Former Senator John Warner To Endorse Clinton

Back in my days as a Republican activist, Republican City Committee member and precinct captain I got to meet former Senator John Warner on numerous occasions and worked with his staff on a number of campaigns.   Warner always put his principles first and put the best interests of America ahead of partisanship - something in rare supply nowadays as too many in the GOP have cast principle and decency aside to support a narcissistic demagogue for the presidency.  A case in point from the past is Warner's refusal to support Oliver North when he ran for the U.S. Senate.  Yes, North was charismatic (I knew him as well and two of my children liked him for the attention he gave them at political events), but he was not fit for office.  Continuing this trend, Warner is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at Warner's decision.  Here are excerpts:

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will score another high-powered Republican endorsement on Wednesday, according to a campaign aide: retired senator John Warner of Virginia, a popular GOP maverick with renowned military credentials.

Warner’s decision not to support his party’s nominee, Donald Trump, is intended to send a signal in the five-term senator’s battleground home state and beyond that mainstream, security-minded Republicans should side with Clinton.

Virginia is an important, military-rich state that both candidates see as essential to winning the White House as the race tightens nationally. Clinton is making a pitch across the country that she is the more seasoned and responsible candidate on military and national security issues.

Perhaps best known by some for marrying actress Elizabeth Taylor, Warner, 89, is also known for bucking his party. A World War II veteran, former U.S. Navy secretary and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Warner famously opposed the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, as well as the 1994 Senate candidacy of Oliver North of Iran-contra notoriety. He endorsed Democrat Mark R. Warner over Republican Jim Gilmore to fill his own seat in the U.S. Senate.

John Warner’s ability to withstand the Republican criticism he endured for those decisions stemmed largely from the gravitas he had built over a lengthy Senate career in which he mastered national security issues and diligently delivered for the state’s military bases and defense contractors.

He has never before endorsed a Democrat for president.

“For 30 years, Virginians trusted John Warner in the Senate, and for good reason: He has dedicated his life to defending our country, from serving in the Navy in World War II to chairing the Senate Armed Services Committee, where I had the honor of working with him to support our men and women in uniform and their families,” Clinton wrote in a statement provided to The Washington Post. “I am proud to have John’s support, and to know that someone with his decades of experience would trust me with the weighty responsibility of being Commander in Chief.”

Warner retired in 2009, leaving office with approval ratings that any politician would covet. A Washington Post poll conducted a little more than a year before his retirement found that 72 percent of likely voters approved of the job he was doing.

In military-heavy Virginia, more voters think Clinton would make a better commander in chief than Trump, 50 percent to 40 percent, with female voters saying so by a 2-to-1 margin. 

Warner will become perhaps the most high-profile former GOP elected official whom Clinton has trotted out in recent weeks to try to make the case that she is the superior candidate on foreign affairs, in particular.

Other names well known in the foreign affairs establishment include John Negroponte, who held high-level positions in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush; Brent Scowcroft, a national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush; and Richard Armitage, a deputy secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration.

Warner’s pick could also bolster the standing of the Democratic ticket in Virginia at a time when Republicans are trying to keep the state competitive. 

With Kaine on the ticket this year, Clinton has maintained a lead that suggests a long-term realignment. As Trump has risen in the polls nationally, the race in Virginia has grown somewhat tighter, but the Democrats still enjoy a nearly 7 percentage point lead, according to the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls.

Other former elected Republican officeholders who have endorsed Clinton include: Michael Bloomberg, a mayor of New York; Arne Carlson, a governor of Minnesota; David Durenberger, a senator from Minnesota; Constance A. Morella, a congresswoman from Maryland; Larry Pressler, a senator and congressman from South Dakota; Christopher Shays, a congressman from Connecticut; and John J.H. Schwarz, a congressman from Michigan.

Former GOP Senator John Warner Endorses Mark Warner

One Virginia Republican who represents what the GOP once was is former U.S. Senator John Warner who I was lucky enough to know back in my days as a GOP activist.  Of equal importance, John Warner never hesitated to reject a GOP candidate that he deemed too extreme and harmful to Virginia.  Not surprisingly John Warner was often condemned by the extremists at The Family Foundation and among other Bible thumper circles.  Now, the likely GOP candidate seeking to challenge incumbent Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and no relation to John Warner, is Ed Gillespie, a former Enron lobbyist, RNC Chair, and George W. Bush minion.  Added to these unattractive resume entries is the manner in which Gillespie has been courting the nastiest elements of the Christofascists in Virginia.  The upshot?  Former GOP Senator John Warner has endorsed Democrat Mark Warner for reelection this November.  The Virginian Pilot has deatils on this welcomed endorsement.  Here are some highlights:

Former Republican Sen. John W. Warner, never bashful about defying the Virginia GOP establishment, endorsed his Democratic successor's re-election bid Monday.

