"The debate over Homeland Security has cropped up in the GOP primary contest....
In interviews with the Globe, the three Republicans took an array of positions on whether Marathon attack suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be held as an enemy combatant, from a strong yes to a nuanced no....
Gabriel E. Gomez, a private equity investor and former US Navy SEAL, said in an interview, “For right now, he should be an enemy combatant.”
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On Homeland Security, there are also areas of agreement. All five candidates said last Friday’s lockdown was the right call. And all five said they thought the death penalty should be an available punishment for those found guilty of terrorism....
And they are ALL OPEN to MORE $URVEILLANCE CAMERAS!
See: Gomez Gets His Moment in the Globe
Took about 15 minutes.
Prognosis:
"Gabriel Gomez: A man who combines both military and business experience, Gomez would be eye-catchingly different from the rest of the Massachusetts delegation. Add to that his Latino heritage, and this Republican fresh face would be the instant focus of national attention. But as an often-nervous public presence and a political neophyte whose views are a work in progress, it’s not clear how he’d meet that opportunity. Or whether he has the skill to effectively represent a left-leaning state as a moderate member of a conservative party in a frequently dysfunctional body. He might succeed like Marco Rubio. But he’d be just as likely to stumble and tumble like Scott Brown."
Related:
Selecting a Senator: Brown is Bush
Selecting a Senator: Electing George W. Bush
No, we don't want to go back.
LATE CALL:
"Gabriel E. Gomez also issued
robocalls
this week alluding to the [Boston Marathon Bombings].
In his recorded message, Gomez, a former US Navy SEAL, released an automated call Tuesday, presenting himself as a nonpolitician who understands the peril the United States faces.
“I’m running for the United States Senate in the April 30 Republican primary, but I’m not a politician,” he says in a recording of the call, provided to the Globe by a rival campaign. “I know firsthand the dangers and challenges our country faces, but I also know the strength and resolve of our people.”
Gomez, a private equity investor from Cohasset, has run a campaign heavy on biography, working to differentiate himself from his two GOP opponents, former US attorney Michael J. Sullivan and state Representative Daniel B. Winslow.
In the call, Gomez says that he is a first-generation American, attended the US Naval Academy, and asks for the “opportunity to serve our country again,” before directing those called to his website....
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NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"
Ex-SEAL group fund-raising for former colleague Gomez
The fund-raising letter from the group, the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, bashes Obama for his “sheer arrogance” and “radically liberal agenda.”
“This is no game,” writes Ryan K. Zinke, the group’s chairman, in a letter that asks donors to give up to $5,000 to Gomez’s campaign. “We are fighting for the very survival of the nation you and I love.”
Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, was a spokesman for the conservative group during the 2012 presidential election, when it accused Obama of exploiting the killing of Osama bin Laden and endangering troops for political purpose.
But the group’s fiercely anti-Obama rhetoric stands in sharp contrast to the letter Gomez sent to Governor Deval Patrick in January, asking the Democratic governor to appoint him interim senator.
In that letter, Gomez said he supported Obama in 2008 and pledged to support the president’s positions on gun control and immigration in the Senate. Gomez also argued that, instead of delivering a blow to Obama’s agenda, his service in the Senate “would be good for the Democrats as well, since it is in everyone’s interest to have the two parties at the negotiating table.”
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