I usually try to stay out of the political blogging arena, but that certainly doesn’t mean I lack an opinion on this whole thing. I’ve been following all of the candidates closely from the start of this race, and my, what a long race its been — and now a close one, too.
So I figured its time to throw in my two cents as to why I support Mitt Romney. Yes, Mitt Romney. No, it’s not our shared religion or his looks that win this female vote. Here’s Mitt, the guy I hope will be our next president, and two articles which I feel are closest to my views on the guy.
The Man Who Wants to Fix Washingon by Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard fairly describes Mitt’s style – “coolly analytical and less political” Mitt’s problem solving process? “You diagnose the problem. You put the right team together to solve the problem. You listen to alternative viewpoints. You insist on gathering data before you make decisions and analyze the data
looking for trends. The result of this process is, you hope, that you make better decisions. You typically also have processes in place to see if it’s working or not working, and you make adjustments from time to time.” An amazing concept in politics, not one any long-time professional politicians are likely to go for.
Mitt Romney: Putting Conservative Principles to Work in Healthcare There are some conservatives who dislike Mitt for “mandating” health coverage. The mandate is this: If you can afford health insurance and opt not to get it, you don’t get free care. If you can’t afford insurance, rather than having taxpayers pay for emergencies and other high cost health care — often the result of health-care neglect, the money is reinvested into subsidized private coverage — allowing individuals to take better care of themselves. And my favorite part? More coverage choices, easier access to insurance, and more industry transparency has dramatically lowered prices. “The same uninsured individual whose choice was formerly limited to a policy with a $335 a month insurance premium with no drug benefits and a $5,000 deductible now can purchase quality private insurance, which includes coverage for prescription drugs, office and emergency room visits, and a $2,000 deductible, for $175 per month.” I could live with that. 🙂
There are a ton of articles I could link to, and if you have concerns about Mitt (for example if you believe the Huckabee / Mccain claim that he’s dishonest and negative) I would be happy to talk about them. Just note that I do screen comments so … be polite and don’t spam.
Legend of Velda 
Might as well add why I -won’t- be supporting McCain. Senator McCain has repeatedly called Romney a liar for his claims that McCain supported amnesty. But who’s the liar?
“McCain Pushes Amnesty, Guest-Worker Program,” reported the Tucson Citizen of May 29, 2003. The senator is quoted as saying: “Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30 or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens. That has to be a component of it.” The newspaper also quoted McCain as saying: “I think we can set up a program where amnesty is extended to a certain number of people who are eligible and at the same time make sure that we have some control over people who come in and out of this country.”
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Might as well add why I -won’t- be supporting McCain. Senator McCain has repeatedly called Romney a liar for his claims that McCain supported amnesty. But who’s the liar?
“McCain Pushes Amnesty, Guest-Worker Program,” reported the Tucson Citizen of May 29, 2003. The senator is quoted as saying: “Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30 or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens. That has to be a component of it.” The newspaper also quoted McCain as saying: “I think we can set up a program where amnesty is extended to a certain number of people who are eligible and at the same time make sure that we have some control over people who come in and out of this country.”
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While I won’t be supporting Romney (for specific policy reasons), I’m glad that you’ve considered his positions and are making an informed decision. I worry that a majority of Utahns won’t bother to examine the issues, instead simply voting on religious affiliation. If that happens (particularly if Romney gets the Republican nomination) it will almost certainly mean Utah is once again irrelevant to (and therefore ignored by) presidential candidates.
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I’ve looked at ALL the candidates positions, democrat and republican anyway (I haven’t checked out anyone who hasn’t actually started running yet, like Bloomberg.) Of all of them Mitt seems to not only be the smartest, but also the most willing to consult with other smart people to make better decisions. His problem solving skills are unequivocal. I’m not saying he’s perfect but he’s head and shoulders above the rest, who seem to act like their life-soundtrack is the themesong to the Lone Ranger.
