A twofer on Radnofsky

Now see, this is what happens when you talk about serious issues instead of silly romance novels: You get relegated to page B3, where that sort of thing belongs.

The U.S. military presence in Iraq serves only to destabilize the country and plunge it further into civil war, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky said Tuesday, renewing her call for a timetable for withdrawal.

Only when the United States leaves Iraq will conditions permit the creation of an international coalition that can press for peace in a country ravaged by war and sectarian violence, Radnofsky told the Houston Chronicle editorial board.

"Our presence is destabilizing that country and creating a national disaster for Iraq, but worse, creating an international disaster," the Houston attorney said.

She cited conclusions in the recent National Intelligence Estimate declassified by President Bush that the U.S. occupation has given the global jihadist movement a boost.

Radnofsky, who is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Nov. 7 election, drew a sharp distinction between their stances on war policy.

On the assertion by Hutchison and the Bush administration that keeping solders in Iraq prevents terrorists from attacking the United States, Radnofsky said, "It's reprehensible to have a concept that we ought to keep our U.S. soldiers as the targets to avoid fighting terror everywhere it exists."

Well, at least Kay Bailey's never written a bodice-ripper. That we know of, anyway.

I'm not going to waste any more time talking about Fred Head and Susan Combs. Go read about Radnofsky, who impressed Cragg Hines enough to get this written about her.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky is an ideal candidate - intelligent, articulate, energetic and clearly not afraid of long odds. In many races against an incumbent this year Radnofsky would be a formidable opponent.

But Radnofsky, a Houston attorney, is not in a race against just any incumbent. She is challenging a politician whose very mortality sometimes seems in question. Radnofsky is the Democrat running against one of the biggest vote-getters in Texas history, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a two-plus-term Republican.

[...]

"She just can't get any traction," said an Austin Republican operative who believes Radnofsky, given her bare-bones funding, has run about as good a campaign as possible.

[...]

You can see the only scheduled Hutchison-Radnofsky face-off in a debate Thursday from San Antonio that will be broadcast on Houston's KUHT, Ch. 8, and C-SPAN at 9 p.m.

In the debate, Radnofsky may question what might be considered Hutchison's overstaying her political visa. Hutchison promised in her first campaign and early in her Senate career to serve only two terms.

Term limits stink, but candidates who have rashly volunteered that they will leave the stage must defend casting the pledge, however silly, aside.

Hutchison says she still believes in term limits, but: "Texas would be disadvantaged if its most experienced legislators stepped down while other states were not subjected to the same requirements."

Funny how the erstwhile term-limits proponents never thought that issue was worth worrying about when it was Democrats who had experience and seniority. For thee but not for me and all that.

Though I doubt she'll get the financial windfall that Chris Bell has gotten in the event she mops the floor with KBH in tomorrow night's debate, I still hope Radnofsky does well enough to be widely declared the winner. She ought to at least be prepared in case someone asks her who the President of Mexico is.

(Side note: I presume someone has pointed this out to Hines, but Bush lost Wisconsin by 10,000 votes in 2004, not win. Oops.)

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 18, 2006 to Election 2006 | TrackBack