Duncan Hunter for President 2012 – Reasons 10 through 17

10. Although Duncan Hunter’s name is nearly synonymous with the Border Fence on the US-Mexico border (at least the part of the REAL fence that is working), he should also be known for his stances on abolishing the ‘anchor baby’ laws, beefing up the numbers of Border Patrol officers, scuttling all benefits to illegal aliens, snuffing out the notion of “sanctuary cities”, and, most importantly, standing firm on his position that illegal aliens must be deported. It is the same position he came to Congress with in 1980. It has not changed. When asked during his 2008 presidential primary run by the Washington Post what he would do with the millions already here, Hunter responded:

"You realize we deport thousands of people every month? We tell folks, ‘You have to go home. Make your country a good country. Put pressure on your government if you don’t like things. Get after those congressmen in Mexico and those congressmen in other countries”.

Asked again in December 2009 why he opposes any kind of amnesty, he told Conservative Central:

“The effect of calling an amnesty when reviewed in the historic context – that is the 3 million folks who were given amnesty in the 1980s when Congress said ‘now this time we really mean it, read the fine print – nobody else gets to get in’. They obviously let their friends and neighbors and relatives know that they got amnesty and so you had, which was entirely predictable, another wave of people heading north expecting to catch the 2nd amnesty. So as the credibility of the US government for enforcement slides lower and lower, if we get a second amnesty, if anyone thinks there won’t be another vast wave of illegal aliens coming in anticipation of a third amnesty, then I think we can sell those folks the Brooklyn Bridge fairly quickly. They are extremely gullible. Of course there will be a big wave of people.”

11. On the hair-brained idea for a “virtual border fence” – the kind touted by Republican know-nothings like Rick Perry, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, along with the Democrats – that was just cancelled due to poor performance, Hunter had this to say in an interview last week:

"Now I also told the good Senators and Homeland Security that the “Virtual Fence” would be virtually worthless. And they’ve now killed the thing. Yeah, the virtual fence has now been abandoned.

"I told them further that they’d pay Boeing a fortune. Boeing had never come in under cost on any project they’ve ever done for the American taxpayer, whether its military aircraft or a virtual fence.

"They must have got tired of looking at the field reports, where the Border Patrolmen had their laptops bouncing off the ceiling as they were vectoring left and right in the open deserts as bands of illegal aliens zigzagged on them in the dark of night.

"The virtual fence was one of the dumbest acts in show business yet they were able to propose and pitch this thing - and pay for it – with a straight face. But you’ll notice nobody is suggesting that they put a virtual fence around the Whitehouse. They decided to keep a real one."

12. Some people, mainly political opponents of Duncan Hunter, have claimed that since he is staunchly and unapologetically Pro-AMERICAN manufacturing and not a free-trade kool aid drinker, that he is some kind of Union flack. Nothing could be further from the truth. While Hunter is not anti-union - pointing out that some Unions, historically, were more anti-communist than many in his own party - he has a pretty poor ‘scorecard’ from the AFL-CIO. They rated him at 20% in 2003 and 2005, indicating an ‘anti-union’ voting record. The UAW’s ratings for Hunter were even less, and his ratings from the NEA, and other government unions; worse still.

Meanwhile, despite his anti-WTO, anti-NAFTA, and anti-sovereignty usurping, supranational entity stands in general, Hunter has an US Chamber of Commerce lifetime rating of 84. That is higher than various libertine ‘free-traders’ and China suck-ups such as Jeff Flake (71), John McCain (82), and Ron Paul (62).

Better yet, Hunter was rated 100% by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and awarded the “Guardian of Small Business Award” in 2002, with the President of the Federation saying Hunter is a "true and consistent advocate for Main Street small business." He also rated 100% from Gary Bauers’ pro-business Campaign for Working Families.

13. Duncan Hunter is the antithesis of the nanny-state politician. In addition to being a true believer that Americans “do not want to become Europeans”, Hunter was instrumental in pushing welfare reform onto the Clinton Administration. In fact, to Hunter, the legislation was not nearly tough enough. Hunter has a 15% rating from RESULTS, the liberal “anti-poverty” group, 0% from ARC which focuses on federal funds for the mentally retarded, 8% from the Humane Society Legislative Fund, 0% from the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (despite Hunter’s great appreciation for mounting elk heads in his home), and 10% from the Social Security pimping Alliance for Retired Americans (Hunter wants to privatize SS).

Hunter also received a whopping 4% rating from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights which specializes in pushing the homosexual agenda (compared to 9% for Mike Pence, 26% for Thad McCotter), 14% from the National Farmer’s Union – despite representing an agricultural dependent area, 7% from the National Association of Wheat growers, 0% from the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and a blazing 5% from the Republicans for Environmental Protection (even old James Inhofe rated a 10% with these fruitcakes).

Hunter led the charge in 2003 to exempt military installations from endangered species laws, saying “These troops need to have places to train, and these training grounds are becoming more and more restricted because of applications, and I think wrongful applications, of our environmental laws.” He told the North County Times, “We went at this with the viewpoint that the most important endangered creature is the 19-year-old Marine rifleman.”

