Posted on 03/16/2007 10:12:10 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
As many of you may know, Sam Hunter has recently become the Hunter Campaign's ambassador to Free Republic. He serves as a direct line to Duncan Hunter, under the username "Duncan Hunter Ambassador". You have questions? Sam has answers.
Without further ado, I give you Sam Hunter.
(Opening Statement from Sam Hunter)
"Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am here to represent my father to the best of my ability. I will work hard to respond to every post, although it may take a while to answer all of them, as I am only one person. I look forward to our discussions in the future."
(And just to clear up any confusion...)
"As much as I would love to have the title of a marine, I cannot take credit for that. You are referring to my older brother Duncan D. Hunter. I was there helping Duncan while he was in South Carolina, although my name was not mentioned."
(Just to erase any confusion on the matter.)
Q: Will Duncan Hunter make an appearance at the Gathering of Eagles this weekend?
Sam: I was told that we will definitely have our people there to represent us, and that dad is going to make a strong effort to get there as well.
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Q: Would Duncan consider John Bolton for his VP running mate?
Sam: I spoke with my father this evening, and his response was: "I respect John Bolton very much. But at this time I would say we have not decided on any running mates."
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Q: Do ya think he liked the idea? Did he at least smile or chuckle? Hey - there's a question...does Duncan chuckle?
Sam: He sounded quite upbeat to say the least. And yes, I assure you my father has a great sense of humor and smiles quite often. I might even post pics.
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Q: Will he be treated to the same FR animosity given all other newly registered folk which are usually labeled trolls/"n00bs!?"
Sam: I am a total NOOB! It may take me a while to get the hang of this.
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Q: Are you the one who lives in Idaho?
Sam: Nope, I live in San Diego.
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Q: Are you concerned at all about your apparently low poll numbers? An honest question, not intended to troll or mock, as I can see myself supporting you, especially over Guilani, the apparent appointed nominee for the GOP. However I am concerned about the apparent low poll numbers. Is there any concern? Are there plans in the works to make you, Mr. Hunter, more visible in the coming months?
Sam: I spoke with my father this evening, and his response to this question is as follows: "I have done numerous national radio and television appearances in the last three weeks, my ability to do well when the voters know about me is reflected in my win in the Arizona stroll poll, and our close finish (1%) behind Guilani and Mckain in the South Carolina straw poll. Name identification is a challenge and the answer is hard work. Help us spread the message."
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Q: I hope you haven't left the FR yet????
Sam: I am still here. I was raised in a political family and as such I have developed some pretty thick skin.
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Q: Both President Bush and Mayor Giuliani have said that they think that a pardon of Ramos and Compean is premature, and that the legal process should be exausted before considering a pardon for the two. Does Congressman Hunter agree?
Sam: This was from my father's speech at CPAC: "...And, ladies and gentlemen, at one small, one remote place on that Rio Grande, as almost everybody here knows, two American Border Patrol agents saw a van come across with some 750 pounds of narcotics. And at some point during that apprehension, the drug dealer was winged. He wasn't winged badly. I understand he didn't even collect workman's comp...(Laughter)... before he was back on the job. But for that, these two American Border Patrol agents, Ramos and Compean, were given 11 and 12 years of hard time in the federal penitentiary. That is a greater punishment than the average convicted murderer in this country, who does about eight and a half years. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I've read the transcript. I've talked with the families. And I've met with Mrs. Compean and Mrs. Ramos. And I've read the transcript of the trial. And I would say this. I've been in the Armed Services Committee for 26 years. I've been chairman for four. I have never seen a Marine or a soldier treated in such an unjust way as Ramos and Compean. And as president of the United States, I will pardon Ramos and Compean. (Applause)"
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(The following concerns a post by someone claiming to be Hunter's other son, the Marine Duncan D. Hunter. It concerns the candidate's views on trade.)
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Q: Did your brother contribute this post to this website?
Sam: This is my brother's response to someone who asked him to write up a few sentences about Duncan Hunter's view on trade. This is not an official press release or anything. He also told me that this is a DH friendly website.
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Q: What's Duncan Hunter's position on people like Jane Fonda, who posed for the North Vietnamese during wartime, and ratted out POW letters to their Vietcong captors. What is his position on John Kerry, who lied under oath to Congress that American soldiers in Vietnam were 'baby killers'?
Sam: Dad has stated many times that Senator Kerry's statements about G.I.s in Vietnam were untrue. He also has condemned Jane Fonda's acts of support for the North Vietnamese.
