John Hawkins has been working on the Duncan Hunter campaign. It was clear before this happened that Hawk supported Hunter, so this was no surprise. This speech is the first chance I've had to get a look at Hunter, so I'll take a minute to look it over as a first glimpse into the candidacy of Duncan Hunter.

Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Conservative Political Action Conference
Washington, DC
March 2, 2007

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Good morning. You know, I woke up to the commentary ...

Blah, blah, blah. Every politician's speech has to start out with an "ice-breaker". I'll skip down to the important stuff ...

You know, this is a great place to start because we're just a couple of miles away from Arlington Cemetery right now. And about an hour ago, the first rays of sunlight hit the stars of David and crosses in Arlington Cemetery and started to illuminate this great country. And when they did, they illuminated what I call the arsenal of democracy. And that's our plants and facilities and manufacturers, who make things in this country and who helped to carry us to victory three times in the last century in winning this war, the war for freedom, for not only the United States, but for the world.

In a nutshell, Hunter's pro-war (and it would seem from other things he says later, he's also pro-actually FIGHTING IT). Good.

He connects this to a really nasty trade deficit we have with the underdeveloped world, and what the enemy is spending their American-acquired profits on ...

So the arsenal of democracy can largely be found today in places like Beijing and Paris and Korea and Japan, but that great arsenal that carried our troops to victory, that carried Eisenhower's forces to victory in Berlin. and carried our forces across the Pacific and drove the Japanese back to the mainland, World War II, and, yes, carried us to victory in the Cold War-it was the strength, the industrial strength, behind Ronald Reagan's peace through strength policy that helped win the Cold War-that arsenal is being fractured.

And let me tell you one reason we're losing it: We're losing it largely because China is cheating on trade. And they're buying ships and planes and missiles with billions of American trade dollars.

OK. He's all about keeping trade fair. Good.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, as that morning sun continues-floods the Southwest, it reflects on what I call that thin green line of Border Patrol men who secure that 2,000-mile border to the best of their ability every day. And they're trying to secure a border that, right now, is wide open. And through that border in 2005, along with the hundreds of thousands of people who came across the border from Mexico, who were citizens of Mexico, we interdicted, we arrested 155,000 people who came across from Mexico who weren't citizens of Mexico.

They came from virtually every country in the world; 1,100 of them came from communist China. Some came from Iran. Some from North Korea. And the reason they came is because everybody in the world now has a television set and they know that the southern border of the U.S. is open.

Well, let me tell you. I built the border fence in San Diego, and I built it against a lot of complaint. It's a double-fence.

Here, Hunter addresses one of the most important issues of our time: border security. Having actively participated in the building of a border fence, I'd say he's on my side here, too.

And, ladies and gentlemen, at one small, one remote place on that Rio Grande, as almost everybody here knows, two American Border Patrol agents saw a van come across with some 750 pounds of narcotics. And at some point during that apprehension, the drug dealer was winged. He wasn't winged badly. I understand he didn't even collect workman's comp...(Laughter)

... before he was back on the job. But for that, these two American Border Patrol agents, Ramos and Compean, were given 11 and 12 years of hard time in the federal penitentiary.

That is a greater punishment than the average convicted murderer in this country, who does about eight and a half years.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I've read the transcript. I've talked with the families. And I've met with Mrs. Compean and Mrs. Ramos. And I've read the transcript of the trial. And I would say this. I've been in the Armed Services Committee for 26 years. I've been chairman for four. I have never seen a Marine or a soldier treated in such an unjust way as Ramos and Compean.

And as president of the United States, I will pardon Ramos and Compean.

Good again. Count this with the fence. Good on border security and supporting those who participate in it.

And, you know, to America's critics, I would say this. When you were hungry, we brought you food; the Americans came. When you were sick, the Americans brought medicine. When you were attacked, we left the safety of our own homes to come and defend you.

America is a great nation because America is a good nation.

Standing up to America's critics. Good again.

Now, presidents appoint judges. And I can tell you, if any judicial candidate comes before me who can look at a sonogram of an unborn child and not see a valuable human life, then I will not appoint that candidate to the federal bench.

Pro-life is good, but it's completely useless if the judge is also a socialist and/or political activist. While it is true that good constitutionalist judges also tend to be pro-life, this is not a guarantee, nor is it any indication as to how they might rule on an issue such as abortion. This issue is best reserved to the States.

OK. So Hunter passes a number of my tests in this speech. However, don't forget that this speech was less a policy speech than a pep-talk. The only real issues covered were war, trade, and judges. Sure, he passes on those, but on taxes and the spread of socialism, which are equally important, he didn't say a word here. We'll just have to keep an eye on this guy.

Good luck, Hawk.

RWR