2014 KY Senate debate: on Foreign Policy


Mitch McConnell: 1985: Led anti-apartheid bill through Senate

Mitch McConnell's foreign policy transformation is one of the bigger untold political stories of this election year. McConnell's signature anti-apartheid bill is an example of these seeming contradictions. As a Southern freshman, he spoke out strongly in July 1985: "Many people might overlook or discount the significant internal political turbulence which has scarred the last decade of South African history," McConnell said. "But apartheid & the severity of life under its discriminatory weight is not a problem we can continue to wish 8,199 miles away. We are a nation and international community bound together by principles of freedom, equality and justice," he added. "I share a commitment to those values and I am troubled by the inevitable damaging consequences of their betrayal."

But the same passion is entirely missing in a 2009 McConnell biography: McConnell's South Africa stance is described as one calculated to "demonstrate his political independence" from the lame-duck Ronald Reagan.

Source: Politico.com e-zine on 2014 Kentucky Senate race Mar 26, 2014

Matt Bevin: No unilateral action in Eastern Europe

I asked about how Bevin would respond to Russia's intervention in Crimea, were he in the Senate. "When you come from a position of waffling and equivocation and weakness, you don't curry respect from the world's leaders."

But would he want missile defense restored in Eastern Europe? "So much of that is contingent what the people in these places where the bases would be built have to say about it. We can't tell people unilaterally that they have to put missile bases on the

Source: Slate.com CPAC coverage of 2014 Kentucky Senate race Mar 7, 2014

  • The above quotations are from 2014 Kentucky Senate debates.
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Candidates and political leaders on Foreign Policy:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 06, 2018