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Oh, and I might add, the main reason I’ve been following this race so closely is that I guessed Utah -would- vote Romney, and I guessed that despite that he wouldn’t get the nomination anyway. I figured my vote was a throw-away anyway, so I planned on voting for someone else just to show support.
Now I see that not only is Romney is electable, he’s the only one worth electing.
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Oh and to be fair (unlike Fox last night ;-)) I should say why I wouldn’t go for Ron Paul. I do think he has a few good solid ideas, but no real logistics for getting them done. For instance, he wants to bring the troops home NOW, but how? It’s going to take 1-2 years to get them home, and the last ones left, well, they probably won’t make it home. He’s going to abolish the IRS, again, how? How’s he going to get through a highly democratic Congress to cut ALL government programs?
He’s been holding tight to his ideas for years — and that’s respectable. But he hasn’t accomplished them, and doesn’t seem capable of working with people to get them done. Go look at govtrack.us , it’ll show you his voting records & bill sponsorship. It’s dismal. McCains, while you’re there, shows more success but alot of wasteful programs, I might add.
Lastly, there’s a loud (hopefully small) percentage of his supporters who strike me as violent extremists (such as Nazis or the ones saying we need to behead/hang the current administration and anyone who supports them), but he won’t denounce them. He won’t even acknowledge they exist.
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I’ve looked at ALL the candidates positions, democrat and republican anyway (I haven’t checked out anyone who hasn’t actually started running yet, like Bloomberg.) Of all of them Mitt seems to not only be the smartest, but also the most willing to consult with other smart people to make better decisions. His problem solving skills are unequivocal. I’m not saying he’s perfect but he’s head and shoulders above the rest, who seem to act like their life-soundtrack is the themesong to the Lone Ranger.
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Oh, and I might add, the main reason I’ve been following this race so closely is that I guessed Utah -would- vote Romney, and I guessed that despite that he wouldn’t get the nomination anyway. I figured my vote was a throw-away anyway, so I planned on voting for someone else just to show support.
Now I see that not only is Romney is electable, he’s the only one worth electing.
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Oh and to be fair (unlike Fox last night ;-)) I should say why I wouldn’t go for Ron Paul. I do think he has a few good solid ideas, but no real logistics for getting them done. For instance, he wants to bring the troops home NOW, but how? It’s going to take 1-2 years to get them home, and the last ones left, well, they probably won’t make it home. He’s going to abolish the IRS, again, how? How’s he going to get through a highly democratic Congress to cut ALL government programs?
He’s been holding tight to his ideas for years — and that’s respectable. But he hasn’t accomplished them, and doesn’t seem capable of working with people to get them done. Go look at govtrack.us , it’ll show you his voting records & bill sponsorship. It’s dismal. McCains, while you’re there, shows more success but alot of wasteful programs, I might add.
Lastly, there’s a loud (hopefully small) percentage of his supporters who strike me as violent extremists (such as Nazis or the ones saying we need to behead/hang the current administration and anyone who supports them), but he won’t denounce them. He won’t even acknowledge they exist.
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Yeah — Ron Paul’s idealism is a strength to him, but on occasion he seems to be focused on the way the world ought to be, rather than the way the world is.
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I am so excited that Romney won Michigan. He is the only candidate that I have seen that I support who could also take on Hillary Clinton. I am not sure that he would be able to win against Obama, though. There may possibly be more voters out there who would vote against Hilary in a general election than conservative voters who would abstain from voting for a Mormon. Only time can tell 🙂
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I am so excited that Romney won Michigan. He is the only candidate that I have seen that I support who could also take on Hillary Clinton. I am not sure that he would be able to win against Obama, though. There may possibly be more voters out there who would vote against Hilary in a general election than conservative voters who would abstain from voting for a Mormon. Only time can tell 🙂
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More about Ron Paul..
