Re-draft Duncan Hunter into the Presidential Race

(With all of the written and video obituaries which have found their way onto internet regarding the recent demise of Congressman Duncan Hunter's presidential campaign, we at NWCL would like to offer this gem. There are other voices out there who believe it is still not too late).

Fred Thompson has finally dropped out. There is no one left in the race that can arguably claim to have a conservative record. Despite the current rhetoric from Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mike Huckabee, there is a solid history of liberalism from these gentlemen. Volumes can and have been written about their respective stints in office that not only outraged conservatives at the time, but that should have been permanent railroad spikes in the coffins of their ambitions for higher office. Instead, like Dracula, the RINOs are undead again, and leading towards 2008 disaster. Disaster not only if they were to lose, but even if they win. The GOP cannot veer left, period. It’s only hope as a viable conservative party is to move confidently back to the right; right back towards its Reagan roots. And despite what the folks at National Review or the Wall Street Journal think, these candidates’ current platforms also include healthy doses of the liberal agenda.

All four of these men were faster than Clint Eastwood drawing a six shooter when the schoolmarm moderator in the last Iowa debate asked for a show of hands for those who deemed ‘global warming’ to be a serious problem. They range from wanting an international binding treaty on global warming to pressing for a mandated cap and trade system to thinking Arnold Schwarzenegger is the a real ‘leader’ on the issue. Egads, have we surrendered to Algore’s propaganda in the Grand Old Party?!?

Duncan Hunter told the FreeRepublic audience in a live on-line interview that he rejects the “alarmism” of Al Gore and others on the subject. And no way would he lead us to an international, sovereignty usurping treaty for this farce of a problem.

Mike Huckabee thinks George Bush’s foreign policy is “arrogant” and that world opinion is sufficient to close down Guantanamo Bay and ship the jihadis stateside. He believes the ‘Golden Rule’ applies to foreign policy and therefore would gladly sit down with the Mullahs for tea and conversation. Folks, he is channeling Barack Obama! He also invokes God’s name to justify a ‘green’ streak that would make Algore proud. He’s so green, he vows to eliminate smoking in public, for the good of you and the planet. Huckabee sought and obtained the endorsement of the New Hampshire chapter of the NEA, the bane of conservatives and conservatism across the nation. And no matter the audience, Huckabee is a panderer with few equals. The only thing missing in his performance at the Values Voter’s debate was his failure to bite his lip to show how much he cared. He claims he is a conservative, but that he is “just not mad about it”. I suppose that gives him a sense of moral superiority, but in reality, it more clearly explains lib-speak such as calling the constitution a “living breathing document” and calling law and order conservatives “racists and demagogues” for wanting to send illegal aliens back home.

Mitt Romney is still sticking to his guns, so to speak, on gun control. One of the few areas in which he has not completely reversed himself is on this issue. He claimed that assault weapons “are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.” Not only a liberal, but a liberal drama queen, especially since he would not know an assault rifle from a potato gun. Mitt is also a China appeaser. Of course, some of Hunter’s realpolitik rhetoric has rubbed off on him lately, but earlier this year he naively claimed that “China doesn’t want to bury us, they want to see us succeed and thrive so we can buy more Chinese products….I will reach out to them. I’ve already met with their leadership and will do so again if I’m lucky enough to become President, making China a partner for stability in the world”. Someone might want to tell the naive Mittster about the constant Chinese cyber attacks on US facilities such as the Pentagon, their rush into space warfare systems, and their long term goal to strangle the US industrial base. Then again he may not care, since he seems to have no problem with his old company, Bain Capital, partnering with a PLA backed company to buy a US business that makes security systems for the DOD. Of course, he still is defending Massachusetts’ mandated RomneyCare, despite the fact that it is falling apart at the seams after just a few years.

Not much needs to be written about our friend Rudy Giuliani. His pro-abortion stance should be more than sufficient to reject his candidacy. In case it isn’t, then just know this: He is a man who thinks that the 2nd Amendment is for law enforcement officers and hunters, that former ACLU squawker Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a “well qualified” Supreme Court Justice, that a strict constructionist judge could agree that Roe versus Wade IS constitutional, that creating a new, bloated, taxpayer funded “National Catastrophe Fund” (as he panders to Floridians) is a good idea, that Amnesty is not Amnesty, that a “high tech” border fence will stop the stampede, that being here illegally is not a crime, and that deporting the illegal aliens here now is a ridiculous notion.