Warner told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he is supporting Sen. Mark R. Warner, who is being challenged by former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie in November's election. The Warners are not related.

"There are times you must, I think, recognize that certain individuals are superior in their talents and in what they have done and can potentially do for your state," John Warner said.

The endorsement comes 20 years after John Warner riled the ascendant conservative wing of the state GOP by backing independent candidate J. Marshall Coleman instead of Iran-Contra figure Oliver L. North in the campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. Chuck Robb. The year before, he had declined to endorse Republican home-schooling advocate Mike Farris for lieutenant governor.

This is the first time John Warner has publicly backed a Virginia Democrat, although he has also recently donated to the campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn in Georgia.

He praised his successor for following in his own tradition of seeking bipartisan solutions.
"Mark Warner, if I may say with a sense of humility, like John Warner crosses the aisle and makes things work," he said. "We come from the old school. The Senate works best when there's collaborative effort between the two parties."

John Warner said it's important to keep the incumbent because he's had six years to learn how the Senate works and start to build seniority. The former Navy secretary and Senate Armed Services Committee chairman also said Mark Warner "is absolutely solid in his commitment to national security."

Eighteen years after handing out "Mark Not John" bumper stickers to all who would take them, the senator said he is grateful for the support of a former opponent who later became a close friend.  "John Warner is the gold standard in Virginia," he said. "I learned a lot of things from John Warner, but the most important is Virginia always comes first."

University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said the endorsement should give Mark Warner a boost among middle-of-the-road voters who have been abandoned the GOP. In last November's elections, Virginians rejected an extremely conservative Republican slate and gave Democrats their first sweep of the top three state offices in 24 years.

"The premier effect will be a television ad that will underline Mark Warner's broad appeal, at least to moderate Republicans. How many of those are left, I can't tell you," Sabato said. "The Republicans have lost not only moderates, but also a lot of moderate conservatives."

John Warner is indeed the gold standard - especially compared to most of today's Congressional Republicans.   Like John Warner, I could not in good conscience support Oliver North.  If there were more Republicans today like John Warner, perhaps fewer people like myself would have fled the GOP in disgust.

A Look Back at Senator John Warner

John Warner - who I got to meet a number of times during my incarnation as a Republican - is leaving the U.S. Senate next month after serving 30 years (he will be replaced by Democrat Mark Warner who is not related to him). Warner is perhaps one of the last Republicans that symbolizes what the GOP used to be about before the lunatic "Christian" Right obtained a strangle hold on the Party. Warner was never loved by the Christianist set, but enjoyed high approval ratings by moderates and independents - the keys to winning elections. Moreover, Warner never bought into the anti-gay wedge issues that have become the hallmark of today's GOP and voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, albeit on technical issues, to the horror of the Christianists. Warner has also been pro-choice, supported embryonic stem cell research, and on June 15, 2004, was among the minority of his party to vote to expand hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation as a protected category. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot on Warner's career:

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Work and luck and sometimes a dash of bluster have sustained Warner through a political career that spans four decades, the terms of seven presidents, six other Virginia senators and 11 governors. A second-choice nominee after the Republican Party’s original candidate died in a plane crash, Warner won his seat in 1978 by the narrowest margin in Virginia history. But when he retires next month at 81, he will have cast more Senate votes – 10,728 – and received more votes – 5.36 million in five elections – than any other Virginian.

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In 2006, as the Senate headed toward a partisan showdown over judicial appointments, Warner joined a moderate “gang of 14” senators who brokered a deal to secure confirmation of several controversial GOP nominees but preserved the Democrats’ right to use Senate rules to block others.

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Independence has been central to Warner’s own Senate career, sometimes imperiling him. He was personally and politically close to Ronald Reagan, but infuriated Reaganites by refusing in 1987 to back Reagan nominee Robert Bork for the Supreme Court. In 1994, he effectively threw Virginia’s other Senate seat to the Democrats, refusing to back Republican nominee and Iran-Contra figure Oliver North. Incumbent Chuck Robb won the race.

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More recently, Warner showed his independence by backing a package of state tax hikes championed in 2004 by then-Gov. Mark Warner, the man who will succeed him next month. “I remember the day he came to Richmond” to deliver his endorsement, Mark Warner said. “He just said, 'Mark, I think I’m going to come down and say a few things.’ … That was the day he got up, as only John Warner could do, and said: 'Politics be damned. ’ It’s time to put Virginia first.”