But perhaps the most illustrative thing Hunter said regarding the nanny state was given to the Des Moines Register, who asked each GOP Republican Candidate the same question: What do you want to be remembered for after you leave the Presidency? Hunter’s response was the shortest answer and the best one of the lot. He said, “I would like to see a country where the day I walk out of the White House, after a couple of terms, the American people are more independent of government than the day that I walked in.”

14. Sovereignty reigns supreme with Hunter. This article from Congressional Quarterly in July 2007 shows us what Hunter thought about President Bush’s Security and Prosperity Partnership with Mexico and Canada and the associated toll road “superhighway” that Slick Rick Perry was trying to build. As excerpted:

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, who has spent much of his Republican presidential campaign thus far stumping to security-conscious conservatives, threw his constituency a bone July 24.

As House consideration of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill (HR 3074) ground to a close around midnight, Hunter added language that would partially block funding for a White House-led group — the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, in which the United States, Mexico and Canada participate.

Sounds like bland stuff, except that some conservatives believe the group is secretly pushing for the construction of a "NAFTA superhighway" from Canada to Mexico, via a private toll road planned across Texas.

"It’s time, before they facilitate this multimodal operation, for the administration to consult Congress," Hunter said, adding that he is concerned about national security risks. Some conservatives, such as political activist Phyllis Schlafly, see such a cross-border highway as the first step to establishing a mini-European Union for North America.

The White House-led group could not be reached for comment, but its Web site dismisses as myth the idea that it has plans for a NAFTA superhighway or that it’s working toward an economic merger of the three countries.

The Whitehouse slammed Hunter for cutting off the funds, calling his allegations of untoward schemes for a NAFTA superhighway and such a “myth”. To which Hunter replied wryly, “then they have nothing to worry about then, do they?”

15. Duncan Hunter has always stood firmly on the side of recognizing and celebrating America’s Christian heritage. While others cower in the face of Political Correctness, Hunter is unapologetic in his stances, whether it is abortion, displaying the 10 Commandments on public property, or, in this case, prayer in schools. A 1984 article (excerpted) from the San Diego Union Tribune, titled School Prayer Proposal Pushed by Hunter in House sheds some light on the subject:

With the fate of President Reagan’s proposal for school prayers in doubt, a San Diego area congressman is doing his best to get the idea moving in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Coronado, belongs to an informal group of like-thinking House members who have dubbed themselves the Conservative Opportunity Society.

When the 60 or so members met Feb. 29, they turned at Hunter’s instigation to the emotional, controversial and highly topical issue of prayer in public schools.

Hunter proposed that a bipartisan group conduct an all-night discussion of school prayer on the floor of the House.

What resulted was the participation of 51 Republicans and 12 Democrats in the longest "special order" on a single issue in the history of the House. A special order is time reserved for discussing an issue after the regular business of the day is concluded.

But many senators seemed unimpressed. Yesterday, the Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would permit silent meditation in public schools, a compromise proposal that fell well short of the spoken prayer advocated by Reagan and Hunter.

"The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution with the firm belief in a Supreme Being. I think it is ironic that we in Congress start each day with a prayer, but public school children are denied the same right," he says.

A few hours after the talkathon ended, Hunter received a call from President Reagan, who is the most prominent advocate of the school prayer amendment. Reagan said he had received a number of calls from supporters of the amendment, saying they had seen the House proceedings on television.

16. Move away from the Ted Kennedy Wing of the Republican Party! The New Hampshire Republican primary debate in 2007 had this little exchange which hit the nail on the head and coined a new wing of the GOP:

Wolf Blitzer: Congressman Hunter, I want you to weigh in. Arnold Schwarzenegger, your governor in California, has become very popular out there by bringing in independents and moderates and trying to forge a consensus among Republicans and Democrats in your state. Shouldn’t the GOP nationally be following that Arnold Schwarzenegger example in California?

Hunter: No! And let me just say, I look at Governor Romney, Mayor Giuliani, my good friend John McCain. Governor Romney joined with Bill Clinton for the 1994 gun ban, when I was fighting that. Mayor Giuliani stood with him at the Whitehouse for that. Governor Romney has passed what I consider to be a major step toward socialism with respect to his mandated health care bill. John McCain is standing strong with Ted Kennedy on this Kennedy-McCain-Bush border enforcement bill. I think the guy who’s got the most influence right here with these three gentlemen is Ted Kennedy. And I think we need to move away from the Kennedy Wing of the Republican Party.

17. In 2007, a year before the Paulson/Bush/Pelosi “house on fire” crisis “requiring” a banking bailout, the State of California was pushing the feds for a sub prime mortgage bailout, and pushing hard. Schahrzad Berkland of the California Housing Forecast decided to write to Duncan Hunter to find out what his position was for his home state’s federal sub prime bailout request. Berkland, apparently a conservative, or at least a fiscally sane businessman, was happy with Hunter’s written response.

Hunter wrote, in part: “I share your belief that it is not the role of government to step in when people have made an unwise business decision. The disclosure requirements imposed on lenders provide consumers with the information they need to decide on the best loan available to them. Rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should this issue come before the House. Furthermore, we must promote personal responsibility not government dependence.”

Hunter, of course, went on to vigorously and vocally oppose the Paulson/Bush/Pelosi “crap sandwich” the next year as well. Unlike Boehner, McConnell, Cantor, McCain, Obama, Romney, Pawlenty, Palin, Reid, Gingrich, and the rest of the usual suspects.