Duncan Hunter 6/22/10 Interview PART 2: Joe Barton vs. The Hypocrits & Arizona vs. Obama

This interview is part of an ongoing 2010 series of conversations with former Congressman and conservative icon Duncan Lee Hunter. The intent is to keep this rock ribbed conservative’s ideas in the public square which will hopefully influence the direction of the Republican Party, as well as inspire the American people to embrace his Reaganesque views on American life and politics. With any luck, Hunter will seek the presidency again in 2012, but for now he is concentrating on helping the GOP wrestle control of the Congress from the radical Pelosi brigades.

DH: I’ve seen very little on that. I’m really on top of things here (laughs). I don’t watch much television. I’m writing away here and haven’t had the time to follow all the news.

AJM: It’s a simple story. Barton came out after Obama had, last week, where he brought in the CEO and the officials from BP for his powwow, his photo-op powwow. In the course of his meetings he got British Petroleum basically to create an escrow account, controlled by the government, of 20 Billion dollars for cleanup, re-imbursements, and what have you down on the Gulf Coast, for the oil spill.

And after that, it was a short meeting, and I can’t remember which day it was last week, but after the meeting, old Joe Barton came out and said that the President can’t force a private company to cough up $20 billion. And that it’s not in the Constitution for him to even attempt it. So he called it unconstitutional and he gave a mock apology to BP. And of course, the press and the dems ran with that – ‘Oh, Joe Barton and the Republicans are on the side of polluters and blah, blah, blah’; ignoring the constitutional argument.

So anyway, he’s been in the media’s and the Democrats’ crosshairs ever since he made that ‘apology’ to British Petroleum for the United States doing this “shakedown” – is what he called it. Of course some of the GOP leaders also got weak kneed over it as well and admonished him.

DH: Yeah, I haven’t seen it all. I’ve been writing my book. I saw a snippet on it and I saw one thing as I was flipping through the television, I saw Olberman making a mocking reference to Joe Barton. That’s all I know.

But here’s what I think all the liberal democrats should do. I think to prove their purity; they should all swim to work.

This is similar to national security. It’s analogous to a national security situation when you have liberals, who never wore the uniform, basically the recipients of the comfort and the freedom provided by the people who do wear the uniform of the United States’ military, constantly criticizing the actions that are taken by those in uniform who are in very difficult and inconvenient situations, very stressful situations. So they want to have security, and the freedom to speak their minds, but they want our soldiers to be totally cool and calm and considerate when they are being shot at, and to never react rationally. They want to be protected, but they want to be protected under a very strict set of politically correct rules, regardless of the danger it puts our soldiers in.

By the same token, on the economic side, these liberals want to live in total comfort and convenience. Yet they…

AJM: Yeah, Algore just bought another 16,000 square foot mansion out on the West coast.

DH: (laughs) Didn’t Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi do an air show with their competing jet aircraft?

DH: The question was how many tons of pollutants each one could put in the air over a two month period.

AJM: (laughs) I think they were racing their jets along with a bunch of other liberals over to that Copenhagen climate conference last year.

DH: I mean none of these people are swimming to work, at least from my observation, or even bicycling to work. They are happy to receive all the benefits of the modern energy system and at the same time swear allegiance to everything ‘green’, as long as it does not require any discomfort on their part.

AJM: As long as the discomfort is on someone else’s part, they are fine with it.

DH: Well that’s true. So, that’s my response to these lefties criticizing old Joe.

These guys will be the first ones to complain, if we end up reducing the petroleum production in the United States, they will be the first ones to complain if we have that lifeline of oil that goes through the Straights of Hormuz shut off in a military situation. And they’ll be the very last people to risk their lives to keep that lifeline open, if it comes to that.

So they want to have comfort, they want to have convenience, and they want to be able to do it while claiming they are petroleum free. They live in the lap of luxury because, in part, of the energy structure we have in this country.

AJM: Yep, those hard working roughnecks that are out there drilling for oil each and every day. You know also that Obama put a 6 month moratorium on all deep water offshore drilling. And this morning, thank God, a federal court in New Orleans overturned that. So we got some good news.

DH: I thought Obama made a statement in favor of offshore drilling several months ago, didn’t he? Before the BP spill.

AJM: Yeah, lip service. As soon as we get a spill, out comes the 6 month moratorium. And it just got overturned today in New Orleans. Of course, the Obama administration is going to appeal the overturn.

AJM: But we might still win this battle on the six month moratorium, which I think would devastate the local economies, AND give gas prices a huge up-tick.

AJM: I mean it’s not just folks in their cars like me and you, it’s the Pelosis of the world who fly their jets back and forth on our dime. That jet fuel comes from the same crude source.

DH: Well, I think Nancy Pelosi has a core of constituents….you know she’s got a unique district. She’s got a core of probably the most anti-war and anti-military constituency in the world. A small core of the people that had the signs that said “We support our troops when they shoot their officers”. I mean that took us back to the Vietnam War era when you had pro-Viet Cong signs all over here in San Francisco.

