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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJohn Kerry: Dick Lugar Loss ‘A Tragedy’
Count Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) among the Washington lawmakers mourning the primary defeat of longtime Senate foreign policy expert Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN) Tuesday night.
This is a tragedy for the Senate and the loss is particularly felt by all of us who have been privileged to serve with Dick on the Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry said in a statement. Its a blow to the institution during a period when the institution itself has been strained.
Heres his full long statement:
Dicks Nunn-Lugar efforts have become almost shorthand for bi-partisanship in foreign policy, and they should be recognized. But for me, on a personal level, two other efforts stand out as epitomizing who Dick is and why hell be missed. For me, it started with the work we did together in the 1980s to help bring about free and fair elections in the Philippines. I was just a freshman senator, but I was lucky to get to know Dick Lugar as a dignified, thoughtful and capable public servant who even then was becoming an institution within this institution. He was serious, he was fair-minded, and I saw firsthand during our trip to the Philippines that he had a very personal and special understanding of what the United States means to the rest of the world. That cause animated a Hoosier who was a reserved and humble public person, but who proudly recounted for President Reagan the difference the United States made in giving voice to the Filipino peoples democratic aspirations. I saw that same commitment in Dick Lugar many times over the years but never more so than in the long, tough, and patient process required when we worked together on the New START Treaty two years ago. His wisdom and his patience was invaluable in laying out the case and particularly in building Republican support and finding the path to those 71 votes.
It will soon almost sound cliched to say that America is safer today because of Dick Lugars 36 years of service in the Senate, but it really does bear repeating. His record on our Committee will long be remembered in the same context as another chairman, William Fulbright of Arkansas, whose Senate service also ended in a difficult primary defeat, but who is remembered today not for one loss, but for a legacy of following the facts and speaking the truth despite the political risks. This is a tough period in American politics, but Id like to think that well again see a United States Senate where Dick Lugars brand of thoughtful, mature, and bi-partisan work is respected and rewarded. That kind of seriousness of purpose should never go out of fashion.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/john-kerry-dick-lugar-loss-tragedy
spanone
(135,830 posts)dejo1957
(25 posts)Indiana will get a hard core righty in.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)You never know.
enough
(13,259 posts)spanone
(135,830 posts)enough
(13,259 posts)derby378
(30,252 posts)There's no incumbent anymore - this is doable.
karynnj
(59,503 posts)and this was a very nasty primary.
Indiana is pretty red, except for a few blue islands - like Lake County, which is next to Chicago and includes old steel towns like Gary and East Chicago, and other places like Bloomington. Indiana is a state that was greatly helped by the bailout of the car companies - even though many in the state might not even be aware of that.
Kerry's statement really does say it all - Lugar is a rare statesman in a party that does not honor them at the moment. He is actually pretty conservative on various economic issues, but he was an internationalist on foreign policy.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Unfortunately even worse in my mind is that Sarah Palin and her tea baggers prove once again that they have the ability to win elections. This gives them more power to stay involved at the national level dammit.
A real shame.