Posted on 03/09/2007 6:44:43 PM PST by LdSentinal
Periodically, I get e-mails from supporters of the presidential candidacy of Alpine Rep. Duncan Hunter who express disbelief, befuddlement or fury, or a mix of all three, at my flat contention that he is a populist demagogue and anything but a principled conservative. These folks cannot fathom any talk that he's not free-trade, small-government Ronald Reagan reincarnated.
Here's a typical example of Hunterista reaction to my comment that he's been against trade deals that have been important boons to our economy:
You're supposed to be a columnist, an informed person. This is not an informed statement.
OK. If you don't believe me about Duncan Hunter's RRRINOitis, here's what the influential, admired-and-respected-in-conservative-circles Club for Growth has to say about him:
Like most Republicans, he's strong on tax cuts, but he's been part of the big government spending spree of the last 6 years. He also has a protectionist streak in him. Here are some of the more troubling votes:
NO on NAFTA YES on No Child Left Behind YES on Sarbanes-Oxley YES on the 2003 Medicare Drug Benefit NO on CAFTA YES on 2005 Highway Bill YES on the 527 bill (like most Republicans, he flip-flopped, having first voted NO on McCain-Feingold) Hunter also went 0 for 19 on the Flake anti-pork amendments.
Despite being a member of the Republican Study Committee, Hunter frequently votes NO on their fiscally conservative annual budgets (2006, 2005, 2003...)
We gave him a 49% on the 2005 Club for Growth scorecard. That places him 187th within the House GOP conference, out of roughly 230 members.
National Taxpayers Union shows a more telling trend. He was strong in the early 1990s, getting "B's" and one "A", but as time went by, like most politicians, his score dropped. For the past few years, he's been getting "C's".
Those Cs are incredibly generous. As CATO noted last year, with Duncan Hunter cheering him on ...
... President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn't cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.
Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush's first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton's last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush's first term.
The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.
The GOP was once effective at controlling nondefense spending. The final nondefense budgets under Clinton were a combined $57 billion smaller than what he proposed from 1996 to 2001. Under Bush, Congress passed budgets that spent a total of $91 billion more than the president requested for domestic programs.
And as bad as things are on the budget front, they're about to get a whole lot worse because of a pending nightmare that Duncan Hunter -- supposed tough guy, supposed truth-teller, supposed fiscal conservative -- has chosen to ignore. To borrow from what I wrote last year ...
... the single worst problem facing this country in coming years, with the possible exception of nuclear terrorism, is dealing with the massive fiscal impact of baby boomers retiring. As we slowly transition from a nation where there are 4 working adults for every adult getting Social Security and Medicare to a nation where that ratio is 2 to 1, we will face an incredible fiscal squeeze.
As a veteran member of Congress, Duncan Hunter knows this. He's heard the warnings, seen the bipartisan studies. So what did this self-declared fiscal conservative do in 2003? He voted to make the problem much, much, much worse by extending prescription drug benefits to seniors, three-quarters of whom already have coverage. The money that was saved by all the triumphant stands he claims to have taken is infinitesimal compared to the staggering long-term national debt he helped add with this one vote, which was tantamount to civic arson.
Yeah, right, our Duncan's a fiscal conservative. ... He loves spending your grandkids' money, and by the truckload.
Duncan Hunter is no Ronald Reagan. To those who say Ronald Reagan really wasn't Ronald Reagan -- that government didn't get smaller when he was president -- well, he tried harder than any president in modern times to get Congress to control spending and wipe out whole government agencies. By contrast, Hunter and the GOP Congress of 2001-2006 kept the national credit cards hanging on a string around their necks for easy and constant use.
So, basically you wanted me to check #387 rather than #383.
Here, let me do the substitution for you, since you seem unwilling or incapable.
Kevmo Post #526 to FreeReign:Here's what the demos have to say about our front runners. Interesting you should be on the same side as them.
Should be
Kevmo Post #526 to FreeReign:Here's what the demos have to say about our front runners. How telling that you side with them.
