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CDI Library > The Defense Monitor > 2000 >
Election 2000
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party: Once, we knew how to deal with tyrants, even tyrants armed with nuclear weapons. Deterrence and containment worked against the evil empires of Stalin and Mao. They can work against the lesser tyrannies of a new century. ["A Moral Foreign Policy," 1998.] George W. Bush, Republican Party: “As president, I will ask the Secretary of Defense to conduct an assessment of our nuclear force posture and determine how best to meet our security needs. While the exact number of weapons can come only from such an assessment, I will pursue the lowest possible number consistent with national security....In addition, the United States should remove as many weapons as possible from high-alert, hair-trigger status.” [“Presidential Election Forum: The Candidates on Arms Control,” Arms Control Today, September 2000] Al Gore, Democratic Party: “America must maintain its nuclear strength, with adequate offensive forces to ensure deterrence.” [“Gore, Bush give detailed answers on defense, national security to 6 leading associations,” October 2000, Association of the United States Army website]. “In the last decade, the United States and the countries of the former Soviet Union together have taken about eight to nine thousand strategic nuclear weapons out of commission. We need to continue on a course of deeper reductions.” [U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY, May 27, 2000] Ralph Nader, Green Party: Nuclear weapons have no moral or practical use for any purpose except as a deterrent to nuclear threats. The U.S. government's refusal to adopt a no-first-use policy is a striking example of political immorality. If elected President, I would immediately adopt a policy that the US will never be the first to use a nuclear weapon in any conflict, and would urge other nuclear powers to do the same. [Ralph Nader's Response to Interfaith Questionnaire on Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 7, 2000]
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party: Under Clinton-Gore, our global commitments have expanded, but our defenses have declined. Planes are cannibalized for spare parts, recruitment has hit historic lows, and munitions stocks run short. Funding has been slashed to pre-Pearl Harbor levels, and for the first time in fifty years, our Pacific fleet has been stripped of carrier-based air support....America must retrench and rearm. We must reclaim American invincibility on land, sea and air, and complete the Reagan legacy by deploying a missile defense system.... A Buchanan Administration will restore funding to our hollowed forces, honor to our ranks, and safety to our shores. [“PJB On the Issues: Defense,” March 2, 1999, www.buchananreform.com] George W. Bush, Republican Party: "Not since the years before Pearl Harbor has our investment in national defense been so low as a percentage of GNP... My first budget will [add] a billion dollars in salary increases... I will earmark at least 20 percent of the procurement budget for acquisition programs that propel America generations ahead in military technology. I will also commit an additional $20 billion to defense [research & development] between the time I take office and 2006." [The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, September 23, 1999] Al Gore, Democratic Party: “The Gore-Lieberman defense plan calls for $100 billion of the surplus to be utilized for modernizing military equipment, improving the readiness of our troops, manufacturing and deploying next generation weapons, and transforming our forces to meet new challenges.” [“Gore, Bush give detailed answers on defense, national security to 6 leading associations,” October 2000, Association of the United States Army website.] Ralph Nader, Green Party: “After our enemies are vanquished or disappear throughout our history, we usually demobilize. We cut military budgets.... But this time, the corporate military juggernaut wants to keep selling weapons systems, and through their congressional toadies, they often ram them down the Pentagon's throat.... it's time for us to spread the word that even Ronald Reagan's assistant secretary of Defense, Lawrence Korb, thinks the military budget could be cut by $ 100 billion and have a meaner, a more lean and effective military. A wasteful military is a weak military.” [Talk of the Nation, June 21, 2000, 2:00 PM ET]
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party:
“All I would say to the communist Chinese is this: Listen, if you go after our old friends on Taiwan militarily, fire missiles at them, attack them, try to blockade them, in that event you're going to be in a clash with the United States of America.” [“Crossfire,” CNN, November 22, 1999]
