Republican Liberty Caucus stands by their endorsement of Adam Kokesh

posted at 2:09 pm on March 13, 2010 by Cassy Fiano
[ Elections ]   

After learning that Adam Kokesh was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, among others, I decided to find out how much the RLC knew about Adam’s anti-military and anti-American activities, his multiple arrests, and his overall background. I e-mailed my questions to Aaron Biterman, who agreed to speak with me about the endorsement of Adam Kokesh. The following is our e-mail exchange.

Hi Aaron, thanks for helping me out with this.

I saw that the Republican Liberty Caucus endorsed Adam for Congress. When the endorsement was made, was the RLC aware of the following:

• that Adam was demoted from a sergeant to a corporal for smuggling a pistol bought in Iraq to the United States, and that he still continues to represent himself as a sergeant anyways, which is a blatant lie?
• that he printed and distributed an Islamophobic flyer on George Washington University but made it appear to have been made by the Young America’s Foundation?
• of his involvement with groups such as CODEPINK, A.N.S.W.E.R., The Communist Party of America, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other similar groups while working with Iraq Veterans Against the War?
• of his multiple arrests?
• of his anti-American and anti-military views as evidenced by his actions during anti-war protests, including holding an upside-down American flag, doing mock patrols, and die-ins, most of which were done while wearing a Marine Corps uniform?
• that he traveled to Germany and encouraged soldiers there to go AWOL?
• that when the Marine Corps investigated his actions during anti-war protests while in uniform, he replied to a major and told him to “please, kindly, go f*ck yourself”?
• that the Marine Corps responded by downgrading his honorable discharge to a general discharge?
• that despite this, Kokesh still claims to have received an honorable
  discharge, which is another blatant lie?

• that he organized and participated in Winter Soldier 2, which was
  designed to malign and undercut the morale of our soldiers?

If the RLC was not aware of the above, will the endorsement for Adam
Kokesh be rescinded?

If the RLC was aware of all this, why was he still endorsed for Congress?

Do these things not bother the Republican Liberty Caucus?

Does the Republican Liberty Caucus feel that these actions and views are suitable for a representative?

Does the RLC feel that the above actions are acceptable? Do they condone his anti-military, anti-American views?

Looking very forward to hearing the answers to these questions.

Thank you,

Cassy

Aaron responded by basically saying that no, the RLC was not aware of these things, but will continue to endorse him anyways based on Adam’s platform.

Hi, Cassy.

The Republican Liberty Caucus assesses candidates on their issue positions, not what pranks they pulled in college or people they associated with who we might not like. Most of your criticisms fit under the category of “he’s an anti-war protester and therefore he’s evil,” and that’s just not relevant to our endorsement process.

A RLC endorsement is simply advice to our members that a candidate is worthy of consideration for their support and assistance — it does not require members to support or contribute to any endorsed candidate. The RLC itself never contributes any dues or contributions directly to any political campaign or ballot proposition.

When we made the endorsement, we were not aware of the information you listed below. However, as I said above, the RLC endorses candidates who share a commitment to our mission statement of limiting the size and scope of government. Adam Kokesh’s platform is “peace, freedom, and prosperity” (see http://www.kokeshforcongress.com/sites/kokesh.netboots.net/files/SlimJimPrintOut_0_0.pdf). He also includes a strong statement of truth at his website: Government’s sole purpose is to protect our rights.

Which groups Kokesh associates with or what rallies he attends has little relevence to our endorsement process. Additionally, the RLC has a fairly “Big Tent”. While Kokesh holds “anti-War” views, several other candidates we have endorsed hold views that are different than Kokesh on the foreign policy issue. For example, check out this candidate’s views on foreign policy (he was also endorsed by the RLC): http://www.houchenforcongress.com/issues.html.

The RLC favors candidates who have a constitutional view on foreign policy, which includes the need for a Congressional declaration before going to war. Additionally, all of our endorsed candidates believe that the U.S. has too many troops in too many countries across the globe. This is the traditional conservative foreign policy position and has its roots with Robert Taft, and, before him, George Washington.

Best Regards,
Aaron Biterman
Outreach Chair
Republican Liberty Caucus

Needless to say, I found it extremely troubling that none of Adam’s past affiliations or actions would make a difference to the RLC. The idea that “which groups Kokesh associates with or what rallies he attends has little relevence” is disturbing to me. Considering that Kokesh has never held public office or even a job since leaving the Marine Corps, the groups he associates with and the rallies he attends are really the only clues we can get to judge his character by. Or does that no longer matter, as long as someone says they stand for the right thing? We have no way of knowing if Kokesh actually believes any of the things he says he believes in. Considering who he’s aligned himself with in the past — radical liberal and Marxist groups — why should we trust him?

And even if he does truly have all of these libertarian ideals, what about the things he’s done? Character matters. And someone who has been arrested multiple times, encouraged soldiers to go AWOL, and repeatedly lied about his rank and discharge doesn’t seem to have good character. Are we just going to start letting people into our party because they say they have the right set of ideals, regardless of the content of their character? That makes us no better than Democrats like William Jefferson, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Massa, and Charles Rangel. The RLC is basing their endorsement of Adam Kokesh on nothing more than what Adam Kokesh is saying about himself. The red flags about him are being completely ignored because he’s saying what people want to hear.

Now, let’s say that in the very short time since Adam Kokesh has stopped associating with groups like IVAW, CODEPINK, and A.N.S.W.E.R. and that he did have a change of heart. What does that tell us? That he has extremely poor judgement, makes bad choices, and apparently is a poor judge of character as well. Is that the kind of person we want in Congress with an (R) next to their name? He’s held no job since being in the Marine Corps except being a professional anti-military activist. So he’s someone who has poor judgement, makes bad choices, and has no professional experience to his name at all. The only experience he does have — as a Marine — led to his being demoted and his honorable discharge reduced to a general discharge. That doesn’t exactly speak well for him, does it?

Adam Kokesh may very well vote the way we want him to vote. He might lower taxes and he might be against government run health care, and he might help reduce the size of our massive government. But do we look the other way when someone has done the things that he’s done? There are plenty of other people who would do all of the same things that Adam Kokesh would do, without any of the baggage — like Tom Mullins, for example.

In the case of Adam Kokesh, you really have to decide for yourself. Does character matter at all to you? Does someone’s history matter? Can you choose to overlook someone’s actions and affiliations? I don’t think so. We need representatives who have more than just the right voting record. They need to have good character, too. And maybe the RLC doesn’t care about someone’s character, but I do. And I think most of you do, too. Adam Kokesh doesn’t have the character we need… and he’s just not the kind of Republican we need.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary or follow her on Twitter!

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