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Graham
says he has no interest in VP job
August
12, 2005
By RICHARD
WHITING
Index-Journal
executive news editor
South Carolina’s
senior senator claims to have no interest in being anyone’s
vice presidential running mate, facetiously saying he’s got
his eyes on another 50 years in the Senate.
In a summer
break from Capitol Hill, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham
is making stops across South Carolina, visiting with city and
county councils and managers, business leaders and others to
ask what they want, what they need and how he can help.
A
stop in Greenwood on Thursday included a meeting with editors
at The Index-Journal. “I’m making a loop around the state to
try to stay in touch — to listen and learn,” Graham said.
Graham said he would not join a presidential ticket, even if
asked.
There has been speculation that Graham would be
tapped as Arizona Sen. John McCain’s vice-presidential running
mate in the Republicans’ 2008 bid for the White
House.
Graham headed McCain’s South Carolina presidential
campaign in 2000 and some political pundits have suggested a
McCain-Graham ticket would be more attractive to those —
Republicans and Democrats alike — who think the administration
is too conservative.
At age 50, Graham indicated he has
another 50 years to serve in the Senate if he is to follow in
the footsteps of Sen. Strom Thurmond.
Graham also said he
supports the U.S. efforts in Iraq. While admitting he and
others underestimated the war in Iraq, he agrees with
President Bush that America must “stay the course” to bring
about and promote democracy throughout that region of the
world.
Graham said he and the Bush administration thought
the war in Iraq would not be as difficult as it has been. The
strength and resolve of the insurgents and other factors
contributing to the longevity of battle were underestimated,
he said, but the long-term plan is the right one to
follow.
Unseating a dictatorship, writing a constitution,
creating a military that is loyal to the people it protects
and not to an individual are just some of the beginning steps
the U.S. must help Iraq take if it is to become a viable
democracy.
Graham acknowledged that a U.S. presence in Iraq
will continue for a long time, and he said it would be wrong,
at this point in time, to consider a military withdrawal. If
the U.S. pulled out of Iraq now, Graham said, it would send a
message to all Middle Eastern countries that attempts at
democracy can be made to fail because the West can be forced
to withdraw its military support through persistent
attacks.
Immigration has been a substantial topic of
discussion on Capitol Hill, Graham said. He favors a wall
along the nation’s southern borders, at any cost, to stem the
continuing flow of illegal immigrants.
While Graham does
not support amnesty for all immigrants currently in the U.S.,
he does believe efforts must be made to assimilate legal
immigrants, deport illegals and ensure immigrants are not
taking jobs away from current U.S. residents who are capable
and willing to work.
China is a communist dictatorship that
is engaged in unfair trade practices, and until the trade
playing field is leveled the demise of American manufacturing
will extend well beyond textiles and steel, the senator
said.
Graham warns that just as textiles and other
manufacturing have moved overseas, he expects to see the U.S.
automotive industry take similar hits.
By subsidizing its
country’s businesses and placing false values on its money,
the Chinese government is able to flood the market with
inexpensive goods, which in turn choke U.S. manufacturers who
cannot compete, Graham said. It is not just cheap labor that
the U.S. is competing against, but also unfair government
controls the Chinese exercise in their own market. He added
that the Chinese are “intelligence thieves” who learn what we
make and how we make it, then produce the same thing on a much
cheaper scale.
Graham said he did not support the recently
enacted CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement) because
he did not believe it provided true safeguards for U.S.
textiles. In fact, he said he believes the Chinese will easily
find a back door through which to continue shipping its
textile goods into the U.S. and doesn’t believe the Central
American countries will present a strong buying market for
U.S. textiles.
The Chinese, he contends, will be able to
establish a business foothold in Central American countries
and continue to beat American manufacturers by flooding the
U.S. and other markets with Chinese goods that bear labels
indicating they’re made in Central America.
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