Peoria Pundit

By Billy Dennis on November 8th, 2007

Jim McConoughey must have said “naive” and ‘inexperienced” a dozen times during his brief news conference today. Which is pretty must his biggest weapon against Aaron Schock, who was courteous enough to give McConoughey and other opponents John Morris an opening by suggesting that the United States arm Taiwan with nuclear weapons and arm freedom fighters in Iran.

All three are running for the GOP nomination for Ray LaHood’s seat in Congress.

I’ll post the official version of McConoughey’s remarks to the press when they become available and I have time.

The questions from the press were interesting.

I wanted to know why McConoughey didn’t issue a statement after Schock said these things last week. He said that it took them a while to consult some experts. I think it might because they wanted for the stink to hit the media first, and that didn’t happen until the State Journal-Register covered it.

Jonathan Ahl of WCBU was sorta playing word games by suggesting that Schock was actually being responsible by making the statement, because the public needs to know what opinion candidates have on foreign policy. The word Ahl suggested that McConoughey meant was “stupid.”

And Karen McDonald, the PJS reporter who’s article didn’t mention Aaron’s desire to ship nukes to Taiwan? She asked McConoughey why he didn’t say what HE wanted to do about China and Taiwan. My two cents: Why bother asking? The Journal Star won’t print it.

UPDATED: Edited for clarity.

UPDATED: The McConoughey sent this press release:

Aaron Schock’s Support of Giving Nuclear Weapons to Taiwan Irresponsible

Peoria, IL – Congressional candidate Jim McConoughey today, called on one of his opponents to retract reckless and irresponsible remarks he delivered late last month. Aaron Schock, a 26-year-old lawmaker who is running for Congress has issued a foreign-policy position advocating “if China continues to be irresponsible about nuclear proliferation in Iran, we should tell them that if they do not care about proliferation – and since they are enablers of it in Iran, that if they don’t change their position, we will sell Pershing nuclear missiles to Taiwan for their defense.” Aaron continues; “Non proliferation will either be enforced universally or not at all – it is their choice. The Chinese will come around, I have no doubt.” Those explosive comments are discussed in today’s (11/8) Springfield State Journal-Register newspaper in the Bernard Schoenburg column on the Editorial page, (available at this link: http://www.sj-r.com/Opinion/stories/19687.asp)

McConoughey countered in a prepared statement; “The United States has achieved its global leadership role by combining strong national defense with the idealism of freedom loving peoples. We didn’t achieve it by making irresponsible threats and advocating reckless ideas. Not only is this idea illegal under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, it will likely lead to the threat of war and possibly nuclear war. The position of U.S. Representative is a position that requires judgment, maturity and steadiness. Foreign policies that Aaron supports clearly show poor judgment, lack of maturity and unsteadiness.”

McConoughey continued; “In addition to the military destabilization in the Eastern Hemisphere that Aaron’s policies could cause, his positions also destroy the hard work that this Country has done on behalf of agriculture and manufacturing to broaden global market presence in China and beyond. The business and trade relationships are indicative of responsible and collaborative efforts to realize this global economy in which we live. Should America provide nuclear weapons to someone who would intend to threaten China with those weapons would wipe-out years of efforts, agreements and relationships that we’ve developed – many from right here in Central Illinois.”

As printed in the Springfield State Journal Register today, international policy expert and University of Illinois Political Science Professor Paul Diehl says of Aaron’s policies: “The statement about selling nuclear weapons to Taiwan reflects an incredible naiveté about international relations. Transferring nuclear weapons technology to any state is a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It would also encourage other states to do the same, specifically to enemies of the United States.”

“I can’t think of anything more provocative to China than giving Taiwan nuclear weapons, assuming that they would even foolishly accept them. A nuclear Taiwan would not be strong enough to deter China and indeed (would) probably provoke an attack before the missiles could be deployed.”

Jim McConoughey is a Peoria Republican running for 18th District Congressional seat from which Congressman Ray LaHood is retiring. McConoughey, President of the Heartland Partnership, leads the Peoria-area business community. In addition to his 26 years of experience in business and public service, McConoughey has provided strong leadership in Central Illinois and has exemplified integrity.

Tags: , Aaron Schock, China, Jim McConoughey, nuclear, Taiwan

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Statehouse & Capitol. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.