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Vice president aids Kempthorne, Otter campaigns
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Financial contributors to campaigns for Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Rep. “Butch” Otter enjoyed a thin slice of cheesecake and a plate of salad before Vice President Dick Cheney arrived to speak Friday.
The fund-raiser was held at the Boise Centre on The Grove to raise money for the campaigns of Kempthorne, Otter and the Idaho GOP.
Republican supporters received Cheney with a lengthy ovation when he entered the room. Then, after introductions by Kempthorne and by Cheney’s wife, Lynn, the vice president spoke.
He began with White House plans to improve the economy, which included goals like government-sponsored terrorist insurance for developers, increased spending discipline on the part of government and making recent tax cuts permanent. Then he shifted to foreign policy.
“First things first. America’s most important job is combating terrorism,” Cheney said. About America’s hunt for Osama bin Laden, he said, “If he’s alive, we’ll get him, and if he’s dead, we got him!”
The next topic was Iraq.
“Containment is not an option,” Cheney said. Cheney continued to make the case for pre-emptive strikes in Iraq, citing Iraqi human rights violations and long-standing defiance of United Nations Security Council agreements. He also said Iraq had supported al-Qaida terrorists.
Cheney said because of the possible war, the White House will be pushing for the most significant increase in defense spending since the Reagan administration.
The Idaho Statesman announced last Friday that Cheney would be coming. The article appeared one day after Otter officially announced that he was ready to support military action in Iraq.
The congressman had been one of few Republicans standing against military action before the White House asked for the congressional resolution to authorize a pre-emptive strike.
When asked if Cheney’s visit may have influenced the congressman’s change in stance, Mark Warbis, public relations spokesman for Otter, said there was no connection.
“I can tell you without a doubt that there is absolutely no linkage there,” Warbis said.
According to a Sept. 19 press release, Otter wanted “…the president to make the case that not only is military action needed, but also that clear, measurable goals and objectives had been determined and a plan for ending U.S. involvement in Iraq had been identified.”
However, Otter now supports the plan for action.
According to the press release, “the accumulated information he has received now satisfies him that President Bush is fully justified in calling for intervention” and the Iraqi regime “has become a very real danger to the United States and the rest of the world.”
The press release didn’t state whether the White House had provided the “clear, measurable goals and objectives” Otter had been waiting for.
In responding to this suggestion, Mark Warbis said the international problems stemming from the situation with Iraq are commonly misunderstood and the urgency for action outweighs the need for clear objectives in the proposed military action. But he emphasized that those standards are still very important.
Otter sits on the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Veteran’s Affairs and International Relations. He has served on the committee since entering the 107th Congress two years ago.
Casey Wyatt, The Arbiter