Ron Paul’s newsletter fiasco confirms what I already suspected. If he himself isn’t a bigot, he turns a blind eye to those who are. His response to this issue shows a level of irresponsibility unacceptable in the whitehouse. There’s a difference between freedom and chaos. I’ll take freedom.
And on McCain: he’s flip-flopped on issues within his campaign, even in the same day! (Even in the same interview!) He’s lied – you can tell when he’s lying, first by watching his blinks increase to 100+ per minute and then checking the facts for yourself. Add in the dirty tricks and arrogance? I could -not- vote McCain.
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More about Ron Paul..
Ron Paul’s newsletter fiasco confirms what I already suspected. If he himself isn’t a bigot, he turns a blind eye to those who are. His response to this issue shows a level of irresponsibility unacceptable in the whitehouse. There’s a difference between freedom and chaos. I’ll take freedom.
And on McCain: he’s flip-flopped on issues within his campaign, even in the same day! (Even in the same interview!) He’s lied – you can tell when he’s lying, first by watching his blinks increase to 100+ per minute and then checking the facts for yourself. Add in the dirty tricks and arrogance? I could -not- vote McCain.
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I’m voting for Obama because he demonstrates his character with his actions. Two examples:
1) He took a detour from the career ladder to work in a low-paying job as a community organizer — something you don’t do unless you truly believe in changing the world for the better. None of the other candidates did anything like it.
2) He apparently cares more about kindness than beating a political rival. He saved Bill Richardson from an embarrassing public moment when he could have let Richardson twist in the wind (http://tinyurl.com/3xr2bx — paragraph 6).
I’m impressed that Obama "walks the walk." When he talks about Americans uniting to solve problems, I believe that he really feels that can happen, and wants to help us get there.
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Mitt walks the walk too, and has a big list of accomplishments. I do like Obama best of the democratic candidates though, maybe even second best of the candidates left, but I need to follow up on these allegations of Obama being racist (most allegations are simply that) I disagree with him on issues that are important to me, but so far I haven’t seen him behave dishonorably.
Hey, maybe if Hillary/McCain get the nomination, Romney and Obama can run independent ;-D
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Mitt walks the walk too, and has a big list of accomplishments. I do like Obama best of the democratic candidates though, maybe even second best of the candidates left, but I need to follow up on these allegations of Obama being racist (most allegations are simply that) I disagree with him on issues that are important to me, but so far I haven’t seen him behave dishonorably.
Hey, maybe if Hillary/McCain get the nomination, Romney and Obama can run independent ;-D
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I’d be interested to read about allegations of racism, too — it’s certainly new to me. It seems an odd thing to allege, given that his mom is white and dad is black. Still, it’s best to be as informed about the candidates as possible. Do you have a link?
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Well, I’m not finding links is the thing, hence I still think he’s OK. I’m watching for evidence of what HE believes.
I do see that his church’s website has many statement that, if you were to use the word "white" instead of "black" or "europe" instead of "africa" would indeed be called terribly racist.
But people have certainly accused Mitt of religious based racism too, and I know that’s bunk.
I also have read about his opposition to some anti-discrimination lawsuit against Southern Illinois University. Apparently they had several programs made only available to women and preferred minorities. His statements appear to be more of an attack on Bush, though.
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Well, I’m not finding links is the thing, hence I still think he’s OK. I’m watching for evidence of what HE believes.
I do see that his church’s website has many statement that, if you were to use the word "white" instead of "black" or "europe" instead of "africa" would indeed be called terribly racist.
But people have certainly accused Mitt of religious based racism too, and I know that’s bunk.
I also have read about his opposition to some anti-discrimination lawsuit against Southern Illinois University. Apparently they had several programs made only available to women and preferred minorities. His statements appear to be more of an attack on Bush, though.
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Here’s more on McCain:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-b…
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Here’s more on McCain:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-b…
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How does Romney endorsing McCain affect your thinking?
