MY ROMNEY PROBLEM & YOURS

NOTE: IF YOU'D LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN, YOU CAN DO SO AT: HTTP://MCCAIN.COM. IF YOU'D LIKE TO JOIN THE FAST-GROWING GROUP THAT SUPPORTS GOV. SARAH PALIN FOR V-P, DO SO AT: HTTP://PALINFORVP.BLOGSPOT.COM. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!

A friend in Hawaii is a frequent listener to talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, and she finds it an increasingly painful experience. A few years ago, Hewitt wrote a totally uncritical book about Mitt Romney, and since then he has been shilling for the book and the candidate. My friend said the following:

"Thank you...for your continued efforts to gain a victory for the Right. Steve, I am REALLY offended by Hewitt's McCain bashing. I don't think I've been this angry, even when they went after Bush. McCain has spent half a century serving this nation...in the military and then in Congress, he does NOT deserve this. Every week at Mass I say a special prayer for Bush...I am adding McCain to my list and a prayer that McCain does so well in Florida there is NO chance for Romney. Tell me Steve, what is Hewitt going to do if McCain wins the nomination?" (Sanity 102)


Here's my reply: "Hewitt has NEVER made a compelling reason for his backing of Romney. Mitt is much too robotic (and, frankly, much too rich) to appeal to anything like a majority of the American people. His stance on McCain shows he knows nothing about the role of the military or the nature of heroism. Hugh should be ashamed of himself, but he obviously is incapable of shame."

Should we hold it against Romney that he is extremely rich (with an estimated fortune of $300 million)? No. What we should hold against him is his use of tens of millions in an effort to buy the presidential nomination. He spent his career at Bain Capital working in mergers and acquisitions that made him and his clients huge fortunes -- and cost many dedicated workers their jobs. He sells himself to voters as a "manager," but his skills seem to consist mainly of managing his own vast fortune and his political ambitions.

When Romney ran for the Senate against Ted Kennedy in 1994 he was strongly pro-gay-rights and pro-choice. Now, with a mainly conservative primary electorate, he has reversed his positions.

I have a problem with Romney's wife, Ann, who seems to have no positions that vary even in small ways from her husband's. I also have a problem with the Romney sons, whom I call the "Osmond Quintuplets." They are the quintessence of blandness, human parodies right out of "Father Knows Best." And this is the Romney that supposedly opposes human cloning!

As soon as Romney spots an opponent that the voters like, be it Huckabee or McCain, he immediately "goes negative." Unable to sell his own robotic personality, he goes on the attack against other candidates. He now campaigns without his $3,000 suits and even without a tie -- an experience that appears to be excruciating for him.

Totally clueless about the changes in American politics and society, Romney is pursuing the old Republican ideal of the politician as businessman. However, as Mike Huckabee put it, voters are much more interested in voting for the guy like the one that works next to them -- rather than the person who laid them off. Romney is the latter.

Pundits sometime talk about Hillary Clinton's "high negatives" in polls. However, Romney's negatives are nearly as high as Mrs. Clinton's. Frankly, that demonstrates the good sense of American voters.

Right now, I'm literally praying that John McCain will prevail in the Florida Primary. The evidence shows that this country neither wants nor needs Mitt Romney.

As for what Hugh Hewitt will do if McCain wins the nomination, somehow I don't expect him to fall on his sword. Perhaps he'll get a real job?To prevail, John McCain needs your help. Please consider making at least a small contribution to his campaign.

McCain: Urgent Need for Donations

Thanks to the many recent visitors from Alaska -- including several visits from my favorite town of Wasilla. Other Alaskans during the past 24 hours have come from Soldotna (gotta look that one up), Juneau, Fairbanks, and several from Anchorage. My friend Adam at Draft Palin for VP tells me many bloggers are signing up to support Gov. Sarah Heath Palin, who's featured this week in Alaska magazine and in Vogue. You've come a long way Sarah, but my hunch is that you're going right to the top of the political mountain.


Today, I received the following message from Bard Marston, a Massachusetts-based volunteer for Senator John McCain. Brad's efforts were vital in the Senator's winning the NH and SC primaries. As Super Tuesday (Feb. 25) approaches, the Senator needs contributions that will enable him to make media "buys" in critical states. I donated $50 today to the Senator, and I hope you'll consider doing likewise. Thanks.

(The following is the link to McCain's web site, where you should click on "Contribute": http://johnmccain.com/. I'm asking everyone who visits my site(s) to reprint this posting on their own site, as well as to send e-mails to friends and family members.

Steve,I hope this is what you had in mind.
Brad
McCain Victory 08

January 24, 2008

Dear Brad,

The Florida Primary is only days away. The McCain Campaign is launching a major media buy and needs your help. It is so important, that Senator McCain has offered to have a private conference call with the top donors from McCainVictory08, when we raise $100,000 for the campaign.John McCain is connecting with voters and is leading in national polls and in the important state of Florida.

Rudy Giuliani has bet his political future on winning Florida. Mitt Romney continues to pour millions of his own money into his campaign. All the candidates know that a win in Florida will catapult them towards Super Tuesday.

We need to make certain that John McCain has the resources he needs to compete in Florida and Super Tuesday. Please make a donation today directly to the campaign by clicking the link below.Your donation of $100, $250 or $500 will help John McCain get his message out to Florida and answer the increasingly strident attacks of some of his opponents.I understand that at this point in the campaign, many McCain Suppporters are "maxed out" on donations.

