Date: 4/22/2009
Venue: House Foreign Affairs Committee
Channel: C-SPAN 3
Transcript:
Howard Berman: The gentleman from Texas, Mr. Paul, is recognized for five minutes.
Ron Paul: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And welcome, Madame Secretary.
I have a general question I want to ask about foreign policy, but leading up to that question I would like to mention first that the election had something to do with bringing about change in tone with our foreign policy. And I think there have been some very positive changes in tone and many of us have argued for more diplomacy rather than more threats, so many of us are pleased with that. It goes back to the old saying of, “Speaking softly and still be willing to carry a big stick”. But sometimes I wonder whether that big stick doesn’t get wielded a little too often.
But I do want to caution all of us that what we say is very important and can be very beneficial, but what we do is also very important. So that may cancel out the benefits of speaking more softly and being willing to talk and negotiate. Some people say that we shouldn’t talk to our enemies, but I remember the cold war rather well, and we did talk to kruchev and Mao Tse Tung when they were great threats to us. So, sometimes I think that when we look at how we stood up to tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, that we should be cautious as far as what we might do in Pakistan and put it into a proper perspective.
But my big concern is whether or not we can reverse the empire mentality that I think we have adopted over these many, many decades, and also the relationship of this to our financial burden. Though we are speaking more softly and would like to get some troops home, the first thing that was done was that our DOD budget was increased by 9% in a time when our national debt in the last 12 months went up 2 trillion dollars.
All great nations have been brought to their knees for economic reasons. We didn’t have to fight the Soviets. The Afghanistan adventure that the Soviets were involved with was very significant and I don’t know how we can ignore that.
So, I would like to ask the question about whether or not you can give me some signs or indications or some encouragement that maybe we shifted policies in the slightest manner. Have we brought any troops home? Are we less involved in Iraq? Will that war ever end? Or we really going in the opposite direction because we’re seeing Pakistan as so necessary, we need more troops, more expansion, more money, more DOD funds.
So, coming from my perspective I can’t see the difference even though, like I said, I am pleased that there is a willingness to talk and try to work things out and I think that is very positive. I always think that people who aren’t willing to talk are insecure. This whole idea that we are so strong, to me, it seems that we lack confidence if we can’t talk to people. And we are strong enough. Nobody is going to attack us militarily.
So, I see it as very important that we change our tone. I think it’s good that you got rid of the term “war on terrorism”. How can you have a war against a tactic? It doesn’t make any sense. But I am not sure “overseas contingency operation” is more specific. So could you address that and maybe give me some answers that maybe we may be seeing actually some shift in our policy.
Hillary Clinton: Well, thank you, Congressman. I think that the president’s actions in these nearly 100 days do match actions with words, although I admit there is a lot more to be done. We are still sorting out everything we’ve inherited and trying to make sense of it. We want to protect America’s national security, but we think there are better and more effective ways of doing that. So we are ending the war in Iraq. There is a definite end date for our troops to be there. The president did close Guantanamo. The president is looking for ways to engage with those who nobody wanted us to talk to, which is a sea shift in how we are proceeding.
Words and actions both matter. I mean, at the end of the day actions count more. But you have to begin by at least articulating a new approach. In our budget we have asked for more money for diplomacy and development. And the budget committee, in both the house and the senate, cut back the president’s request. It’s kind of old thinking, in my view. I mean, the secretary of defense has said that there are fewer foreign Service diplomats posted oversees than there are sailors and marines on one aircraft carrier. There are more musicians in the military bands than there are diplomats across the board. So, we are trying to shift this gigantic ship of state, Mr. Paul. And we are looking for your help to do so.
And at the risk of going over our time, I just want to say having campaigned during the last presidential election, you had the most enthusiastic supporters of anybody I ever saw.
Ron Paul: I love to hear that.
Hillary Clinton: Well, I mean, my goodness! Everywhere I went they were literally running down highways holding your signs. So, I’ve never had a chance to tell you that, but your message obviously resonated with a lot of people.
Ron Paul: Thank you.
Howard Berman: You’re going to encourage him.
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what a lying bitched closed gitmo my ass
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haha
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I work in a hospital that has 6500 employees. I remember which of them are doctors from remembering their faces because I repeatedly met them. I also know engineers that keep the place running, because I also met them. Then I know who has “no title”. I do not rember the MBAs and the business administration because I never come into contact with them. He has been a thirty year member of congress…surely that stands out, especially in the political arena.
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Don’t use the word retarded. He’s a congressmen, their are 435 of them. I don’t think Hillary will remember who has a doctorate or not. In Congress, you refer to the representatives as “Mr” or “Ms.”
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Protocol in the Senate (as Ms. Clinton, a former senator herself, well knows) is to refer to Senators as “Mr.” or “Ms.” even if they have doctorate degrees. And, that’s Secretary Bitch to you, buddy.
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bro, hillary has a monster bush and gives zero bjs. havent you seen south park?
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“Thanks to Clinton, the EITC lifted 4.3 million people out of poverty in 1998 alone.
Hard to say they did nothing.”
That was temporary money from Freddy Mea and Freddy Mac filtering into the system and was a temporary unsustainable effect of borrowed money being retracted trough taxes in a boom cycle in the building industry.
