Duncan Hunter Unplugged
Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter addressed the 2007 Conservative Leadership Conference this morning. All in all, it was a pretty good speech as political speeches go (Ed Morrissey calls him an "impressive speaker", but I don't know that I would go that far).
Hunter is known for building an effective border fence down San Diego way. So far, so good.
He spoke a lot about leveling the field when it comes to international trade, both by punishing China for unfairly fixing the value of their money and by working with the WTO to eliminate unfair tax rebates in other countries. Also good.
I caught most of his speech on camera and again tried to break it up by topic. I think I did a pretty good job, although I will again apologize for the size and format of the videos -- I just don't have the software on my laptop to do anything about it.
Duncan Hunter on the trade deficit and rebuilding American manufacturing:
What I will do as president is enforce trade rules and bring back lots of high-paying manufacturing jobs that have left this country.
Duncan Hunter on Iraq and Iran:
In World War II, Audie Murphy's war, we gave freedom to hundreds of millions of people. In Vietnam we failed to expand freedom. And in Iraq it hangs in the balance. But it's very clear that it's in the interest of the United States to expand freedom. And I think we learned from 9/11 that if you don't change the world, the world is going to change you.
Duncan Hunter on stemming illegal immigration:
Ladies and gentlemen, as president of the United States I'll build that border fence, all 854 miles, in six months. That's my commitment to you.
Duncan Hunter on appointing judges to the federal bench:
I will have judges that have what I call discernment. And that means that if a candidate for the federal bench can pick up a sonogram of an unborn child and not see a valuable human life, I will not put that candidate on the federal bench.
And in the same clip, on the Democrats whining about how we are perceived in the world:
I would say this to every other nation in the world: when you were sick, the Americans brought medicine. When you were hungry, the Americans brought food. When you had earthquakes and tsunamis and floods, the Americans came. And when you were insecure and you were attacked, the Americans left the safety of their own homes and came to defend you. I will never apologize for the United States of America.
Duncan Hunter relates a personal anecdote.
Duncan Hunter on halting benefits to illegal aliens.
Duncan Hunter on fighting the deficit (part 1 and part 2).
And a final anecdote.
After listening to him speak, I will say that I would probably be very comfortable in voting for this man. If the MSM ever gives him any press at all, he might just break out into the lead.
Blog post #6812 in category
Races of '08
posted 13 October 07
Enjoy your coverage..
Your last note, "if the MSM ever gives him any press at all..." resonated and I wanted to offer a suggestion to let your audience know about connect2elect.com. This initiative goes beyond the polls and surveys to offer citizens the opportunity to evaluate the beliefs and positions that are important to them - and then see (through a visual map) which candidates are most closely aligned. It is fascinating to see the results...by leveling the playing field in this way, candidates such as Hunter are shining. They may not be in the headlines - but this really helps to 'pull back the curtain.' We've received much feedback from people who say 'I'd never heard of him, but am now inspired to learn more.' Check it out - and do let me know if you have any further suggestions...
Posted by Kristi on Saturday at 6:00 PM