Whether you can contribute or not, please help Senator McCain by forwarding this e-mail to five friends or family members. Make sure to tell them when they make their donation to put YOUR NAME in the "referred by" box at the bottom of the donation page. The top 15 individual donors and the top 15 referrers will be invited to participate in a private conference call with Senator McCain after his victories on Super Tuesday.

I know it is a lot to ask but your donation, in ANY amount is much needed and much appreciated by Senator McCain, the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers for the campaign and of course, me.

Warmest regards,
Brad Marston
McCain Victory 08

Sarah Palin, Not Just Another Aging White Guy :-)

The Political Tipster evaluates 10 possible candidates for the Republican vice-presidential nod. Here's what it says: "So the frontrunners for the second spot [on the ticket] seem to be Joseph Lieberman and Sarah Palin (with the latter being a possible future Presidential candidate)." Note: Since Joe Lieberman fails my test that the V-P can't be yet another grumpy old white guy, Sarah rises to the top.

And another Alaska blogger has climbed aboard what's becoming the world's most crowded bandwagon: the one led by Sarah Palin. Ash writes a piece titled: Guv Goddess 4 Prez 2012! He notes that: "Not only can she clean the clocks of corrupt lawmakers, but as a life long member of the NRA she cleans the A-K’s fish and game faster than Billary cleaning up evidence." You can find Ash's rollicking piece of Pro-Palin material at: http://ash1973.wordpress.com/2007/08/18/guv-goddess-4-prez-2012/

You meet some wonderful people on the Internet. One person worth knowing is Ron-Paul-fan and political intellectual
Laura Ebke. You can find her at the following. Let me just say that if you disagree with Laura, it might be a good idea to wear body armor. :-) She's tough.
laura@redstateeclectic.com
http://redstateeclectic.typepad.com
http://redstateeclectic.com


A big salute for Eric Dondero, a libertarian Republican who worked in the past as a staffer for Congressman Ron Paul, for writing a strong endorsement of Sarah Palin for V-P. His piece appeared on 8/26/07 on: http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/. I urge you to visit Eric's site and perhaps join in on the interesting debates that are taking place in the libertarian community. Eric supports Rudolph Giuliani for the presidential nomination.

You'll note that one libetarian commenter (and enemy of taxes) criticizes Sarah for Alaska's $6.6 billion budget. In fact, 90% of the revenues for that budget come from oil taxes, and each state citizen gets $1500-plus annually from the oil fund. Also, keep in mind that Sarah vetoed a billion-plus of the capital expenditures voted by the legislature. She said the expenditures proposed were "not a state function." Sarah, we've got your back!

Oops, we missed a fine pro-Sarah piece by earnestexpostulations, who expostulated without our eagle eyes picking it up. Earnest, welcome to the Sarah Club. We will teach you the secret handshake when there is little or no moonlight. EE's piece is at: http://earnestexpostulations.blogspot.com/2007/07/perfect-republican-vp-no-matter-who.html

Couldn't have said it better. "Perfect" no matter whom she runs with, and it begins to look more and more likely that Run She Will. (Since Sarah has run a marathon, she would have no problem out-running me.)

If you missed the following from race42008.com when it came out, it's worth reading.
http://race42008.com/2007/05/30/veep-watch-gov-sarah-palin-sports-90-approval-rating/

Thanks to all those who are visting over Labor Day weekend. I'm communicating with several groups about building support for Gov. Sarah Heath Palin. As you'll note, there are a number (to say the least!) of articles about Sarah and the role she could play on the Republican ticket. I've also written recently about "Cobb" and Black conservative activists, as well as about Sen. Larry Craig and the apparent raw deal he got in Minneapolis. Regular columns will be starting no later than Tuesday. Adam has some great material about Sarah on his site: http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/. Also, see the fine new blog columns by Kazoo and David that endorse Sarah.

What I'd like to write about this week:

• 1) On the September 5 FOX debate: I'm especially interested on how the candidates answer questions about the sanctity of life issue. Much of the talk recently has centered around a constitutional amendment that would overturn Roe v. Wade. However, the chance of such an amendment getting 67 votes in the Senate, and 38 votes by states is probably zero. (The last time the Human Life Amendment -- Hatch/Eagleton -- got a serious vote in the Senate was 1983, and it fell 18 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage.)
• 2)On Giuliani's plans about how to win the nomination: It's an approach that differs greatly from that of the other candidates -- and has little in common with the strategy pursued by any Republican presidential canidate since the "Southern Strategy" days of the 1960s. I have a strong hunch that Giuliani believes that if he can win either New Hampshire OR Iowa, as well as Nevada and Florida, where he's well ahead, Super Tuesday (Feb. 5) would be icing on the cake. Apparently, Giuliani believes the "singe-issue" (anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-illegals, anti-gay-marriage) voters are essentially the same individuals. His campaign is one that emphasizes winning the center (and center-right) Republicans and basically cedes most of the right-wing (generally misnamed "The Base") to other candidates, including Thompson, Romney, and Huckabee. Giuliani apparently expects the other candidates (ones relying on "The Base") to cut each other to pieces.
  
  The following is my quote of the week, reflecting a common them in my political writings:
  
  If we become the Party of the "angry, old white guys," Heaven help us. We're headed in that direction, and we need to change course in a hurry. (As an occasionally cantankerous older white guy, I believe I can say that.)