Smith, Sununu Clash on Rewarding Illegal Aliens

Newsmax.com ^ | August 29, 2002 | Carl Lindbacher

[Japedo]

Rep. John E. Sununu, the New Hampshire Republican hoping to replace Sen. Bob Smith, wants to reward some illegal aliens by granting them amnesty.

Yet another reason with a Long list of great reasons to Vote for Bob Smith!

Thanks for the great post! :)
Live Free or Die Trying

[wattsmag2]

Politically that is. One can not abandon a party and then expect everyone in that party to endorse his return, whatever the provocation.

[GOPcapitalist]

Bump for Smith!

The truth about Sununu is finally rearing its ugly head. First its his pro-palestine votes. Then the radical islamic campaign cash from the SAME PEOPLE who we criticized Cynthia McKinney over. Now it turns out he's pro illegal immigrant amnesty.

I'm sorry, but every piece of news I hear on this guy pushes me further into the Smith column. Any "conservative" who could vote for Sununu in light of these facts is either willfully blinding himself to reality or is not the conservative he purports himself to be. It's that simple.

[MassExodus]

Politically that is. One can not abandon a party and then expect everyone in that party to endorse his return, whatever the provocation.

In the purely political sense that is true of course.
Sadly so.

This is exactly why we were cautioned against "factionism"

The trouble is, that's ALL we're left with now.

Great, Sununu towed the "party" line
He's earned his RINO merit badge.

Only the most cynical Party HACK would look at why Smith left and then say "Ha! See ? Come crawling to us as we're the only game in town!"

[GOPcapitalist]

I disagree with Sunnunu on this issue, but still support him on turncoat Smith

Smith came back to the ranks of the GOP and I can't hold it against him for being frustrated with the politicrats and elitists who run the RNC and the party's mainstream. They're the same crowd who gave us moderates Dole and Ganske in the nominations this year and who tried to give us Bob Franks and Richard Riordan and the ones who are trying to give us Sununu. Any conservative is perfectly justified in lodging a complaint against that crowd for all of those reasons and more. I'll agree that Smith went a step to far leaving the party but his complaints were valid and he later realized the error and returned, so I can't hold it against him. Quite frankly I'd rather have a senate full of Bob Smiths than the noodle-spined Trent Lotts that currently run the show there on the GOP side.

who has turned liberal on several other issues

The only one I can think of in recent times in ANWR. Aside from that his voting record is as conservative as any member of the senate and his activism includes taking up the conservative cause on many high profile cases. Back when my hideous congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Mars) was playing envoy for Fidel Castro over Elian Gonzales, Bob Smith was working against her on the other side. He got blasted for it in the media and was portrayed as an anti-castro extremist, but he went ahead regardless.

and who cannot win the general election.

That's a self fulfilling prophecy for any Sununu supporter. Right now the greatest burden on Smith's reelection is having to put up with a bloody primary challenge by Sununu and the RNC politicrats. Otherwise, Smith is the best funded candidate of all three including the dem. Add to that the advantage of incumbency and seniority and you have a perfectly viable candidate. Some corners have been saying for years that Smith is unelectable. But for some reason he keeps getting reelected. The Dems have already thrown practically everything they've got at him with highly funded opponents in what they deem a "targetted" seat. They were almost certain they had him in 1996 and spent through the roof to ensure that they did, but Smith pulled it off.

They say the same stuff about "unelectability" for all strong and outspoken conservatives. Ron Paul gets the same garbage every year from the "mainstream" media then goes on to win reelection over DNC backed challenger after challenger.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I respect the views of those who have disagreed with me on this issue. I don't claim to be an expert on NH politics. However, I so badly want the GOP to get back the Senate majority, and every poll I have seen shows Sunnunu with a much better chance of winning. Maybe the polls are wrong, but they have been consistent.

[GOPcapitalist]

However, I so badly want the GOP to get back the Senate majority, and every poll I have seen shows Sunnunu with a much better chance of winning. Maybe the polls are wrong, but they have been consistent.

Your concerns are perfectly understandable, but just keep in mind that NH is a wierd state esp. when it comes to polls. I don't live there but I've watched their politics for a while esp. in the primaries.

They've got a long history of strange results - McCain, Pat Buchanan - that sort of stuff. In Smith's case, he's been up for reelection several times before against a well funded Dem challenger. The last time he was up many polls consistently anticipated the Dem's victory to be in the bag. The voters chose otherwise.

Right now it is my belief that the worst thing we can do in that seat is to put Smith through a bloody primary, exacerbating the polls that suggest the Dem will win. But again, those polls don't have a very strong track record esp. with Senator Smith.

[wattsmag2]

Unfortunately, especially in the Northeast, it is difficult to elect anything other than a Rino or a Democrat.

[plain talk]

Not too familiar with sununu but he's killing Smith who looks like a sweating, overweight has-been. Respect some of Smith's conservative positions in past but he looks pathetic in this debate. He also needs to go on a diet, bad.

[jwalsh07]

Smith switched sides on only one issue of concern to conservatives--oil drilling in ANWR. However, Smith supports drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Sununu opposes it so I find Sununu's criticism of Smith on this issue rather hypocritical to say the least.

Well, let me enlighten you a bit. The citizens of the state of Alaska overwhelmingly want to drill for oil in their state.

The Gulf Coast citizens overwhelmingly do not want to drill for oil offshore.

