Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr.

Saturday night was the scene of Fallbrook's umpteenth Christmas Parade. It was pretty cold but the streets were packed. Fallbrook is a small town and likes to support its parades. People were out at six in the morning securing spots for their chairs. My friend, the wonderful Jerri Patchett, was the Grand Marshall this year.

I only went outside a couple of times, too many people and I wasn't really in the mood. Now by chance Congressman Duncan Hunter Jr. was prancing by during one of my excursions, soaking up the adulation. Somebody (they say he looked a lot like me) yelled at him to get a real job. A bunch of heads turned in my direction, including Hunter's. It was at that moment that my wife told me he stepped right into the wayward pile of horse manure. Zingo. My work is done here.

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Hunter, a Republican and hawkish former marine, inherited the seat from his father, and serves the predominately republican district that contains El Cajon. He is a favorite of defense contractors as was his father.

Duncan is so far to the right that he considers Ronald Reagan a moderate who would never get elected today. This from Think Progress:

HUNTER: This is it folks. This is it. There is nothing after 2012. [...] I don’t care if it’s a more moderate/former liberal like Ronald Reagan, who would never be elected today in my opinion. If it’s someone like him or a hardcore conservative, you gotta elect the most winnable person this time. I know it sounds bad, but Congress makes the law. You’ve got a conservative Congress. You’re one third there. [...] You gotta vote and get behind an electable person for president. I know after what I said, me saying that doesn’t go hand in hand. Obama’s going to raise a billion dollars. He’s going to hold on to this thing, the communists in this country, the community organizers in this country, are going to hang on for dear life. This is it for them. If they can change the balance of the scale of this country, they will affect it until our downfall.

Hunter thinks that even bicycle paths are a communist plot. Or at least unconstitutional. Biking is after all, a recreational thing...

    STREETSBLOG: I was just in an [Environment and Public Works] Committee hearing and there was some talk about the fact that some small amount of money in the [transportation] reauthorization historically gets used for things like bike trails. Some people think that’s waste; some people think biking is a mode of transportation. What do you think?


    HUNTER: I don’t think biking should fall under the federal purview of what the Transportation Committee is there for. If a state wants to do it, or local municipality, they can do whatever they want to. But no, because then you have us mandating bike paths, which you don’t want either.


    STREETSBLOG: But you’re OK with mandating highways?


    HUNTER: Absolutely, yeah. Because that’s in the constitution. I don’t see riding a bike the same as driving a car or flying an airplane.


    STREETSBLOG: How is it different?


    HUNTER: I think it’s more of a recreational thing. That’s my opinion. 

Of course that is news to the more than half a million Americans who commute to work every day on their bikes. Pinkos that they are.

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Hunter was fiercely against Don't ask, don't tell because he was worried about all the hermaphrodites and the transgendered infiltrating his beloved armed service.

From NPR with Melissa Block:


BLOCK: You are not in favor of a repeal of dont ask, dont tell. Why not?


Rep. HUNTER: ...And I think the folks who have been in the military that have been in these very close situations with each other, there has to be a special bond there. And I think that bond is broken if you open up the military to transgenders, to hermaphrodites, to gays and lesbians."


BLOCK: Transgenders and hermaphrodites.


Rep. HUNTER: Yeah, thats going to be part of this whole thing. Its not just gays and lesbians. Its a whole gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual community. If you're going to let anybody no matter what preference - what sexual preference they have that means the military is going to probably let everybody in. Its going to be like civilian life and the I think that that would be detrimental for the military. 

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Representative Hunter has an interesting view of man's relationship with his environment. He would like to override the Endangered Species Act. From a June 2009 KPBS interview with Doug Myrland:


...We have the environmental endangered species problem where the people are putting the – putting these smelt fish ahead of humans having water in Southern California, and this affects everybody from the Central Valley, farmers that have 50% unemployment because they don't have water because of that smelt fish, all the way down to San Diego. So that affects everything. So if there's some way that we could override the Endangered Species Act for things like the smelt fish and allow water to flow again down to Southern California that would be huge. 

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He supports the 2010 Arizona Immigration Law and has advocated for the deportation of children of illegals, even if they are United States citizens.

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Hunter refused to answer questions on his stances on the 2010 Political Courage Survey. Here are some more of his positions on various issues I did uncover (from ontheissues.org):

• Life begins at conception. (Nov 2008)
• Voted YES on banning federal health coverage that includes abortion. (May 2011)
• Prohibit federal funding for abortion. (May 2011)
• Report on Medicaid payments to abortion providers. (Apr 2009)
• Sponsored bill declaring preborn as Constitutional persons. (Feb 2009)
•     Voted YES on terminating the Home Affordable mortgage Program. (Mar 2011)
•     Voted YES on $192B additional anti-recession stimulus spending. (Jul 2009)
•     Voted NO on modifying bankruptcy rules to avoid mortgage foreclosures. (Mar 2009)
•     Voted NO on additional $825 billion for economic recovery package. (Jan 2009)
•     Voted NO on monitoring TARP funds to ensure more mortgage relief. (Jan 2009)
•     Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution. (Jan 2011)
•     Reclaim all bonuses paid to AIG executives & employees. (Mar 2009) 
• Marriage is a sacred institution; not for same-sex. (Nov 2008)
•  Voted NO on letting shareholders vote on executive compensation. (Jul 2009)
• Voted NO on enforcing against anti-gay hate crimes. (Apr 2009)
•     Voted YES on opening Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling. (May 2011)
•     Voted YES on barring EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. (Apr 2011)
•     Voted NO on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution. (Jun 2009)
•     Drill the Outer Continental Shelf; & license new nuke plants. (Mar 2011) 
• Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros. (Jul 2009) 
• Voted NO on four weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees. (Jun 2009) 
•     Voted NO on supporting democratic institutions in Pakistan. (Jun 2009)
•     Withhold UN funding until voluntary and program-specific. (Aug 2011) 
•     The 2nd Amendment is clear: no laws to restrict firearms. (Nov 2008)
•     Allow reloading spent military small arms ammunition. (Apr 2009) 
•     Strengthen our military; obtain new weapons. (Nov 2008)
•     Voted YES on extending the PATRIOT Act's roving wiretaps. (Feb 2011) 
• Voted YES on terminating funding for National Public Radio. (Mar 2011) 
• Prohibit the return of the Fairness Doctrine. (Jan 2009)
• No performance royalties for radio music. (Mar 2009) 
• Voted YES on banning armed forces in Libya without Congressional approval. (Jun 2011)
• Voted NO on removing US armed forces from Afghanistan. (Mar 2011) 
• • I think you get the idea.