Posted on 06/19/2007 5:40:00 AM PDT by pissant
A strong military, cracking down on illegal immigration, fairer trade and conservative family values are his priorities, Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter told local Republicans during a visit to Burlington on Monday.
The California congressman brought his Reaganesque brand of conservative politics to the Ramada Inn for a luncheon fundraiser.
And judging from the reaction of the 55 or so who came to hear him speak, the congressman and his message scored points with local Republicans, some of whom knew little about Hunter before the luncheon.
Hunter, 59, represents a portion of San Diego County that shares a border with Mexico. Swept into Congress when Ronald Reagan won the presidency in November 1980, the former Army Ranger and Vietnam veteran is mounting a long-shot bid for the White House with an unabashedly conservative agenda.
As the former chairman and current ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, Hunter has clout on Capitol Hill, but is virtually unknown outside of Washington, D.C., and Southern California.
Despite doing well in straw polls in California, Arizona and South Carolina, he has struggled to gain name recognition and break into the first tier of major Republican candidates with front-runners Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain.
But that is beginning to change, Hunter said Monday. For the first time, the congressman said he climbed above 10 percent in polling in California. “We are doing well. We kind of came from a standing start just a couple of months ago. The other guys have been running a couple of years.”
Hunter was instrumental in getting two fences built across a roughly 60-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in his district and authored House legislation that requires the Department of Homeland Security to extend the fences more than 850 miles into Texas.
So far, only 13 miles of a single fence has been built, Hunter said. On Monday, he pledged to finish both fences by the end of his sixth month as president. He also favors legislation from House colleague and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo requiring the federal government to withhold funds from “sanctuary” cities — towns that refuse to turn over criminal illegal aliens to the U.S. Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Hunter also promised work for fairer trade policies. China, he said, has taken 1.8 million U.S. industrial jobs by unfairly devaluing its currency and excessively taxing imports. Better trade policy will keep jobs and businesses in the U.S and strengthen national security. Moreover, countries like Switzerland withhold vital military equipment when they don’t agree with America’s foreign policy, he said.
“As president of the United States, I will make sure we have a level playing field, and I will keep China from cheating on trade.”
Referring to Reagan’s “peace through strength” foreign policy, Hunter said “an arsenal of democracy” — a strong military and robust domestic industries to supply it — are vital to expanding and ensuring freedom around the world.
“We won the world for freedom in World War I, World War II and the Cold War largely because we had that manufacturing base, that arsenal of democracy.”
When it comes to Iraq, it is vital for the U.S. to have a friend in the region, Hunter said.
He wants U.S. forces to remain in Iraq until the Iraqi military is able to stand on its own.
“I think we’re going to be successful,” he said. Hunter’s mark of success in Iraq is a “modicum of representative government” that refrains from state-sponsored terrorism for at least five years.
Nevertheless, expanding freedom in Iraq “hangs in the balance,” and new nuclear threats are emerging in Iran and North Korea, he added.
On the issue of abortion, Hunter said as president, he will only appoint pro-life judges to the federal bench.
The crowd’s biggest applause came as Hunter waxed patriotic. Some politicians and foreign countries criticize the U.S., he said, despite America’s historic willingness to provide humanitarian and military aid. “As president of the United States I will never apologize for the United States of America. Our country is a great country.”
“As president of the United States I will never apologize for the United States of America. Our country is a great country.”
And that sums up Duncan Hunter and why he needs to be the next GOP candidate and President of the United States. No more PC ‘Kennedy wing’ Republicans. Hunter is more than ready to be President and we need his type of leadership RIGHT NOW. He is the best candidate who will make the best President and I will continue to support the best.
I don’t suppose he said anything about anything that wasn’t immmediately important to us all - He is aware of so much more than we will ever know with our stupid media’s one track mind with Paris Hilton. There is only so much a person can address in a short period of time without sounding like they are bouncing off the walls, after all. And he focuses well on his subject matter, putting it across clearly and crisply. No bedtime stories from Duncan Hunter! Sorry you were disappointed.
Good to see you! Heartfelt sorrow for your loss, and congratulations to your Dad for his victory!
Now let’s get Duncan Hunter elected!!
Yes, back to the political wars--in honor of my Dad...
Hunter nails it. Unlike Rudy McRomney who fret that the world doesn’t like us. THe hell they don’t. Left wingers don’t like us, and Hunter could not give a sh*t about that.
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