In the New Hampshire Senate Primary, Bob Smith is the Clear Choice for Conservatives

In the New Hampshire Senate Primary, Bob Smith is the Clear Choice for Conservatives

The New Hampshire Senate Primary race today is a classic contest between a staunch traditional Reaganite conservative and a fairly passionless and uncharismatic moderate. On one side, there is incumbent Republican Senator Bob Smith a legendary conservative icon who has done more to champion the conservative cause in the US Senate than any other man during his past twelve years in office with the possible exception of Senator Jesse Helms. On the other hand, there is Rep. John Sununu, an unproven libertarian-minded Republican challenging Smith from the left. In this challenge, Sununu is running as the candidate of the moderate wing of the New Hampshire State Party hoping to defeat Smith, who has long been the favorite candidate of the conservative wing of the state (and national) Republican party. Unlike Smith, who was rated among the top three conservatives in the US Senate during the current congressional session by the New American magazine’s Conservative Index, Sununu was ranked well below the House GOP average with a positively anemic Conservative Index of only 40%.

Sununu has joined liberal media pundits in arguing that Smith is somehow unelectable despite the fact that Smith has not lost a single election in eighteen years of running for office and has a remarkable history of come-from-behind victories even when the liberals prematurely reported his “defeat” in the 1996 election. The truth is that Bob Smith is far and away the best-funded and best-positioned Republican candidate to face Democratic US Senate nominee, Jeanne Shaheen. Thanks to Smith’s passionate and selfless advancement of conservative causes, his voting base is more committed than that of the much more moderate Sununu. Polls show Smith running even with Shaheen in the midst of a bitterly contested primary without which he would likely be several points ahead of her in the polls.

Despite efforts by Sununu supporters to portray their candidate as a conservative, clear and marked policy differences on issues of importance to conservatives have emerged between the two Senate contenders during the last two primary debates that challenge the validity of that assertion. In regards to US foreign policy, Sununu is “soft” on America’s enemies, even Iraq. Sununu opposes Bush’s plan to invade Iraq and has stated that he would only support such an attack if the US were to obtain the kind of broad-based coalition support that the US had during the Gulf War. He voted in support of the creation of an independent Palestinian state that would likely join the ranks of Iraq and Iran as a rogue terrorist state and pose a potentially mortal threat to Israel, something that not even Bill Clinton would support. Sununu also voted in support of a bill, which would have rewarded two million illegal immigrants and terrorist infiltrators with amnesty. He also voted to reward suspected terrorists with classified/secret intelligence, which put the lives of US intelligence agents at risk. Sununu’s votes on the terrorism issue can be described as naive at best. Last December, Sununu took a $1000 contribution from the leader of a militant Islamic organization based in the US, named Ziad Asali, who stated shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attacks that Osama bin Laden may be a champion to some Muslims because he had seized on "legitimate grievances deeply felt in the Arab and Islamic world." Sununu’s radical voting record on Israel issues and Smith’s championing of Israel’s right to defend itself against Palestinian terrorist attacks have resulted in all pro-Israel public interest groups joining together in efforts to re-elect Bob Smith.

Unlike Smith who has never ceased to champion the pro-life cause, Sununu believes abortions should be legal in cases of rape and incest. Similarly, Sununu’s support for Second Amendment rights is constrained by his support to strengthen enforcement of all existing gun control laws including the unconstitutional ones imposed by Bill Clinton. Sununu also supported Democrat proposals for mandatory safety locks on guns and mandatory gun registration at gun shows. For these and other reasons, Gun Owners of America, which Rep. Ron Paul proclaimed the only 100% pro-Second Amendment organization in the country, awarded Sununu a “B-“ while giving Smith an “A” for his championing of gun rights. Sununu also supports maintaining funding for the National Endowment of the Arts, best known for its morally repugnant and often blasphemous displays, at current levels. In addition, he voted for a version of the Clinton-backed “Patients’ Bill of Rights” bill which would greatly increase the cost of health insurance in this country, forcing millions more Americans to drop their coverage.