Rudy is in good company when he takes the debate stage with John McCain when it comes to illegal aliens. McCain cares far more for the pontifications of his buddies Ted Kennedy and Lindsey Graham on illegal immigration than what the American people have to say about it. He too considers paying a nominal fine as sufficient justification for allowing illegals to remain here permanently. McCain also shows an Algorian liberalism in claiming credit where little is due. I’m referring to his on-the-stump bragging about his role in the current success in Iraq. The ‘surge’ as it is called, was the brainchild of General David Petraeus, who was tasked by one Don Rumsfeld to draw up tactics for an effective counterinsurgency. McCain rightly claims that he has consistently demanded “more troops”. But Gen. Petraeus’ call for 21,000 additional troops – well within the ebb and flow of troop rotations over the previous 3 years – was a far cry from the additional 100,000 + Soldiers and Marines that McCain was demanding. And if Don Rumsfeld is the “worst Secretary of Defense in our nations’ history”, as Mr. McCain has declared, then McCain is the worst Senator in the history of the world, going back to the days of the crumbling Roman Empire. Our country does not need a leader with delusions of personal grandeur, especially a liberal one who flirted with the notion of being John Kerry’s vice president.

With the choices left before us, we have come full circle. Conservatives clamoring for a conservative to beat back the Rudy McRomney juggernaut had a brave volunteer in Duncan Hunter. The fringe candidates such as Jim Gilmore, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson all dropped out early. Hunter persevered, as long as his meager budget would allow. He anticipated that the conservative media would take the time to learn his record and realize that he was the one guy who had the complete conservative package, without having to change a single fundamental position he has held for the last 25 years. But they didn’t bother.

And just what is that complete package and what are those fundamental positions?

For starters, Hunter is the most knowledgeable man in Congress on our military, it’s history, it’s capabilities, and most importantly, it’s current needs. He has been the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, as is currently the ranking republican. He is a Hawk’s Hawk. As McCain worked with democrats to cut the military budget for a non-existent “peace dividend”, Hunter was scrapping for every last dollar to fight the downward path Bush I and Clinton embarked upon. McCain ran in 2000 on a platform that claimed Clinton neglected the Military, but McCain was not the one in the trenches fighting to save our Army Divisions, our Naval flotilla or our missile defenses; it was Duncan Hunter. Hunter was not only Reagan’s right hand man during the restoration of our military, he was the most vociferous voice in Washington pressing the case for maintaining and improving that restoration. No politician is more responsible for preventing the evisceration of our missile defense systems than Congressman Hunter. And Hunter has gone toe to toe with McCain and the liberals who vow to close down Guantanamo and neuter our interrogation methods. Political correctness is never is a consideration for Mr. Hunter, only our nation’s security. Hunter is also an Army Ranger combat veteran and a proud father – and son - of a US Marine.

Duncan Hunter has also been the most steadfast and determined man in Congress to stop the illegal alien invasion. Ever since he arrived with Reagan in 1981, Hunter has been fighting the RINOs and democrats on illegal immigration. He warned that the 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli immigration bill that granted amnesty to millions of Mexicans would only cause a larger stampede. The weak promises to ‘secure the border’ never materialized, and Hunter was absolutely correct about that stampede. Hunter took matters into his own hands and got the double border fence built in his home county, fighting the Hispanic rights activist, the environmentalists and the RINOs the whole time. Hunter has sponsored or cosponsored over 80 bills and amendments in his career that attempted to slam the door on the ever growing problem. He addressed everything from anchor babies, to sanctuary cities and states, to increases in Border Patrol officers and detention facilities. As often as not, the democrats and Senate RINOs managed to water them down to the point of futility, and the various administrations lifted nary a finger to follow through on the ones that did pass. A prime example of that foolishness occurred just weeks ago when Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn gutted Hunter’s Secure Fence Act in the Senate. No longer is the fence mandated by type, location or schedule. In fact, there is no longer any requirement for it being a double fence with a patrol road between. Hunter’s fence in San Diego is testament that such a fence works very well, and Kay Bailey is a testament that a bird brained, open borders shill can be elected even in Texas.