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Q: Why did Hunter vote for Meehan's/Shay's "Campaign Finance Reform" legislation which both takes away from free speech and also created the still ongoing problems with the "527" special interest groups?
Sam: Rep. Hunter voted against the Shays-Meehan (aka McCain-Feingold) Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act in the 105th, 106th and 107th Congresses (It finally passed in the 107th Congress P.L. 107-155). During the 109th Congress, Rep. Hunter did vote in favor of H.R. 513, the 527 Reform Act, which would subject 527 political organizations involved in federal elections to regulation under the Federal Election Campaign Act. 527 organizations were operating outside the regulatory framework of the federal election law, thereby allowing such organizations to raise and spend an unlimited amount on behalf of a single candidate. H.R. 513 helped reform this loophole and Rep. Hunter supported the reform. Rep. Hunter believes in free speech, which is why he opposed the Bipartisan Capaign Finance Reform Act, however, if speech in the form of money is going to be regulated for some, it should be done so for all.
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Q: Is your father pounding the doors of the MSM (radio and TV) for spots? Are the "conservative" pundits going out of their way to accomodate him OR ignore him? And IF he is, is he getting rejected or put off by anyone specificically?
Sam: Dad has done lots of TV and radio in the past couple of months across the spectrum. Lou Dobbs, Neil Cavuto, Hardball and Fox and Friends have been especially good, as have Glen Beck, Mike Reagan, Bill Bennett, Gordon Liddy and many others.
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Q: Can you divulge the attitude and level of support your father has in the Senate? The RNC?
Sam: With the big Republican field our take is that the RNC is properly neutral in this primary race.
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Q: I am a Rudy supporter, and there are more than several of us. Do you think it is in the best interests of your dad's campaign to accuse those of us who support Rudy as not being "real conservatives"? Please note that I am not saying you agree with this or not. But I can't help but wonder what you think of this.
Sam: Dad's directions to all of our campaigners and supporters are to carry out a high level campaign emphasizing defense, border security and jobs. He believes that Rudy Guiliani is a good guy, with real differences such as Mr. Guiliani's pro-choice and anti-gun positions.
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Q: What would 'President Hunter' do to shrink the size of the federal government, and give us the smaller government that conservatives have been asking for since Ronald Reagan left office?
Sam: My father believes in limited government, requiring only a large enough bureaucracy to execute the basic functions of the Federal Government, while leaving control of all other aspects of Government to the states and the American people.
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Q: We know he wants to renogotiate the China trade deal (mercifully) and he is not a fan of CAFTA. But what is his stance on unfettered trade deals with good allies such as Canada, Britain, Australia, Japan, Poland, Denmark, Italy etc. Can he assure the skeptics that he is not a strident protectionist?
Sam: Dad's position is that trade deals esentially are business deals between nations. He feels that nations can be good friends and allies and still require a level playing field with respect to trading rules. Presently all the nations you mentioned have the right to rebate all taxes to their exporters. However, under the deal we signed, America does not have the right to rebate taxes to our exporters. This amounts to an unfair advantage. My dad would require our allies to allow us the same favoarable tax treatment that they receive. This would do much to change the one-way street which produced a 804.9 billion dollar U.S. trade deficit last year. Thus, dad is for a two way street in trade, achieved by effective negotiators.
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Q: Would you ask your Dad if he has heard of Deputy Sheriff Guillermo Hernandez in Texas? If not, would you ask him to look into his case also? Another good guy may be going to jail for a long time. Appreciate it. Thanks.
Sam: Thank you for the heads up, I spoke with my father's staff and they are fully aware of this situation, as such my father will be informed.
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Q: Would Congresman Hunter care to comment on the Democrat plan to close the Gauntanamo prison and move the terrorists to US soil?
Sam: Dad did a press conference on keeping Gauntanamo open today, I believe it was all over the news. He believes it is important to warehouse terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in order to protect Americans.
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Q: Your Dad has taught you to keep it short and sweet, just the way we like it!
Sam: Dad learned those things from his dad: United States Marine Bob Hunter.
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Q: Thanks so much for joining us here. I have a question for you. I've read that Duncan farmed for a while in Idaho. I would like to hear more about that experience and if that is when he gained his respect for property rights and the hard working American citizen.
Sam: Dad farmed an island in Idaho on the Snake River. He learned not to overload the barge! LOL. He and his partner sunk a grain combine, which quickly took care of all the profits.