Sununu has voted to reward Beijing for its worsening human rights record with permanent Most favored Nation trade status, WTO membership and $110 billion a year in US taxpayer subsidized trade, aid and state-of-the-art US dual-use military and supercomputer technology. These measures have had the undesirable effect of building up the Communist Chinese military and Beijing’s internal repression apparatus and thus prolonging and preserving Communist control of the mainland. Conversely, Bob Smith has championed the cause of freedom in China by opposing US taxpayer subsidized MFN trade status for Communist China.

Bob Smith has spent six years in the House of Representative and twelve years in the Senate fighting for the citizens in New Hampshire and equally important fighting for America. Smith has selflessly championed conservative causes such as the right to life, gun rights, missile defense, the fight against unilateral nuclear disarmament treaties and others at times almost alone with Jesse Helms and one or two others. Smith was the only Senator who had the courage to take a stand and champion the right of Elian Gonzales to live in a free country. Smith, a Vietnam veteran himself, has also demanded a full accounting of our POW-MIAs from Vietnam while most other Republicans lacked the courage to address this issue which is so important to America’s veterans.

Thanks to Smith’s passionate defense of conservatism and his strong support for the Bush agenda in the Senate, he has been endorsed by President Bush and virtually every major conservative leader and conservative organization in the country including Paul Weyrich, David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union which has rated Smith as a 100% conservative for the past two consecutive years, Phyllis Schlafly and the National Rifle Association just to name a few. Due to Smith’s conservative record and his championing of the Bush agenda, the liberal Democrats have declared Bob Smith Enemy Number One and are doing everything they can to defeat him. If Smith is defeated, the Democrats will likely succeed in keeping their slender majority in the US Senate and will thus be in a position to continue to obstruct the President’s legislative agenda in Congress.

Republicans need to not merely elect a Republican majority to the US Senate, but a conservative majority. The most recent polls show the New Hampshire Senate primary contenders tied neck and neck with the race to close to call. Senator Bob Smith is one of a dying breed of committed conservatives in the Senate whose ranks have been and are being seriously depleted by the defeat of Lauch Faircloth, John Ashcroft and the retirement of Jesse Helms. If the liberals succeed in defeating him, the conservative cause will lose a passionate defender and the Bush agenda will continue to be stymied by a Democat majority in the Senate. For these reasons and others, I hereby urge all New Hampshire Republicans to vote to re-elect Reaganite conservative Bob Smith for Senate on September 10th and reward him for his efforts to champion the conservative cause, US national security and America.

David T. Pyne, Esq. currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the Virginia Republican Assembly. He is a licensed attorney and former Army Reserve Officer. Mr. Pyne has been cited in the New American magazine and was recently interviewed on Howard Phillips’ Conservative Roundtable TV program.

This article provides yet more proof that Sununu is no conservative so if you support the conservative cause, Reaganite conservative champion Bob Smith is your man! For all Republican and independent supporters and friends of Bob Smith in New Hampshire, don't forget to vote in today's primary!

I have lived in NH since 1980. Every year but this I have voted for Smith. I will NOT be voting for him any longer. He has become arrogant and proud. Like Robert Bird, he seems to now be more concerned about his "position" than he is the people of the State of NH he was sent to represent.

I am a conservative, and I am voting for SUNUNU

Sununu is also the only candidate that can beat the hillary clone Sheheen.

I voted this morning, and proudly cast my vote for John Sununu. I have supported Bob Smith since I moved to New Hampshire in 1994, but he went off the deep end and now belongs to the Bob Smith Party of Situational and Political Ethics. His time is past and should he win this year, I will have to decide whether to vote for a known but predictable crook in Shaheen or vote for an unpredictable nitwit who fancies himself as the Bob Byrd of the North! Not a pretty choice.

[Smith] has been endorsed by President Bush

I always laugh when I hear the Smith people say this.

Let nobody forget that SMITH LEFT THE GOP TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE OF THE GOP'S SUPPORT OF GEORGE W. BUSH.

