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Tag Archives: Bob Holden

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) – campaign rally at the Liberty Memorial – Kansas City – March 7, 2020

08 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Bob Holden, campaign rally, Emanuel Ceaver, Joe Biden, Kansas City, Liberty Memorial, missouri, president, Primary

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s (D) presidential campaign held a get out the vote rally early yesterday evening at the Liberty Memorial in anticipation of Missouri’s presidential primary on Tuesday, March 10th. I estimate something over two thousand individuals in attendance.

The rally was held in the plaza atop the Liberty Memorial.

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D) introduced Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D).

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D).

https://showmeprogress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/bobholdenbidenrallykansascity030720.mp3

Representative Cleaver introduced Joe Biden.

https://showmeprogress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/emanuelcleaverbidenkc030720.mp3

Joe Biden’s remarks [edited for length and content]:

https://showmeprogress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/joebidenkansascitymissouri030720.mp3

A few minutes into his remarks, two or three individuals started shouting. Joe Biden addressed them briefly and asked them to meet with him after he spoke.

Previously:

Sen. Kamala Harris (D): Endorsement of Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) for President (March 7, 2020)

Chris Koster (D) in Columbia, Missouri – August 5, 2016

06 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by Michael Bersin in Missouri Governor

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Tags

Bob Holden, Chris Koster, Columbia, governor, Judy Baker, missouri, Roger Wilson

Chris Koster (D) in Columbia, Missouri - August 5, 2016.

Chris Koster (D) in Columbia, Missouri – August 5, 2016.

Chris Koster, the 2016 Democratic Party nominee for Governor, spoke to an overflow crowd at a campaign event at the local party headquarters in Columbia early yesterday evening. The event was part of his campaign’s general election kickoff bus tour across the state.

Chris Koster (D) (center left) and Stephen Webber (center right) in Columbia, Missouri - August 5, 2016. photo: Pablo Rodrigo Peres Lopes.

Chris Koster (D) (center left) and Stephen Webber (center right) in Columbia, Missouri – August 5, 2016. photo: Pablo Rodrigo Peres Lopes.

In addition to campaign volunteers and candidates for the General Assembly, former Governors Bob Holden and Roger Wilson and Democratic Party nominee for State Treasurer Judy Baker were in attendance.

Former Governor Bob Holden (D) in Columbia, Missouri - August 5, 2016.

Former Governor Bob Holden (D) in Columbia, Missouri – August 5, 2016.

Former Governor Roger Wilson (D) in Columbia, Missouri - August 5, 2016.

Former Governor Roger Wilson (D) in Columbia, Missouri – August 5, 2016.

Judy Baker, the Democratic Party nominee for State Treasurer, in Columbia, Missouri - August 5, 2016.

Judy Baker, the Democratic Party nominee for State Treasurer, in Columbia, Missouri – August 5, 2016.

At the Democratic Party state convention

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Bob Holden, Judy Baker, missouri, Rachel Gonzalez, Russ Carnahan, Stacey Newman, Teresa Hensley

Saturday in Sedalia.

In the time from 8:00 a.m., when delegate and alternate registration began, to about noon, when the delegates were ready to occupy the convention floor, statewide candidates and others spent time in the hallways at the state convention talking to party activists.

Campaign visibility at the entrance:

IMG_6513

Teresa Hensley, a candidate for Attorney General.

Teresa Hensley, a candidate for Attorney General.

Russ Carnahan, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

Russ Carnahan, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

Judy Baker, a candidate for State Treasurer.

Judy Baker, a candidate for State Treasurer.

Representative Stacey Newman.

Representative Stacey Newman.

Rachel Gonzalez, the youngest delegate (for Hillary Clinton) in the Missouri delegation to the Democratic National Convention.

Rachel Gonzalez, the youngest delegate (for Hillary Clinton) in the Missouri delegation to the Democratic National Convention.

Former Governor Bob Holden, a pledged PLEO delegate (Hilary Clinton).

Former Governor Bob Holden, a pledged PLEO delegate (Hilary Clinton).

The latest in elegant campaign wear:

Courtesy of Senator Claire McCaskill.

Courtesy of Senator Claire McCaskill.

Previously:

Your $27.00 won’t get you into heaven anymore (June 19, 2016)

Running for at-large delegate to the DNC (June 19, 2016)

Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 20, 2013

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Bob Holden, Gary Grigsby, Jason Kander, missouri, Missouri Boys State, Secretary of State

Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) spoke this afternoon in Warrensburg at a Missouri Boys State assembly on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.

