Below are the MSNBC link and transcript of George Allen on Hardball from Monday, June 19 where Allen was interviewed by Norah O+óGé¼GäóDonnell. In my opinion, I think that O+óGé¼GäóDonnell let Allen off easy on his trip to Iowa last weekend and with his Presidential ambitions in 2008. I also think that she gave Allen a loaded question for him to attack John Kerry for supporting Jim Webb. Each person will have to come to their own conclusion about that.
It is very important to see how George Allen is answering questions like these now because that is probably a good preview of what he will say in the future!
The answer to Allen+óGé¼Gäós trip to Iowa is to press him hard on committing to serving out his full Senate term if he wins the election, tell the Virginia voters that after the 2006 election that Virginia will only have a part time Senator for the next two years if Allen does not commit now, and to emphasize that if Allen does not make the commitment to serve his term that Tim Kaine will appoint a Democrat (someone who does not hold to the +óGé¼+ôVirginia Values+óGé¼-¥ that he is now running on) to fill his vacant Senate seat if he runs for President and wins so it would be hypocritical for him to even run for the Senate in 2006!
The answer to John Kerry supporting Jim Webb is that Jim Webb is running an all inclusive campaign which also includes support from disillusioned Republicans, moderate Democrats such as Harry Reid (who is a Pro-Life Democrat), and support from a wide range of people with different opinions but who are all in agreement that they do not want to see Allen sent back to the Senate where he will just be a rubber stamp for Bush on the Iraq war!
Many liberals, moderates, and even mainstream conservatives can all rally to support Jim Webb because they are in agreement that Bush+óGé¼Gäós Iraq war policy is wrong and that Jim Webb needs to be elected to the Senate to hold Bush accountable for his actions as opposed to George Allen going back to the Senate to only be a rubber stamp for whatever Bush decides to do!
That should be a simple enough explanation for anyone to understand. Jim Webb is trying to unite people while George Allen is continually dividing people with wedge issues!
Please forward this on, especially to people in Virginia!
Mitch Dworkin
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13438754/
'Hardball with Chris Matthews' for June 19
Read the transcript to the Monday show
Guests: Howard Dean, Jeffrey Zaun, George Allen, Tom DeFrank, Tony Blankley
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: And coming up, Virginia Senator George Allen might have a reelection fight ahead of him for 2006, but will Democrats be able to beat by focusing on his potential plan for 2008? What+óGé¼-£s his strategy for victory? You+óGé¼-£re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MARKET REPORT)
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: As Americans wait to hear the fate of the two missing soldiers and while the world watches as North Korea puts the finishing touches on a missile that could reach America, Americans are wondering, are things getting worse? Is the world getting more dangerous?
Here to talk about the war in Iraq, North Korea, and big elections in 2006 and 2008 is Virginia Senator George Allen. Full plate here of things to talk about today. But let+óGé¼-£s first begin with North Korea. How do we deal with a crazy man, Kim Jong-Il, who is essentially fueling up a long- range ballistic missile that could reach America?
SEN. GEORGE ALLEN +é-«, VIRGINIA: What we+óGé¼-£ve been trying to do is not just have the United States and North Korea, but have South Korea, Russia, Japan and the country that really props up North Korea+óGé¼GÇ¥China involved in it.
China, obviously, apparently, I should say, doesn+óGé¼-£t seem to care about this provocation. North Korea back in 1999 said that we+óGé¼-£re going to stop these sort of tests. Obviously they+óGé¼-£re not to be trusted for their word and their promises.
It means I think for our country another example of why we probably ought to have a missile defense system. You have these rogue nations, it+óGé¼-£s not just China, it+óGé¼-£s not just Russia that we have to worry about. It+óGé¼-£s countries such as North Korea. Sanctions I suppose could be put on, but the sanctions aren+óGé¼-£t going to mean much because everything, the lifeline for North Korea, is China.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: They+óGé¼-£re virtually isolated anyway, except from everyone except for China and some other Asian countries. Do you believe that the president has authority to take military action if need be in North Korea?
