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GOP Presidential Debate |
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Posted on 09/03/2007 7:19:22 AM PDT by WalterSkinner
http://blog.barofintegrity.us/2007/09/04/duncan-hunter-interview-with-hugh-hewitt.aspx
Hugh Hewitt interviews Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter at the Texas Straw Poll before the results came in—Hunter won with 41% of the vote...
Transcription:
Hugh Hewitt: Any member of the media or any of the debate ask any questions that haven’t been asked yet?
Duncan Hunter: You know Hugh, I would like them to ask about the long term prospects for opportunities for this next generation. Good job prospects. That is a question that begs for analysis of what we are doing with our trade policies where we are pushing American industry off shore. We are sending lots of manufacturing and high paying jobs to China. You have a lot of people on Wall Street selling those jobs out. They mark up the difference between $25 - $30 per hour to an American vs. a $1.00 per hour to somebody in China. And they move the company.
We are going to need to level that playing field, so that Americans, the next generation of Americans, those great kids coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, have the same good job opportunities that we had.
Hugh Hewitt: Now Congressman, do you remember John Conley running in 1980 talking about Toyota stacking up on the docks of Japan? It was sort of a good bit of protectionist rhetoric. Is that protectionist what you are talking about?
Duncan Hunter: No, you know what we are talking about actually is reversing what China has got which is protectionism. Right now, if we send a good to China, they hit us with a 17% tax at the water’s edge. When they send their products to the United States their government subsidizes every product they send over by cheating on trade. The devalue their currency 40% below where it should be. That undercuts on every American product. They know they are doing it. The head of the Federal Reserve Board, Ben Bernanke, knows they are doing it. He said as much. Yet we have allowed them to continue to do it.
One thing that a President does, is enforce trade rules. I am going to enforce trade rules. I am going to stop China from cheating on trade. If we have to use counter veiling duties we are going to do that. But we are going to keep them from enmassing these 100s of billions of dollars, some of which they are using to buy weapon systems. And the difference between China and Japan is this, Japan is a military ally. Not a robust ally, not one that comes to Iraq or Afghanistan with lots of help. But China is a potential adversary and certainly one that has conflicting interest. The idea that American dollars that are being used to buy missile destroyers from the Russians which were designed to kill American aircraft carriers and buy and build ballistic missiles some of which are aimed at our cities does not make good policy.
Hugh Hewitt: Before 9/11 China had downed our plane in Yunnan Island I believe it was. And we had a confrontation with China. After 9/11 no one pays much attention to them. Are they friend or foe in the Global War on Terror?
Duncan Hunter: Well, you know, China has many conflicting interests. They have interests to continue to market their products in the U.S. and stack our billions of dollars in their treasury, they like that. On the other hand, they like an America that is off balance. And that is why they have transferred technology to countries around the world that are not friends of the United States. That is why we can see China as always, like when we put stiff sanctions on Iran which is walking down the path to build nuclear weapons, China is there to blunt American sanctions. So they like to see America off balanced, a little bit weakened. They also see America as a competitor in the industrial Global Trade that is taking place. They are moving aggressively to lock up oil supplies around the world. People say you can’t be tough on China because they are so big. I say you can’t ignore China because they are so big. And because of what they are doing.
I watched their military build up. They are building up at double digit pace right now. They are building lots of submarines, buying lots of high end fighter aircraft from the Russians, building about 100 short range ballistic missiles a year. China is stepping into the super power shoes that the Soviet Union left. Now we can have a good relationship with China; but it will have to be a relationship based on American Strength. I think Ronald Reagan proved that to us in our era of conflict and competition with the Soviet Union.
Hugh Hewitt: How many years have you chaired the Armed Services Committee?
Duncan Hunter: I have chaired it for four years. I’ve been on that committee for 26 years.
Hugh Hewitt: And does the Pentagon understand China? Do they come forward and do they talk on the record with the Hill about what China represents for the next generation?
Duncan Hunter: You know this last report on China actually received lots of criticism from the State Department because it was very candid about assessing this enormous growing military strength of China. The assessment of the Pentagon was they are doing so much more then they have to do for self defense. They are building an offensive capability. When they shot that satellite out of space on January 11th, because America’s military eyes are largely in space, that really hurdled a new era of military competition between the U.S. and China in space. Like it or not, if you have to rely on satellites for movement of special forces or army brigades or marine corps divisions, you have to rely on satellites for that, and your satellites are in danger, you are in trouble. So we have our eyes, our military eyes [on China]. Plus a lot of our economic capabilities are reflected through our space apparatus. You have to protect that. We are going to have to spend a lot of money now and take a lot of effort to neutralize what is an aggressive Chinese policy in regard to space.
Hugh Hewitt: Let’s talk about the media and China. I asked you about this on the radio yesterday, how many questions have you had about China in the course of the Campaign. You have been on the trail for how long?