This afternoon in Warrensburg Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander (D) addressed

a Missouri Boys State assembly on the campus of the University of Central Missouri.

The audience of close to a thousand Missouri Boys State citizens and around

one hundred staff posed for a group photo before the announcement of Boys State election results.

Gary Grigsby, a long time Missouri Boys State volunteer, listening to Secretary of State Jason Kander (D).

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D), also a long time Missouri Boys State supporter and volunteer.

Greeting Missouri Boys State citizens after the assembly.

Previously:

Missouri Boys State – 2013 (June 16, 2013)

Kansas City Mayor Sly James – Missouri Boys State – June 16, 2013 (June 17, 2013)

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 17, 2013 – one word (June 17, 2013)

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 17, 2013 (June 18, 2013)

State Treasurer Clint Zweifel (D) – Missouri Boys State – June 17, 2013 – Q and A (June 18, 2013)

Bob Woodward – Missouri Boys State – June 18, 2013 (June 19, 2013)

Bob Woodward – Missouri Boys State – June 18, 2013 – Q and A, parts 1, 2 & 3 (June 20, 2013)

Bob Woodward – Missouri Boys State – June 18, 2013 – Q and A, parts 4 & 5 (June 20, 2013)

Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 2

13 Monday Jun 2011

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Bob Holden, Boys State, missouri

Previously: Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1 (June 12, 2011)

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D) was the keynote speaker for the opening of the seventy-second session of the American Legion Boys State of Missouri in Warrensburg on Saturday night.

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D) takes questions from Missouri Boys State participants on the stage of

Hendricks Hall on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg on Saturday night.

This is the second and final portion of the transcript of the question and answer session:

….Question: I was wondering if you had some final words of advice for those of us who will be on the campaign trail trying to go out and get voters, trying to persuade people.

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D):  Well, first, first of all, meet as many people as you can, don’t try to bowl them over, uh, with your personality, but meet ’em, and know why you’re running, and what you want to do and why you want to be elected. I also, just one of the little techniques I, I learned is with, uh, if you want to meet everybody the best place to meet people is in the food line. You meet ’em before they get their plate, don’t try to stop ’em after they get their food. [laughter] Uh, you know, little things like that, uh, you know, it sometimes can go a long ways. I mean, my first election, Springfield, I took on the incumbent, uh, that, uh, a Republican that everybody said could not be defeated and we just went out and outworked him. Uh, I had a young lady that, uh, helped me in that campaign who later became my wife. And, uh, without her I wouldn’t have been elected governor, state treasurer, things like this, so. Partnerships, relationships mean something. Male and female. Campaign workers and, and future spouses. So, good luck.

Question: Thank you. [applause]…

…Question: …I was wondering, uh, you, without question had a great deal of success in your life. I was wondering what advice you would give to somebody who, you know, loses an election or fails at something. How do they take from it and move on, you know, for betterment?

Bob Holden: Well, I had, I like to believe, a great deal of success but I also failed, too. Uh, I lost a race for student body president in college. Uh, I lost a race for state treasurer, uh, against an incumbent. I lost my reelection as governor of the State of Missouri.  Uh, so not all wins, I think, uh, Abraham Lincoln lost five races before he ever won his first one. Uh, so, many times I think you learn more when you lose then when you win. ‘Cause when you win you think you did everything right. When you lose you analyze it a little bit. You think about what I, what could I have done differently. Uh, and, uh, you know, I learned things when I lost the, the, uh, initial treasurer’s race against the incumbent. Uh, I analyzed, uh, my, uh, race, uh, for reelection as governor. Uh, and candidly, my assessment is, uh, is tenor of the time. Mike told, in introduction told the fact I earned a million dollars interest off investments, state funds, state treasurer. When I came into office in two thousand one after Mel Carnahan had been killed, his, uh, uh, governorship was over with, I had to start cutting budgets. I cut a hundred eighty million dollars out of the state budget in the first eighteen days. I ended up cutting over one point two billion out of a six billion dollar general revenue budget in my four years. We had September the eleventh that came along. We had the depression across the board. [inaudible] make decisions. And instead of continuing to cut, cut on things I thought were important like education, like senior health care, like transportation I tried to raise taxes. I would still do the same thing again today even know the outcome. Because I think you owe it as a responsibility to future generations that while you’re, while it’s on your watch you do what is necessary to give them the best chance for success in the future. And to me that’s education, infrastructure, technology. Whoever controls the technology controls the economy of the, of tomorrow. That’s the reason investment in education is so very, very important. So you, you can learn by failure and losses.