Sen. John Warner blasts Va. GOP

This story from the Richmond Times Dispatch (http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-11-08-0206.html) is very interesting and I believe sums up the problem with the "Christian Taliban" controled Republican Party of Virginia. Fortunately, I do NOT expect RVP to get the message and, hopefully, the Party will suffer more loses in future elections until the Party returns to its former values. Here are a few highlights:

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va. sharply criticized the Virginia GOP yesterday as rigid and intolerant of moderation. "The rigidity of this outfit is going to keep taking it down until they hit bottom. And I don't know when that will be," Warner said of Tuesday's election results. "And I find it quite distressing." The election resulted in important gains for Democrats. The fifth-term senator said he was saddened but not surprised. The late political adviser Lee Atwater, a friend of Warner, espoused a "big-tent" philosophy of inclusiveness for the GOP, Warner said. But the Republican Party of Virginia has "just strayed away from that concept and become intolerant of those members that express even a modest amount of moderation."

Warner, 80, a moderate-to-conservative Republican, is not running for re-election next year. He did not appear on the campaign trail for state legislative candidates. He made some endorsements and contributions, a Warner aide said. Warner deferred comment yesterday when asked his opinion of the presumed candidacy of Gilmore to succeed him. Gilmore has asked to call on him, Warner said, and "I've decided to wait until he comes up to visit."

Personally, I cannot think of two politicians more incompatible in their approaches than Gilmore and Warner. If Gilmore is the candidate against Mark Warner in 2008, I predict a Gilmore massacre. Even if that happens, I doubt the Christian Talibanistas will figure it out.

Mark Warner running for John Warner's Senate seat

Mark Warner should be pretty hard for the GOP to beat. He left office as one of Virginia's most popular governors. If former Governor Jim Gilmore if silly enough to run against Mark Warner, I suspect it will be a massacre. Gilmore left office rather unpopular and his would be GOP successor, Mark Earley (a former law partner of mine) went down to defeat, in my view largely because he failed to disavow some of Gilmore's unpopular policies. Here is some of the Virginian Pilot coverage (http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=132386&ran=4033):

Former Gov. Mark R. Warner declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate this morning, giving Democrats a solid chance next year to regain a seat long held by Republicans. In an e-mail to supporters and video on his campaign's new website, Warner said he will run in the 2008 election for the seat Republican Sen. John W. Warner will vacate next year after five terms. The two Warners are not related. No other Democrats have formally announced they would compete with him for the party's nomination.

The announcement starts what could be a high-profile race in Virginia. Two prominent Republicans are considering bids for the Senate next year: former Gov. Jim Gilmore, who preceded Warner in office; and U.S. Rep. Tom Davis of Fairfax County. Warner left the governorship with positive job performance ratings from 75 percent of Virginia voters, according to public opinion polls.

"What I hear over and over again is that people want elected officials to spend more time getting our coutnry fixed and less time on partisan bickering. Actually they're sick to death of the bickering. because our country is at a crossroads," Warner said in the video. "We're dealing with a mismanaged war. Our stature in the world is declining. We have no national competitiveness plan and no thoughtful approach on energy policy that would actually create jobs, make us more secure in the world and that deals with the threat of climate change." "I've decided the way I can contribute most to getting our country back on the right track is to serve in the United States Senate," he said.

Warner: Begin troop withdrawal by Christmas

Virginia's senior Senator, John Warner continues to defy the Chimperator's efforts to silence anyone who does not sign on to the myth that things are going fine in Iraq. Not only does Warner have integrity, but based on his own years in the military, his service as Secretary of the Navy, and other past positions, he sees members of the military as more that mere cyphers to be played with. Many politicians give lip service to caring about our troops, but Warner truly means it. I have heard him speak many times and talked with him one-on-one. I am convinced it's not lip service with him. Here are a few highlights from MSNBC's story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20410739/):

NEW YORK - Sen. John Warner said Thursday President Bush should start bringing home some troops by Christmas to show the Baghdad government that the U.S. commitment in Iraq is not open-ended. The move puts the prominent Republican at odds with the president, who says conditions on the ground should dictate deployments. Warner, R-Va., said the troop withdrawals are needed because Iraqi leaders have failed to make substantial political progress, despite an influx of U.S. troops initiated by Bush earlier this year.

“We simply cannot as a nation stand and continue to put our troops at continuous risk of loss of life and limb without beginning to take some decisive action,” he told reporters after a White House meeting with Bush’s top aides. Warner’s new position is a sharp challenge to a wartime president that will undoubtedly color the upcoming Iraq debate on Capitol Hill. Next month, Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are expected to brief members on the war’s progress.