George W. Bush, Republican Party:
Al Gore, Democratic Party:
“We have been very careful not to tip our hand to either Taiwan or Mainland China, in saying here are exactly the circumstances that will lead to the United States getting militarily involved, because frankly we don't want to embolden the hotheads or the hardliners on either side of the Taiwan Straits to take some rash action.” [ABC "Nightline" town meeting, Daniel Webster College Nashua, New Hampshire, December 17, 1999] Ralph Nader, Green Party: No statement available
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party: ”I would make it the first order of business of the United States to repair the relationship with the Russian nation and Russian people -- who are proud people.” [“Patrick Buchanan on Foreign Policy,” Washington, DC, December 16, 1999] “We should inform Moscow that NATO's red line will be moved no further east; that we are bringing home all U.S. forces from Europe; that while American oil companies may cut deals in the Caucasus, the United States has no vital interest there and no intention of creating any new anti-Russian alliance there.”[“Pat Buchanan on Isolationism,” Washington, DC, November 22, 1999] George W. Bush, Republican Party: "Our goal is to promote not only the appearance of democracy in Russia, but the structures, spirit, and reality of democracy. This is clearly not done by focusing our aid and attention on a corrupt and favored elite... Even as we support Russian reform, we cannot excuse Russian brutality. When the Russian government attacks civilians... it can no longer expect aid from international lending institutions." [Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California, November 19, 1999] Al Gore, Democratic Party: “We must engage Russia and China, not pretend we can turn our backs on them... Our interests are in a stable and democratic Russia that does not threaten the U.S. or our allies. While Russia has had more setbacks and problems than we would like, we have made significant progress on a number of major issues, and have forged U.S.-Russian cooperation that was unimaginable a decade ago.” [Iowa Veterans' Home in Marshalltown, Iowa, November 11, 1999] Ralph Nader, Green Party: “We encourage policies that work to assist the FORMER SOVIET UNION in its move toward a government based on rights and a more open political and economic system.” [Green Party Platform 2000, www.gp.org]
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party: We must reclaim American invincibility on land, sea and air, and complete the Reagan legacy by deploying a missile defense system. [“PJB On the Issues: Defense,” March 2, 1999, www.buchananreform.com] “...[J]just as we respect the legitimate aspirations of Europe for an equal place in the sun, and Russia's right not to have NATO squat on its doorstep, Europe and Russia must respect our inherent right to defend ourselves against the ballistic missiles of rogue states." [Cato Institute, November 22, 1999] George W. Bush, Republican Party: “America must build effective missile defenses, based on the best available options, at the earliest possible date. Our missile defense must be designed to protect all 50 states and our friends and allies and deployed forces overseas from missile attacks by rogue nations, or accidental launches....America’s development of missile defenses is a search for security, not a search for advantage.” [“New Leadership on National Security,” Washington, DC, May 23, 2000] “If elected president, I will offer Russia the necessary amendments to the ABM Treaty so as to make our deployment of effective missile defenses consistent with the Treaty.... If Russia refuses the changes we propose, I will give prompt notice, under the provisions of the treaty, that the United States can no longer be a party to it.” [“Presidential Election Forum: The Candidates on Arms Control,” Arms Control Today, September 2000] Al Gore, Democratic Party: “...[S]ome unstable rogue nation might get a small handful of missiles and try to use them to blackmail us and it’s only responsible to investigate whether or not it’s possible to protect our nation against that kind of threat without reigniting the arms race with Russia or starting a new one with China.” [ “Meet The Press,” NBC, July 16, 2000] "I would be prepared to work hard to persuade the Government of the Russian Federation to modify the [ABM] Treaty.... But, at the end of the day, I would not be prepared to let Russian opposition to this system stand in the way of its deployment. ["Al Gore on National Missile Defense," Press Release, August 31, 2000] Ralph Nader, Green Party: “It’s [National Missile Defense] not workable. The American Physics Society indicates that it's very easily decoyed. It's not workable. Any nation that tries it is going to commit suicide. There are far more devastating, insidious ways to bring in nuclear weapons and other weapons into the country, the so-called suitcase approach. We've spent $ 60 billion as a nation now dealing with missile defense, and have come up with nothing. It's a program designed to enrich the giant munitions corporations who are really behind it all, in addition with some ideologues.” [Meet the Press, NBC, June 25, 2000]