Question: Thank you very much. [applause]

Question: …I want to backtrack to the first question that was asked.

Bob Holden: Sure.

Question: He asked about, um, why you thought scandals and stuff are so prominent and why politicians didn’t always go straight try to hit the issues and try to fix them. Um, going back to that, do you see any solution to that or any way that could be fixed? And, if so, how long would that take?

Bob Holden: Well, if you could guarantee that every citizen, every person that runs for office, uh, has the right ethical, uh, underpinnings. Uh, but politics is no different than many other professions, even though you, it’s more in the spotlight. Uh, there’s always gonna be people trying to, uh, push you in to things that shouldn’t do. That’s the reason it’s so important to have a free press, an open press. It’s the reason it’s also important that you have two or three or whatever political parties. Uh, to, to be sure and keep those issues out there. And, you know, all the stuff that you’re reading about today, you know, when George Washington was president, when John Adams was president, when Thomas Jefferson was president, when Jackson was president, go back and read some of the stories in the newspaper about those men during their time. This is not new. It’s feels like it’s new. And of course now we’ve got, uh, uh, Fox, we’ve got MSNBC, we got CNN, we got about fifty television stations all with reporters, uh, trying to find everything they can. It, it, which is their right to do. And so you feel like you’re just bombarded. And you are. But, it comes back to the, the quality of people that you elect and what values they have. And, you know, there, there’s no easy answer to this. It’s just, you’ve got, as a citizen in a democracy it’s work. Because in a democracy you have a responsibility. In a dictatorship, as long as you like the leader you don’t, you know, you expect them to care of these things. But in a democracy we all have a responsibility. That’s what Missouri Boys State’s all about. Did I answer your question?

Question: Yes, thank you very much. [crosstalk]

Bob Holden: I’m not, I’m not trying to evade the question at all.

Question: I think you, think you hit it pretty much head on, so, thank you very much. [applause]

Bob Holden: [inaudible] Be true to yourself.

Question: …When you were like Governor of Missouri and even now did you feel it was important to vote your party or the person that you thought was the better candidate for the office?

Bob Holden: Well, I voted for people in my party. I didn’t always share the view, the political views, of some people in my party. Uh, and that’s where times you, you [inaudible], uh, that relationship. But, I voted for people in my party because I had a better chance of getting their support for legislative and, and policy issues I was promoting.

Question: All right. Thank you very much.

Bob Holden: That does, but I mean, the, it’s one thing, it, it’s one thing to vote for people in your party, it’s another thing to try to demonize people in the other party. Uh, you know, Jim Talent, who some of you pr
obably know, Jim and I ran against each other for governor. We probably didn’t agree on a single political issue, but we remain friends. Roy Blunt is a long time friend of mine from Springfield, Missouri. May not agree on most political issues at all, but you can get along with people. It doesn’t mean you have to compromise your point of view, but you can communicate in a way that’s not offensive.

Question: That makes sense. Thank you very much.

Bob Holden: Okay. [applause] Any more?

Question: …My dad always told me that you get what put in to something. I was curious what you think what we need to put into the economy to get the most out of it.

