Dung Heap Harkin announces retirement

[Delmar]

Sat Jan 26, 2013, 01:06 PM
 ProSense (93,657 posts)

Read Harkin’s Full Statement On 2014 Retirement


Read Harkin’s Full Statement On 2014 Retirement

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) released a lengthy statement on his website Saturday after announcing he would not be running for re-election in 2014. Read it here:

CUMMING, Iowa – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement on his plans for the future, including his decision not to seek reelection for his U.S. Senate term expiring in 2014. In doing so, he thanked Iowans for their dedication over the course of his career in public service and outlined his agenda for the HELP Committee over the next two years:

“I have been thinking hard about the decision whether to run for a sixth term in the United States Senate for a number of months - even more these last few weeks. I’ve reached a decision, and what I’ve decided really boils down to two things,” said Harkin. “First, I’m going to fulfill a promise that I made to my wife Ruth, and that I also made to myself. It's a promise that we’re going to do certain things together - and that we’re going to live together in a way we’ve often talked about - before it gets too late. That’s a decision I believe many Iowans can relate to, either because of their own circumstances, or perhaps those of their parents. I have the privilege to be able to make this decision on my own terms, which not everyone can, and I’m deeply grateful to the people of Iowa that I do have that opportunity. I’ve been extremely fortunate. I was born here in Cumming in modest circumstances. My father was a coal-miner with just an 8th-grade education. My mother arrived to this country as an immigrant with virtually no earthly possessions. This state and this country have allowed me to enjoy a life and career beyond anything I imagined as a boy or young man.

“Second, I'm 73 years old right now. At the end of this term I’ll be 75. When the current Congress is over, I will have served in the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate for a total of 40 years. After 40 years, I just feel it’s somebody else’s turn. I can’t put into words what an honor it is to serve Iowa. And I don’t by any means plan to retire completely from public life at the end of this Congress. But I am going to make way for someone new in this Senate seat. I think that is right not just for me, but for Iowa, as well.”

In announcing his plans, Harkin said that over the next two years in Congress, he would continue to advance a policy agenda that benefits Iowa. Among his priorities:

• Moving forward with bills to ensure that all Americans are able to achieve the promise of a quality education – beginning in early childhood, continuing through elementary and high school, and culminating with higher education.
• Working to significantly increase the employment of individuals with disabilities, in order to continue to fulfill the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Advancing his proposal of a new type of pension plan, the USA Retirement Fund, to provide Americans with a secure source of retirement income for life.
• Ensuring the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

As an appropriator and as chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that funds health, education, and labor, Harkin would ensure these initiatives have the funding necessary for implementation. So too would he continue to advance farm policy that improves, and strengthens a number of initiatives that we included in previous farm bills to assist and promote opportunities for farmers and good nutrition for consumers through farmers markets and increased local production and marketing of food.

“More than 40 years ago, I came to Washington with a simple goal: help people. It was that goal that has inspired me throughout my career and one that will continue to inspire my work. Iowans entrusted me with a great responsibility when they first elected me to public office in 1974. It is a responsibility I have never forgotten as I represented them in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate,” Harkin concluded.

Tom Harkin has represented Iowa in Congress for 38 years. First winning election to the U.S. House in 1974, he represented Iowa's Fifth Congressional District until 1984, when he challenged an incumbent Senator and won. Iowans returned him to the Senate in 1990, 1996, 2002 and 2008. He is the first Iowa Democrat to win as many consecutives terms in the U.S. Senate.

Harkin has a lengthy record of achievements, among the highlights of his career:

• Advancing the Rights of Individuals with Disabilities;
• Strengthening the Middle Class through Health, Education, and Retirement Security Policies and Investments;
• Promoting a Strong Agriculture Economy, Sound Conservation, and Renewable Energy;
• Protecting Human Rights and Combatting the Worst Forms of Child Labor;
• Providing Funding to Maintain Modern Schools & Access to Healthier Communities;
• Ensuring Iowans have access to Disaster Relief and Flood Prevention and Mitigation;
• In Iowa, his office holds a record of strong constituent services, having logged its 100,000th constituent case earlier this year.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/read-harkins-full-statement-on-2014-retirement
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022264341

Harkin and ProSense seem to have overlooked one of the 'highlights" of Dung Heap's career:  Valor Thief.

