Tom Cotton: quite a resume
Newly-minted Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas got a lot of attention for this hard-hitting exchange yesterday:
I hadn’t seen Cotton in action before, and my first thought about him on seeing this (after noticing his laserlike intensity, which seemed to confuse his interrogatee) was, “That guy is very, very, very smart.” My second one was, “He must be a lawyer.”
So of course I had to look him up. A very interesting background indeed:
(1) At age 37 he’s presently the youngest US senator.
(2) He defeated his opponent, sitting Democrat Senator Mark Pryor, by a margin of over 16 points (in 2008, the GOP didn’t even field a candidate against Pryor).
(3) He is a lawyer, and a Harvard Law School lawyer at that (Liz Warren was one of his professors). Actually, he’s a Harvard guy all the way—got his BA there magna cum laude in government.
(4) He’s a combat veteran in both Iraq and Aghanistan:
As an infantry officer and platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division, he was deployed to Baghdad as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom on May 19, 2006. In Iraq, Cotton was responsible for a 41 man air assault infantry platoon in the 506th Infantry Regiment, and planned and led daily combat patrols. He completed his first combat tour in Iraq on November 20, 2006…
In June 2006, Cotton gained public attention after he wrote an open letter to The New York Times criticizing the paper’s publication of an article detailing a Bush administration secret program monitoring terrorists’ finances in which he called for three journalists, including the Times’ editor, Bill Keller, to be imprisoned for espionage…
Following his deployment in Iraq, Cotton was assigned as a platoon leader at The Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery,[10] where he was responsible for conducting military honor funerals for veterans. In 2008, he volunteered to return to combat duty, was promoted to captain on August 1, 2008, and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 15, 2008.
In Afghanistan, Cotton was assigned to Laghman Province, just north of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan. He was assigned duty as the operations officer of a Provincial Reconstruction Team, where he planned and resourced daily counter-insurgency and reconstruction operations for an 83-member joint and interagency team. He returned from Afghanistan on July 20, 2009.
No wonder he’s intense.
(5) His father is a Vietnam vet.
(6) And although this last bit isn’t really relevant to my point, he got married last March, and his wife looks a little bit like a young Bonnie Raitt, only prettier.
Walker / Cotton 2016!
My wife is originally from Arkansas. We have a lot of family there. Tom Cotton first came to my attention through e-mails with my brother-in-law. I see in him the type of man I served with in Vietnam – patriotic, smart, and intense. Arkansas has elected the type of politician we need at this time of war. He understands the war, he understands the enemy, and he’s got the courage of his convictions. May his actions encourage others of his sort to step up and serve in the government. We need a “few good men” on the political front as well as on the battle front.
On a similar note, Megyn Kelly interviewed another impressive new politician, Martha McSally.
“A retired Air Force Colonel, she is currently a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first American woman to fly in combat since the 1991 lifting of the prohibition of women in combat, flying the A-10 over Iraq and Kuwait in support of Operation Southern Watch. She is the first woman to command a USAF fighter squadron, the 354th Fighter Squadron based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.”
Her interview with Kelly was a delight for me. She’s got “the right stuff.” I salute you, Colonel McSally. You can read the transcript here: http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2015/02/06/rep-mcsally-rejects-idea-that-gitmo-is-used-for-recruiting/
IIRC, the Powerline blog started publishing Cotton’s letters starting w/his 2006 letter to the NYT. Also recall that some critics of Powerline actually claimed that Cotton was fictitious because he was just too perfect (military AND Harvard degrees).
He’s is almost too good to be true – we’re lucky to have him in the GOP Senate.
That’s a man whose batteries are fully charged!
A clip of Cotton along with Megyn Kelly intrviewing Martha McSally:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDXlt-paH18
A breath of fresh air, but I doubt he and the handful like him on Capitol Hill can remake Priebus, Boehner, McConnell, et many all.
