In accepting the prize, John Bolton opened his remarks by commenting on the stark contrast America is facing relative to choices for the Presidency. He talked about how the greatest threat facing our new President will be the growing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction around the world.
Bolton expressed a word of warning about a Presidential candidate who expresses his willingness to sit down, without preconditions, with leaders of hostile countries — but fails to tell the American people what it is he would say to those leaders.
Bolton talked about the need for a State Department which looks out for America’s best interests abroad. The current state department rewards process over achievement.
Bolton was quite critical of efforts by the Bush Administration to normalize relations with North Korea, and the regime that controls that country. Never mind the fact that the North Korean government is in close alliance with Iran.
On the subject of Iran, Bolton feels that the next President will have a very tough decision to make in order to prevent Iran from fully developing nuclear weapons capacity — regime change in Tehran or strategic use of military firepower to disable Iran’s program. Bolton expressed fear that one of the leading candidates for President would do neither.
Bolton’s advice for the next President, "Defend America and its allies. Defend the interests of America and its allies. And the rest will take care of itself."
The Claremont Institute is one of America’s leading conservative think-tanks, housing some of the most significant and impactful conservative scholars. It’s President, Brian Kennedy, is a long time friend of the FlashReport. Kennedy introduced Bolton at the dinner, and another longtime friend and Claremont Board Member Tom Fuentes was the Master of Ceremonies to a packed crowd of hundreds at the plush Island Hotel in Newport Beach.
The dinner concluded with a brandi toast to Sir Winston Churchill, led by Dr. Charles Kessler, one of America’s most accompished conservative scholars.
In leaving the event last night, I drew a heavy sigh. After all, I was leaving an evening of conservative comraderie amongst friends, and entering the real world, where a real socialist like Barack Obama could be days away from claiming the Presidency.
Congratulations to Ambassador Bolton, and to the Claremont Institute for a fine evening! God bless America!
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