Bob Holden: First of all, we’ve got to be willing to change. One of the things that I found the hardest when I got elected, uh, all of your interest groups in our political system are there to protect what’s already in the system. And I, I was in the process of trying to move us from old line manufacturing, to high tech manufacturing, to the plant life sciences, all of these things, the information technology, all of the things that didn’t have a constituency at that point in time. They’ve got a little bit more now, but still not enough. Uh, and there was no constituency out there to support ’em. Uh, but it was still the right thing to do. And as we are seeing in our country, those, those pockets of economic growth and opportunity are those that have been willing to change and make the investment in those jobs of the future, not of holding on those jobs of the past. Give you another example, uh, the people of Hazelwood, Missouri came to me and their car plant, Ford Motor Company, was getting ready to close down. And they asked if I’d be willing to help ’em to protect those twenty-five hundred jobs. And so I, we as a state put together a tax package to keep Ford at Hazelwood. That lasted for about two and a half years. Ford closed the plant. I’d have probably been better off to take that two point five million dollars and put that into education training programs so that those twenty-five hundred people plus many others would have the skills to compete for the jobs of the future. But that’s the, the politics of being in office, you’re trying to balance, uh, all these different interests and still make the right, the right one. One of the issues I have a great deal of concern about, not just Missouri, but all over the country, is, how many people do we have from Kansas City here? Well, quite, quite a few. Okay. Well, in Kansas City, those of you, that are ought, familiar with Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas are about as wide as a highway, the, the line goes right down the middle of the road. And companies all the time that are, are in Kansas will come to Missouri officials and say, our leases are up, we’re looking for a better opportunity, what can Missouri do for us? Uh, we’ll put together a package of what, what incentive, tax credits, money, your tax money that would bring that company to the Missouri side of that line. Then that company will take that package that we’ve offered, go back to the, the State of Kansas and say, you know, we want to stay in Kansas but Missouri’s put together a hell of a package for us. And we, we’re not gonna be true to our, uh, shareholders and everybody else if we don’t consider this offer. Can you meet it or can you surpass it? And so Kansas puts down the pencil, they, they look and see what they can do to keep the company there. At the end of the day whether it’s in Kansas or Missouri they’re not adding any jobs to that regional economy. But one state, if not both states, has spent millions of dollars to maintain an economy that hasn’t changed for the region. Is that good public policy? But as a governor you want that headline, if you’re a Missourian, saying we got five hundred jobs from Kansas coming to Missouri. Doesn’t say anything about five hundred people still living in Kansas paying taxes in Kansas. And if you’re a Kansas governor you want the headline, company x decides to stay in Kansas. Because both of ’em, that is a benefit on election day, that they did, they created these jobs or protected these jobs even though they’ve not added any economic value to the region at all. That’s what governors have to deal with. Did I answer?

Question: Yeah, you did. Thank you, sir.

Bob Holden: Okay. [applause]…

Question: …What makes it so difficult for politicians to maintain your, their reputation on social networks when high schoolers such as ourselves are able to like promote ourselves so well? [laughter]

Bob Holden: Are we talking about, uh [crosstalk], [Representative] Anthony Weiner in New York?

Question: Like. Yeah, in part, parts, [laughter] in part.

Bob Holden: Well, first of all, you shouldn’t be doing it. And he should resign. Uh, uh, and people in both parties, I mean, uh, it really ought, I think, more than anything else comes about, why are you there? What do you want to achieve while you’re there? What’s your purpose? What’s your goal? What’s your vision? All of the things I talked about in my speech.  You know, winning and losing elections, to me, is not near as, uh, difficult as losing your soul. ‘Cause that you live with no matter what you’re doing. Uh, and, the way I was raised, uh, and you know, my parents, my parents were no, nobody special. But, one thing about it, you never had to guess what my dad’s attitude or feelings were. If you asked him he would tell you straight up. Some people liked him, some people didn’t like him at all. But, I think you can do it in a civil way, but I think you deserve to give people an answer. And hold true to your values. And then that, and then in a democracy it’s the people’s right to decide whether they share those values or want somebody else’s values.

Question: Thank you, sir.

Bob Holden: Okay. [applause]

Now, all that being said, I would still go out at campaign time and work my tail off to win. But you do it, the, the, the, in politics there should be and there is, by and large, at least when, when I was growing up in the poli, in the political game, a certain code of ethics and conduct that you don’t go beyond. And that’s the way it is in life.

[….]

Thank you very much. [applause]

Former Governor Bob Holden at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1

12 Sunday Jun 2011

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

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Bob Holden, Boys State, missouri

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D) was the keynote speaker for the opening of the seventy-second session of the American Legion Boys State of Missouri in Warrensburg on Saturday night.

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D) takes questions from Missouri Boys State participants on the stage of

Hendricks Hall on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg on Saturday night.

After Governor Holden finished his prepared remarks he took questions from the floor. The first part of the transcript of the question and answer session:

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden (D): ….I’m not running for any office so I’ll be very candid with you. [laughter] Uh, so feel free. Be sure, all of the elected officials come this week, that you, uh, acknowledge them and pay them respect and ask tough questions. Anybody want to ask a question? The first one’s always the toughest.

Question: Uh, governor, I wanted to get an opinion from an actual politician. Why do you think it is in today’s society where we have so much political, economic and social turmoil that we’re not able to get past basic, uh, scandals like Anthony Weiner, [New York] Representative Weiner’s scandal  or [former California Governor Arnold] Schwarzenegger’s or [former North Carolina Senator and presidential candidate John] Edwards being, uh, charged with a one point seven million dollar misuse of funds and not able to focus on the issues like the, uh, debt ceiling being reached or the wars or any other matter for that matter?

