Focus of US Presidential Race Shifts to Foreign Policy

VOA ^ | 28 December 2007 | Jim Malone

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Malone report - Download MP3 (956k)
Listen to Malone report

The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appears to have shifted the focus of the U.S. presidential race to national security and foreign policy issues. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington.

Presidential contenders from both parties were trying to shore up their foreign policy credentials in the wake of the Bhutto assassination.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

From the WSJ:

PEGGY NOONAN
Be Reasonable
As Iowa sizes up the candidates, so do I.
Friday, December 28, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST

*****************************EXCERPT**************************

By next week politically active Iowans will have met and tallied their votes. Their decision this year will have a huge impact on the 2008 election, and a decisive impact on various candidacies. Some will be done in. Some will be made. Some will land just right or wrong and wake up the next day to read raves or obits. A week after that, New Hampshire. The endless campaign is in fact nearing its climax.

But all eyes are on Iowa. Iowans bear a heck of a lot of responsibility this year, the first time since 1952 when there is no incumbent president or vice president in the race. All of it is wide open.

Iowa can make Obama real. It can make Hillary yesterday. It can make Huckabee a phenom and not a flash, McCain the future and not the past. Moments like this happen in history. They're the reason we get up in the morning. "What happened?" "Who won?"

This is my 2008 slogan: Reasonable Person for President. That is my hope, what I ask Iowa to produce, and I claim here to speak for thousands, millions. We are grown-ups, we know our country needs greatness, but we do not expect it and will settle at the moment for good. We just want a reasonable person. We would like a candidate who does not appear to be obviously insane. We'd like knowledge, judgment, a prudent understanding of the world and of the ways and histories of the men and women in it.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And on Hillary:

**********************************

Hillary Clinton? No, not reasonable. I concede her sturdy mind, deep sophistication, and seriousness of intent. I see her as a triangulator like her husband, not a radical but a maneuverer in the direction of a vague, half-forgotten but always remembered, leftism. It is also true that she has a command-and-control mentality, an urgent, insistent and grating sense of destiny, and she appears to believe that any act that benefits Clintons is a virtuous act, because Clintons are good and deserve to be benefited.

But this is not, actually, my central problem with her candidacy. My central problem is that the next American president will very likely face another big bad thing, a terrible day, or days, and in that time it will be crucial--crucial--that our nation be led by a man or woman who can be, at least for the moment and at least in general, trusted.

Mrs. Clinton is the most dramatically polarizing, the most instinctively distrusted, political figure of my lifetime. Yes, I include Nixon. Would she be able to speak the nation through the trauma? I do not think so. And if I am right, that simple fact would do as much damage to America as the terrible thing itself.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[ex-snook]

The only thing that matters is early judgment. Not post-event posturing.

Did any of the candidates alert the Bush Admin that she might be killed?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good one...I don’t think so!

[Kevmo]

This is my 2008 slogan: Reasonable Person for President. That is my hope, what I ask Iowa to produce, and I claim here to speak for thousands, millions. We are grown-ups, we know our country needs greatness, but we do not expect it and will settle at the moment for good. We just want a reasonable person. We would like a candidate who does not appear to be obviously insane. We’d like knowledge, judgment, a prudent understanding of the world and of the ways and histories of the men and women in it.
***Sounds a lot like Duncan Hunter to me. Notice that prior poll results don’t show up in the request.

If a quick rise can happen to the liberal pro-life evangelical Huckster, it can happen to the conservative pro-life evangelical Hunter.

.

.

.

.

According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts

Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts

In this poll Hunter is up 3% and even with Paul and Thompson.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3481ef60-8195-46a9-af04-b87b907bcfdd

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks. Have to get ready for family visits. Have a great day.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Have a Happy New Year.

[RightWhale]

48 hours and this issue is over. The rioters in Islamabad have gone home and are waiting for the trains to start running again.

[RightWhale]

Did any of the candidates alert the Bush Admin that she might be killed?

If they didn't know it was just a matter of time they were the only ones on the planet who didn't.

[ex-snook]

"If they didn't know it [shooting possibility] was just a matter of time they were the only ones on the planet who didn't."

Condi might be one of those. If she had considered it, she would not be puzzled now on what to do - that should have already been thought out.

[RightWhale]

Fortunately we do not have a clue what Sec’y Rice does or says. If we did we would not understand a bit of it.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks E.

Can Fred Thompson Turn It Around?
CBS | Dec. 28, 2007 | NA
Posted on 12/28/2007 9:09:11 PM EST by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1945420/posts

[Marine_Uncle]

And to you Ernest, a happy, content, healthy new year.

[Marine_Uncle]

"The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto appears to have shifted the focus of the U.S. presidential race to national security and foreign policy issues. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone reports from Washington."
Oh really. Well. Duncan Hunter needs no course corrections for the most part. He unlike many of the others has already been for many years, quite aware of the need for a strong national defense and national security policy. Of course in all due respect, Senator McCain also fits this shoe. The rest. Well. They are mostly actors.