Posts with the tag 'Mitt Romney'
Interesting:
Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Friday is scheduled to meet with two Republican governors who have been prominently mentioned as potential running mates, according to Republicans familiar with McCain’s plan.
The two governors, Charlie Crist, of Florida, and Bobby Jindal, of Louisiana, have both accepted invitations to meet with McCain at his home in Arizona, according to Republican familiars with the decision. One Republican said that Mitt Romney, a former rival of McCain for the presidential nomination wasalso expected to visit him this weekend. Romney’s advisers declined to comment.
McCain, after a week of campaigning, is heading home on Friday for three days without a public schedule. His campaign declined to comment on the meetings.
“We don’t talk about the V.P. selection process,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser.
Still, the names of McCain’s visitors and the timing — coming three weeks after the Arizona senator told reporters that he had a list of 20 potential running mates — strongly suggested that he was moving into an intensified phase in his search for a vice presidential candidate.
Jindal is the best pick, in my view - his only drawback being the brief time he’s been governor of Louisiana, but given that the Democrats’ guy hasn’t got the requisite experience to be dog catcher, that might not be a high hurdle to overcome. Jindal would bring youth (I believe he’s 36 years old), ardent Catholicism, ethnic diversity (he’s the son of Indian immigrants), policy expertise (he’s a bit of a wonk on that) and a vision of the GOP future. Romney and Crist would also be fine picks, but Jindal is the man of the moment, I believe.
UPDATE: A sample of Jindal:
When I first learned you had invited me to come to the Press Club, I was excited at the prospect of being your biggest newsmaker this week.
Then, on Monday morning, I turned on the TV and saw Reverend Wright standing right here in this pulpit. I mean podium.
I’m a little disappointed the cable channels aren’t broadcasting live again this morning. Where are satellite trucks?
I have to tell you, I will never be as colorful or interesting as Reverend Wright. So if that’s what you came to see, I suggest you get another cup of coffee. In fact, I am less interesting and less colorful than any Louisiana governor you have ever met. I told my staff the very first day I was sworn in that was one of my goals.
Our state has had its share of colorful, quotable, entertaining politicians. In fact, in many elections it seemed that was the only criteria to get elected in Louisiana. You may remember our former Governor Edwin Edwards’ slogan….. “Laissez les bon temps Roulez.” Let the good times roll.
It made for great copy and funny sound bites.
But the problem was that the good times did NOT roll. At least not for everyone. The good times rolled for the people in power in our government, but they did not roll for most people in our state. “Who you know” became far more important than “what you know.”
Last year, during the campaign, I put the challenge to our citizens to roll all of that back. I went to every city, every parish, every wide spot in the road and said “we CAN change, we MUST change, we WILL change.”
And our people responded. They gave us an historic victory on the first ballot…
…with our resources…from agriculture to transportation to petroleum…we can be at the center of innovation and commerce in this country again.
If you have a solution to the impending problems with the world’s food supply? Come to Louisiana, where the growing cycle lasts most of the year.
If you have a way to stretch our domestic oil supply and decrease our dependence on foreign oil? Come to Louisiana, where one third of the nation’s oil and gas comes in off our coasts.
If you have a product to export to the nation and the world, come to Louisiana, where we have five of America’s largest ports, and three of the nation’s major railroads.
Louisiana has always been perfectly situated to be the capital of American innovation…if only Government would get out of the way.
And we are doing just that, right before your eyes.
Our first task was ethics – we now have a predictable playing field for outside investors. You won’t get beat by a rigged game. After that, we moved to dramatically alter our tax code.
In a second special session in March, we ELIMINATED anti-business taxes on business utilities, new equipment and debt.
We sped up the elimination of the tax on business investment – meaning Louisiana is no longer one of only THREE states in the country that taxes manufacturing machinery and equipment.
We accelerated the elimination of the tax on capital investment – meaning Louisiana is no longer one of the ONLY states in the country that taxes business debt.
We completely eliminated the “penny” tax on business utilities.
