E-mail a friendSen. George Allen
original airdate October 7, 2004
Having won a tight race, Virginia's Sen. George Allen is in his freshman Senate term. The eldest son and namesake of the late Redskins coach, he was previously the state's governor. Allen was tapped to lead the GOP's tech task force and to chair the Commerce Committee's technology subcommittee. As National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair, he has the task of expanding his party's slender Senate majority. Allen also sits on the Foreign Relations and Small Business and Entrepreneurship committees.
Sen. George Allen
Tavis: George Allen is the former Republican governor of Virginia who now represents Old Dominion in the U.S. Senate. He's the chair of the Republican Senatorial Committee charged with keeping the Senate in Republican hands. Senator Allen is also a member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He joins us tonight from Washington. Senator, nice to have you on the program, sir.
Senator George Allen: Good evening, Tavis. Good to be with you.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you on. Before I talk about tomorrow night's debate or, for that matter, next week's debate, let me back up for a second and ask you how you think your guy...that would be Dick Cheney...did earlier this week up against your colleague John Edwards?
Allen: Oh, I thought the vice president was outstanding. I've e-mailed some of his folks that the VP was our MVP. He was steady. He was basing his arguments on the facts, on logic and a very clear vision of what we're doing to try to bring freedom to the people of Iraq and obviously win the war on terrorism as well. So I thought he did a fantastic job and, I think, gave a lot of people comfort in the direction of this country and our allies and also a sense of appreciation to the challenges facing the Iraqi people as they try to bring forth elections for the first time ever in Iraq.
Tavis: I respect your point of view, and you obviously didn't say anything just there that I did not expect you to say, but let me offer this, though, as a quick retort. How do you respond, though, when you talk about Iraq, for example, to Vice President Cheney saying that going into Iraq, and I quite here--he said this at the very beginning of the debate--and I quote, "Was exactly the right thing to do." Exactly the right thing to do, sir?
Allen: It was the right thing to do. The interesting thing is the vice president said here's our policies and we feel that the world and America are safer with Saddam Hussein and his regime out of power and him in prison. On the contrast on that, Tavis, is that it was brought up 2 or 3 times in questioning of Senator Edwards--"Well, what would you do? Do you think he ought to be in or out of power?" And he never really answered the question. He went off on tangents and detours and evaded the question. The vice president, the president, and I believe that Saddam Hussein was a threat. I understand some of the things that we thought he had...the weapons of mass destruction...he did not, but we did know that he had ties to terrorists. We do know that he was paying 25 to $35,000 to parents who would send their children off into Israel on these suicide murders and we knew, the whole world, he's on the state sponsors of terrorists list, and so I believe that the world is much safer with Saddam out of power than with him in power, and it's part of this entire world...war throughout the world against terrorism. And one other thing that seemed to get lost in the debating back and forth was his ties to not just all terrorists but also to Al Qaeda and specifics. Not specifically 9/11, but if you look at the 9/11 Commission report, look at page 66, where they even point out...this bipartisan group--the various ties that Al Qaeda had to Saddam's regime.
Tavis: What do you make of the fact that the president's guy L. Paul Bremer, the former Envoy/Ambassador to Iraq said just the other day that we never had enough U.S. troops on the ground in the first place?
Allen: We probably had enough. How they were deployed...maybe you could go through all the tactics. They were given as many troops as were necessary. One of the things, in looking back in the military history on all of this, I think people will recognize one of the things that made it more difficult was the fact that Turkey would not allow us to come in from the north through the Kurdish area, and so therefore, all those troops had to be sent around and shipped and coming in from the south, which meant that we didn't have that kind of a pincer movement and have as many troops in, say, the northern and the Sunni Triangle area as you would have if they were coming in from Turkey. I think our troops performed magnificently. It brought down that regime quickly, and clearly, through it all, there's always things that are happening that one cannot anticipate. But if you have a strategic plan of what you want to do and that is to stand up an Iraqi government, get the Iraqis being in control of their own destiny, those are the steps we're taking even though these terrorists and remnants of Saddam's regime are trying to thwart it. And they really want to thwart elections because once people are elected, there is complete legitimacy on the part of the people for these folks selected.