None of the candidates, not even Mr. Huckabee, can match Hunter’s career long efforts to honor and restore our Judeo-Christian heritage and values. Hunter has been sponsoring legislation since the 1980s that would define life as beginning at conception and forward constitutional protection to the unborn. The human life of the unborn is non negotiable with Hunter, who has also worked diligently to prevent federal funds for abortion, to outlaw partial birth abortion and to stop all funds for embryonic stem cell research. Hunter is also the bane of the ACLU, who tried to have the Mt Soledad cross removed in San Diego, only to meet a very determined Hunter who would have none of it. His lifelong, adamant position is that the 1st Amendment does not prohibit religious speech, rather it protects such speech. A few months ago, Hunter helped put the thumbscrews on the politically correct weenies running the National Cemetery Administration who banned the recitation of the customary prayers during the flag folding ceremony (one person complained), forcing them to modify their ruling and re-allow it. Hunter has also been unbending in his position that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military. The gay lobby is not going to be endorsing Hunter any time soon. The rest of the candidates dance around the issue like Fred Astaire, trying to find that middle ground that won’t ‘offend’ anyone.

And Duncan Hunter has been a firm believer in supply side economics and has missed precious few chances to sponsor or cosponsor tax cuts. Hunter’s vision mirrors that of Ronald Reagan when it comes to taxes: Lower taxes stimulate growth and ultimately generates more money into the treasury. He has proposed eliminating the death tax, slashing corporate and individual and capital gains tax rates, eliminating taxes on farmers, oil and gas exploration, tip income, and everything in between. And during this campaign, Duncan Hunter has proposed to zero out all taxation for manufacturers that build their plants on US soil. Now THAT will create jobs and wealth at unprecedented levels, and help restore the Arsenal of Democracy, which is also a very real national security concern.

I could go on and on about Hunter’s rock-ribbed, pro-America, conservative positions on a whole host of issues from his rejection of gay ‘marriage’, to his proposal to slash the bureaucracy budgets – including the Dept of Education, OSHA, the EPA, , the DOE, HUD etc, to his promise to eliminate the NEA and the NEH once and for all, to his proposal to freeze all non military and non security spending, to his calls for slashing regulations to instill nationwide competition in medical insurance and medicine itself, to his rock solid, “absolute right” stand on the 2nd Amendment, to his vow to confront the communist Chinese for their assorted malfeasance on trade and world affairs, to his guarantee to have all 854 miles of border fence up in six months, to his unwavering commitment to deport the illegal aliens, to his uncompromising stand on victory over the the jihadists in all theatres, but time does not allow today.

Suffice to say that Duncan Hunter IS the man that conservatives wanted. But the media would not cover him, the so-called conservative media treated him like a novelty when he is by far the most conservative and qualified man to be commander in chief. It is time for conservatives to rally around this man, as we should have done the first time, and ask him to re-enter the race to defeat the pack of RINOs that are still slugging it out. Fred Thompson was ‘drafted’ in the hopes that a celebrity name, who was somewhat more conservative than the ‘contenders’ could defeat Rudy McRomney. While that is an understandable line of thinking, in reality Fred’s entry diverted attention away from the Reaganite, Duncan Hunter, who needed a rally amongst the most conservative voters to lift his campaign into the first tier. Now that Fred is gone, we should ask Mr. Hunter to return, for the sake of the GOP, conservatism, the Reagan coalition, and the country.

If we all vow to contribute and work our tails off for him, we have a shot. And this time, the ‘conservative’ media will pay attention.

oops. I just saw it.
It looks like an anti-establishment endorsement. Huckabee and Paul are the only 2 left who absolutely terrify the RINO elite.
Paul said too many things about the military-even while Hunter’s son was deployed overseas. I can’t see him going there.
He must see Huck as less harmful than the others.
I thought Romney would denounce, and divest from, Bane Capital and ask for Hunter’s support.

I'll repost here what I reposted on another thread where people were wetting their pants over this endorsement.

At this point, no matter who Duncan Hunter endorsed, a large contingent of Freepers would be going WTF????? Rudy, Mitt, Huckabee, Paul, McCain, Keyes, whoever... it would be a large amount of griping from people who didn't receive Duncan's blessing for their personal choice of candidate.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm voting Alan Keyes regardless of Duncan Hunter's recommendation. I am free to disagree, just as Tancredo supporters were free to disagree with Tancredo's endorsement. Such is life.

Huckabee’s at 3.6% for the nomination. For the Florida primary, he’s still embedded in the field with Ron Paul at 3.4%. If you think he’s going to take off, you could make some good money buying his contracts (if you’re right). I would gather that Intrade’s data is a reasonable reflection of his current chances.