And – we re-authorized Louisiana’s New Market Tax Credits to encourage further investment in our state, and especially those areas that are still working to rebuild from the storms of 2005.
We also did something government too rarely does…we used a one-time surplus to make one-time expenditures that strengthen our economy. Thanks to the price of oil and the pace of reconstruction, our state budget is actually doing pretty well.
More sober governors might have created big new programs…setting a higher baseline for spending that might not be sustainable once revenues take a dip.
We did just the opposite.
We invested hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development… on priorities like roads, bridges, ports, and coastal restoration.
For a conservative, it doesn’t get any better than this…
Tags: Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, Mitt Romney, Veepstakes
May 21st, 2008
Michael Barone takes note:
What makes this presidential election different from all other presidential elections? And different from what we expected when the year began?
First, neither party’s presumptive nominee was chosen by massive support from primary voters, as John Kerry was in 2004, George W. Bush in 2000, or Bill Clinton in 1992.
That may not seem obvious in the case of John McCain, who effectively clinched the Republican nomination on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5. But look at the numbers: In January, McCain won New Hampshire 37 percent to 32 percent, South Carolina 33 to 30 percent, and Florida 36 to 31 percent. On Super Tuesday, he won more than 50 percent only in states that were essentially uncontested: Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. He won Missouri by only 33 percent to 32 percent and California by only 42 percent to 35 percent, but won big delegate margins because of Republicans’ winner-take-all rules…
…As for Barack Obama, at this writing he leads Hillary Clinton by 153 in “pledged delegates,” those chosen in primaries and caucuses. But about 90 percent of this lead — between 130 and 140 delegates — came in caucuses, where the enthusiasm of his followers and the inexplicable failure of the Clinton campaign to mobilize hers gave him big victories.
We know from the nonbinding “beauty contest” primaries in Washington in February and in Nebraska on May 13 that Obama would have won much smaller margins in primaries in those states — and much smaller delegate margins, thanks to the Democrats’ proportional representation rules.
While either man may end up being the choice of the people in November, neither of them are really the enthusiastic choice of their respective political parties - both have problems with the base, as it were. The trouble for Obama is that his strength is on the left, which makes it harder for him to pull in the center, while McCain’s strength (to the dismay of many on the right) is in the center, thus making it easier for McCain to cobble together the requisite 270 electoral votes. Now, don’t get me wrong, McCain still has the much more uphill fight to win than Obama, but Obama isn’t going to coast downhill to the White House…he’s going to have to fight very, very hard if he wants to win.
Barone also notes that money has been nearly worthless in 2008 as far as moving votes - Romney vastly outspent McCain, and still lost; Obama vastly outspent Hillary, and still came up short in such states as Ohio and Pennsylvania. What this means for the fall is unknown - but it could be that the yapping of political ads has gone on so long that people tune them out…on the other hand, if Obama or McCain can come up with a really good, very different sort of ad, it might carry far more weight than any ad in the past ever did. It could also be that ideological affinities have hardened, the unaffiliated voters are shrinking in number and the ads are really just preaching to the respective choirs.
As I’ve been saying since before the election cycle started, its going to be a strange election year - and it may end up being as watershed as the 1860 or 1932 elections were. Remain buckled in and enjoy what will likely be an increasingly wild ride.
Tags: HillBama, John McCain, Michael Barone, Mitt Romney
May 17th, 2008
I’m not entirely sure about a McCain/Romney ticket - though such a thing does have many things to commend it. But, be that as it may, GOP unity continues to grow:
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - In a show of Republican unity, one-time bitter foes John McCain and Mitt Romney raised money and campaigned together Thursday for a single goal - getting McCain elected president.
“We are united. Now our job is to energize our party,” the Arizona senator said in an airport hangar, flanked by Romney and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., an early McCain supporter. Both have been mentioned as potential vice presidential picks, and McCain praised each.
Romney lauded McCain and promised to do all he can to help, saying: “He is a man who is proven and tested” and without question the right man to be president.