Who’s the more astute student of Vietnam War history — President Bush or Sen. John Warner, R-Va.? Warner, the octogenarian GOP Senate powerbroker who served as Navy secretary under President Nixon during the Vietnam War, called Thursday for Bush to begin withdrawing some U.S. troops from Iraq — he used the figure of 5,000 — so that they could be home by Christmas.

U. S. Senators Warner and Levin Offer Bleak Assessment of Iraq Government

Once again, Virginia Senator John Warner is not singing the line wanted by Chimperator Bush. In fact, he pretty much calls it like it is and says that there is no military solution to be had. Here are some highlights form a new story in the Virginian Pilot this afternoon:

Prospects for the political compromises needed to stabilize Iraq remain bleak and it may be time for Iraqis and their Parliament to replace the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Virginia Sen. John Warner said today. Headed home after a two-day visit to Iraq last week, Warner, a Republican, and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat, agreed in a written statement that the U.S. military's "surge" of additional troops has calmed some parts of Iraq and given political leaders there "breathing space" for reforms.

But there is little evidence that the Maliki government is taking advantage of the opportunity, Levin and Warner said. "We are not optimistic," they added. Among American military commanders and troops, the pair found "a deepening consensus that there is no military solution," to Iraq's problems, Levin said.

Warner continues to be one of the few principled members of the GOP who seems to care more about what's good for the country rather than what's good for the Party. It is too bad there are not more members of Congress like him.

John Warner Get's It, While the Chimperator Does Not

There is an interesting story in the Washington Post today about John Warner (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/18/AR2007071802385.html?hpid=sec-politics). I'll admit I follow him closely since we have met and talked before. But more importantly, he is one of the few rational members of the GOP who seems more worried about doing what is right as opposed to kissing Bush's ass or protecting the GOP. I think they call it statesmanship. Something greatly lacking today in Washington:

Right now, he will say only that he remains focused on passing the proposal he introduced last week with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) to revisit what he calls the "obsolete" war authorization and require the administration to begin drawing up nonbinding troop redeployment plans. Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday postponed votes on the defense authorization bill and any war-related amendments, including Warner's, because Republicans demanded a 60-vote margin for passage. But Warner was undaunted.

"We can't have any more loss of life. We need to restore the loss of credibility in some measure of the country and remain a respected source of authority in that region," said Warner, 80. "We want to bring a measure of stability to Iraq, but at the same time, this needs to be brought to a conclusion."

As a longtime senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Warner is a highly respected voice on the conflict. The World War II veteran and former Navy secretary startled Republicans last year when he returned from a trip to Iraq and said that the country seemed to be "drifting sideways." And as the Armed Services Committee's chairman during the Abu Ghraib scandal, he raised eyebrows when he insisted in 2004 that Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time, testify under oath.

I hope he continues to push for a reconsideration of the war authorization resolution.

Virginia's Senator John Warner Remains a Class Act

While I do not always agree with his decisions, Senator John Warner (R-Va), whom I have met and talked with a number of times and heard speak numerous times, but he remains one of the few old-school members of the GOP that is left. He has never been a hate monger, is not anti-gay, and has on occasion openly defied the GOP to uphold his ideals. In fact, his push for a third party run by Marshall Coleman largely stopped the charismatic, but wing nutted Oliver North (who I likewise refused to back) from winning Virginia's other U. S. Senate seat some years back. Yesterday, Warner again put his conscience ahead of party loyalty:

Two senior Republican senators, including Virginia’s John Warner, filed legislation Friday demanding that President Bush develop detailed plans to begin removing or repositioning American troops in Iraq.

The 18-page proposal by Warner and Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar says Bush must prepare plans for alternative strategies by mid-October and should be prepared to begin implementing them by year’s end. It stops short of ordering a U.S. withdrawal, mandated in legislation pushed through the House on Thursday but virtually certain to die in the Senate.

Instead, it declares that Bush’s goal of a unified, peaceful, democratic Iraq “is not likely to be achieved in the near future” and that “American military and diplomatic strategy … must adjust to the reality.”

Drafted as an amendment to a massive defense-policy bill now on the Senate floor, the Warner-Lugar proposal underscored growing unease among congressional Republicans with Bush’s war leadership. It was offered just one day after a defiant Bush ripped legislative efforts to end the war.

What is defining in my mind is Warner's statement as to why he joined Lugar in taking this action:

My views are matters of conscience,” he said in a written statement, “and reflect what I believe to be in the best interests of the country and our men and women in uniform and their families. … It is my sincere hope that this amendment provides a basis for bipartisan consensus.”

Would that the GOP still was dominated by individuals like John Warner. I might even still be a member of the GOP. The full Virginian Pilot story is here: http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=128446&ran=63881&tref=po