Where We Vote: Rob Simmons Is Back In The Race
Simmons is running what has been called a “strange non-campaign campaign"
Rob Simmons began his campaign for Senate back in the good old days - when Chris Dodd was facing trouble from the left and the right.
We all know what’s happened since. Dodd dropped out of his re-election bid – and the same day Attorney General Richard Blumenthal jumped in to take the reins on the Democratic side.
Meanwhile, former wrestling CEO Linda McMahon committed to spending $50 million dollars to her campaign – and Tea Party TV stalwart Peter Schiff launched his own bid.
Simmons, the former congressman, once the front-runner, suspended his campaign after losing the state convention to McMahon.
But in recent weeks, he’s come back – “reminding” people he’s on the ballot. When the Hartford Courant endorsed him, they did so with reservations, citing what they called his “strange non-campaign campaign.”
Today, we continue our where we vote series and give you a chance to ask questions of Rob Simmons – candidate for Senate.
Send to friend
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Rob Simmons is the BEST Candidate
Republicans will step up to the ballot box on Tuesday and choose a Senate candidate who meets the bar of excellence that we have established in our collective mind; a dedicated, dogmatic, yet diplomatic Senator who understands the difference and has the knowledge and intestinal fortitude to imbue GOP ideals of personal responsibility, freedom and enterprise into the fabric of our nation.
Clear thinking voters understand that we are not electing glitz or glamour, all fluff and no stuff as it were, we are electing a Senator.
The clear choice is Rob Simmons.
Rob Simmons loses on stating
Rob Simmons loses on stating his willingness to support the Republican candidate, Linda McMahon, immediately after he made a convincing argument why she is unfit to be Senator.
Simmons refusal to say he regrets promoting the invasion of Iraq
In 2002 and 2003, Rob Simmons was a strong promoter of the Iraq War and invasion plan of Bush/Cheney. He did more than merely join others in a yes vote based on 'intelligence' from others. He held up documents, and argued that Saddam Hussein's "weapons of mass destruction" were an "imminent threat to Israel and the continental U.S." This reference to Israel helped push the argument for war forward because it gave Congress the ability to argue that a regional ally of the U.S. was in imminent danger.
Simmons said he does not regret what he did, and he is essentially pushing the responsibility off onto others. He mentioned the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which he referred to as the 'best' documentation on Iraq's (supposed) WMD. We should note that it said in part: "We lack specific information on many key aspects of Iraq's WMD programs". Thus, it was not clear that Hussein did have WMD or that his weaponry posed an "imminent" threat. Those who wrote the NIE said they were not sure about that.
No it was the big marketing job done by Rob Simmons and others that convinced members of Congress to take their quick yes votes on the war. The invasion of Iraq resulted in thousands of American deaths and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians perished.
Finally, I would have liked to ask other questions. Former Cong. Rob Simmons(R-CT-2nd Dist) has in the past defended big oil, arguing during radio interviews that it is the state taxes not the oil company pricing that is the problem. "They work for the money" he told an interviewer at WILI Radio.
On Where we Vote he referred once again to Guantanamo and claimed that detainees have better health care than we do, that they are gaining weight and are well treated. Maybe things have improved since the earlier years at this facility, but the history of abuse is clear. International humanitarian organizations have reported that there has been torture at Gitmo, and people have in fact died. Simmons said there had been no deaths.
It is of concern that Rob Simmons is unclear about his role in promoting policies like the Iraq War and the use of Guantanamo for 'trials' of detainees. We have seen an increase in the threat as a growing number of people are angry at America and don't trust U.S. policies.
It is of great significance that Rob Simmons gained his intelligence experience on detention practices while running a PIC, Province Interrogation Center, in Vietnam for the CIA. He mentions his time with the Army in Vietnam, but that may be due to the horrible reputation that the PIC program had. PICs were run within the CIA's Phoenix Program, and during various kinds of hearings we learned that this was a computerized assassination program. Phoenix was a dark period in U.S. Military history in Indochina, it involved psychological warfare operations, and there has been testimony about torture at the PICs. There were also reports of mass arrests and the deaths of many civilian Indochinese who were not what anyone would call 'high value' detainees.
I want to thank NPR for taking my call and I do hope the media in general will do more to provide full military backgrounds on veterans who were in the CIA or in command military positions when they run for higher office. Voters deserve to know about such military backgrounds as they vote for or against those who will have a vote in cases involving future wars.
That seems like the least that can be done on behalf of the thousands of US Military personnel who died in Iraq or were wounded there. It seems like the least that can be done on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of civilian Iraqis who died or were wounded also. There could have been a much longer assessment period back in 2002 and 2003 where the United Nations and IAEA could have researched what Hussein did and did not have for WMD more fully. More time in researching this would have saved lives and trillions in war spending. I hope this history will also be remembered by all those making future Iran policy, and by whoever wins the CT Senate seat.
Post new comment