Harkin's Lies Revealed
According to the book. Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley: "During a 1992 bid for the presidency, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa claimed that he had served as a pilot in Vietnam. His claim had surfaced eight years before, during a 1984 bid for re-election to the Senate, when Harkin boasted that he had served one year in Vietnam flying F-4s and F-8s on combat air patrols and photo-reconnaissance support mission. Challenged by Sen. Barry Goldwater, Harkin did a quick shuffle, claiming that he had actually flown combat sorties over Cuba during the sixties. Harking finally admitted he had not seen combat but had served as a ferry pilot stationed in Atsugi, Japan, flying aircraft to be repaired from Atsugi to the Philippines. When pressed by reporters to explain how much time he really spent in Vietnam, Harkin estimated that, over a year, he flew in and out of Vietnam a dozen or so times. But Harkin's military record showed no Vietnam service decorations. He Finally conceded he had not flown combat air patrols in Vietnam and began describing himself as a Vietnam era vet."

http://www.blnz.com/news/2008/05/13/Desperate_Democrats_Pitiful_Smear_Rush_6053.html

[Airwolf]

I wish it had been a lot sooner like the time he and John F'n Kerry went to see their commrad in Nicaragua. Then again I have a personnel hatred for the guy for good reason.

[JakeStyle]

Didn't he claim to have had numerous near death air battles over Vietnam, turns out he was a Vietnam era veteran who was never in combat.  **** off and die soon asshole.

[Chris_]

Good riddance.

[Airwolf]

Didn't he claim to have had numerous near death air battles over Vietnam, turns out he was a Vietnam era veteran who was never in combat.  **** off and die soon asshole.

He claimed to be a fighter pilot that went on numerous bombing missions over North Vietnam but he was never in the area. His only award was
some kind of service ribbon and he left the Navy as a Lieutenant.

[formerlurker]

Kerry gone.   Harkin gone. 

Very good.

[Airwolf]

Kerry gone.   Harkin gone. 

Very good.

There is still to many left that need to go .

[NHSparky]

He claimed to be a fighter pilot that went on numerous bombing missions over North Vietnam but he was never in the area. His only award was
some kind of service ribbon and he left the Navy as a Lieutenant.

NDSM--National Defense Service Medal...basically given to everyone on active duty between 1961-74 (among other periods.)

[Ralph Wiggum]

I wish that a good candidate will run to replace his ass. Steve King comes to mind. But my home state is strange, they kinda prefer one lib & one Republican as U.S. Senators.

[franksolich]

I wish that a good candidate will run to replace his ass. Steve King comes to mind. But my home state is strange, they kinda prefer one lib & one Republican as U.S. Senators.

Iowa hasn't been right since 1972, when they unexpectedly voted out Jack Miller from the U.S. Senate, one of the three unanticipated upsets in the country that year.  Miller was a great senator, nothing bad about him, but Iowans for some reason ousted him in favor of Neal Smith.

Iowa, once one of the most reliably red states, is more or less blue any more.

And at the same time, Iowa's standard of living, quality of life, has declined in comparison with the red states neighboring it.

It's long past time for Iowa to return to its roots.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Didn't he claim to have had numerous near death air battles over Vietnam, turns out he was a Vietnam era veteran who was never in combat.  **** off and die soon asshole.

Yeah...I believe he was USAF and served in Japan during the war, never getting any closer to VN than the Land of the Rising Sun, though claiming to be a Viet Nam veteran Air Force pilot for years until someone actually fact-checked it.

[Airwolf]

Yeah...I believe he was USAF and served in Japan during the war, never getting any closer to VN than the Land of the Rising Sun, though claiming to be a Viet Nam veteran Air Force pilot for years until someone actually fact-checked it.

He was in the Navy , Here are a couple of links about his sorry ass.

http://www.iowapresidentialwatch.com/HarkinMustGo/HarkinMustGo.htm

http://instapundit.com/archives/017246.php

The press never really held him to account for his lying but then again they gave Fat Ted a pass on killing someone in his car to save his career.

[DumbAss Tanker]

He was in the Navy , Here are a couple of links about his sorry ass.

http://www.iowapresidentialwatch.com/HarkinMustGo/HarkinMustGo.htm

http://instapundit.com/archives/017246.php

The press never really held him to account for his lying but then again they gave Fat Ted a pass on killing someone in his car to save his career.

Yeah, my mistake on the particular service involved in his bullshit lies, sorry.

[Airwolf]

Yeah, my mistake on the particular service involved in his bullshit lies, sorry.

It's Ok .To me he was no better then the guy that waits for you to drop your car off at the hotel so he can park it. Tells you a lot about how his Chain of Command only allowed him to move aircraft from one spot to another and nothing more. That is death to a fighter pilots career and of course probably a huge reason he got out other then the war. They were not going to let him stay in.