I was impressed with his aggressive manner before I knew where he was going with it. He really made the point that when the US was quite benign, in the 1990s, Islamist resentment was growing and attacking. Now I learn that he’s from my alma mater, the 101st Airborne. More power to him. BTW, Jack Keane and David Petraeus were both commanding generals of the 101st.
A couple of combat tours would certainly make you intense. Nothing like somebody trying to kill you to concentrate your attention.
I think polls have shown that a large majority of Americans are still opposed to closing Guantanamo, so Cotton’s comments should resonate with them.
Hillary, on the other hand, has pushed mightily for it to be closed; in fact:
Let’s hope the Republicans have the smarts to hit this hard in the 2016 campaign.
Definitely an upgrade from Sen Pryor.
We’re seeing the emergence of these very sharp young Republicans while the Democrats are either repellent on multiple levels (Hillary, Elizabeth Warren, John Kerry) or forever tainted by association with Obama and/or politically correct nonsense.
I remain cautious, however. There’s a long time until November 2016.
Yes. Watching Tom Cotton, it’s like he’s genetically predisposed for senatorship.
He is a very impressive young man. I suppose we’ll see the MSM digging through his trash, interviewing his kindergarten classmates, and soliciting old girlfriends for some hit of scandal. And as we know, if they can’t find anything negative they’ll make something up.
Also called from central casting, to play the opposite (in every way) of Elizabeth Warren?
“He must be a lawyer.”
What the H does being a lawyer have to do with this?
Serial Liar – How Brian Williams’s Iraq Story Changed
http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2015/02/serial-liar-how-brian-williamss-iraq.html
Do you think Harvard has affirmative action for boys from Arkansas? I thought not.
Pity he is so qualified, if he only had friends who were criminals, nutcases and freaks, a record of delusional statements and an absence of any meaningful experience there is no telling how far he could go.
This man will be President someday—if we last long enough to be able to elect him.
Bob From Virginia,
That would only apply if he was a democrat. Since he’s a Republican he must be as pure as the driven snow. But even then, just his being a republican ‘proves’ that his motivations are racist, misogynistic, selfish, greedy and evil.
They’ll go after him when the time is right. It’s too soon. His star hasn’t ascended far enough yet, and he isn’t well enough known to be a threat. Yet.
G Joubert: Unfortunately the “They” include the Democraps naturally and the Establishment Republicks like Boehner, McConnell, and Rove.
This quote sums things up for all the RINO’s.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.” Cicero
Don Carlos,
Elements of cross-examination adapted to Senate hearing.
Neo,
Thanks for the heads-up on Cotton. My kind of guy.
I imagine Cotton’s palpable enmity towards the terrorists is informed by his PRT work in Afghanistan with associated affinity for the Afghan people, and the terrorists effect on them, as well as US national security.
Thank you, Don Carlos.
I’m amazed he is so sharp after going through the Hah-vahd lawyer mill.
Ya’know folks, since the Democrats have a safe built -in fortress of over 230 electoral votes (NY, CA,IL, MA, VT, WA, OR, MD, PA, RI, CT, MN, WI, NM and probably VA, NV, and CO) I doubt there will be any other Republican presidents for a long time if ever. In short, because extreme leftists have taken over the Democratic party we can expect to see:
1) one party rule,
2) a junta of extreme leftists within this party making major decisions,
3) a dictatorship of the bureaucracy,
4) “Social justice” initiatives wrecking freedom.
The good news is that I am usually wrong in my predictions.
Future Secretary of Defense???
Assuming we get a non-Democrat President??
He and McSally are why I supported women and combat vets this election cycle. The Republican party needs young, aggressive leaders who won’t be so easily intimidated as its current leadership. At least I hope that’s the case.
I’ve heard Cotton regularly on the Hugh Hewitt show and he always sounds impressive.
