White House campaign against better funded GOP candidates.
"Five hundred political consultants on one side. One Marine on the other," he said. "It's a good match."

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November 05, 2007
Attn, FredHeads - New Debbie Does Politics Video: Fred Thompson's Pan-Jihadist Bud (& Roseanne)


By Debbie Schlussel

Here's the last of the three videos I shot a couple of weeks ago (so the heavy makeup is still the same--sorry). The videos have been getting a lot of views--THANKS!--and I plan to do more. If you've seen this video when I first posted it on YouTube, please note that I changed it and reposted (it now has some long lost footage of Fred Thompson "in action"). It's about Fred Thompson and his top pan-Islamist campaign official. As you know, I broke the story on Spencer Abraham's disturbing past and his equally disturbing alliance with Fred Thompson in a column on this site:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVONnlnQeiE

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Adherence to the US Constitution not required by GOP

Given the fact that the Republican Party supposedly advocates a strict adherence to the US Constitution, how is it that Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and John McCain are considered the GOP's frontrunners when all four are on record as violating the US Constitution?

The First Amendment to the US Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

John McCain and Fred Thompson have trampled the first amendment right of citizens to voice political dissent by prohibiting any issue ads that refer to a specific candidate for federal office within 30 days prior to a primary or 60 days prior to a general election via the McCain-Feingold-Thompson Campaign Finance Reform Act. Rudy Giuliani is a strong supporter of McCain-Feingold.

In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, Senator John McCain refers to "McCain-Feingold-Thompson and states that he "couldn't have done it without Fred Thompson" and that he would "absolutely" sponsor the bill again.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2fIzUCrkVc

Laura Ingraham takes Fred Thompson to the mat on his role in McCain-Feingold:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhpRf8qeqF0&feature=related

In an interview with Cokie Roberts, Rudy Giuliani was asked, "Would you vote in the Senate for McCain-Feingold?" Giuliani answered, "Yes, I'm a big supporter of McCain-Feingold. I have been for a long time": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N0NCfTsg-A&feature=related

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution states:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have trampled the second amendment right to keep and bear arms. Giuliani trampled this amendment as Mayor of New York City via his gun control policies under the guise of reducing crime. Mitt Romney as Governor of Massachusetts

Rudy Giuliani calls the Second Amendment an "Overstated Argument."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekye0ZS2egM&feature=related

Governor Mitt Romney: "We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts- I support them...I believe they help protect us, and provide for our safety."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk1bJOpYUqE&feature=related

The fact that all four of the GOP's top tier candidates have sponsored unconstitutional legislation does not speak well for the GOP's concern regarding a presidential candidate's adherence to the US Constitution.

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Media does a poor job of covering most candidates

Published: Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007

To the Editor:

Mike Gravel, Joe Biden, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Chris Dodd. Hopefully you will recognize these names as presidential candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties, but do you know where they stand on the issues? Likely you don't if you depend on mass media to help you get to know the candidates.

A recent study by the Project for Journalism Excellence, associated with the Pew Research Centers, indicates that more than 50 percent of media coverage has focused on just five presidential candidates: Clinton, Obama, Giuliani, McCain, and Romney.

The study reviewed more than 1,700 campaign stories run from January to May 2007. During that time fewer than a dozen stories focused on Republican candidates Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee. The lower tier Democrats fared a little bit better. There were a total of 75 stories about Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, and Joe Biden.

Commercial TV network news programs like NBC Nightly News were highlighted as the worst outlets for covering second tier candidates. Those programs did not focus on second tier candidates at all, except for a couple of occasions. PBS was the only network that covered second tier candidates to any degree. Anyone watching the televised debates has seen that these forums have followed a similar pattern — giving most of their airtime to the front runners.

How does this impact presidential politics? Fundraising and poll numbers begets more media coverage. More media coverage begets higher poll numbers and greater fundraising. It's a cycle that can make a real difference in the outcome of an election and it is a cycle that is difficult for second tier candidates to break regardless of how well qualified they may be to become the next president. But, it shouldn’t be up to the candidates to break the media part of this cycle. After all, isn’t fairness one of the basic tenants of journalism? Each media outlet should be continually evaluating its coverage to ensure it is providing fair and equal coverage to all candidates to help voters make well educated voting decisions based on how well qualified a candidate is, not on how much money they can raise.

Until that happens, do your own research. Examine candidates’ positions on issues. Determine, based on your own values and criteria, which candidate should become the next president of the United States. Don’t let the media do it.

JIM OEHLER

Hollis

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Candidates need to delve into key issues
GEORGE B. MARTIN Clifton Park

    Before the Feb. 5 primaries are held, there are issues that candidates of both parties must address more in-depth than the so-called debates. Such as: Should we physically secure our borders and coastlines? Should we enforce visa rules? Will immigration officials track visa holders and deport anyone who overstays their visa? Can we grant amnesty? With 10 million to 20 million people in our country illegally, that’s a lot of people to reward for breaking the law. Will the candidates support the passage of true immigration reform? Should legal immigrants from all countries face the same rules and waiting periods?
    What are the views and positions the candidates take on the sovereignty of the United States? Should we withdraw from organizations and trade deals that infringe upon the freedom and independence of the United States? What is the position of the candidates on federal debt and taxes? Can we continue to allow private banks, wasteful agencies, lobbyists, corporations on welfare, and governments collecting foreign aid to dictate the size of our ballooning budget?
    With regard to health care: Will the candidate support reforming licensure requirements so that pharmacists and nurses can perform some basic functions to increase access to care and lower costs? Will they agree that by removing federal regulations, encouraging competition and presenting real choices, we can make our health care system accessible to all citizens?
    These issues need to be addressed so that voters of both parties clearly know which candidate most closely agrees with the values and positions that the voter has.