White House 2008--The year of the Washington Insider?

[TwilightGardener]

That's what I think. I believe that '08 will not be the year of the governor, mayor, or anyone from "outside" the Beltway, for one simple reason--we are in deep, serious doo-doo on many fronts, and it will take someone who has been grappling with the issues of the day, inside Washington, to steer the course. It will not be the time for someone who has dabbled here and there with foreign policy--it will be someone who has had recent access to classified intelligence reports. Someone who has been to Iraq and Afghanistan. Someone who speaks to generals and the Secretary of State. It will be the time for someone who understands that our Legislative and Executive branches have lately been locked in battle, and recognizes the excesses of the Bush administration in terms of executive power. It will be someone who has a working familiarity with issues like prescription-drug prices, stem-cell research, energy policy, and military/veterans' affairs. In short, contrary to conventional wisdom, our next President will be a Senator. I am afraid of anything less at this point.

[illinoisprogressive]

1. If the candidate is intellegent and has depth of understanding the issues

with the ability to work with people and countries, I think we will be fine. We have a wealth of talent in our line up.

[nolabels]

2. And you think those would be good things?

:scared:

[TwilightGardener]

3. I think it's a good thing to get someone in there who is familiar

with the workings of Congress this time around. That whole "Im a Washington Outsider" bullshit all politicians like to spout isn't going to be important this time around. In saying this, I am mostly slamming Rudy, Romney, etc.--I can't picture them sweeping into office and dealing with foreign policy and national security issues. We need someone who has been on the front lines of the fight, IMO. Our lineup of Senators will be just fine.

[nolabels]

4. If i thought that was true i might be taking out a second mortgage.........

to try and help someone like a HRC. As far as i can tell insiders and money is what has corrupted our system of government. Until that proverbial angry mob gets up on the hindquarters to change this equation of "what it is" nothing else will change either. What happened 1776 is probably going to have to happen again. The average citizens will have to eventually reclaim what was always theirs to begin with

[blm]

5. Question for you - what Senator has the strongest anti-terrorism record and

military and foreign policy credentials?

[TwilightGardener]

6. Both Hillary and McCain serve on the Armed Services Committee,

so I assume they are both well-briefed on military issues. Foreign policy is Obama's realm, I believe--he serves on that committee. Hillary and McCain don't seem like lightweights on foreign policy either, although I think McCain's views might be a little scary. All have had opportunity to debate and vote on Homeland Security and Patriot Act stuff, as well as the Intelligence funding bill like the one that was shot down the other day--it's hard to say who would be the most knowledgable in the terror area. My point with this thread is that people say Senators have no relevant experience because they lack "executive credentials", and I'm arguing that this time around, "exec" experience (which is all Chimpy had) is not going to be viewed as the main criteria for the WH--otherwise, Romney and Richardson would be tops. Rudy is front-runner becuase he's still "America's Mayor", however long that lasts. Those in the Senate this go-round are cornering the market on relevant experience. The world, and our country, have changed a LOT in 7 years.

[blm]

7. I don't see any strong anti-terrorism in their records of service.

Gee - which lawmaker would have the strongest record of actually working to counter terrorism and its global networks over the last 30 years?

[TwilightGardener]

8. Who are you referring to? Richardson?

[blm]

9. Asking who YOU think.

You seem to express yourself in ways that convey a great deal of knowledge about government and individual lawmakers, so I ask which lawmaker, through your observations, has shown the greatest insight into terror networks and has worked to expose and counter them?

[TwilightGardener]

10. LOL! I thought you were hinting at somebody, and that I was too freakin'

dense to figure it out. I have no great knowledge of either government in general or individual lawmakers in particular, unfortunately--sorry to convey the wrong impression! In terms of terrorism and individual candidates, I have not heard a great deal from ANY of them, R or D, about personal experience in that realm or of specific plans for anti-terrorism--except Rudy, who seems to make no distinction between Sunnis, Shia, Al Qaeda, etc. I expect, or hope, to hear more, because I feel it's a real concern that shouldn't be politicized, minimized, or used to instill unnecessary fear. I do believe that anyone who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations, Armed Services, or Intelligence committees are probably pretty well up to speed on the latest geopolitical threats. As opposed to, say, Mr. Huckabee.

[blm]

11. Well, kinda. I did want to know who YOU observed to be strong to see if it matched

who I have seen as the top lawmaker. Hands down for me - Kerry. There isn't a lawmaker in DC who actually EFFECTED the exposing and tracking of terrorists more than Kerry has over the last 2 decades.

[TwilightGardener]

12. I am ashamed to admit I did not know that Kerry was that much of an

expert on terror, though I know he is an expert on foreign policy.

[blm]

13. His book The New War was written in 96, pub. in 97. He warned of the growing global terrorism

networks and detailed the routes needed to track their funding and shut it down.

IranContra and especially BCCI were all about the funding of terrorism through drugrunning, armsdealing, moneylaundering and in some cases nuclear proliferators like the AQ Khan network.

Kerry is the one who uncovered both IranContra and BCCI. He got BCCI shut down in 1992.