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Not sure what to think of that. I really dislike McCain. I do think it’s a bad idea to just jump ship in Iraq though (though I also think McCains idea of staying there indefinitely is also a bad idea – would like to see an approach romney suggested where we set some specific goals and milestones so we’re making progress and not just beating our heads against a wall.) My thoughts on the war, are that regardless of the rightfulness of going in, we -are- there, and being there has made a big mess that we shouldn’t just leave behind. Also, by simply leaving with things at the apex of awfulness there, the danger to the troops left there will increase rapidly as the other troops leave. So I think it’s important to stabilize things before going. And out of the candidates left who share that sentiment (somewhat) we’ve got McCain and Huckabee. McCain’s clearly got more support, and the best bet for him to win is to get him the delegates needed to avoid a brokered convention.
I also think Mitt knows a repub is not going to win anyway at this point; might as well endorse his strongest rival, who will lose bigtime, and then give it another go in ’12. It’s a good strategy.
But could I personally support someone who flat out lies? Out of the three left (Sorry paul & huck supporters) I do see myself leaning Obama as he hasn’t shown evidence of being seriously corrupt. But I haven’t been able to find evidence of real accomplishments with him either. Help me out here.
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Not sure what to think of that. I really dislike McCain. I do think it’s a bad idea to just jump ship in Iraq though (though I also think McCains idea of staying there indefinitely is also a bad idea – would like to see an approach romney suggested where we set some specific goals and milestones so we’re making progress and not just beating our heads against a wall.) My thoughts on the war, are that regardless of the rightfulness of going in, we -are- there, and being there has made a big mess that we shouldn’t just leave behind. Also, by simply leaving with things at the apex of awfulness there, the danger to the troops left there will increase rapidly as the other troops leave. So I think it’s important to stabilize things before going. And out of the candidates left who share that sentiment (somewhat) we’ve got McCain and Huckabee. McCain’s clearly got more support, and the best bet for him to win is to get him the delegates needed to avoid a brokered convention.
I also think Mitt knows a repub is not going to win anyway at this point; might as well endorse his strongest rival, who will lose bigtime, and then give it another go in ’12. It’s a good strategy.
But could I personally support someone who flat out lies? Out of the three left (Sorry paul & huck supporters) I do see myself leaning Obama as he hasn’t shown evidence of being seriously corrupt. But I haven’t been able to find evidence of real accomplishments with him either. Help me out here.
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I read an article about that the other day, but I have no idea where it was. I think I can summarize . . .
The author argued that, within a little more than a year, Obama has built from scratch a nation-wide campaign (with the accompanying organizational structure), that has taken on the long-established and very powerful Clinton political machine — and appears to be winning. He started out with much less money, and was mostly unknown — with the added disadvantage of having a name unfortunately similar to our biggest terrorist enemy. He’s either doing a fantastic job, or has surrounded himself with people who do a fantastic job (and admirable quality, either way).
There’s no arguing though, that McCain (or Clinton, for that matter) is more accomplished by virtue of having served in public life longer. However, none of the remaining candidates, save Huckabee, has executive experience. Being a legislator, even for a really long time, doesn’t necessarily qualify you for executive office.
I think you’re right about Romney’s strategy, although a Republican could still win, particularly if Clinton gets the nomination. One thing is certain — this is the most fascinating presidential race I’ve ever witnessed.
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I dunno. I don’t think "getting a following" quite works as an accomplishment is great leadership for me.
And have you seen the video of an alleged plagiarism? http://www.primetimepolitic…
Deval Patrick defended Obama saying they share alot of the same ideas, but still, would it have hurt him to quote?
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Oh, but I will agree its the most exciting race we’ve had in my life time.
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I dunno. I don’t think "getting a following" quite works as an accomplishment is great leadership for me.
And have you seen the video of an alleged plagiarism? http://www.primetimepolitic…
Deval Patrick defended Obama saying they share alot of the same ideas, but still, would it have hurt him to quote?
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Oh, but I will agree its the most exciting race we’ve had in my life time.
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