In February, Romney won 90 percent of the vote in Utah to McCain’s 5 percent. Romney’s ties to the state run deep, from his Mormon faith to his work overseeing the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
“Look, that wasn’t the only state I lost to Governor Romney in - it was just the largest loss,’ McCain said chuckling. He joked that it was abject humiliation but understandable given Romney’s Utah links. “I was at least hoping to break into double digits though!”
“I think he did just fine in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, California …,” Romney said, laughing about states McCain won.
Country before party and country before individual desires - Romney very much wanted to be President, and probably very much would like to try again one day…but now his task is different; it is to ensure a man qualified to be President is elected in November, and of the three contenders for that office, only McCain has the experience, vision and tested leadership skills to hit the ground running on day one - a thing we’ll need in these dangerous times.
Tags: GOP Unity, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Veepstakes
March 28th, 2008
Well, after a rough start (eg, flight delays, screwed up car rental, accidentally switching my laptop for someone else’s, etc…), we ended up having a great day here at CPAC.
Obviously, the big news is Romney dropping out and McCain de-facto becoming the GOP nominee for President. We’re still in the whirl of events, so I’ll only briefly comment for now:
Romney’s speech was excellent - a clear, concise explanation of what America faces and why it is time for all to unite behind the man who is our chance to keep Obama/Hillary - and their destructive and divisive policies - out of the White House. Romney has shown himself a good patriot, and made himself the most logical pick for McCain’s Vice President.
McCain’s speech was well-received except by a few, scattered Paul supporters. The McCain supporters were, naturally, on fire for their man, while the Romney supporters were in a “we’ve got to win” mood, and thus seemed willing to give McCain his chance. In the substance of McCain’s speech was two main things: a litany of conservative principles he’ll adhere to (low taxes, spending reform, winning the war, etc) as well as a re-affirmation that he does, indeed, have people who disagree with him and with whom he disagrees, but that disagreements should not lead us to shoot ourselves in the foot in November. To these sentiments I offer my heartfelt agreement.
As to the general tenor of the gathered conservatives - optimistic, determined, brimming with ideas and a passion for seeing them put into practice. The only slight hiccup in an otherwise perfect day at CPAC was Matt at the CPAC straw poll - he was stuck for a moment with a hanging chad in his ballot; we consider this, actually, to be a good omen about just how badly the Democrats are going to start ripping themselves to shreds over the nomination (this was also a well-expressed opinion at CPAC - we’re all “go, Obama, go” and “fight, Hillary, fight”; we enthusiastically back a long, drawn out battle for the Democratic nomination.
More later…
Tags: Conservatism, John McCain, Mitt Romney
February 7th, 2008
Here we’ll list who won:
Huckabee wins West Virginia.
Obama wins Georgia; UPDATE - appears to be an amazingly crushing victory for Obama, too.
Romney: Massachusetts, North Dakota, Utah, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota
McCain: Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, California, Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma,
Huckabee: West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee
Hillary: Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, California
Obama: Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, Delaware, Alaska, Idaho, Colorado, Missouri, Connecticut, Utah, Kansas, Minnesota, Delaware
UPDATE: New Jersey too close to call on the Democrat side - potentially very bad news for Hillary; if Obama wins this State, then there will start to be a strong argument that Hillary should back out and leave the field clear for Obama, especially if McCain wraps it up on the GOP side tonight.
UPDATE: Hillary’s win in Massachusetts with most of the political establishment going for Obama is quite a feather in her cap…
UPDATE: Bad news for McCain? Arizona not immediately called for him…
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: Barack Obama just spoke… Man… he does a lot of talking without really saying anything. So many people fooled by his warm and fuzzy rhetoric.
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: Hillary and McCain win in California.
UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Delegate count;
Hillary: 656 (Ed. Note: Wonder if she’ll win ten more tonight?)
Obama: 559
McCain: 522
Romney: 223
Huckabee: 142
Turnout: Reports I’ve read indicate Democrats turned out 2 to 1 over GOPers in these primaries. Part of that is a function of where the voting took place - New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California, Massachusetts; all large population States with heavy Democratic registration, but still has to put the GOP on notice that the base needs to be energised - the best way to do this is with a dynamic “Contract with America” sort of campaign message for the fall.
Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Super Tuesday
February 5th, 2008
Real Clear Politics notes that Hillary’s national polling advantage over Obama has evaporated.
Southern Political Reports notes a Romney surge in Georgia.
Byron York over at NRO notes a Romney surge in California.
An NPR poll (PDF) of 1,000 likely voters shows McCain with a slight national lead over both Obama and Hillary.
Ramussen notes that the delegate count still favors McCain.
Its going to be a long day of politics, Americans.
UPDATE: Obama surges to big polling lead in California, Romney also up strong in California, but McCain solid in New York and New Jersey.
UPDATE: Reminder of what is at stake: Mossad says Iran to have nukes in three years.
UPDATE: Huckabee wins West Virginia after McCain supporters shift to him to prevent a Romney win.
UPDATE: Victor Davis Hanson with some observations on the anti-McCain animus:
Among the anti-McCain camp there has been a willingness to contextualize the prior Reagan pragmatism and apostasies on amnesty, taxes, nuclear disarmament, foreign policy, the creation of larger government, and judicial appointments. And the same generous consideration of context is used to explain Romney’s rather amazing liberal stances on the Reagan legacy, gays, abortion, etc. in his 1990s political career in Massachusetts.
It is clear that pragmatism or expediency is not seen as a sin greater than erroneous conviction, in the sense that it is to be understandable that Romney had to do or say some liberal things in blue-Boston to get elected, but that McCain did them willingly when he did not have to in red Arizona. Or maybe it is the magnitude of the sin (McCain-Feingold is felt worse than once being pro-choice and distancing oneself from Reagan)? Or perhaps the chronology of the sin (the 1990s were then, 2007 is now)?
Me: It is CFR plus “Gang of 14″, as far as I can see - with the immigration bill just being a cap to the whole thing (after all, it was President Bush leading the charge on that, not John McCain). Boiling it down even further, I put the largest emphasis on the “Gang of 14″ - one thing we conservatives really worked for was a conservative President who would appoint conservative judges who would then change the judicial rules to allow us to put liberalism and conservatism on the ballot, and thus see the complete triumph of conservatism. McCain’s action in giving the Democrats cover for their obstructionism infuriated the conservative base, and now that the GOP has lost the Senate and there’s a strong propsect of a Democratic President in 2009, the conservative base is not in a forgiving mood; we might have lost our ability to change the judiciary for 4 to 8 years, with Lord only knows what prospects of uber-liberal judges being appointed interim. McCain’s repeated emphasis on how he’ll appoint conservative judges is evidence that he understands just what he did to tick the base off.
It was a terrible error on the part of McCain to work with the Democrats on the matter of judicial appointments - bi-partisanship is fine, but the plain fact of the matter is that Democrats were being ruthlessly and unfairly obstructionist against perfectly qualified judges, and it was a time to fight tooth and nail, not compromise with people who were not playing by the rules. Can McCain overcome this error and win the nomination? If he wins the nomination, can he overcome conservative resentment? Time will tell.
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Nomination, GOP Nomination, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Super Tuesday
February 5th, 2008
Of course, these polls could all be wrong, but Real Clear Politics shows an interesting trend:
…Some interesting results. On the Democratic side, Obama improved his standing across almost every demographic: men, women, young, old, white voters, lower income voters, etc. One of the only two groups where he lost ground, however, was among blacks. Three weeks ago Pew pegged his support with blacks at 52% (vs. 33% for Clinton), in the current survey it dipped five points to 47% (Clinton’s share improved to 36%). That certainly doesn’t fit with the trends we’ve been seeing recently.
On the Republican side, McCain made big gains across every demographic, including self-identified conservatives (+14) and White evangelical Protestants (+7).
Among those located in states that will be voting on February 5th, Obama gained 8 points in the last three weeks, while McCain gained 18.
