Posted on 08/16/2002 9:01:12 AM PDT by rightwing2
Smith and Sununu stress differences
By MARK HAYWARD
Manchester Union Leader Staff, 8-13-02
DERRY — The Derry widow of a man who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last night confronted U.S. Rep. John E. Sununu over his vote against establishing a commission to investigate the terrorist attacks against the United States. Ellen Mariani, whose husband, Louis “Neil” Mariani was on United Airlines Flight 175, was a panelist at a debate between Sununu and incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Smith at WNDS-TV studios. The two are seeking the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate.
While the two have been genial in past forums, they aggressively differed with one another last night, especially when they posed questions to each other. New issues surfaced — Sununu’s vote on the terrorism commission, international trade, immigration and investigating OPEC price fixing. And they revisited old issues with gusto — drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge and importing prescription drugs from Canada. Throughout it, they accused one another of distorting facts and at times, flip-flopping.
The Union Leader and WMUR are producing a live debate pairing Smith and Sununu on Thursday, Aug. 29. The hour-long debate will be shown on Channel 9 at 7 p.m. Mariani focused on Sununu’s vote on House Roll Call 347, which would have established a National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Against the United States. It failed 219-188. “We would like to find out what happened on Sept. 11 and we are being blocked,” Mariani told Sununu. Sununu said the commission would have had a limited scope of investigation. He favored a joint, bipartisan investigation now going on by the House and Senate intelligence committees. “We need a broader view, a broader investigation,” he said.
But Mariani said she wasn’t satisfied with Sununu’s answers. She said the hearings are taking place behind closed doors. Sununu said he supports public hearings on the matter, eventually. Smith said he supports finding out if someone in the federal government had some responsibility or knowledge about the attacks. A question by a Concord apple grower about dumping and retaliatory tariffs prompted a debate on free trade. Sununu said he strongly supports free trade. “Free trade is good for our farmers because we’re so productive,” Sununu said. And agriculture would benefit greatly from free trade, he said. But Smith said dumping does occur, and trade isn’t always free or fair. Sununu noted that Smith calls himself a free trader in the media, but has voted against trade deals for the Caribbean, South America and Africa.
Smith said he supported trade pacts under the Reagan and Bush administrations. But Smith opposed trade deals with China sought by former President Clinton, he said. “The difference between us, John, with all due respect, is you’ll do trade with China, regardless,” Smith said. In Derry, 450 people at Sanmina Corp. just lost their jobs to Chinese trade, he said. Sununu said free trade would allow companies like Sanmina to own and operate companies in China. “We export American ideas, work ethic, even political freedom by doing so,” Sununu said.
Sununu asked Smith why he “flip-flopped” on ANWR drilling, supporting it twice in 1995 and now opposing it. Smith countered that Sununu opposed oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. He also said that Sununu was one of only 38 House representatives to oppose an investigation into oil price fixing by the OPEC. “OPEC price fixes because it’s OPEC . . . Of course they fix prices, by definition,” Sununu said. “I wish you were as concerned about getting MtBE out of the ground water in New Hampshire as you are concerned about getting oil out of the ground in Alaska,” Smith said.
The two butted heads on immigration issues. Smith attacked Sununu for supporting amnesty for aliens. They both argued about whether the legislation covered illegal aliens or not. “You totally misrepresent the law,” Sununu said at one point. All covered by the law are eligible for permanent residency, he said. Smith: “Not all of them.” Sununu: “The President supports it, and to suggest . . .” Smith: “What’s that got to do with it?” Smith said his only suggestion is that illegal aliens will be given amnesty while others have to wait in line.
And your link does not point to any article with this title.
I will be glad to see Smith out of the Senate, and while his few supporters will be angry and disillusioned, they'll probably get over it eventually.
He's a DORK!!!!!
Smith’s desperate ploy:
Milking the cash cow
BOB Smith, Washington outsider. Remember him? He was the man who claimed that his intellectual and political independence were good reasons to send him to Washington to represent New Hampshire, a state notable for its intellectual and political independence, in the U.S. House of Representatives, then in the U.S. Senate. My, what a difference two decades can make.Meet Bob Smith, Washington insider. This Bob Smith is arguing that one of the top reasons, if not the primary reason, voters should elect him to a third term in the U.S. Senate is because he has experience and seniority.
In the face of a tough primary challenge by U.S. Rep. John Sununu, Smith lately has been focusing his campaign on touting his Senate seniority and how much money that seniority can bring back to New Hampshire. Smith has let it be known that he brought “millions and millions” back to the state for University of New Hampshire research and other environmental and transportation projects.
“This doesn’t happen by accident,” Smith said. “Seniority is very, very helpful in getting this done, and the point here is not that I deserve necessarily more credit than somebody else, but the truth . . . seniority does it, and why work outside the seniority system when you can work within it?
Well, one good reason to work outside the seniority system is when the politician with the most seniority shows he is more interested in soaking taxpayers to bring home pork projects to help himself get elected than he is in making government as lean and light on the wallet as possible. Sununu’s response to Smith’s boasting made just this point.
“I’ve had dozens of people come to my office to ask for my support on funding initiatives, and I am willing to help, but I do not measure my success by how much money I spend. I’m more likely to measure success by how much wasteful spending I can eliminate and by cutting taxes and returning that money to the working families of New Hampshire.”
Not that John Sununu refuses to bring back any pork. As Jack Kenny points out in his column to the right, federal spending in Sununu’s district has risen during Sununu’s tenure. All Washington politicians, even fiscal conservatives, bring home some bacon. But there is a difference between bringing the odd project to one’s home district or state, and using as the centerpiece of your campaign the argument that you should be elected because you can bring back more pork than the other guy.
It all boils down to how one views Washington. Is it a cash cow to be milked or a hungry octopus to be wrestled under control? Sen. Smith used to see Washington as an overreaching octopus. Today he is parading around the state showing off his milking gloves, while Sununu is talking about restraining the octopus.
The polls say otherwise.
If Smith's defeat would be a victory for the RINO's, why are Christine Todd Whitman and Rudy Guliani campaigning FOR Smith. And why would an ardent pro-lifer ask these two liberals in to make speeches on his behalf?
Two June 02 polls showed Smith tied with Shaheen and Smith down 47-45%. All this talk that Smith can't beat her is just hooey.
Where did you get this rating, the John Birch Society?!
Check out National Review online to see that Sununu's lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union is 94, Smith's only 92. Click here
It's astounding how people will make a nickel's worth of difference into a $1 million. All because Smith tends to stoke to the paranoia of the tin-foil hat crowd.
It should be no surprise that a left-wing rag like the Union-Leader would portray Smith as unfavorably as possible.
Heck, they'd publish garbage about what a fine conservative Hillary Klinton is if they thought it would help her get elected.
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