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A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Friday said the foundation of Republican John McCain’s presidential candidacy, a well-chronicled biography and admiral-branched military family tree, is, in actuality, a danger for the nation, and not the seemingly unassailable asset it has widely been viewed to be.“I think one of the problems that John McCain has is that his grandfather was an admiral, his father was an admiral,” Harkin said on a conference call with Iowa Independent and other media. “He comes from a long line of just military people. I think his whole world view, his life view, has been shaped from a military viewpoint and he has a hard time of thinking beyond that. And I think he’s trapped in that, so everything is looked at sort of from his life experiences as always having been in the military and I think that can be pretty dangerous.”
McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has made recent arguments about that conflict, suggesting the United States could have won.
“That’s sort of a bizarre thing to say at this point in time,” Harkin said.
And yesterday, McCain said U.S. troops likely would be in Iraq until 2013, after the Arizona senator faced much criticism for his shot-from-the-hip earlier assessment that the United States may be in Iraq for 100 years.
Harkin, a Vietnam-era Navy veteran, said there is a difference in what he characterized as healthy perspective about military and civilian balance from those who are drafted or volunteered for brief periods — versus the positioning of some career military men with deep warrior lineages like McCain.
“It’s one thing to have been drafted and served or volunteer and serve for a few years or something and get out and get on with your life, and another thing, you know, when you come from generations of military people and that’s just sort of how you’re steeped, that’s how you learn, that’s how you grew up,” Harkin said. “It’s hard to shake those things.”
Harkin clearly suggested that a president with McCain’s military experience may not be able to achieve the civilian/soldier balance in the office as presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Washington did.
Iowa Independent asked Harkin to elaborate on his view on the military influence in McCain’s life:
Iowa Independent: Do you see historical parallels with Gen. Douglas McArthur or do you think McCain will feel he has disappointed his father and grandfather if he presides over a nation at peace?
Harkin: I think I went too far as it is. Suffice to say, I have been concerned for some time about John McCain’s views on the use of our military and how he envisions our place in the world and how the leadership in the world is first based on military and then based on something else. And I don’t think that’s the correct way to go. Yes, we have to have military power. Yes, we have to be the strongest military force in the world. But the way you project it and the way you approach other countries is not just with the hammer, the military first.
McCain’s Web site makes his military service a key element of the candidate’s narrative:
As the son and grandson of distinguished Navy admirals, John McCain deeply values duty, honor and service of country. John attended college at the United States Naval Academy and launched a 22-year career as a naval aviator upon his graduation. He continued the McCain tradition of service to country passed down to him from his father and grandfather when he asked to serve in the Vietnam War.
Harkin initially entered this discussion when a reporter asked a broad question about how experience in the military informs U.S. Senate service.
In response, Harkin recalled conversations with former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., a decorated Vietnam veteran. According to Harkin, Kerrey said that senators who never served in the military “are always sucking up to these generals and stuff and they just can’t praise them enough and slobber all over.”
Harkin said Kerrey once told him: “You and I know they’re just humans like the rest of us.”
“It seems that those who haven’t been in the military are more apt to be more pro-military and give the military what it wants, write `em a blank check,” Harkin said. “I don’t know if there’s some psychological thing with that.”
Harkin also addressed McCain’s specific comments Thursday about the length of the war in Iraq.
“Later in the campaign, will he reduce that down to 2010?” Harkin asked. “It looks like he’s getting closer and closer to the position of those of us who say we ought to start the withdrawal as soon as possible.”
The military is being stretched thin as a result of the war, Harkin said.
“We are reaching the point where we just about have a hollow military,” Harkin said. “We are using them up, and our National Guard forces.”
More high school dropouts and felons are in the military now because of lowered recruitment standards, Harkin said.
“That’s not a kind of Army we want,” Harkin said. “As long as we’re stuck in Iraq, we’re not going to be able to make these other changes.”
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