If the GOP really is starting to rally to McCain and the Democrats are splitting evenly between Clinton and Obama, then what we could have on Wednesday is a de-facto GOP nominee starting to gear up against a Democrat who might not be selected until the end of Spring, and maybe not until the Democratic convention. I do believe that I said many, many times over the past year that everyone should pay little attention to punditry and buckle in for a wild ride, didn’t I? This race gets more interesting all the time - and even in contemplating a fractured Democratic party, one must not leave out the possibility that Romney will end up winning 8 or more States tomorrow, and thus keep a strong reason for continuing the battle. If it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, then we must presume that right now she’s just getting to the theater - we’ve still got a ways to go.
The big questions: If McCain ends up the nominee, will he be able to rally the GOP base?
If Hillary is the nominee, will she be able to rally the far-left Democrats?
Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic Nomination, GOP Nomination, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mitt Romney
February 4th, 2008
The GOP battle now revolves around whether McCain is conservative enough, or whether all conservatives should rally to Romney as being the more conservative candidate. I have to say, I’m a bit mystified by this battle - not mystified that we’re having it (McCain has made a habit of outraging the GOP’s conservative base over the years), but that its carried on with such intensity, as if any GOPer getting sworn in on January 20th, 2009 would be able to dictate an absolutely conservative agenda. Ain’t gonna happen, people; time for a reality check.
Clearly, Mitt Romney has the better argument of being a movement conservative, and that is why I’m supporting Romney for the GOP nomination - in this sense, conservatives should rally to Romney and if we could garner him victory in even a third of the Super Tuesday States, then we’d have a strong argument for carrying on the fight. On the other hand, if Romney gets clobbered on Tuesday (my definition: winning 5 or less States), then it is time to hang it up and work on party unity for November behind McCain - with either Romney or Thompson as the most logical VP picks. McCain isn’t conservative enough - but, then again, no one is really conservative enough.
Think about what we really want - we want to win in Iraq and the larger War on Terrorism, and we want the tax cuts made permanent, and we want conservative judges appointed; and we’re going to get all three from either Romney or McCain. But we also want: more tax cuts, a more aggressive prosecution of the War on Terrorism, stiff regulation of abortion leading to an eventual ban on elective abortion, a national ban on gay marriage, school choice, privatised Social Security, very strong border security, increased oil exploration/extraction in the United States, a crash course in nuclear power construction…get the picture? We want a whole bunch of stuff that we’re not going to magically get and, moreover, a bunch of stuff which were it advocated strenuously by our chosen candidate would cloud the more central issues of our time (the war and life issues, which revolves around judges).
I am a conservative - heck, I consider myself of the original conservatism as I’m a Catholic and as conservatism is designed to conserve what is best out of the past, it must ultimately be a defense of the Judeo-Christian worldview (unless you want to conserve socialism, or some such, right?). I want all those things - but, you know, I also want to drop like a ton of bricks on the corporate bosses in the financial industry which made this mortgage industry sh** sandwich we’re all taking a bite of. I know - I’ve been in the industry and watched them screw it up for the past four years - I want them dragged before Congressional committees and forced to answer just why they thought giving a loan to somone with a 530 FICO was a good idea…and just how they justify a 32% APR on a credit card. This, of course, would likely be applauded by the most dyed in the wool Obama supporter and I’m certain a lot of my fellow conservatives would stand aghast at such a thing (and I know why - the problem is that the left doesn’t want answers and solutions, they just want to bash and regulate…so, I realise there is a bit of risk in playing to the enemy on this, but the truth is the truth and we need to follow it regardless of risk). Am I now not a conservative because of this?
How about the fact that I do, indeed, support a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for the long-term illegals in our country? Hey, I’m in favor of that border fence and I want it built before we do anything else…but I’m also in favor of what McCain’s critics are calling an “amnesty” on illegal immigration. Am I now not a conservative because of this?