As for Republicans ever winning the Presidency again, well that’s problematic. I do think that the left has successfully changed our institutions and the general voting public. At the Presidential level that represents a large wall to get over. On the other hand the large majority of governors and state legislatures are Republican but so far that hasn’t meant anything.
We will see.
Don Carlos:
I think Cotton’s lawyerhood is obvious—but it’s his mode of asking rapid-fire, well-prepared and researched questions, and his calm yet sharp demeanor. The best lawyers have that ability and that mien.
As Eric says “Elements of cross-examination adapted to Senate hearing.”
He must come by it intuitively, because in my experience those particular skills are honed through years of trial experience, in the courtroom and in depositions. I don’t think he’s done that, and I wonder a little bit about the rigor of Harvard Law’s trial-level advocacy program. How many Harvard law students expect to be doing that for their careers? So he picked it up elsewhere.
his wife looks a little bit like a young Bonnie Raitt, only prettier.
Heh! You’re such a girl! 🙂
That said – good stuff. He comes across as exactly the type of young leader conservatives need. Let’s watch over the next few years to see what happens…
G Joubert:
Cotton does appear to have some trial experience (see this). I think he also most definitely has a knack for it.
They don’t have to dig up anything. They just make shit up. Since he’s from Arkansas I expect the media will turn him into a “dumb redneck.” It’s simple: show the clip of him asking the rhetorical questions of how many terrorists were in Gitmo before 2001. Then cut to Jon Stewart mugging patronizing disbelief at the camera. “Doesn’t he even know when it opened? What an idiot!” says Stewart and his audience obediently claps along. Presto!
We can’t win by putting up good people. Not even superhuman people. Not as long as the media can rig the game and manipulate people’s perceptions. We have to destroy the media. I mean destroy literally. America will not be safe as long as the New York Times exists. As long as MSNBC exists. As long as NBC exists.
They tell us a “free press” is vital to democracy. But we don’t have a free press. We have an ideological oligopoly. Until that is smashed, the media are the chief enemy of freedom and democracy in America.
Trimegistus: “They tell us a “free press” is vital to democracy. But we don’t have a free press. We have an ideological oligopoly.”
What we have is the majority of the media posing as the objective purveyors of truth. We have alternative media in this country. Fox News and Conservative Talk Radio are two such. The blogosphere is another. The difference is that the MSM claims to be objective when they’re not. Fox claims to be fair and balanced and they try, but tilt right. Rush, Hannity Levin, etal are upfront about their bias. What is needed is to expose the way the MSM does the work of the Dems.
Here’s an article that says it better than I can:
“Today’s media are the envy of every oppressive regime.”
Read more at http://godfatherpolitics.com/20241/duped-brian-williams-apology/#1hrsbJq4sqbhpCXL.99
They tell us a “free press” is vital to democracy.
The MPAA Leftist faction will get rid of that soon enough, via imposing a 50% tax on blogs, internet forums, and market transactions.
We live in Arkansas. The first I heard of Cotton was a silly campaign ad in 2012 when he ran for the House. When I heard more about him, we regretted he was not in our district, so we couldn’t vote for him.
In 2014 we would have crawled over broken glass to vote for him in the Senate. We got a campaign call from Pryor’s campaign asking for our vote. I told him, “We are voting for Cotton, and we’d vote against Pryor no matter what.
I don’t know about the AR 2008 Senate election, but in 2010 we voted against Blanche Lincoln. Got the same call from her campaign, gave the same answer. “We are voting against you.”
In the last several elections we are turning AR from Dem to Repub.
Tom Cotton is a great person for Senator.
Lincoln and Pryor were out because of Obamacare and voting with Obama in general. Pryor’s daddy was senator, btw, so that is the only reason he was elected. I’ve always disliked him.
I knew he would be out this year because of Blanche and because the ads started over a year before the election! And they were relentless. I don’t recall any of them mentioning Cotton as a harvard trained lawyer, but there were many that mentioned his military service.