ALLEN: Well I think that we+óGé¼-£re going to have all our guard up in the event that this missile is launched, I think our guard is going to be up to see where it goes and who knows, it may fairly be erratic.
As far as military action, you mean, if they+óGé¼-£d launch this missile, does the president have the right to attack North Korea on it? No, I don+óGé¼-£t think the president has that authority to do so. Unless it hit our country, then it+óGé¼-£s+óGé¼GÇ¥you+óGé¼-£re going to have a chance to respond there, but I don+óGé¼-£t think it+óGé¼-£s intended to hit our country. I think it+óGé¼-£s intended to show that we could hit the United States.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: As a show of force. It+óGé¼-£s interesting this week, there+óGé¼-£s going to be a lot about the Axis of Evil, we+óGé¼-£re talking about North Korea, the president is traveling overseas to Vienna. We+óGé¼-£ll be talking a lot about Iran. Iraq is once again, of course, as always in the headline. The big headline out of Iraq certainly today is that two of our soldiers are missing and may have been captured by al Qaeda. Do you believe this is payback for the killing of al-Zarqawi?
ALLEN: I think+óGé¼GÇ¥I don+óGé¼-£t think there+óGé¼-£s any difference in the way that al Qaeda and these terrorists work for the last 10 years. If they can get an American, they+óGé¼-£re going to try to catch him. They+óGé¼-£ve been catching not just soldiers, they+óGé¼-£re catching journalists, they+óGé¼-£re getting people that are over there on a peace mission trying to help out the Iraqi people and they behead them.
So this is part of the difference in what we+óGé¼-£re facing. We+óGé¼-£re facing enemies, these terrorists who are beheading men, women, and children and what we+óGé¼-£re trying to do is stand up and give the people of Iraq a vote. Meanwhile, they+óGé¼-£re capturing and beheading individuals.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: So respond to what has been the criticism by some that our actual presence there in Iraq is antagonizing these people and that they are retaliating by capturing our soldiers. And if we weren+óGé¼-£t there, something like this wouldn+óGé¼-£t happen.
ALLEN: Oh my goodness. If we weren+óGé¼-£t there, if we weren+óGé¼-£t there, Saddam would still be in power, so he+óGé¼-£d be obviously tormenting and repressing the people of Iraq.
Let+óGé¼-£s assume we pull out. You+óGé¼-£d have more influence of the terrorists there, you would have more influence of Syria and Iran into Iraq. When I was in Iraq just a couple weeks ago, whether they were Kurds, Sunnis, or Shiites, they all are so grateful and appreciative to the Americans and our coalition partners for liberating them, and they also recognize that the United States is there to help this fledgling democracy stand up and they are training more and more Iraqis in their security forces, as well as police. And in fact, they+óGé¼-£re leading more and more of their missions, including the good focus, logical focus in the Baghdad area right now.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: The president has been making the case that progress is being made in Iraq, Vice President Cheney talking about that again today. That it+óGé¼-£s part of the reason we haven+óGé¼-£t had an attack since 9/11, that controversial remark.
Nevertheless, politically in this country, more than half of Americans say the war was not worth it, Iraq was not worth it and you are facing reelection this year in 2006. You+óGé¼-£ve got a candidate, a guy named Jim Webb who used to be a Republican who+óGé¼-£s running as an anti-war Democrat and he+óGé¼-£s got+óGé¼GÇ¥he+óGé¼-£s challenging you and you+óGé¼-£re usually pretty safe in a red state. I mean, what does that say about the state of American politics that senators like you can be challenged by an anti-war Democrat?
ALLEN: Well, Senator John Kerry came in and supported my ultimate opponent, before he got nominated, he was there at his victory party and so Senator John Kerry and other Massachusetts liberals have a view that what we need+óGé¼GÇ¥and if you listen to him very closely is what they would like to see is a strategic plan for retreat.