DH: But I think she also has a fringe group of very wealthy people who would like to see the cost of gas go to $10 a gallon. They really think that the little people shouldn’t be driving in cars. And they can easily afford to put that $10/gallon gasoline into their Mercedes. So they’re not worried about it, personally, so that makes them ‘feel good’ - the idea that they are now against the automobile.

So when people talk about how terrible it’s going to be if the price of fuel goes up, I think of the wealthy, fringe leftwing constituency that says “I hope it goes to a hundred dollars a gallon because I don’t believe in cars that are desecrating the planet”.

AJM: Yeah, yeah. Because they can still afford the $100 a gallon, while the rest of us can’t.

DH: They think the vast majority of Americans should unhorse their cars. Or that we should all have very tiny cars.

And aside from all that, we haven’t even touched on the constitutional issues surrounding the Obama Administrations questionable dealings with the oil companies. But I’d have to read more on it than I have at this point.

The Obama administration spilled the beans. They are going to sue Arizona for passing their new law, which is basically a mimic of not only federal law, but also a mimic of Missouri law that’s been in force for the last five years.

DH: That’s interesting. So Mr. Obama is going to sue somebody for Xeroxing his law. Very interesting.

I thought that when Obama raised his hand and swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, and I presume that that included the laws passed there under, he didn’t mean just the parts that he likes or that are politically expedient for him. He’s against his own laws at this point.

AJM: In my opinion, I personally think he’s already illegal even being in the presidency. We’ll get to the bottom of that yet.

DH: (laughs) I don’t want to have you calling me and telling me that you’ll get to my stuff on Anbar province but that you had to wait until you could prove Obama is illegal…

AJM: In addition to suing Arizona, the head of the Labor Department came out yesterday. Her name is Hilda Solis. I don’t know if you know her.

DH: I saw her on the floor. She was a liberal, but I didn’t see her making any wild and crazy statements.

AJM: Well, here’s one of them. I’ll tell you exactly what she said. I’ll read it.

AJM: She said that “workers, legal or not have the right to earn a fair wage” in the United States. That even if they are illegal, they set up a help line for illegal aliens, at the Labor Department, so they can call and make sure that they are earning a proper living wage! This is outrageous.

DH: It is outrageous. That’s a total disservice to border enforcement. That helps to create the magnate that brings illegal aliens into the country. And that causes confrontations with the brave men and women of our US Border Patrol.

So on one hand, the Federal Government, under Obama, pretends to support the border agencies. On the other hand, they are inducing people into breaking the law.

I don’t think it needs a lot of discussion. It is simply a rank disservice to our laws and to the law abiding citizens of our country. It goes against all the so called border enforcement initiatives that the Obama Administration puts out press releases on.

DH: Now listen to this. Your friend Jon Kyl, who you know very well came out yesterday. And he stated that publicly – I don’t know if it was a townhall meeting or an interview – he stated this. He said he had a one on one meeting with Obama in the last couple of weeks about the problems in Arizona with illegal aliens. And he said that Obama told him that he can’t enforce the border, because if he enforces the border now that that will be a disincentive for the Republicans to work with him on his new comprehensive amnesty plan, or Comprehensive Immigration Reform, as they like to call it.

That’s what Kyl said. Obama, of course, denied it. But Kyl reiterated it and said that’s exactly what Obama told him. So there’s some game being played on immigration.

Listen, if that’s the most profound thing you got for me – that there are games being played with immigration – then I’ve got to leave. (laughs)

But seriously, I’ve got to get back to my work. But I’m glad you told me that. I’m glad Kyl is working the issue.

AJM: Yeah, he’s been a pretty good ally of yours over the years on these issues, hasn’t he?

AJM: In this confrontation of “he said- she said”, I’m going to have to go with Kyl on this one.

DH: Yes. It’s standard Chicago politics. You don’t fix the other guy’s problem until he fixes your problem. The catch though is if your problem ends up being something that is highly unreasonable for the country, like Mr. Obama’s, then you have paralyzed our problem solving process for a long period of time.

AJM: OK. My last comment, to get your comment. In Arizona also, there a section of border that is roughly 80 miles long that is part of the National Forest there. It’s down in Pinal County , I believe. Not Pima, but Pinal.

AJM: And they have put signs up telling Americans they cannot enter this National Forest because of the high risk from drug smuggling and human smuggling going on. It is some 5500 acres of National Forest or National Park land that Americans are forbidden from entering.

DH: Well, I think you just described why the Arizona legislature moved. That, plus the murder of the rancher and their massive increase in crime – I think you’ve just described or explained the sense of urgency that Arizona had to try to stop this tide of folks coming across illegally. Because a involved in that tide of illegals coming across, there are lots of people who are criminal aliens. Twenty five percent of the population of our federal penitentiaries now are illegal aliens. Arizona’s prison population may even be higher.

I think if people understood what is happening to Arizona – and incidentally I think a lot of American people do based on the approval numbers reflected, not in the elites making their comments which are always politically correct, but everyday Americans who understand that an open border allows lots of criminal elements to come in.

That’s one reason Arizona felt compelled to act. Their actions are really a manifestation of the frustrations with the Federal Government’s insane refusal to carry out its responsibility of maintaining a secure border.