Bob Holden: Uh, first of all, neither political party has a solution for the problems you’re talking about. Uh, if they did they’d be out here on the campaign stump talking about it all the time. And in a democracy when you have no clear direction you, you try to sidestep the issues, uh, you try to give part of an answer. Uh, because honestly, uh, to solve the problem that you’re, in general you’re talking about, which, every [inaudible] comes back to money. You know, that, that line, follow the money? Well, there’s a lot of truth to it. But, you could, to do the things, whether it’s reduce the budget or in, or increase our commitment to health care, Social Security, the military, whatever it might be you’ve got to raise taxes. And neither side wants the other one to win that argument. And so they, they have not been able to come to a consensus. But, people like you can force that issue. And I will tell you as a former official, raise, trying to raise taxes is not a very popular thing. I’ll also tell you if we don’t make the investment in education we won’t lead the world in the twenty-first century going forward. We’ve got to be willing to make that commitment to education. Uh, and that’s, to me, uh, that’s the single most important thing, uh, that we as a culture and a society must do. But to, to pay for it you gotta figure out how to raise the revenue to get it done. Uh, and we need a, a far different curriculum, I think, in the future. We need to be pushing foreign languages, we need to be pushing things like understanding all the cultural, uh, variants of cultures around the world. Because not all of the decisions will be made within the borders of the United States.  So, the, the simple answer to your question is the, both parties can’t come to this stage, uh, to an agreement on what the solution is. Republicans want to reduce the size of government. Democrats want to protect their interest in the budget, Republicans want to protect their interest in the budget. And there’s not a consensus in our society about what the answer should be.

Question: Thank you, governor. I agree. Maybe you could pass that on to the House and the Senate. [laughter] [applause]…

…Question: ….Governor, you talked about, uh, the budget, about how Democrats are trying to, to focus on that. Um, I’m curious, with your relationship to China, do you believe that the key to the United States budget in the future is to increase foreign dependency in trade with countries such as China, Brazil and Germany or do you believe that the key is handling domestic issues in the United States, such as universal health care, job, excuse me, job productivity, and, uh, reforming the welfare system.

Bob Holden: Well, I agree with all of those things, but, you know, when we talked about China or we talking about India or any place else, uh, I come at this from the stand point I want to create jobs in the United States. Do we have anybody from Moberly, Missouri here? Ah, I see a couple hands. I, I worked on a project called Mamtek. It is a Hong Kong company, they’ve got a plant in China, the technology, I think, comes out of Israel, the investors come out of California. They made a commitment to build a facility in Moberly, Missouri that’s going to create six hundred new jobs in Moberly, Missouri. Because that company’s made that commitment another Chinese company that’s got a relationship with them has also made a commitment to come to Moberly, Missouri. There’s three more companies in China talking about coming to Moberly, Missouri. So a town of fourteen thousand people that’s not on a major Interstate, doesn’t have a major university, got a community college, potentially has anywhere from six hundred new jobs up to twenty-five hundred new jobs. In the United States. Americans with a job with health care right in the middle of this country. There’s hundred of Moberlys throughout the United States and particularly the Midwest. But, it takes leadership and a commitment on the part of the community that they’re willing to take the risk and make that investment. Every time some governmental agency, no this can’t be done ’cause it doesn’t abide by our rules. A young lawyer, who I knew his parents twenty-five years ago in Springfield, Missouri, who, who does legal work for communities came up with a way to get it done. It’s about leadership. Leadership will solve a lot of the problems. So, I think all those things you talked about were important, but we can create jobs here. And that’s what I’m about in the Midwest U.S. China Association. It’s creating jobs in the Midwest. [applause]

Question: ….How is that you connect your core values with, uh, your policy, or more specifically, how you, uh, create the policy in your government so that it reflects exactly what it is you were raised on? And I know that’s Christian principles.