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party: “If elected, I will have all U.S. troops...home from Europe by the end of my first term. Forty years ago, President Eisenhower pleaded with JFK to bring all U.S. troops home from Europe. Certainly, sixty years after the end of World War II, and fifteen years after the Berlin Wall fell, is not too soon to get all U.S. troops out of Europe and let Europeans provide and pay the cost of their own defense. If not now, when?” [“A Republic, Not an Empire,” March 24, 2000, www.BuchananReform.com] George W. Bush, Republican Party: "All our goals in Eurasia will depend on alliances that sustain our influence... For NATO to be strong, cohesive and active, the President must give it consistent direction: on the alliance's purpose; on Europe's need to invest more in defense capabilities, and, when necessary, in military conflict... For our allies, sharing the enormous opportunities of Eurasia also means sharing the burdens and risks of sustaining the peace." [Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California, November 19, 1999] Al Gore, Democratic Party: “Europe's fate and America's fate are joined. When the people of Europe are at war, or divided, or enslaved, then our own freedom, security, and prosperity are at risk...I believe in a western alliance that is willing to put its military might on the line - for the sake of our common security and the deepest principles of democracy.” [50th Anniversary of NATO, Ellis Island, April 21, 1999] Ralph Nader, Green Party: “Bring back some of the troops from Western Europe and East Asia who are defending prosperous countries who can defend themselves against non-existent enemies. I think there’s about $70 billion being spent in that area a year in up-front and back-up costs.” [“Meet the Press,” NBC, May 7, 2000]
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party: “What is best for America and the world, they [the elites of both Beltway parties] tell us, is that the United States should remain a superpower sheriff, the Wyatt Earp of the West, possessed of the sole right to deputize posses, or go it alone if necessary, to discipline evil-doers, wherever our "values" are threatened. I submit that this foreign policy poses a great and growing danger to the peace and security of the United States....If elected, I will have all U.S. troops out of the Balkan quagmire by year's end, and all American troops home from Europe by the end of my first term” [Antiwar.com Conference, March 24, 2000] George W. Bush, Republican Party: “Maintain longstanding U.S. commitments, but order an immediate review of overseas deployments in dozens of countries, with the aim of replacing uncertain missions with well-defined objectives.” [www.georgewbush.com, Issues-Defense, Executive Summary] Al Gore, Democratic Party: “In this Global Age, peacekeeping takes on new importance, and along with war-fighting, is a critical mission of the armed forces of the United States.” [U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY, May 27, 2000] Ralph Nader, Green Party: “We don't need a US force. We don't need a NATO. We need a multilateral force, and if it's in a region of a continent, with heavy input from neighboring countries. And this force should be trained before any battle, before any civil war, before any slaughter starts. It should be a standby peacekeeping force that's highly trained that can go in according to certain widely supported UN criteria.” [“Talk of the Nation,” National Public Radio, June 21, 2000]
Patrick Buchanan, Reform Party:
George W. Bush, Republican Party: “International organizations can serve the cause of peace. I will never place US troops under UN command – but the UN can help in weapons inspections, peacekeeping, and humanitarian efforts. If I am President, America will pay its dues – but only if the UN's bureaucracy is reformed and our disproportionate share of its costs reduced.” [Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California, November 19, 1999]
Al Gore, Democratic Party:
Ralph Nader, Green Party:
“Cooperative security cannot work as long as the United Nations remains a US puppet. Support reforms to democratize the United Nations, such as more proportionality and power in the General Assembly, an elected Security Council, and the elimination of the Great Power Veto on the Security Council.” [Green Party platform for the campaign year 2000, www.greenparty.org]
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