Now, it's getting a bit convoluted, so the point I was trying to make was that the demos can see our so-called front runners are basically RINOs, and they seem to like it that way. How telling that you side with them.
Kevmo, look at the thread. I count 4 people in the last few posts who probably think that your the turkey.
Gobble, gobble.
Check the title of the thread. You joined in on a Duncan Hunter bashing fest. Don't be surprised if some day the DH fans return the favor, just for grins. Now be sure to let us know who your candidate is, so we can return that favor.
Any of them Duncan Supporters? Any of them Socons? The turkeys are the ones who can't even tackle just ONE Duncan Fan.
I didn't bash Hunter.
Since when is pointing out that Hunter is a liberal spender, "bashing"?
Am I to bite my tongue and hold back accurate criticism of Hunter?
This is a conservative website. All things not conservative should be criticized. If you don't like it, then tell Hunter to clean up his big spending act.
later....
I didn't bash Hunter.
***OKAY, then when you DO decide on a candidate and someone starts a thread that's basically [freereign's candidate] Is a BIG RRRINO, then we can all join in and have lotsa fun and it won't be considered "bashing". I'm looking forward to it. Please let us know when you decide who your superduper candidate is, that is if it's more than 1 day before the election.
Since when is pointing out that Hunter is a liberal spender, "bashing"? Am I to bite my tongue and hold back accurate criticism of Hunter?
***Very good point. The problem is ACCURATE criticism. He's been true to the republican line and now is getting docked for his loyalty. Show where he voted for some big spending thingie that was against the republican grain and you have accurate criticism. Until then you're just hiding and complaining and sniping.
I retorted for 4 paragraphs once with some of my best stuff and a guy came back with "you misspelled such and such, ergo you must be an idiot". The spell Nazi's need to move on the the DU. Fat fingering a couple of keys doesn't make your ideas wrong, but they think you need to spellcheck everything and check punctuation before posting.
Could you, or anyone, please explain why Rudy is running as a Republican?
I mean, he's from New York, he's got policies that you must admit are more Dem than Republican.
How did he end up in this Party?
These are the same cheap talking points used by a gaggle of anti-Hunter freepers. It's all a bunch of bullsh*t, I hope you know.
What did Reagan do when in office:
Did he allow unfettered trade with our enemies, the USSR and China? Nope.
Did Reagan prohibit sales of advanced electronics and avionics and dual use technologies to China and the USSR? Yes.
Did Reagan help Harley Davidson out by imposing stiff tariffs on large jap bikes while HD reorganized? Yep.
Did Reagan help Chrysler from going TU with gov't loans? Yep.
Did Reagan enforce anti-dumping laws on the japanese? Yes, he did.
Did Reagan realize the value of a strong industrial America? Yep.
Here's a summary from a pro free trade group:
Forced Japan to accept restraints on auto exports;
Tightened considerably the quotas on imported sugar;
Negotiated to increase the restrictiveness of the Multifiber Arrangement governing trade in textiles and apparel;
Required 18 countries, including Brazil, Spain, South
Korea, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Finland, Australia, and the European Community, to accept "voluntary restraint agreements" that reduce their steel imports to the United States;
Imposed a 45% duty on Japanese motorcycles for the benefit of Harley Davidson, which admitted that superior
Japanese management was the cause of its problems;
Raised tariffs on Canadian lumber and cedar shingles;
Forced the Japanese into an agreement to control the price of computer memory chips;
Removed third-world countries on several occasions from the duty-free import program for developing nations;
Pressed Japan to force its automakers to buy more American-made parts;
Demanded that Taiwan, West Germany, Japan, and Switzerland restrain their exports of machine tools;
Accused the Japanese of dumping roller bearings on grounds that the price did not rise to cover a fall in the value of the yen;
Accused the Japanese of dumping forklift trucks and color picture tubes;
Extended quotas on imported clothes pins;
Failed to ask Congress to end the ban on the export of Alaskan oil and timber cut from federal lands;
Redefined dumping so domestic firms can more easily charge foreign competitors with unfair trade practices;
Beefed-up the Export-Import Bank, an institution dedicated to distorting the American economy at the expense of the American people in order to artificially promote exports of eight large corporations.
