Iraq
“I would do essentially what the president's doing [in Iraq]. I know it's not popular right now, but I think we have to look down the road and consider the consequences of where we are. We're the leader of the free world whether we like it or not. People are looking to us to test our resolve and see what we're willing to do in resolving the situation that we have there. People think that if we hadn't gone down there, things would have been lovely.
If Saddam Hussein was still around today with his sons looking at Iran developing a nuclear capability, he undoubtedly would have reconstituted his nuclear capability. Things would be worse than what they are today.
We've got to rectify the mistakes that we've made. We went in there too light, wrong rules of engagement, wrong strategy, placed too much emphasis on just holding things in place while we built up the Iraqi army, took longer than we figured.
Wars are full of mistakes. You rectify things. I think we're doing that now. We're coming in with good people. We're coming in with a lot of different people. I know General Petraeus from when he was in Tennessee at Fort Campbell. He believes in the plan. He's convinced me that they can do the job.”
***
"In the not too distant future, we can start bringing troops home -- and not with their tails between their legs but as part of a success scenario…. The lives we're losing now would pale beside what's coming if we appear to be so weak and divided that we can't stay to help pacify the country."
Other Foreign Policy Issues
“Iran is a serious enemy of the United States. They sponsor terrorism, they've been killing our people for years. They're doing it today in Iraq. They'd like nothing more than to move into that vacuum. You have an extremely volatile, dangerous situation on top of all that oil and oil reserves.”
***
“These people are killing our people. These Iranians are doing everything they can to undermine us and have been for a while, through Hezbollah and otherwise. They perceive us to be weak right now. If we met with them at those levels now, it would look like we were coming to them. It would look like that we were weak, and they would use that for sure for propaganda purposes and recruiting purposes.”
Climate Change/Energy
“Some people think that our planet is suffering from a fever. Now scientists are telling us that Mars is experiencing its own planetary warming: Martian warming. It seems scientists have noticed recently that quite a few planets in our solar system seem to be heating up a bit, including Pluto. NASA says that the Martian South Pole's ice cap has been shrinking for three summers in a row. Maybe Mars got its fever from Earth. If so, I guess Jupiter's caught the same cold, because it's warming up too, like Pluto. This has led some people, not necessarily scientists, to wonder if Mars and Jupiter, non signatories to the Kyoto Treaty, are actually inhabited by alien SUV-driving industrialists who run their air-conditioning at 60 degrees and refuse to recycle. Silly, I know, but I wonder what all those planets, dwarf planets and moons in our solar system have in common. Hmmmm. Solar system. Hmmmm. Solar? I wonder. Nah, I guess we shouldn't even be talking about this. The science is absolutely decided. There's a consensus. Ask Galileo.”
***
“There's no question in my mind that the world is warming. There's no question that humans are making some contribution to that. But there's a lot of answers that we don't have yet, Alan, that we need to get. We need to know whether or not this is a part of a phase or whether or not it's permanent, as best we can tell.
We've had cooling periods in our country -- or in our world before. We don't know the extent to which this is man made. We don't know the effects of it. The estimates of the results of all of this are all over the map. And I object to those people who say the books are closed, no more questions can be asked, we've got to now adopt the solutions that we're putting forth. We're not there yet.”
Healthcare
“Americans have the best healthcare in the world. Some, however, choose not be insured; others cannot afford it. Every American should be able to get health insurance coverage that is affordable, fully accessible, and portable. Coverage should meet their individual needs and put them in control. Those who propose a one-size-fits-all Washington-controlled program ignore the cost, inefficiency, and inadequate care that such a system offers. Access to affordable, portable health care can be made available for all Americans without imposing new mandates or raising taxes. Current government programs must also be streamlined and improved so that those who truly need help can get the health care they need.”
Education
“The federal government ought to stick to the delineated powers of the Constitution. Once they get those right we'll give them something else to do. ... Education in this country is and always has been primarily a matter for local parents, local school boards, local governments and the states to handle. They should not be absolved of the responsibility. ... We see those school tests and they compare us to places and it's not encouraging. The problem is that you think the more federal money you're spending the better you're doing. We’ve been spending increasing amounts of federal money with increasing rules and increasing mandates and increasing regulations, telling state and locals what kinds of teachers to hire, what their qualifications need to be and so forth. And in return giving them money. So states dance to that tune and form bureaucracies themselves to respond to the federal bureaucracy handle all of that money, and it's not working. No Child Left Behind, I'm all for testing. But it seems now some of these states are teaching to the test. ... To the extent federal government should be involved is a block grant with fewer strings and fewer regulations.”
Homeland Security
"We're going to have to spend more money for the kind of threats, the old kind and the new kind. We're going to have to have a larger military, we're going to have to work closer with our allies."
***
“The reality is this: as we have asked our military to take on an ever-greater role in our defense, the financial commitment we have made to our cause has become smaller. We must build a military force ready to meet any challenge now. And be prepared to protect later generations from any future threats, whomever or wherever they may be. To be sure, America has other needs that require our attention. We must strengthen our homeland by securing our borders and enhance our domestic counter-terrorist capabilities.”
***
“The number one thing on my mind tonight, the number one thing I think is important to our country, is to make sure that we protect our people. We are now in a global war with a relentless enemy.”
***
“If we cannot secure our borders, we will not remain sovereign very long.”
***
“We are a nation that haphazardly maintains its borders in the face of mounting evidence that such an approach is irresponsible. It is border insecurity that failed us on the morning of 9/11. Thus, when darkness fell that day, a more terrible prospect loomed into view - that unless we are vigilant and prepared, even small actors in the world can inflict catastrophic harm on the United States.”
Family
“And I'm for the rights of everybody, including gays, but not any special rights.
You know, marriage is between a man and a woman, and I don't believe judges ought to come along and change that.”
***
"I do not think that they're (civil unions) a good idea. I do think that states have the power under our Constitution to make their own determination with regard to those matters ... (I) think the federal government's powers ought to be limited to what's set out in the Constitution - and states, with regard to matters that are traditionally state matters, ought to be free to make those decisions themselves, even if Fred Thompson might disagree with them."
***
“You don't create life in order to destroy it.”
Taxes/Fiscal Policy
“We are on an unsustainable spending path in this country, and no one seems to be willing to put the brakes on.”
***
“Maintain George Bush’s tax cuts that have helped so many folks.”
***
“Abolish the death tax.”
***
“We should lower the corporate tax rate. It’s 35% here and 10% in many other countries.”
Illegal Immigration
“But until you get people convinced that you're doing all you can on the border -- some people think it cannot be secured. But if you can or to the extent that you can, you've got to do that, then I think people will be willing to listen to the rest of it.”
***
“For 20 years, we've not enforced the law, and that's a part of the problem. You can't enforce it all on the backs of the employers. People falsify information that they give employers and all that. That's not a solution to the problem.”
***
“I mean, there's really no good solution. So what do you do? You have to start over. Well, I'm concerned about the next 12 million or 20 million. So that's why enforcement, and enforcement at the border, has to be primary.”
***
"As far as I'm concerned, giving driver's licenses to illegals is a bad idea for a lot of reasons."
***
“In 1996, I helped outlaw sanctuary cities. Mayor Giuliani went to court to overturn the law we passed.''
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