2008 Republican Presidential Nominee
Contract Bid Ask Last Vol Chge
2008.GOP.NOM.MCCAIN
John McCain to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M Trade 49.4 50.2 49.3 203920 -1.6
2008.GOP.NOM.ROMNEY
Mitt Romney to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M Trade 28.0 28.8 28.0 139220 +2.5
2008.GOP.NOM.GIULIANI
Rudy Giuliani to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M Trade 15.8 16.5 15.8 167396 -0.5
2008.GOP.NOM.HUCKABEE
Mike Huckabee to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M Trade 3.6 3.7 3.6 155503 -0.5
2008.GOP.NOM.PAUL
Ron Paul to be the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2008 M Trade 1.6 1.7 1.7 101957 +0.0

Florida Republican Primary. Jan 29th
Contract Bid Ask Last Vol Chge
REP.FLA.MCCAIN
John McCain to Win M Trade 42.0 47.0 44.5 2583 -5.6
REP.FLA.GIULIANI
Rudy Giuliani to Win M Trade 12.5 13.9 12.5 2934 -4.0
REP.FLA.ROMNEY
Mitt Romney to Win M Trade 40.0 45.4 45.0 2443 +15.0
REP.FLA.THOMPSON(F)
Fred Thompson to Win M Trade - 0.1 0.1 628 0
REP.FLA.GINGRICH
Newt Gingrich to Win M Trade - 0.1 0.1 0 0
REP.FLA.FIELD
Field (any other individual) to Win M Trade 2.0 3.5 3.4 1729 -0.1

I dunno RasterMaster, The one that the missguided blogster wrote about was referenced here and in march of 2002 it was recommended by the white house as necessary for Homeland security and border enhancement. It seems like this press release was responding to typical hysteria over this bill. I’d have to look back through FR to see how we responded.

But the fact is he wants to end birthright citizenship and get rid of the gravy train the illegals are on.

http://www.house.gov/tiahrt/communications/press_releases/2002/hr1885.htm

I agree with you completely. Especially after what we’ve had to suffer at the hands of Jorge Bush.

I also agree with you (as you posted on another thread) that it would have been better had Hunter not endorsed anyone.

Still plan to write him in, though.

I was just watching CBS profiling some of the candidates. It was a question/answer thing. Huckabee seems so sincere. I can see how many freepers enjoyed meeting him. I am simply NO GOOD on this sincerity thing. Never have been. I set credit policy for years, and you learned to judge people on their record, not by what you knew about their personal lives or gossip. That’s why I never get into candidates personal lives, religion, etc. and look at what they say, what they do and what they’ve done in relationship to this country and government.

It seems that’s what we’ve come down to, ‘gut feeling’. Some of you may be experts at that ( I don’t see how anyone is), but not me. I’m one of these fools who if you stood all of the candidates up in front of me and I knew nothing of them, I’d like ‘em all. Well, ‘cept Hillary. Once in a great while I have a visceral reaction to someone that has NEVER been wrong.

It means we owe Huckabee another look.

Hunter was THE Conservative running in this race. He seems to know Huckabee on a personal level and seems to be convinced that he is the man for the job.

Personally, I will need a lot of convincing before I take that plunge, but Hunter was the top Congressman on Military matters and the leader in the immigration fight. For him to endorse Huckabee is very surprising.

I'm hoping that Hunter can explain his position clearly. I understand he is a freeper. Maybe he'll come here and start a thread to explain himself. I'd be very interested in hearing the whole story.

Mr National Security, John McCain, should be well known to Duncan Hunter. If Tom Delay holds McCain in such disdain, then I’m guessing Hunter didn’t endorse McCain for obvious reasons.

Mr 911 is an unrepentant radical liberal in just about every way imaginable. Other than being mayor of a bombed city, which really is NOT national security experience, Rudy is an inexperienced radical liberal. I can’t see Duncan Hunter endorsing Rudy.

The Gov of Massachusetts recently recanted a gazillion liberal positions he has held dearly up to this point. Something about style and substance must have NOT impressed Duncan Hunter regarding Romney. I’m guessing he has reason not to buy the conversion stories.

Huckabee, the baptist Governor of Arkansas, sings well, and doesn’t do amnesty issues well, but he has been consistently pro-life, pro-gun, and anti-gay agenda his entire career.

My guess is that compared to the other 3 Stooges, Huck at least had a few convictions that he’d held for more than just this campaign.

What is the bottom line?

There is only one direction a real pro-life candidate can go to get relief: strict constructionist, originalist judges.

In the long run, that’s the critical issue for this country.

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