Duncan Hunter: We have had 4 congressional debates now and we have been out campaigning hard this entire year. We had one great question, I think it came from either Brit Hume or one of his team, during the Fox debate in the South Carolina, last question of the debate to me on China. I was able to give, you only have one minute answer, I try to be a master on the compact answers, I laid out that we have this cheating on trade which is stacking up billions to China and they are using this money to arm. This presents a long term challenge to the United States. Maybe not a direct threat; but a military threat is comprised of two things, capability and intent. They certainly are building a capability to cause us a lot of harm. And the intent of China is always difficult to understand.
Those tough old communists that ran the Poly Bureau are still running things. We see these generals make wild statements like, “We hope you value L.A. more than you do Taiwan”. That is a thinly veiled threat to nuke L.A. Then there will be a flurry of newspaper statements by people saying well, ‘general so and so didn’t mean it’. Well I hope general so and so is pretty far away from that nuclear trigger. Because that is a wild statement. You see those wild statements that came out of Yunnan Island where the American plane was shot down or was forced down, and the wild statements that came out of there diplomacy core after that were tempered by their trade people. But it shows us there is a element of leadership that is embedded in the Chinese hierarchy that is very aggressive, very anti American and very war like. It is difficult to know which element of the Chinese leadership is going to dominate the government in 5 years.
Hugh Hewitt: One more question, the Armed Services Committee under the democrats, has it been doing a responsible job to protect the military budget and looking around the corner for what it needs?
Duncan Hunter: I think that my great friend, Ike Skelton from Missouri, conservative democrat with sons that are in the uniform, has done a good job with respect to the ham and eggs of making sure we continue the equipment procurements and the readiness procurements. Of course he has largely followed the administrations budget. And also we are increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corp. The administration has finally acquiesce our recommendation and they are recommending that this year.
Of course on the side where the democrats put their political hat on, and that is with respect to policy in Iraq. Obviously the person calling the shots there is Nancy Pelosi. And I think she is calling the wrong shots. I thought the statement by the democrat whip, Jim Clyburn, who said, “good news from General Petraeus in September would be bad news for the democrat party”. The idea that good news off the battlefield is bad for a political party in the United States, I thought that was a tragedy that that statement was made and a sorry reflection on the fact that the democrats look at Iraq not through the prism of national interests; but through the prism of politics. That is bad for our country.
I like that great old Senator Henry ‘Scoop’ Jackson who was one of the great democrat strong defense leaders of our time. He said, ‘in time of war national policy should emanate from our shore with one voice’. He liked to arm wrestle over spending on transportation and other things; but he supported the President in matters of national security. And the idea that the democrats are pulling away from us even before General Petraeus has made his statement, prepping the ground for the statement, that is a tragedy for our country.
Hugh Hewitt: Congressman, Thank You.
transcription
B4DH
..fine work
Good job Cal!!
I remember being on dial up and how difficult and time consuming it was to get anything on YouTube, so I know those on dial up are grateful to have the transcript of Hewitt’s interview with Rep. Hunter. And I thank you for it because it is easier to take down a direct quote from the transcript.
AND, text is very important for search engines.
Medved is worse than a RINO...doesn't even need pay to back the Lefties...all while claiming to be some kind of conservative.
It's a beautiful thing, ain't it? Man he just doesn't miss a beat.
And he clarifies everything so well. ‘Cheating on trade’ is kinda like a buzz phrase/shop talk. He explains it so well, my youngest would understand it.
He's got a real gift for putting in a few simple words things I can't get across in paragraphs.
What China has is complete protectionism. You can't compete with that or have fair trade. Can't be done. They're using trade to 'protect' themselves and build up an military like the world has never seen. And us? We're not building anything and handing them power.
It was all I could do to start replying to him, because I was afraid I’d insult! But hey if you pick that name, you must have a sense of humor.
Once, I called him the appreviated “pissy” and someone tore into me! Hey if you pick the name, and Mama didn’t give it to you, you’ll have this.
LMAO. Tx. Needed the chuckle.
Duncan Hunter Nailed it again!!
You have not posted enough in that table Raz, get to work!/s
In case that isn’t enough links for ya’, I’ve reached over 106 on my YouTube.
Linkee, linkee!
The only candidate who speaks out about Red China.
“Duncan Hunter: You know Hugh, I would like them to ask about the long term prospects for opportunities for this next generation. Good job prospects. That is a question that begs for analysis of what we are doing with our trade policies where we are pushing American industry off shore. We are sending lots of manufacturing and high paying jobs to China. You have a lot of people on Wall Street selling those jobs out. They mark up the difference between $25 - $30 per hour to an American vs. a $1.00 per hour to somebody in China. And they move the company.
We are going to need to level that playing field, so that Americans, the next generation of Americans, those great kids coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, have the same good job opportunities that we had.”
I mailed the transcript off to the MSM. Maybe we will start hearing more about it.
The more blatant explanations vs. level the playing field is really a slap in the head.
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Ronald Reagan's America Will Live Again |
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GOP Presidential Debate |
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“I mailed the transcript off to the MSM. Maybe we will start hearing more about it.”
Good idea. Hope we hear more, especially after the debates.
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