Post by Jersey on Apr 11, 2012 19:29:39 GMT -5
With Rick Santorum pulling out of the Republican Presidential race to focus on family and his sick daughter, Mitt Romney is essentially the shoe-in for the nomination unless something drastic happens.
I'll start by saying this. Romney is not the ideal conservative Republican candidate. At the beginning of this race for me it was Michelle Bachmann, then it was Herman Cain, and then Rick Santorum. Now that Santorum is out, the candidate I favor is Newt Gingrich simply because he has experience in government and spearheaded the Republican Revolution in the mid-90s which forced President Clinton to the center and set the country on a decent road to prosperity. His record is more checkered than I would like, but because Romney is so hard to pin down in his values and Gingrich is less hard to place in a category, I favor Gingrich. However, Gingrich is running out of funds and is even saying now that Romney will probably be the nominee.
Now, for Romney. He's essentially a moderate politician with leaning in both liberal and conservative values. This could be a good or very very bad thing. One of my primary concerns is his Romneycare law which has been described as the blueprint for Obamacare, the socialized medicine government takeover that they are trying to disqualify in the Supreme Court as we speak. Romneycare is considered a disaster because it forces people to buy health insurance and has caused long waits for services and instances of rationing. With Romney as the nominee, he would not be able to attack the Obamacare law with any sense of effectiveness because of his own law. The only ground it might stand on is that his was statewide, which does not violate the Constitution, while Obamacare is nationwide and does violate it.
He's going to have to attack Obama on his record. The public gaffes he has made. The apology tour. Bowing to foreign leaders. Operation Fast and Furious. Violation of religious freedom. Wholly mischaracterizing the "Arab Spring" as pro-Democracy. Getting involved in police affairs where he doesn't belong. The 5 trillion dollars in debt that he has spent. How we have not added a single job in his four years in office. How he has purposefully driven up gas prices. His manipulation of the private market. The bailouts. The failed/wasted stimulus. Shredding the Bill of Rights. Buddying up to Iran. Crapping all over our allies, especially Israel. I could go on all night.
The good: Romney has money; he'll be able to run an effective slew of ads against Obama. He has the Republican super-PAC's behind him now. Chances are, the splintered Republican Party will more than likely unite behind him now that the others are essentially out. His moderate stances will likely attract women and independent voters. He has private sector experience and knows how to get flailing companies back to prosperity, which he can use to help the economy. He has largely stayed away from making too many hardline statements, which are probably better to save until the nomination is captured. As governor, his tenure included economic expansion, a balanced budget with no tax increases, and an effort to restore capital punishment that was shot down by the liberal Democrats. He's strong on illegal immigration.
The bad: He believes in global warming. He has a pro-abortion record, since Romneycare allocated taxpayer funded abortions. He has supported same-sex marriage. He was originally for gun control.
The ugly: He "flipped" many of the bad positions I hi-lighted. He publicly denounced Ronald Reagan.
To end this post, I'll say this. I can get behind Romney if he mounts a coherent effort to beat Obama. And if he stays to the right.
I'll start by saying this. Romney is not the ideal conservative Republican candidate. At the beginning of this race for me it was Michelle Bachmann, then it was Herman Cain, and then Rick Santorum. Now that Santorum is out, the candidate I favor is Newt Gingrich simply because he has experience in government and spearheaded the Republican Revolution in the mid-90s which forced President Clinton to the center and set the country on a decent road to prosperity. His record is more checkered than I would like, but because Romney is so hard to pin down in his values and Gingrich is less hard to place in a category, I favor Gingrich. However, Gingrich is running out of funds and is even saying now that Romney will probably be the nominee.
Now, for Romney. He's essentially a moderate politician with leaning in both liberal and conservative values. This could be a good or very very bad thing. One of my primary concerns is his Romneycare law which has been described as the blueprint for Obamacare, the socialized medicine government takeover that they are trying to disqualify in the Supreme Court as we speak. Romneycare is considered a disaster because it forces people to buy health insurance and has caused long waits for services and instances of rationing. With Romney as the nominee, he would not be able to attack the Obamacare law with any sense of effectiveness because of his own law. The only ground it might stand on is that his was statewide, which does not violate the Constitution, while Obamacare is nationwide and does violate it.
He's going to have to attack Obama on his record. The public gaffes he has made. The apology tour. Bowing to foreign leaders. Operation Fast and Furious. Violation of religious freedom. Wholly mischaracterizing the "Arab Spring" as pro-Democracy. Getting involved in police affairs where he doesn't belong. The 5 trillion dollars in debt that he has spent. How we have not added a single job in his four years in office. How he has purposefully driven up gas prices. His manipulation of the private market. The bailouts. The failed/wasted stimulus. Shredding the Bill of Rights. Buddying up to Iran. Crapping all over our allies, especially Israel. I could go on all night.
The good: Romney has money; he'll be able to run an effective slew of ads against Obama. He has the Republican super-PAC's behind him now. Chances are, the splintered Republican Party will more than likely unite behind him now that the others are essentially out. His moderate stances will likely attract women and independent voters. He has private sector experience and knows how to get flailing companies back to prosperity, which he can use to help the economy. He has largely stayed away from making too many hardline statements, which are probably better to save until the nomination is captured. As governor, his tenure included economic expansion, a balanced budget with no tax increases, and an effort to restore capital punishment that was shot down by the liberal Democrats. He's strong on illegal immigration.
The bad: He believes in global warming. He has a pro-abortion record, since Romneycare allocated taxpayer funded abortions. He has supported same-sex marriage. He was originally for gun control.
The ugly: He "flipped" many of the bad positions I hi-lighted. He publicly denounced Ronald Reagan.
To end this post, I'll say this. I can get behind Romney if he mounts a coherent effort to beat Obama. And if he stays to the right.