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Q: China is becoming a real threat to our national security and economy. With all of our attention on the WOT, their military build up and monetary shenanigans seems to be proceeding unchecked. What would a "President Hunter" do to hold in check China's threat to our national security?
Sam: Check out dad's speeches on China, these can be found on his website. Basically, he will stop their trade cheating with sanctions and build America's strength in space, deep-strike, and Naval capability.
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Q: Sam, some of us here are justing learning about your father - can you give a fairly brief statement about your father's vision for America should he become President?
Sam: This is Dad's announcement speech from South Carolina. It tells the story much better than I ever could. :)
xxxx
And there you folks have it. Tune in next week for more answers!
Thanks!
Somehow Duncan needs to be able to address this misperception. It's a tough subject for the average voter to wrap their minds around so some thought needs to go into how best to contrast his position with what protectionism really is.
***Actually, the more we have people like Delay keying up on Duncan Hunter over this issue, the more it highlights the fact that the man can attract wide swaths of crossover votes from "fair trade democrats".
Per instruction, this problem is hereby submitted to the proper authority:
The 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty is a supreme obstacle to development of outer space resources and should be repealed. Today the Chinese courts returned the decision that no private company doing business in China can sell deeds to portions of the moon or any other celestial body because of the Treaty.
Also today:
spaceflightnow.com
NASA-GSFC NEWS RELEASE
Posted: March 16, 2007
A menacing lump of rock and dust in space called 101955 (1999 RQ36) would barely be noticed except for two crucial facts: First, "It's a treasure trove of organic material, so it holds clues to how Earth formed and life got started," said Joseph Nuth of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Second, it regularly crosses Earth's orbit, so it might impact us someday.
Point taken.
What does Duncan Hunter think about possible term limits for all politicians at every political level? Many states have term limits in place for their state politicians for a few years now. In states that do have term limits in place for their politicians, what has worked and what hasn't worked? I find that having term limits in place can also often include the destruction of ongoing legislation from existence after the politicians who are term limited end up leaving office. Term limited politicians end up often taking their ongoing legislation with them (killing the legislation when they do this) when they leave political office instead of successfully finding other politicians to successfully take over the continuing development of such legislation.
What does Duncan Hunter think about the possibility of having a system of recall in place for every politician at every political level and for every judge at every judicial level throughout the entire U.S.? If such a system of recall was indeed in place in order to hold every politician and every judge much more accountable for everything that they end up doing and not doing during their entire durations in such positions, then the entire political system and the entire judicial system would work much better for everyone.
I think you're being a bit defensive. My post was meant to slam Delay not your post.
Dad voted for the Bipartisan Medicare Plan that provided for prescription drug benefits. So far the plan is gaining acceptance among senior citizens and has cost less money than projected.
The Boy Scouts of America have been under attack from the left and their willing accomplices, the courts.
For years they have done community service in exchange for the right to meet in government and public places at little or no cost.
Now they are being forced out, and their work for the local communities is ignored.
Q: What is your father's position on this?
Q: And what would he do to preserve and protect the traditional values that the BSA represents?
There isn't a lot of informationon on your father's military service on his website.
Q: Where can I find a more complete history on his time in the Army?
***THAT would be nice. I think we (USA) are going to have our hands full though, staying out of the UN 2010 treaties. We have really fallen down a rabbit hole :(***
That brings up a good question.
I know some people on here don't like us being part of the UN. Sam, what is your Dad's view on the UN, and would he keep the United States as part of the United Nations should he be elected President?
I live in Stamford. Let's get something rolling.
Great! I've become very interested in learning more about Hunter for '08. He seems the most promising I've heard of so far. Please add me to your ping list.
Cuba is drilling in the Gulf where we should be drilling.
ANWR is sitting there idle, while gas prices approach $3.00 a gallon.
Venezuela and Iran threaten us and we still buy their oil.
There hasn't been a new nuclear plant built in decades, and our oil refinery production is nearly maxed out.
What is your father's policies on all of these issues?
Can Sam give us any background on the National Journal? They conducted a Conservative survey showing Rep. Hunter at 82%, the most Conservative member of Congress. GO DUNCAN HUNTER.
There are at least 4, and i believe 6 nuke plants going to be built in texas in the near future.
I, for one, am a senior. I do not look to government to determine the price of anything. The job of government is to protect this country. Unfortunately, when government gets involved in anything in the private sector,the price, or cost, skyrockets. Before they got into Medicare, everyone could easily afford excellent health care. (Doctors even made house calls!) So if seniors there have worries they want the government to solve, I am ashamed of them.
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