Sorry if CATO and the Hair Club for Growth didn't care for Reagan much.
And Duncan Hunter's less a protectionist than Reagan. Hunter wants two things primarily. 1) To rework the trade deal with China, who cheats, lies and steals at every opprotunity. 2) Not give any trade policy decision making power to any group other than the US government.
Blends into the crowd? Who was the guy front and center pushing back into Murtha's and Kerry's cut and run tactics? Who forced Murtha's cut and run bill to the house floor for a vote? Who reigned in Pence when he went off the reservation seeking a "comprehensive" immigration bill with the Senate, and instead forced through the border fence bill which the President signed? Who is THE one guy the media comes to when it wants real military expertise from a congressman? Who kept Reagan's SDI alive when the Clintonoids were trying to gut it? Who led the fight against the ACLU's effort to remove the Mt. Soledad Cross war memorial.
Hunter has been there. He just does not get fawning press coverage.
Hunter opposed McCain Feingold, and still does. Rudy was its biggest cheerleader. McCain, well, his name is on it. You tell me which of the 3 pro first amendment.
Now tell me whiich is the only one that is pro 2nd amendment.
And Mike Pence buckled and tried to negotiate away the tough House bill on immigration. While he was making lovey dovey with the lame senators, Hunter was busy preparing the 800 mile border fence bill, which he ramrodded through.
And Hunter is being investigated for malfeasance, right?
Oh, he's not.
Yes, we certainly do. I'll start and end with illegal immigration and porous borders. There's really nothing else that needs to be said after that.
"Jim was NOT for "W", from '98 through early September of 2000.
He was as adamantly against him, as he now is against Rudy.
And we all know how THAT worked out' don't we? :-)"
Yes we do...Jim turned out to be mostly right after all. That's not to say GWB has been a complete disappointment, but he surely hasn't been the conservative that many of us thought he would be. His approach in dealing with illegal immigration is one of his biggest failures. I do like that he has remained firm on the WOT, but many of his policies have been a disappoint to a great many of us conservatives. Nevertheless, I pray for and support GWB because he needs it.
Duncan Hunter a RINO? You've gotta be kidding.
You're obviously looking for the perfect candidate, and guess what? You'll never find him.
Sorry but I find this post way overboard.
No, you should have spent more time reading it and understanding what it meant.
There is no mention in my post about feelings and nothing I posted indicated that I was talking about feelings.
You said, "Folks like you are doing REAL damage to the republican party and I doubt your loyalty to it."
I didn't say that, Kevmo did. Please, work on your reading comprehension skills for the next time you butt in and proceed to preach and lecture.
Free Republic isn't representative of the entire American electorate. Get a grip!
I hope you don't make a habit of posting to me, because I'm getting tired of responding to someone whose intellectual capacity is limited, to say the least. You have posted that you can say whatever you want about Rudy Giuliani, and you certainly have. Still, your libelous remark about Rudy being a homosexual is beyond the pale. And you call yourself a conservative? There's no room in conservatism for bigotry, much less for throwing around libelous remarks. Everyone knows that “tootyfruity” means homosexual, and Rudy isn't one, but that doesn't stopped you for continuing using this forum to slander a major Republican candidate.
Another thing, quit threatening me. Though I'm not surprised of your repeated threats - after all, that's what bullies do.
I however, don't just say whatever I want when it comes to presidential candidates – I stick to the facts. And your candidate isn't immune to criticism as this article points out:
Yeah, right, our Duncan's a fiscal conservative. ... He loves spending your grandkids' money, and by the truckload.Duncan Hunter is no Ronald Reagan. To those who say Ronald Reagan really wasn't Ronald Reagan -- that government didn't get smaller when he was president -- well, he tried harder than any president in modern times to get Congress to control spending and wipe out whole government agencies. By contrast, Hunter and the GOP Congress of 2001-2006 kept the national credit cards hanging on a string around their necks for easy and constant use.
Duncan Hunter, RRRINO: Reincarnated Reagan Republican In Name Only
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