So in essence the conservative respecting states rights is Sunnunu and the guy ignoring states rights, and as an aside American energy security, is Bob Smith.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Just caught the tail end of the debate, it comes on at 10:00 PM again. Sure hope though people don't vote against someone because they could stand to lose a few pounds. Bob Smith is a pro-life, pro Second Amendment, strong national security conservative. We need more Bob Smiths, not more RINOs.

[plain talk]

I'm sick and tired of watching conservatives get beat by other candidates simply because they do not know how to speak. Don't know all of Sununu's positions, but, we sure need conservatives who can articulate and handle pressure. Smith lost it during the question about his House record and got needlessly on the defensive. Sununu stayed cool and calm and basically wiped the floor with him. Hope Sununu's no RINO. But with my luck, he probably is.

[Fred]

Sununu lost the debate just like he lost the last 2 debates.

You must be new to debate watching, Sununu was on the defensive the majority of the time....

Don't believe me, here are the comments from Stuart Rothenberg of Roll Call:

Clocked

Could it be that Smith's aggressive performances in recent debates has turned the tide in his direction? Undecided members of the audience have been impressed, as has D.C. pundit Stuart Rothenberg, a commentator for Roll Call who says he initially thought Sununu would breeze through the primary.

In Smith's recent debate with Sununu that was broadcast on C-Span, Rothenberg said, Smith "cleaned his clock."

"I just thought Sununu was very tentative," said Rothenberg, who still predicts Sununu will win the primary. "Smith is much more aggressive - he's tougher, he's more direct. Sununu comes off as more a nice-guy-engineer than as a tough politician."

Cleaned His Clock

[Fred]

BTW in the debate tonight - Sununu was complaining about Smith not being a party guy. Sununu complained that SMITH SUPPORTED REAGAN INSTEAD OF GERALD FORD IN THE 1976 PRESIDENTIAL RACE ....This comment alone is a disqualifier for Sununu... Smith supporting Reagan in 1976 proves Smith point that sometimes the party elite is flat out WRONG.....

I think the New Hampshire voter is very bright, and will not waste their time holding a grudge like Sununu is, and make the excellent choice the 3rd time of sending Senator Smith back to Washington.

[SUSSA]

There is more oil in the Gulf of Mexico than in Saudi Arabia. We know where it is and we can get it to the mainland easier than we can get the oil here from Alaska. We don't know how much oil is in ANWR and we only suspect where it is. If we drill in the Gulf we can be self sufficient in oil and one of the biggest oil exporters in the world. We can tell the Muhammadan bastards to drink their oil or shove it because we are not buying it and will undercut their price on the world market.

Our national security is more important than the view from some old fart's condo. We should be drilling in the Gulf right now.

[MassExodus]

Largely true, but New HampsTer still is the lone hold out.

See: election map - only RED state around.

Smith would handily beat Shaheen, especially with her record of screw ups.
If not for the RINO group pushing one of their own, this would be a forgone conclusion.

[rightwing2]

So in essence the conservative respecting states rights is Sunnunu and the guy ignoring states rights, and as an aside American energy security, is Bob Smith.

Actually, it seems that Sununu is more for the rights of individuals--that is the "rights" of individual non-citizen suspected terrorists, actual terrorists and illegal immigrant law breakers to violate our laws, invade our country and be privy to priviliged classified information which could put the lives of our courageous intelligence agents at risk.

In some ways, Sununu has been more supportive of states' rights--the rights of rogue terrorist and Communist states to threaten the people of the United States, that is. Sununu, who is more of a libertarian than a Republican, has been very supportive of terrorist Palestinians in their desire to have their own terrorist rogue state. He has been very supportive of supporting the Butchers of Beijing with permanent most favored nation trade status and WTO membership so that they can increase their $85 billion trade surplus with the US and accelerate their nuclear missile buildup meant to threaten US cities with nuclear annihilation.

Sununu's record in Congress, particularly on national security issues, makes him look like a Cynthia McKinney wannabe. He is a disgrace and an embarrassment to the people of New Hampshire and I pray that he loses and loses badly because he is not fit to be a member of Congress. Sen. Smith's principled conservative leadership not only on social issues of interest to conservatives, but also his championing of national security issues such as these and others presents a very marked contrast to Sununu's own pathetic pro-terrorist and pro-Communist record and is desperately needed in the Senate to bring sanity to our public policy debate. That is why I join with President Bush and just about all movement conservatives in the country in urging all New Hampshire Republicans to vote to re-elect conservative champion Senator Bob Smith on September 10th!

[GraniteStateConservative]

Suggesting Bush has endorsed Smith is hogwash. I'm sure you'd be happy to present a letter of endorsement. How about a presidential visit for Smith? It just shows how desperate Smith is. Taking Rove's tepid comments as an endorsement is laughable.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Bush sent Andy Card to raise money for Sununu and Rove to raise money for Smith. In fact, Bush's dad and mom have given $1000 each to Sununu for his primary challenge. I bet the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, rw2.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Sununu is for completely unrestriced free trade, and besides wanting to reward potential terrorists through the 245(i) sham, he is more than willing to flood the market with imported fruits and vegetables thereby undercutting the American farmer due to the slave labor used in countries like China.

He also believes that "guests" in our country are totally protected by the Constitution with the same rights as citizens. Under Sununu's law, if the government decides to deport a suspected criminal or terrorist, that person could use the justice system to appeal under the same procedures Americans can use. In effect, someone in the US with a legal visa could stay indefinitely, even when their welcome is worn out. This is outrageous, guests are just that, they do not have the same rights as citizens, and are here at our pleasure.

Sununu is everyone's best friend but the American people's.