While all consevatives share distaste for pornography, there is the fact that a lot of core, conservative people feel that the operation of our democratic Republic requires that we grant leeway to the purveyors of smut. I don’t - I’d regulate the heck out of them. And not just the Hustler variety smut peddlers - the soft-core porn we see in movies and TV, that needs to be curbed, too…basically, I do believe we have a societal right to regulate what can be seen by age-inappropriate persons. No, you can’t say “its on at 11pm” and so its ok…kids sneak, ya know? I sure as heck did when I was a kid…if a kid can reasonably be expected to gain easy access to it, then it simply should not be inappropriate for the kid to see. This is the sort of nanny-State that both I and my fellow conservatives normally loath…but I want it, because I think it vital for the freedom and safety of this nation that we stop the avanlanche of soul-destroying smut (which includes gratuitous violence, by the way, as well as those horrid rap lyrics which tell kids its cool to shoot cops, etc). Am I now not a conservative because of this?
You tell me. In my view, a person has to have a liberal worldview in order to be a liberal. That is, a person would have to base his worldview upon the falsehoods underlying liberalism in order to be a liberal. If your worldview is, instead, based upon that Judeo-Chrsitian civilizaiton we conservatives seek to conserve, then you are a conservative, even if you have some policy prescriptions which appear similar to those out of the liberal playbook. So, McCain is consevative enough for me - Romney is preferred, but come November, as a conservative I will support enthusiastically the candidate who’s worldview is based upon an ultimate defense of Judeo-Chrsitian values…and that won’t be Obama or Hillary.
Tags: GOP Nomination, John McCain, Mitt Romney
February 2nd, 2008
Maine’s caucuses are this weekend, with most caucusing today. According to Truth Caucus, Mitt Romney appears to be doing very well in Maine, despite the establishment’s supporting of McCain.
Rank-and-file activists are turning out in droves for Romney. Word is Sens. Snowe and Collins are stumping hard for McCain […] to avoid an embarrassment.
It will be interesting to see if Maine will be the first bellwether of a possible GOP conservative/activist tide against McCain.
UPDATE: Mitt wins.
Tags: GOP Nomination, Maine Caucuses, Mitt Romney
February 2nd, 2008
Well, not just yet - my man Romney is still in this thing, but Victor Davis Hanson makes a timely observation over some of the rather overwrought complaints about McCain:
I am not being wishy-washy or suggesting that there would not be differences in their respective governance, simply that either candidate on the most critical issues-the war, restraining spending, closing the border, appointing judges-would be vastly superior to the Clinton centaur. It is important that the two fight it out, air their differences, and display their tenacity, and experience, so that voters can see in the present cauldron who would be the more effective and tempered party leader later on in the autumn.
But all that said, at some point there should be recognition that some are becoming so polarized-and polarizing-that we are reaching the point that should a McCain win (and there is a good chance he will), and should he grant the necessary concessions to the base (chose someone like Thompson as his VP, take firm pledges on tax cuts, closing the border, etc), go on Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. for some mea culpas, all that still seemingly would not be enough. And if that were true, the result would vastly increase the chances of the Presidents Clinton, under whom there would be a vastly different Supreme Court, some chance of forfeiting what has been achieved in Iraq, and surely greater growth in government and earmarks.
Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of your fellow Republican.
Wise words - there are strong differences between Romney and McCain and the two candidates should vigorously battle it out, but both of them are Republicans, and both of them are vastly superior Presidential material than either Obama or Hillary. Remember, boys and girls, the goal is the good of the United States, and that means the GOP simply must win. Not because we’re all brilliant and the perfect monster that ne’er was, but because the Democrats are entirely too corrupt and irresponsible to be entrusted with the power of the United States of America.
In light of this necessity, I’m simply not going to engage in bitter exchanges back and forth - Romney is my guy, but McCain will be my guy, if he wins the nomination. I like Romney because he seems the more solid conservative, but McCain is still a magnificent war hero with a lot of conservative background - if we GOPers can’t rally ’round that, if need be, then what sort of party are we?
Lets have a good fight - nothing wrong with a fight; but lets keep it clean, no hitting below the belt, and save the reallly hard punches for those who deserve it: Democrats.