Bob Holden: Well, it, to me a, a Christian, which I am one, uh, believes in treating your neighbor as yourself, respecting them for who they are, uh, letting them have their values, and taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves. Uh, you know, if you read the, the Bible according to Jesus he wasn’t all that popular in his culture, either.  How popular would he be in our culture today [stir in audience] with some of his views? I, I think you, you lead by example. That’s the reason why, when I was faced with the, the first serious budget deficits in a long time as governor I tried to raise taxes. Wasn’t popular. But I thought it’s the right thing to do. At the end of the day winning and losing an election is not as important as winning or losing your soul. If you stand for something you ought to stand for something. If you don’t, then don’t get involved in politics. To me politics is about public service. The two people who got me involved in politics were Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. And I believe that people who run for office, people who serve in office, have an obligation to be true to those values. When I left public office I had no more money in the bank than when I started in politics. To me it’s public service. That’s what Missouri Boys State teaches you. That’s all, what it’s all about. It’s wha
t it should be about for all of us. You know, I don’t care how much money you have in life, if you’re unhappy you’re gonna be unhappy with a hundred dollars or a thousand dollars. But if you’ve got good relationships and built the kind of relationships and personal life, uh, in politics sometimes it’s not easy to do. But, I can get up every day, look myself in the mirror, and feel okay. So, I used to tell my staff, by the way, on a side note, if you’re doing something, if it shows up on the front page of the newspaper, am I gonna be pleased with what I read or not? Your gut tells you if what you’re doing is right or wrong ninety-five percent of the time. Live by those values and you’ll be okay.

Question: All right, thank you.

Bob Holden:  Thank you. [applause]

Question: ….Why do you think America as a whole is trying to find somebody to blame for the current economic crisis that we’re in?

Bob Holden:  Well, first of all, we don’t have a solution. And, you know, I, I have found that in, in government or politics, uh, everybody wants the budget cut as long as it doesn’t affect them. Everybody advocates change as long as it doesn’t affect them. And we’ve got to get over that. For, for us to have a budget solution at the federal level everybody’s gotta be willing to sacrifice. Those who are Democratic, Democratic values and those who are Republican, Republican values. As I said in my comments, you’ve got one of the classiest individuals in politics that I’ve ever met, and that’s Jack Danforth, coming to speak. I tell audiences all across the country that I long for the day when you could have a Jack Danforth and a Tom Eagleton representing Missouri in the United States Senate, one Republican, one Democrat, could fight on issues very aggressively, but still walk out respecting each other and be friends. Unfortunately I think term limits and the massive amount of money in politics today has eroded that relation, relationship building that is needed. So, that’s, you know, I’ve got a lot of answers on some of these, not very popular with some people but it’s what I believe.

Question: That’s very insightful. Thank you.

Bob Holden:  Thank you. [applause]

Question: ….Concerning your economic relation with China, what do you find to be the most effective means of getting your key points across to such a culturally and linguistically different group?

Bob Holden:  Well, first of all, the leaders that I work with, the Ambassador to the United States from China, the Counsel General, and my message to them is, it is not politically sustainable in our culture if all, if everybody perceives all the jobs leaving the United States going to China. It has to be a two way street. And honestly China needs us as much as we need China. They’ve got to keep their economy growing or they have revolution in their country, too. They may have a different political system, but they change leaders there, too. And if those leaders are not meeting the needs of the people they’ll change. They may change in a little bit different way than we do, but they make changes in their culture, too. And, and particularly in the whole area of energy, that is the one issue where both countries can work together on that is critical for the world at large. Whether, whether it’s figuring out how to use clean coal, whether it’s figuring out how to take care of the spent rods in nuclear, whether they figure out how to use wind and solar and renewable. You know, China has one point three billion people and they gotta have, they gotta feed those people every day. Their people have to have jobs every day just like they do in the United States. And so they need a prosperous America buying their goods as we need a prosperous China helping us provide some of the, uh, things that we like to buy. And what most people in this country don’t understand China has a problem of losing jobs, too. The jobs that ten, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago left the United States to go to China are now leaving China and going to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam. And so they have some of the same problems. They’ve also got a very serious drought. They’re talking about what are they gonna do in Beijing when it’s dry. What, what are they gonna do when it’s dry. Uh, you know, so they’ve got a lot of issues. And what, to be successful with China or anything else you’ve got to design a solution where both sides or all sides see that they win more by working together than working against. And that’s the opportunity that we have if we have leaders willing to step up. And what we’re trying to do through this organization, which is bipartisan, is no matter what the politics are in the twelve Midwestern states, who, Democrat versus Republican, we’ve gotta keep the lines of communication open and look for those opportunities like Moberly, Missouri  where we can place facilities here, creating jobs for Americans that can work with China. And what’s interesting about the Moberly project they’re, they make the ingredients called sucralose that you find in Splenda, they’re making it here to send back to China to sell. ‘Cause made in the U.S.A. still means something if you’re doing it right. [applause]

Question: Thank you very much….

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