Posted on 07/05/2003 11:25:30 AM PDT by demlosers
PORTSMOUTH - While Howard Dean, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton may have more name recognition as "peace" candidates for president, Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., pointed out that he actually voted against the war in Iraq.
"I am not a pacifist," Graham said. "In this instance, it was the wrong target."
Graham acknowledged that war may be appropriate in some circumstances, but the federal government should be focusing on terrorist groups such as al-Qaida. The quest to depose Saddam Hussein has distracted the United States from higher priorities and energized terrorist groups against the U.S. military, Graham said during a campaign stop in Portsmouth Friday.
Graham and his wife, Adele, visited Prescott Park and Strawbery Banke on Independence Day. They greeted voters, many of whom introduced themselves as Floridians, including one woman who said she lives across the street from the Grahams in Miami Lakes, a relatively new town the candidate’s family helped to develop beginning in the 1960s.
Portsmouth resident Janice Clermont, who in recent years has split her time between Florida and the N.H. Seacoast, said the fact that many New Hampshire residents spend a lot of time in Florida will not by itself give Graham an advantage.
"The advantage is going to be his record and what he has done, both in Washington and in the state of Florida," said Clermont. "His record stands for itself."
Working as an executive assistant for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Clermont found Graham’s office helpful whenever international artists had trouble traveling to the United States.
"He was willing to help if we needed it," she said. "He really responds to the people in his community."
During his political career, which spans 30 years, Graham has made an effort to understand his constituents by working for a day in their shoes. Today, Graham will complete his 389th "workday" by serving passengers on the Conway Scenic Railroad. Recently, for his No. 387, he taught for a day at Oyster River High School in Durham.
In 1997, after a workday as a U.S. Customs inspector at Florida’s Port Manatee, Graham convinced President Bill Clinton to establish a special commission to evaluate port security around the nation. The Interagency Commission on Crime and Security at United States Seaports helped to craft a comprehensive maritime security bill, which Graham co-authored. Congress passed it, and the President Bush signed it into law in December 2002.
Unfortunately, said Graham, the president has not recommended significant funding for port security. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security offered $170 million to 387 ports and facilities, but the Port of New Hampshire was not one of them.
Graham said his bill did prioritize the funding for the largest U.S. seaports, but he acknowledged that port security today is little different than it was before Sept. 11.
"I think that’s a potential vulnerability," he said. "I’d like to bring the technology up to at least the current state of the art."
Graham said he would model U.S. port security on methods used in Rotterdam, Holland, where nearly 15 percent of incoming container ships are screened, as compared with less than 3 percent in U.S. ports.
And the 'right' target would have been....Israel? That seems to be where this line of thought is going. Striking at ANY Muslim militant stronghold is going to rile up the Islamofascists. The one thing that they are pretty well unified on is elimination of Zionist (and Jewish majority) Israel.
I was wondering if Graham has presented us with his personal plan to end Muslim terrorism.
more mindless pandering...
To (Graham) cracker, His real problem is he's still far behind Dean/Liebemans, who are both running for the Veep...behind Shrillary.. :|
From the first time I heard him say this until now I keeping asking myself - does he thinks we are so short of personnel that we had to pull all the people working on Al-Qaeda off that job to work on the war with Iraq. That's just plain stupid.
Not a moron but he never struck me as bright and on the ball. I live down here and best I can tell he comes from an old established Florida family that has some money.... not a tremendous amount. That's how he worked his way up the 'cRAT food chain
Our junior 'cRAT Senator (Bill Nelson) is more intelligent.
Hmmmm Being that I am a product of the information and technology age I have always prefered to multi-task and President Bush obviously shares my belief and decided to go after Iraq "in addition to" obliterating Al-Queda.
Please Please Please Mr. Graham continue to denigrate a policy that removed two major terroristic threats and advocate a policy that would have removed only one.
Keep saying that going after a madman that murdered, gassed, molested, and tortured his own people was "the wrong thing to do".
Shout it out loud Mr. Graham so that decent human beings can hear you, and revile you for the political hack and sub-human POS that you truley are.
Graham sits on the Intelligence Committee. He probably knows that the intelligence agencies think that we are going to get hit again, from Al Qaeda agents who entered this country prior to 9/11/2001.
The FBI has been rounding them up as fast as they can. They cannot do a sweep of all Arabs, because some aren't Arabs. They cannot do a sweep of all Muslims, because of Constitutional prohibitions. In either case, a massive dragnet could not be accomplished overnight and would alert some bad guys, who might decide to go ahead and implement whatever it is that they have planned.
This is what I think is going on, although I have no proof. And I also think that Graham is betting that someone's plan will be successful and he can point the finger at the President. It is a despicable tactic.
Why in the hell would terrorist groups get made at us for hitting the "wrong target"?
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