David Kramer's "American Dream"

Former chair of the Nebraska Republican Party David Kramer kicked off his campaign for the U.S. Senate this week running all over the state and talking up a storm with local media. Kramer joins 2-time Senate wannabe Don Stenberg as potential Republican nominees looking to take on Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, who seems poised to seek re-election in 2006.

So far, Kramer's doing a pretty good job of promising to be everything to everybody. Just read this Columbus Telegram article and you'll see what I mean - this guy is trying to be a farmer, an international traveler, a small businessman, a family man.

He's also a worshiper of Ronald Reagan of mixed descent who enjoyed taking time from law school to pose in the background of presidential photo ops and got his start in politics volunteering for a Democrat. Ye gads that's a lot of messages to be sending all at once.

At the same time, Kramer promises to "always speak his mind" while criticizing Chuck Hagel for offering an opinion on Iraq that differs from President Bush's and ridiculing Ben Nelson for his ability and willingness to compromise.

Looks like we have a new champion of blow-hard, Big Mouth Politics in Nebraska. Who needs Rush Limbaugh on the radio when you can have his double speaking out of both sides of his mouth on the floor of the U.S. Senate in the exact same fashion?

It's in his claims to being a family man and visionary, however, where the cracks in Kramer's agenda begin to show:

Family...will be a focus during the campaign. Kramer said his trip across the state has already been a family adventure. He was joined by his wife, Beth and young sons Joshua and Benjamin in Columbus Wednesday.

He said he doesn't have to look any further than his children to know what he has to do.

"This race is about them," he said. "I want to give Joshua and Benjamin and the rest of the American children the same opportunity I had to live the American dream."

From the Grand Island Independent, we get a little better sense of what he meant by that:

U.S. Senate candidate David Kramer...said the most critical issue facing America today is the war in Iraq....

He supports President Bush's response to the war -- even if that long-term commitment means sending his own sons into the war in the future.

"Absolutely," Kramer said of supporting his sons in the military should that need ever come.

His two sons, Joshua and Benjamin, are ages 4 and 2 respectively.

Wow...sacrificing your sons to the Gods of War for campaign fodder - that's almost biblical. Poor kids. Got to wonder, though, if Kramer's already enlisting his 2 year-old, are we to assume that he'd support bringing back the draft? Is forced service in an endless war that it's wrong to question really this guy's idea for our children's future?

Whatever happened to peace and prosperity? Was that really asking too much? Of course, those are difficult to come by when compromise is viewed as a failure of leadership.

Yes, vote for a man like David Kramer, and we can pretty much count on today's toddlers having plenty of wars to fight. Perhaps those lucky enough to survive with some semblance of humanity intact will even get a chance at Kramer's so-called "American Dream."