AJM: And frankly, the Obama response to Arizona is to sue them, to overturn their laws and disregard their requests. I mean, that has got to stop!

DH: You know what Arizona ought to do? They ought to run some commercials, nationally. They ought to pay for some commercials. And they should show those signs that say because of the physical danger from drug dealers and other illegal aliens here at the border, Americans are no longer allowed to enter this part of THEIR National Forest.

And they ought to have somebody, maybe the governor of Arizona, in a very nice, but firm way, explain to the American citizens why they are saying ‘yes, we think federal laws should be enforced’ and ‘yes, we’re willing to enforce the federal law!’.

AJM: Because frankly Congressman, you, throughout your career, and even today in the discussions going forward since you left office, you have been on the bleeding edge, the cutting edge…

AJM:….of this issue for so long. I mean you force fed it to your own county. In other words, you force fed your county some common sense, over obstacle after obstacle. And you tried to get the whole border taken care of. But it takes people like you. And I would say there are some others, for example, Mr. King out of Iowa has been fantastic. You had a handful of other guys who were your staunch allies in this effort. But if we lose people in Congress who are willing to speak up to the administration, whether its Bush or Obama, this will never be solved.

DH: Well, here’s what we have to do. We have to elect a Congress that is going to insist that the law we passed in 06 that mandates the border fence, that they insist it continued to be carried out. And that insists that Obama not circumvent the laws of the land, and hold his feet to the fire.

AJM: Yeah, and I think I told you that Jim DeMint was trying to resurrect that thing and resurrect the funding for the Hunter Fence. Of course, he ran into the brick wall of the Democrats. And here we are.

In case you missed these previous interviews!

Duncan Hunter 6/22/10 Part 1: Iraq Reality vs. The Wash. Post & Gen. McChrystal Vs. Obama

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2540963/posts

Duncan Hunter interview 6/9/10: CA Elections, ‘Virtual Appearances’, Chicom Dangers, and more!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2536020/posts

Duncan Hunter talks War: The Korean flareup, Vietnam, and Leftwing Disgraces - Interview 5/26/10

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2522373/posts

Tradin’ with Reagan and Gaggin’ on Kagan: Duncan Hunter Interview May 17, 2010, Part II

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2517498/posts

On Knuckleheaded Apologies, Russia & Iran, and Border Politics: Duncan Hunter 5/17/10, Part I

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2516378/posts

A very, very Brief Conversation with Duncan Hunter: 5/17/10 - Chuck DeVore endorsement!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2515430/posts

Duncan Hunter FR Exclusive: On Gunny Pop, Chuck DeVore, Car Bombers, Anchor Babies and more!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2509921/posts

Duncan Hunter on GOP & Tea Party Politics, Rick Perry and Ilegal Aliens

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2504213/posts

Duncan Hunter (of course) Supports Arizona’s crackdown on Illegal Aliens

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2501797/posts

Duncan Hunter 4/8/10: Obama’s Nuke Puke, Stimulating Russia Jobs, and that Evil Oil

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2490025/posts

Duncan Hunter Talks 4/1/10: Shooting Donkeys, Phony v. Real Protests, & McCain’s ‘border security’!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2485034/posts

Duncan Hunter Takes Obama, Biden and Grahamnesty to the Woodshed & More!(Interview 3/19/10)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2475394/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview 3-5-2010: On Obama the Apostrate, The Reagan Doctrine, and Aging Hippies

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2465638/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview 2/24/2010 – McCain v Hayworth, O’Reilly v 2A, w/cameo from Gunny Pop

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2458713/posts

Duncan Hunter Slams the Obama Adminstration over push for Gays in the Military

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2444696/posts

Duncan Hunter Slams Obama’s SOTU! 1-28-2010 Interview

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2439864/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview – 1/21/2010: Mass. Miracle, Obama, Cheney, Jobs, McCain-Feingold & More!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2435091/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview 1-8-2010: GOP Primary Politics, JD Hayworth, Panty Bomber and FOOTBALL

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2425011/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview - Dec. 18, 2009: On Christmas Blessings, the Gay Agenda, and Don Rumsfeld

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2412548/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview - Dec 8, 2009: On Huckabee, the EPA, GOP Amnesty Hacks, and Harry Reid!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2404824/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview 12-01-2009: Obama’s Weak Speech, SEALS, ClimateGate, and Shrinking Uncle Sam

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2398503/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview 11-17-09: Terrorist Trials in NY, Amnesty, Sarah Palin and More!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2391044/posts

Duncan Hunter Interview 11-10-09: Gunny Pop, Afghanistan, Terrorism & Political Correctness!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2384405/posts

Duncan Hunter – Nov. 4, 2009: On the 2009 Elections, Global Warming Alarmists, and Ronald Reagan!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2378862/posts

Duncan Hunter – October 27, 2009: On ObamaCare, RomneyCare and Americans!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2372627/posts

Duncan Hunter 10/9/09 Interview. Bomb Iran, confront China, and work to defeat Socialism!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2360735/posts

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