I think that Virginians and all Americans think that what we need to do is bring together the American people, our allies, as well as countries around Iraq, whether that+óGé¼-£s the Kuwaitis, Bahrain, Turkey and Jordan and have a strategic plan for success rather than tuck and tail and running. And so if they want to be with John Kerry in that point of view, that+óGé¼-£s fine.
And I realize this is difficult and we have to be realistic. But recognize that there is some slow progress. It+óGé¼-£s going to be difficult, but ultimately what we should not be doing is embolding the terrorists. What we ought to be doing is backing up and keeping our word to the Iraqi people as well as our coalition partners.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: You talked about Senator John Kerry, who along with some other Democratic senators this week in the Senate are introducing resolutions, amendments, calling for some sort of phased redeployment or timetable. We just learned tonight Senator John Kerry is now pushing back the date, that he is calling for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq. He originally said it should be December 31st of this year, but now he says he thinks it should be July 1st, 2007.
ALLEN: I don+óGé¼-£t know what happened to him over the weekend, but we got another six months. This is the unsteady sort of leadership that I think the American people reject. It is the sort of approach that I do think can embolden our enemies. But also caused dismay to our allies, if this is the sort of leadership that comes from the United States and I also think it can be discouraging to the Iraqi government and leaders who are really brave.
And I guarantee you, these terrorists would like to knock them out. They don+óGé¼-£t like the idea of a free and just society where men and women have the right to vote, where you have freedom of expression for men and women and they don+óGé¼-£t like freedom of religion as well.
So the reality is what we have to be looking at are actual benchmarks and the bench marks are more Iraqis being trained in their own security, building with their own hands, electricity, water, sewer, those sort of things. Those are the bench marks where I think our troops will be able to stand down.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: I have to ask you quickly because we notice that you were in Iowa over the weekend, with some other Republicans. What were you doing there?
ALLEN: They asked me way back in the winter if I would come and speak to the Iowa Federation Republican Women at their luncheon, at their convention.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: And how were you received?
ALLEN: It was a great reception for folks. My mother and father were married in Sioux City, Iowa, so it was fun to be there and I also do keep my commitments.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: I read recently though that you recently said you wish you were born in Iowa.
ALLEN: Well during the gestation period, my father got his first head coaching job was at Morningside College in Sioux City where my mother met him. My mother came over from Tunisia and fell in love with my father, they got married.
During the gestation period, my father got a job at Whittier College, the poets, a fierce name for a team, and so that+óGé¼-£s where I was born. Of course my preference would have been my father got offered a job at the University of Virginia and I could have been born in Charlottesville like all my kids.
O+óGé¼-£DONNELL: Well very well, Senator George Allen, thank you very much for joining us, we appreciate it. And up next, President Bush is helping his party tonight raise $23 million. Is the campaigner in chief an asset or a liability for Republicans in 2006? You+óGé¼-£re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
http://www.webbforsenate.com/news/victory_speech.php
In this same vein, let me say that I hope we can all start moving away from the divisiveness of the Karl Rove era, where the conscious manipulation of people’s fears and emotions has overridden serious debate about our future. Our public officials should strive constantly to be inclusive, and to reach solutions based on common sense and sound judgment, rather than playing to the worst instincts of bigotry and fear-mongering that unnecessarily divide us.
With respect to inclusiveness, let me close with an observation that will help many people understand why I decided to run in the first place. The American political process is going through a vast sea change. The old labels of liberal and conservative no longer apply. It is time to welcome home those Democrats who have left for a time. Reagan Democrats, conservative Democrats, what label we give them is not important, for they share the values of Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman, and John Kennedy. They share a sense of fairness, they share our desire for change and they share a desire to make a better America. It is time to welcome them home.
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If we weren‘t there, if we weren‘t there, Saddam would still be in power, so he‘d be obviously tormenting and repressing the people of Iraq.
So, Allen's position is that had "W" not initiated an agressive war against Saddam, the worst case is that Saddam would still be in power doing bad things to the Iraqi population. It seems that the WMD line of BS along with the unsubstantiated al Qaeda ties have vanished from the list of rationales for war...