Smith's Bush flip-flop reminds me of his canvassing the state hand in hand with Christine Todd Whitman, the type of pro-abort liberal he once blasted.

My, how Smith has 'grown.'

Yes and you have a wart on your nose and if we splashed you with water, you would dissolve. If you repeat a lie enough times, the idiots will start to believe you.

Since your loyalty to the truth is extremely suspect with these bizarre comments, care to specifically rebut the points made by the author of this article, which list specific facts, votes and instances which provide evidence for the conclusion that Sununu is not a conservative, but rather something else entirely--either a mushy moderate or libertarian? I don't expect that you can rebut them which is why you called me a liar. Such slander of your ideological opponents is a typical Commie-lib smear tactic. When confronted with the truth or an obstacle to liberal objectives, Commie libs advocate trying to obfuscate, deceive and smear their enemies to put him on the defensive and above all avoid debating the facts and issues which would otherwise reduce public support for said Commie-lib objective--in this case the defeat of America's most pro-life, most conservative and most anti-Communist Senator--Bob Smith. Sununu supports a policy of Clintonian appeasement of the Butchers of Beijing so the Commie-libs want to see him elected instead.

Smith is running as a Republican? I thought he was an Independent.

Well then I guess you may well have been living on another planet since Smith rejoined the GOP last century after spending less than four months as an independent. You might want to try reading the newspaper once in a while.

He's certainly rung my chimes on more than one occasion: CPAC: Senator Bob Smith.

(Pity the bent of his testimony and hearings back then resulted not so much in criminal prosecution of abortionists who slaughter children delivered alive but -- rather -- a GOP sponsored line in the sand Dems will be happy to hold stating: life begins at birth.)

(He's also one of the few subjects on which Deb and I agree =)

defeat of America's most pro-life, most conservative and most anti-Communist Senator--Bob Smith

blah, blah, blah.

And tomorrow morning we will also know if Bob Smith is a winner or loser.

What are you going to do then? Smith has said he will support Sununu. Will you?

Smith's Bush flip-flop reminds me of his canvassing the state hand in hand with Christine Todd Whitman, the type of pro-abort liberal he once blasted. My, how Smith has 'grown.'

I have to laugh by your criticisms of Smith for building coalitions and getting moderate to liberal Republicans like Rudolph Guliani to endorse him so he can continue to champion the pro-life conservative cause in the Senate. Care to explain how exactly, Smith sacrifices his conservative principles or becomes less conservative in any way by getting liberal Republicans to back him? You can't because he doesn't. On the other hand we have former conservatives like Senator Santorum backing liberal pro-aborter Republicans running for Congress which is an absolute betrayal of pro-life and conservative principles. Why don't you tell us how many liberals Bob Smith has endorsed for public office? What? No response. Well then, I rest my case...

What are you going to do then? Smith has said he will support Sununu. Will you?

Not a chance. Sununu's anti-national security voting record and general opposition to the war on terror proves that he is unfit to be a member of Congress. If Smith loses, I would vote for him as a write-in candidate on election day.

after spending less than four months as an independent

Oh. I thought he just rejoined so that he could get all the perks of a Committee Chair.I didn't realize he was still a "Republican". Its just so hard keeping up with all his fickleness. But after today it won't matter what he thinks of himself, will it?

Its just so hard keeping up with all his fickleness. But after today it won't matter what he thinks of himself, will it?

What you describe as Smith's "fickleness" is actually his 100% championing the conservative cause (according to the ACU and others), something that as a leftwing RINO, I'm sure you have found very offensive. If Smith goes down, the entire conservative cause in the US Senate will be irreperably damaged. Conservativism in the Senate cannot survive the loss of its two greatest champions Bob Smith and Jesse Helms in the same election year. Who will rise to take up their lifelong championing of the conservative cause in the US Senate? Not Johnny Sununu. He supports the Dems and America's foreign enemies on too many issues as delineated in the excellent editorial above.

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