Republican hopeful brings platform to North Augusta

Aiken Standard ^ | Dec. 1, 2007 | BILL BENGTSON, North Augusta bureau

[AuntB]

NORTH AUGUSTA — The race for the White House took another turn through Aiken County Friday evening, with a visit from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) at the North Augusta Community Center.

Hunter, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam and has served the San Diego area in Congress since 1981, spoke for about an hour, fielding questions and focusing on his priorities, with foreign trade and illegal immigration among his major concerns.

Addressing international concerns, Hunter focused largely on China's "new flexing of this military muscle that they have." He described that new power as being bankrolled largely by American trade dollars, through Chinese cheating.

Hunter has been in the news this month expressing concerns about investments involving GOP rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, with regard to Bain Capital, a company that Romney founded. Hunter has pointed out that the company is "attempting to form a business arrangement with Huawei Corporation, a Chinese corporation founded by an officer of the People's Liberation Army of Communist China, which faces allegations of assisting Saddam Hussein in the targeting of U.S. aircraft and in helping the Taliban develop surveillance equipment," as stated in Hunter's campaign material.

Hunter has claimed that Romney should make a "clear statement" opposing the deal. "His friends are still running that company, and certainly, if he said 'Cease and desist, and don't make this transfer, because it's detrimental to American security interests,' they would do it, they would stop," he said, describing the situation as "sad."

He also hit an upbeat note regarding U.S. efforts abroad. "We're winning in Iraq and we're going to win this war," he said, asserting that Iraqi troops are organized, trained and "not green anymore."

Also getting plenty of attention from Hunter was the question of border security, particularly along the southern boundary. He pointed out his success in San Diego, leading the charge to build about 59 miles of border fence — a move that has been credited as sparking a major downturn in crime in San Diego and making a significant dent in "drive-through smuggling" of people and drugs.

He also has helped lead the way in pushing for about 854 miles of additional fencing — a double-layer creation to extend across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. So far, however, only 5.15 miles have been completed — "just enough ... to do a nice photo opportunity for the President, when he was in Yuma (Az.)," he said.

"Putting in a ... physical, enforceable border is the key thing to illegal immigration, and if you take care of that problem, you obviate ... all of the problems of trying to track people down and catch them, (and) the massive incarceration problem. You eliminate the crime problems. You know, right now we've got 250,000 criminal aliens in federal, state and local penitentiaries and jails."

He said the estimated cost for 1,000 miles of double-layered fencing is $3 billion — the same amount that is currently spent annually in incarcerating criminal aliens. "As President of the United States, I'll build a border fence — all 854 miles in six months ... That's my commitment to you," he said, triggering applause from most of his listeners.

He praised President Bush for his efforts in fighting terrorism abroad, but pointed out that the U.S.-Mexican border remains "a major exposure to terrorism" and does not get enough attention from national leaders.

Among the youngest of the crowd was Jordan Hughes, a 15-year-old home-schooler from Grovetown, Ga. When asked about Hunter's presentation, she said, "I thought that it was really awesome. I mean, it's good to know that one of the presidential candidates is pro-life and about America coming back to its foundation of the biblical stance." Tina Hunter, from North Augusta, was one of the event's organizers. She commented, "I think he's got the American values that we're all looking for in this country ... We don't need to be taking jobs overseas. We need to keep them here in the United States and continue to build our economy.

"The other thing I like so very much is, I was in the military and so was my husband, and we have a lot of talent in the military, and he's very supportive of that, and as those men are coming home, they're going to be needing jobs, and by bringing those jobs home, as they're coming home, they're going to be able to have a job." Hunter's local visit came on the heels of an appearance by an extremely high-profile candidate: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), who was in Aiken Monday afternoon.

Several other White House hopefuls have also visited the CSRA in recent months. Hunter referred to his North Augusta appearance as "a good round-table conversation."

[AuntB]

Duncan Hunter: "I don't need consultants. I write my own speeches. I don't need advice on having people testing the political wind to tell me what positions they think I should take. Most of the major positions I've already taken, and are there for better or worse. I know what I stand for... "

[AuntB]

Please pull this one....someone else posted the same article at the same time....SO sorry!!!!

Forgive me PLEASE!

[upchuck]

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