THE WRONG CANDIDATE AT THE WRONG TIME:

Lautenberg's radical record is a GOP challenger's dream! (Joel C. Rosenberg, Oct. 3, 2002, Jewish World Review)

In 1991, he voted against authorizing military force against Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. He predicted "tens of thousands of American casualties," a new U.S. draft and warned the U.S. could end up destroying Kuwait in the process of trying to liberate it.

In 1984 -- at the height of the Cold War -- he voted for Ted Kennedy's "nuclear freeze" proposal.

He voted for the Intelligence Oversight Act of 1988 to restrict the conduct of foreign covert operations, and voted in 1992 to cut the U.S. intelligence budget by $1 billion.

He's consistently voted against building missile defenses to protect the homeland or U.S. troops and allies, and in 1991 supported an amendment that would have cut defense spending by a whopping $80 billion.

Lautenberg is also vulnerable to the charge he's soft on terrorism.

On October 26, 1989, for example, the Senate voted on a bill introduced by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to impose the death penalty for terrorists who kill U.S. citizens in foreign countries. The bill passed 79-20. But Lautenberg actually voted against it.

Then, on February 20, 1991, Lautenberg voted for an amendment to rescind the death penalty for terrorists who murder Americans in the U.S. or abroad and instead impose life in prison.

That amendment was defeated 25 to 72, but joining Lautenberg against the death penalty for terrorists was none other than Democrat Senators Ted Kennedy, Paul Wellstone, Tom Harkin, John Kerry and Al Gore.

At a time when Bill Clinton has turned even his party into (mostly) New Democrats, Mr. Lautenberg is an Old Democrat. He was wrong during the Cold War, when it didn'r matter much. He was wrong in the '90s when it did matter. He's wrong now when it's a matter of life and death. If his vision of justice prevailed and we were to capture Osama bin Laden, the American taxpayer would be forced to pay for his upkeep for the rest of his days, a subsidized guest in our federal prisons. The times have passed Mr. Lautenberg by. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 3, 2002 1:07 PM