Tags: GOP Nomination, John McCain, Mitt Romney
January 30th, 2008
From last night’s State of the Union:
In the work ahead, we must be guided by the philosophy that made our nation great. As Americans, we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history. We believe that the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens. And so in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free peoples to make wise decisions, and empower them to improve their lives for their futures.
So, how do the Democrats view America?
Barack Obama:
So let me remind you tonight that change will not be easy. That change will take time. There will be setbacks, and false starts, and sometimes we will make mistakes. But as hard as it may seem, we cannot lose hope. Because there are people all across this country who are counting us; who can’t afford another four years without health care or good schools or decent wages because our leaders couldn’t come together and get it done.
Hillary Clinton:
I know that we have to change our education program from the federal level and I know that we’ve got to create a better partnership between Washington and Connecticut and Hartford and all of the other communities here. We can do this. There is so much yearning in our country to be part of something bigger than ourselves again. We can provide a really positive view of our future together and we can ask everybody to be a part of it. It’s not just about electing a president and passing legislation through the Congress. It’s about what each and every one of us will do.
John Edwards:
We need a president who will take these powers on and fight to get you your voice back, and your government back. We need a president who is going to fight every day to make sure that all Americans can find good jobs, save for the future, and be guaranteed health care and retirement security. We need a president who is going to lift up the middle class. That is why today, I am proposing my Middle Class Rising agenda, a comprehensive plan to help hardworking families get ahead, and make sure that all Americans have a fair shot at the American Dream.
In a nutshell: President Bush says to rely upon the American people; Obama, Clinton and Edwards say the American people need a vast federal government to do it for the American people. These are the three Democrats who propose to replace President Bush - who propose, in the end, to replace a man who believes in America and Americans, with a man (or woman) who has no faith in the people to do for themselves. How are the 2008 GOPers in contrast?
Mitt Romney:
Republicans for Change believe in small government. Governments should be restrained so that the freedoms and vitality of individuals and enterprises can be unleashed. Compared to free markets and free enterprises, government is slow to act, wasteful, duplicative, bureaucratic, inefficient, ineffective, and unresponsive. Have I left anything out? Other than that, government isn’t all bad.
John McCain:
My friends, I know we are facing challenging economic times, and we must be responsive to the concerns of Americans who fear they are being left behind in the global economy. But nothing is inevitable in our country. We are the captains of our fate. We can overcome any challenge as long as we keep our courage, and stand by our defense of free markets, low taxes, and small government that have made America the greatest land of opportunity in the world.
Rudy Giuliani:
Americans need tax relief as well, which is why I will eliminate the death tax, index the Alternative Minimum Tax to inflation and target it for elimination. I will simplify the tax code to an optional one-page form. I will also expand tax-free health savings accounts as part of a larger proposal to make health care more affordable.
I believe one of the reasons Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006 was because of excessive spending in the years leading up to that election. Over the last decade, nondefense spending has increased 72 percent, and this year Washington spent nearly $24,000 for every household in America.
Controlling spending must be a chief executive’s priority.
So, the top three are also believers in the ability of Americans to make it on their own. Who do you want as your next President - someone who proposes to wipe your nose for you, or someone who proposes to get the heck out of your way?
Your choice, America - make it well.
Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, Mitt Romney, President Bush, Rudy Giuliani
January 29th, 2008
Yeah, its not like he’s a governor or something, but I’ve met Captain Ed and he’s a good guy, and a sharp commentator:
Over a year ago and many times since, I wrote that I could give no endorsement, because I had honestly not made up my mind about which candidate to support. I also told the CapQ community that if I did make a decision, I would announce it as soon as I made it so that they knew where I stood. The deadline for that decision rapidly approaches, since Minnesota caucuses on February 5th, and I have decided to caucus for Mitt Romney.
