Jim Talent in 2006 Missouri Senate Debate
On Abortion:
Oppose embryonic stem cell research that involves cloning
I’m opposed to human cloning and the ballot issue would create an unqualified constitutional right, to clone the earliest stages of human life, which I can’t support. I support stem cell research, and the problem was that there was one particular
kind of stem cell that science believed it could only get by cloning a human embryo. There are alternatives that science is developing which will allow us to get all the stem cells that we want without having to clone or destroy an embryo.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On Abortion:
Favor exemptions in abortion law but not stem cell research
Q: Why do you favor exemptions in abortion law for rape-exceptions for race-rape, incest or, or life of mother? A: Whatever it is that makes a person a person attaches at the time the genetic code is complete. This is a personal judgment I’ve made.
All these things involve personal moral judgments. And I’ve said to people in Missouri, “Look, go back, look at it, look at the technology, try and understand the underlying science and then make a decision on your own.”
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On Budget & Economy:
The $300 billion spent on Iraq is 1 percent of the GDP
TALENT: What we’ve spent in Iraq & Afghanistan in total is 1% of the GDP. Look what Iraq is NOT doing. They’re not competing with Iran to sponsor terror in the region. They’re not threatening Kuwait. We don’t have to station troops in Saudi Arabia.
They’re not trying to restart the nuclear weapon program. This is the part of the mission that’s been progressing because we know how to fight and we know how to train people how to fight.McCASKILL: He just said the $300 billion was not a lot of money
Both of them had brave troops that we support. Both of them, our military was doing a wonderful, magnificent job. This administration is not being held accountable for its mistakes. No one is asking the questions, no one is holding them accountable.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On Principles & Values:
Hastert should resign his speakership if found responsible
We need to find out who knew what, we need to have a zero tolerance policy for this, and then let the chips fall where they may. And I presume that’s what the investigation is about. I’m comfortable the investigation moving forward,
finding out what happened, and then the people who were responsible taking the consequences. And if that’s up to and including the speaker, and up to and including resignation.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On War & Peace:
Oppose an artificial timetable for withdrawing from Iraq
McCaskill said to them she’s deeply concerned that we haven’t granted habeas corpus privileges to captured terrorists, which would allow them to sue us because they’re not getting high-speed Internet. She supports an artificial timetable for
withdrawing from Iraq. It’s not a question of politics. It’s not a question of people’s motives. It’s a question of what’s going to win this war. And positions of weakness are not going to do it.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On War & Peace:
Need to season the Iraqi army before leaving Iraq
The part of the mission that remains to be done, that requires large numbers of American troops, is finishing the seasoning of the Iraqi army and appropriately sizing it so they can defend themselves alone, or without large numbers of American troops.
We have to finish the mission, then we’ll be able to come home. What the national intelligence estimate said was that if we complete the mission in Iraq, it’s going to be a huge victory for us, and a huge setback for the terrorists.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On War & Peace:
Our troops must stay in Iraq until the job is done
Setting an artificial timetable for withdrawal means sending a notice to the terrorists that we’re going to quit. The level of sectarian violence can’t be sustained. The Maliki government needs to deal with it. What they’ve got to do is confront the
militia, they’ve got to use a classic counterinsurgency techniques, the sweep-hold-build techniques. They’ve got to make political democracy and economic reconstruction real on the ground to the Iraqis, and they got to hook up the sewers and the
require large numbers of American troops. We have to be there until the mission is done. I mean, as the national intelligence estimate said, if we complete this mission, it’s going to be a huge victory for us. If we don’t, it’s going to be a setback.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
On War & Peace:
Would still have invaded Iraq knowing there were no weapons
Q: Knowing what you know today, that Saddam did not have the weapons of destruction that our intelligence agencies thought he had, would you still vote for the war? A: It was the only possible strategic choice. Saddam had been an organic threat in the
region for a long time. He represented a threat to us. That threat is now gone. He wanted them. He was trying to get rid of economic sanctions. We’d have another Iran there. That threat’s been removed.
Source: 2006 MO Senate Debate on NBC Meet The Press with Tim Russert
Oct 8, 2006
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2019