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“Thanks to Clinton, the EITC lifted 4.3 million people out of poverty in 1998 alone.
Hard to say they did nothing.”
That was temporary money from Freddy Mea and Freddy Mac filtering into the system and was a temporary unsustainable effect of borrowed money being retracted trough taxes in a boom cycle in the building industry.
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Are you really that retarded? Reagan happened to be president when the USSR collapsed. He had about as much effect on the USSR’s demise as you have on the seasonal variation of the ocean tides. He didn’t cut taxes, he fiddled with some but the burden (overall) remained the same.
“he pursued policies that significantly reduced inflation, interest-rates and unemployment.” – bullshit, that’s the result of reduced (1980s)oil prices, nothing he did mattered.
»crosslinked«
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Are you really that retarded? Reagan happened to be president when the USSR collapsed. He had about as much effect on the USSR’s demise as you have on the seasonal variation of the ocean tides. He didn’t cut taxes, he fiddled with some but the burden (overall) remained the same.
“he pursued policies that significantly reduced inflation, interest-rates and unemployment.” – bullshit, that’s the result of reduced (1980s)oil prices, nothing he did mattered.
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He’s a public figure for over thirty years – if you even moderatly follow politics /let alone live politics as a profession/ you ought to have picked it up by now if you aren’t completely retarded.
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Almost 4 years later, we’re still thinking about pulling troops, we still have a horrible budget related to foreign spending, and the government switched from “talking to those people nobody wanted to talk to” to “killing those people nobody wanted to talk to.” Pretty words Hillary….pretty fucking words.
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Almost 4 years later, we’re still thinking about pulling troops, we still have a horrible budget related to foreign spending, and the government switched from “talking to those people nobody wanted to talk to” to “killing those people nobody wanted to talk to.” Pretty words Hillary….pretty fucking words.
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Bet she gives sloppy bj’s
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fuck hillary – this bitch is nothing but evil
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fuck hillary – this bitch is nothing but evil
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The president did close Guantanamo? Are you sure?
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Let me correct my self, she adressed him once as “Mr. Paul”. But once again, his plaque states “Mr. Paul” so if she were to adress him it would be by what his plaque says. How is anybody suposed to know he is a doctor if no one adresses him as doctor?
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Don’t call Hillary Clinton a bitch. If you watch the video, not once did she adress him as “Mr. Paul,” she adressed him once as “Congressmen.” Also, his plaque reads “Mr. Paul” so if she were to adress him it would be by what his plaque says, which she did not. How is anybody suposed to know he is a doctor if no one adresses him as doctor?
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what has colour to do with being a president
even obama isnt actually really black he is half jewish half kenyan and i am also black and agree with you
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Second home lool
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Well Hillary……nice lip lock on Doctor Paul’s ass…..lmao
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She said Iraq, we left Iraq
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I have a strong resentment when I here our governments party leaders say “we inherited” you don’t inherit nothing you, we, us contributed by doing nothing, something and or none of the above. During the 1930s-40s no one inherited Hitlers war and destruction. Many people like us just stood and watched silently.
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If this is 2009 why are we still in the middle east?
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Typical alien lizard Hilary.
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she does blatentely lied. gbay is still open and there is still military occupation in iraq…and saying there is communications with “people nobody wanted us to talk with” is hardly a fucking answer. give us name, dates or profiles.
“words and actions both matter, and at the end of the day actions matter more”
well your word means nothing, and the actions mean seven less because your words were lies.
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Give up the Empire and the debt, true great but never happen, why? the debt is laden on the US people by their govt who is controlled by the Military-industrial complex which profits from the Empire
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Back in the day, i met Mr. Paul in the local HERO Bar in Chicago. He turned out to be rather well-equiped, and the male sex we shared that evening and night, was just magical!. He is a REAL free thinker!.
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Robert, the facts, the MATH clearly shows that Reagan tried and failed to cut taxes. On top of that he borrowed 2.2 trillion dollars in 80′s dollar value. He did not reduce inflation, he and the FED changed the CPI to exclude Energy and Food and adding Swapping. He then allowed artificially low interest rates by borrowing trillions, you know, T-bills…you don’t even get how anything works. Clinton did nothing, tax credits via phoney wealth via dot-com BS and artificial interest rates. Read
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i think he wanted to beat romeny first then take out obama one on one. but i agree lol.
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EXACTLY.
BY NOW EVERYBODY CAN SEE THAT HE IS TOTALLY CONTROLLED.
CONTROLLED OPPOSITION.
THE WAY THEY ARE LAUGHING AT THE END SHOWS IT ALL.
ALL PAID THUGS.
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WOW the president closed gitmo? When was this ?
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When was WWI? They have been raping us ever since that war. How much have they done since. If Ron Paul is too afraid to even mention a crime they committed let alone who did it. He Wouldn’t even say 9/11 was an inside job. Many times they’ll say that there are eveil people that do this, but not one politiician will even mention it. If 9/11 they had only caused ona buildng to collapse,and not the enormous damage they had done and then blame the Arabs for it and then go to war
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What has you being black got to do with it? I don’t care a fart in a jacuzzi what race you are. Or Obama. Or Paul.
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