First, keeps John Kerry in the Senate. Don't need to give Scott Brown another chance.
Outgoing rookie Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, bumped off by Democrat Elizabeth Warren last week, would likely run for Sen. John Kerry's seat if President Obama taps the longtime senator to take over the Pentagon or State Department, according to GOP sources. Republicans are confident that Brown, who won in an earlier special election to replace Sen. Edward Kennedy after he died, would win. They said he lost out to Warren last Tuesday because President Obama won the state by a huge margin and his coattails carried her across the finish line.
Second, reminds nation what idiots Republicans were to
pick Mourdock over him for 2012.
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) won’t be returning to the Senate next year, but he’s not a forgotten man in the race to replace him. With 18 days left until Election Day, Lugar’s cold shoulder is complicating GOP candidate Richard Mourdock’s bid against Rep. Joe Donnelly (D).
Third, he would sail through confirmation.
Not even McConnell would filibuster him.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate's Republican leader, called Lugar a forward thinker and the embodiment of a "Republican intellectual." He praised Lugar's work on foreign policy issues, saying Lugar always pressed to improve the world around him. "I have no doubt he will be remembered as one of the best," McConnell said. McConnell also paid homage to Lugar's genial personality. "He's done it with perfectly smooth elbows," McConnell said. "Walk into any office on Capitol Hill, and you won't find a single person who will say a bad word about Dick Lugar."
Fourth, he would remind the nation Republicans used to
work together with Democrats.
Sen. Richard Lugar urged his colleagues Wednesday to avoid locking themselves into inflexible positions so they can address a host of pressing national and international problems. In his official farewell speech delivered on the Senate floor with his family and staff on hand, Lugar particularly called for better cooperation between the White House and Congress on national security issues, saying that the current dialogue is “one of the least constructive that I have ever witnessed.”
Fifth, he would remind the nation Obama is
not such a bad guy despite the GOP claims.
Now, I will point out, it was Dick who took me on my first foreign trip as a Senator -- to Russia and Ukraine and Azerbaijan. We were there to see the Cooperative Threat Reduction program in action. And the first thing I learned is that when Dick Lugar travels overseas, it's not a junket. We didn't stop and look at a lot of beautiful sights -- (laughter) -- and sort of lounge around on some shopping excursions. He wore out every 25-year-old staffer that was part of this delegation.
What you also learn is that Dick Lugar -- the more remote the place is and the more obscure the facility is, the bigger a rock star Dick Lugar is. (Laughter.) I mean, they love him in these places.
I remember walking through one facility. I started leaning in for a closer look and one of the workers said, don’t touch that orange stuff. It turned out to be TNT. (Laughter.) At another point, the workers were taking apart munitions -- gloves on their hands, masks over their faces -- and I’m thinking, wait a second, why don’t we have masks on? (Laughter.) This is the kind of trip you take with Dick Lugar. (Laughter.)
We're traipsing through nuclear weapons storage sites and junkyards full of old land mines and technicians showing off test tubes where you said, well, what's that? Well, that's anthrax, that's plague. (Laughter.) Shouldn't you keep it in something a little more sturdy than this? (Laughter.) Dick Lugar is standing in the back of the room. (Laughter.) I remember I asked him, I think, have you seen it? He says, yes, yes, I've seen it. I don't get too close now. (Laughter.) That's what it's like traveling with Dick Lugar.
Sixth, did I mention that he is qualified for the job?
I think Barack said it best.
And, Dick, I want to take this opportunity to say something else. At times, we’ve disagreed on matters of policy. But one thing we’ve always shared is a notion of what public service should be. That it ought to be more than just doing what’s popular in the moment. That it ought to be about what’s right for our nation, over the long term. It ought to be about problem-solving and governance, not just how we can score political points on each other or engage in obstructionism. And where compromise is not a vice and where bipartisanship is a actually considered a virtue -- to be rewarded, not punished....
And I had been a strong advocate for CTR before. But visiting those facilities, seeing the work that so many of you do, seeing these old weapons once aimed at us now being turned into scrap truly brought home how important this work was. This is one of our most important national security programs. And it's a perfect example of the kind of partnerships that we need, working together to meet challenges that no nation can address on its own.
And so, Nunn-Lugar is the foundation for the vision that I laid out, once I was elected President, in travel to Prague -- where nations come together to secure nuclear materials, as we’re doing with our Nuclear Security Summits, where we build on New START and continue to work to reduce our arsenals; where we strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and prevent the spread of the world’s most deadly weapons; where, over time, we come closer to our ultimate vision -- a world without nuclear weapons.
That’s why we haven’t just sustained programs like Nunn-Lugar over the past four years. We’ve worked with all of you to strengthen it, expanding it to some 80 nations, far beyond the old Soviet Union -- moving ahead with the destruction of chemical weapons -- partnering with others, countries from Africa to Asia and global health organizations to prevent the spread of deadly diseases and bioterrorism. And I have to give a shout-out to somebody who was on the original team with Ash that conceived of CTR; she’s been working it ever since and now leads our efforts at the White House -- Laura Holgate is here. And so we're very proud of her for the outstanding work that she's done. (Applause.)
And we’ve worked to keep weapons from spreading, whether it was nuclear material in Libya or, now, chemical weapons in Syria. And on Syria, let me just say this. We will continue to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people -— engaging with the opposition, providing with -- providing them with the humanitarian aid, and working for a transition to a Syria that’s free of the Assad regime.
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