Tavis: The president, um, if he's looking for legitimacy on why he went into Iraq is starting to get in some trouble with his own people. I mentioned Ambassador Bremer, who said the president never put enough troops on the ground, number one. Uh, the recent C.I.A. revelation that the president was stretching making a connection between or trying to make a connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda. Uh, then you have the U.S. chief weapons inspector saying that Saddam wasn't in the business of building weapons of mass destruction. And if that isn't bad enough, some of your Republican colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee, namely Dick Lugar of Indiana, uh, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, uh, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island has gone as far to say he's not even voting for the president. What's happening with you Republicans not standing by your man, so to speak?
Allen: You're good, Tavis, it's fun being with you. The reality is, whether it's John McCain, Dick Lugar, or Chuck Hagel, they're all voting for the president. They recognize we need to win this war on terrorism, and we need to finish the job and not cut and run in Iraq. Uh, as far as Ambassador Bremer, Ambassador Bremer is very supportive of the actions we're taking in Iraq. There are always gonna be people who will Monday-morning-quarterback even when you're having victories, and this is going to be a challenging, tough time. But it is one where we do need to stay the course. And folks can snipe and snap at it, but one thing that doesn't help is when you have someone who is in such a dangerous, perilous position as Prime Minister Allawi comes to this country, and is talking about thanking and being grateful for our troops and for liberating the people of Iraq, how they are, no matter what, are gonna go forward with the elections in January, and to have the Kerry-Edwards campaign criticizing him, criticizing his credibility, all sorts of derogatory remarks, that is not helpful, nor is it helpful to criticize our allies, whether they're Polish, Italian, British, Australian, South Koreans, wherever they may be from, there's 30 countries involved in this. They are putting people on the ground in a very dangerous situation, trying to bring, uh, free elections and liberty to the people of Iraq, and they ought not to be criticized with these derogatory, insulting remarks.
Tavis: I thank you for your compliment of a couple minutes ago. Uh, I should add that not unlike your dad, you're pretty good at what you do, too. And the word all across the country is that because you are the head of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, you guys are gonna hold on to your majority in the Senate. Is there any chance that the Democrats might take control of the Senate?
Allen: You never want to say there's--there's no chance at all, but I think it looks very good. Our team has quality individuals, they're motivating and inspiring people in their states, and we're running in good terrain. So, whether it's Richard Burr in North Carolina or Jim DeMint in South Carolina or Mel Martinez in Florida or John Thune in South Dakota, Tim Michaels, a former Army airborne ranger running in Wisconsin, George Nethercutt, Lisa Murkowski, Pete Coors, Dr. Coburn, and David Vitter-- uh, who is gonna make history, I predict, in being the first Republican ever elected in Louisiana, and Johnny Isaacson, also in Georgia, we have some great chances to strengthen our majority in the Senate so that we have more people who trust free people and free enterprise and have less litigation, less taxation, and more innovation and quality in our education system.
Tavis: So you are good. You got a shout-out to all your guys, and you did it in 30 seconds. I'll give you another 30 seconds before I can wrap this conversation up. In 30 seconds, let me congratulate you. I'm so pleased at legislation--as an African-American--at the legislation you introduced on lynching. Can you talk about that in 30 seconds?
Allen: Yes, I can. I majored in history, and you look back in history and times of our history where we've done things that are good and other things that are bad. The Senate--in the height of lynching in this country in all states except 4--the Senate always stopped and blocked and filibustered anti-lynching legislation, which would have brought the power of the federal government into enforcing these laws and would have prevented hundreds if not thousands of lynchings. And Senator Landrieu and I in a bipartisan sense thought it's time to apologize. Way too late, but apologize and hopefully try to heal some of these wounds.
Tavis: Well, I certainly appreciate that, and I appreciate you taking the time to come on this program tonight. You're welcome back here any time, Senator Allen. Nice to have you here, sir.
Allen: Good to be with you, Tavis. You're a great compatriot and also a good challenge as well.
Tavis: All the best to you. Nice to have on. You're welcome back any time.
Allen: All right.
Tavis: Up next on this program, the very funny--a very serious guy, now a very funny lady--Mo'Nique--stay with us.
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