As I’ve said before, Romney is my second choice after Fred Thompson, so I’m a Romney voter, now - though its moot until November as we’ve already caucused in Nevada. Like Captain Ed, I feel that Romney brings the best conservative argument to the table, but I can also see myself getting enthusiastic for Giuliani or McCain, should they obtain the nomination. It has been talked up out there that our GOP choices reflect a weakness in the party - I look at it the other way ’round; we’ve got choices to make which are serious, while the Democrats are essentially debating over which uber-liberal empty-suit is best able to BS his (or her) way into the White House. Perhaps the Democrats will end up winning with nothing in November, much as they did in 2006; so be it. I’d rather be a member of a party with something to fight about, rather than a mindless cog in a liberal machine.
And, of course, any win by the Democrats is temporary - because they will make a mess of things, and the people will turn again to us in the by and by. So, lets have at it - I’m for Romney, and I can be for Giuliani, for McCain…heck, even for Huckabee, if it came down to that. Mostly I’m for America, and that is why in 2008 there’s no chance I will vote for a Democrat.
Tags: Captain's Quarters, GOP Nomination, Mitt Romney
January 27th, 2008
The mantle of Reagan is still not secured by any candidate, but Romney shows that he understands economics:
Kernen: “Some of the things we see on the table right now most are temporary. I look at your plan, I see the word ‘permanent’ in many more places. Can you explain what you think we ought to do?”
Governor Romney: “I think what we should do is take action both of a short-term stimulative nature, but primarily, our action should be to pull forward some of the long-term growth objectives that we had, such as lowering the corporate income tax rate. That kind of an act will long-term help our economy, encourage businesses to stay and grow here, have businesses have more capital to invest back in the U.S. Those kinds of actions, I think, have the long-term effect that we’d like to have as well as lowering the tax rate. Lowering tax rates on individuals, particularly the savings rate on individuals – capital gains and dividends and interest – those will create long-term growth in the economy. A combination of short-term and long-term effects, I think, is the best to get our economy going again.”
While Democrats are promising the Moon and proposing to pay for it by taxing “the rich” and corporations, Mitt Romney knows that what is really needed is to further free up “the rich” and corporations to expand, and thus grow the economy. It is good to keep in mind, by the way, that “the rich” the Democrats speak about are actually just people with high earnings - you’ll never see Democrats proposing a tax on real rich people, like Ted Kennedy, or John Edwards, etc. Also, when you tax a corporation all you’re doing is moving money around - a corporation pays precisely zero in taxes. Oh, to be sure, you might see a check from Corporation X showing up in DC at tax time, but every dime of that is paid by the employees and/or the public - in the form of lower wages, less jobs, higher prices or a combination of the three.
We are not our GDP - America is an ideal, but in the continually striving after the American ideal, we need a vibrant economy to provide the sinews of our work. Given this, it is vitally important that we have a President who knows how the economy works. Mitt Romney knows.
Tags: Mitt Romney
January 24th, 2008
Pretty good, if you ask me:
–To permanently cut in the lowest income tax bracket to 7.5 percent from 10 percent.
–To make that cut immediately retroactive to 2007 tax liabilities.
–To permanently eliminate Social Security payroll taxes for workers over 65.
–To provide 100 percent expensing of new equipment purchased by businesses over two years retroactive to Jan 1 2008.
–To permanently reduce the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent over two years.
–To permanently eliminate capital gains and dividends taxes on households earning under $200,000 a year, an idea he has previously proposed.
That is supply-side with some real teeth in it - but, also, with the reduction of the lowest bracket to 7.5%, he also gets to gather in a bit of populism at the same time. Very clever, and very good - as I’ve said in the past, Romney has excellent credentials for being President, and I’ll enthusiastically back him against the Democrats should he gain the GOP nomination…but, for now, I’m going to stick with Fred Thompson.
Tags: Mitt Romney, stimulus package
January 19th, 2008
As Patrick Ruffini points out over at Town Hall - Romney, of course, won in Michigan; the “must win” State for him…but it was how he won over McCain which really shows the mountain McCain has to climb:
Romney won conservatives 41-23%, with 20% for Huckabee.
Romney won Republicans 41-27%.
Romney won Evangelicals 34-29% for Huckabee. McCain took just 23%.
Romney won with those satisfie