Mitt Romney

Bald Faced Lies Of Republican Presidential Candidates: Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney And All Others!

Ronald Leave a comment

Tim Pawlenty entered the race for the GOP Presidential nomination in Iowa, stating that we must face the truth about the future, and used the word “truth” 16 times in his declaration statement.

But then he was faced with the fact that he has not been telling the truth about his view of the role of government, as in 2006, while Governor of Minnesota, he said the era of small government was over and that the government needed to be aggressive in pursuit of the regulation of corporations and other special interests, while being interviewed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

This made him sound “progressive” in his views then, but NOW he is competing for the conservative and Tea Party vote, and trying to make it out as if he was always of the view of limited government and deregulation. So the fact is that Tim Pawlenty is LYING, and has been caught in it!

But then, Mitt Romney has also been shown to be a liar, not only regarding his own Health Care Reform in Massachusetts, which he is actively backing away from, but also in his statement through a spokesman today that the fact that Chrysler and General Motors have become profitable and been able to repay their government loans, is due to the fact that he advocated government aid in 2009, taking credit for what President Obama authorized.

But actually, in 2009, in a newspaper article in the New York Times, he specifically said to let “Detroit fail”! So how can he now take credit for something he never supported, but now claims he endorsed?

Add to this even Jon Huntsman’s reversal on the Health Care law and climate change, and his endorsement of the Paul Ryan Medicare law, which after the disaster in NY 26 yesterday, don’t be surprised if he also reverses on that issue!

It could be argued that ALL politicians switch views and lie, but to have so many examples among the three leading candidates this early, is a sign of the problems the Republican party faces in 2012!

And don’t forget, this is not including the flawed candidacies of “also rans”, such as Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Sarah Palin.

And the hints are now emerging that Sarah Palin may actually decide to run, having, apparently, bought a home in Arizona with her millions in lecture fees and book royalties; the coming out this summer of a laudatory documentary about her, making her out to be a victim who has great virtues; and counterattack beginning with two new books which set out to destroy her reputation and competence, and show her to be a LIAR her whole political life, a total PHONY!

So instead of the old film entitled “Lies, Sex and Videotape”, for the Republican Party, the title should be “Lies, Republicans, and Videotape”!

The Twists, Turns, And Contortions Of Mitt Romney On Health Care!

Ronald Leave a comment

If one looks at the background of Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, it is clear that he is a moderate Republican, both in his statements from years past and his actions as Governor from 2003-2007.

He brought about the first mandated health care, and Massachusetts has benefited greatly from it, but yet Romney desperately wants the Republican nomination for President, which escaped his father’s grasp in 1968, so has decided to “sell his soul” to become President.

So as early as 2007, out of office, he was claiming he was a conservative, but it was clear he was a chameleon, willing to change his views to fit the audience, so he came across to many people in the past Presidential race as phony and self serving.

Now he has, in a speech at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the state in which his father was Governor in the 1960s, repudiated his own Massachusetts “RomneyCare” as a plan unacceptable beyond the Bay state, without explaining why except to invoke states rights, a weird thing for a Northern Republican to use as an excuse.

He was basically apologizing for his own health care plan, and his body language showed how awkward the situation was, and it indicates that he senses that it is an albatross around his neck, which he is trying to overcome. But meanwhile, the conservative Wall Street Journal made it clear that any kind of health care plan along the lines of the Romney Massachusetts plan is totally unacceptable for the Republican Party nominee in 2012.

So Romney is between “the devil and the deep blue sea”, in the sense that by repudiating his own health care plan he looks inconsistent and self indulging, but even by doing this does not make his quest for the nomination any the easier in a race where his opponents can use that plan as a weapon against him!

The Internal Struggle In The Republican Party: Minnesota Vs. Mormonism!

Ronald Leave a comment

With the announcement today that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will not run for the Republican Presidential nomination, the race seems more than ever to be one of FOUR who are likely to dominate vote getting in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the early primary and caucus states next winter!

As one looks at the field, it seems clear that Newt Gingrich has self destructed in his first week as an official candidate. Rick Santorum seems unlikely to take off as a candidate, based on his own past crazy statements and walloping defeat for re-election in Pennsylvania in 2006. Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, and even Ron Paul, will make noise, but are unlikely to poll many actual votes.

So unless someone such as Chris Christie or Jeb Bush suddenly enters the race belatedly, there seem to be four major contenders for actual popular vote support in the primaries and the caucuses early on–Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, and surprisingly, Michele Bachmann!

Bachmann is the favorite of the Tea Party people, more even than Ron Paul, who is seen as too old and flaky to be much of a vote getter. Even though she is outrageous in her statements and actions, Bachmann is likely to have a serious following in Iowa at the least, and could affect who of the other candidates benefits by her candidacy.

Bachmann, being from Minnesota, and therefore from the Midwest, poses a real challenge to former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who has been very careful to avoid outrageous statements and actions, and yet is competing for the Tea Party support and for the backing of Midwesterners. Iowa is a crucial state to both, so they are therefore at loggerheads as Bachmann could ruin Pawlenty’s chances. So expect the beginning soon of sustained attacks by each on the other, and increasingly so, as the campaign gets closer to the first vote test in Iowa, which has many evangelical Christians and Tea Party people, and will likely kill off either Bachmann or Pawlenty. So it is the battle of Minnesotan vs. Minnesotan!

But the 2012 race is also of Mormon vs. Mormon, as Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah, and seen as a moderate to some extent, is challenging Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, who is also often seen as a moderate. Both are working very hard to wipe such ideas out of voters’ minds, as both oppose health care and support Medicare reform along the lines of the Paul Ryan Budget plan. Both are much more electible on paper, but being Mormons and having the old image of moderation could harm both, and certainly, one will be hurt by the success of the other.

What is likely is that the nomination will come down to Pawlenty vs. one of the two Mormon politicians, with Huntsman being newer and fresher and more interesting a candidate.

So the final struggle is likely to be Pawlenty vs. Huntsman, and it would seem likely that Pawlenty would have the edge, but only if he can overcome the influence of Bachmann with Tea Party faithful.

For the election, Huntsman or even Romney would be a better bet to win than Pawlenty, but the Tea Party influence is such that the bet would be that Pawlenty will be the sacrificial lamb, with the likelihood that Barack Obama would win a major victory, possibly on the level of George H. W. Bush over Michael Dukakis in 1988!

Forget Jon Huntsman! His Disgraceful Surrender To The Far Right Of The Republican Party!

Ronald 2 Comments

When one thought about the upcoming Republican Presidential race, there was some hope that someone moderate might actually show principle and be an alternative to the extreme right wing of the party.

And this author had hope for Jon Huntsman, the former Governor Of Utah and President Obama’s Ambassador to China, as a possible alternative who, were he to win the nomination, could give the President a real race for the White House, and were he to win, would be acceptable as the occupant of the White House.

Well, such illusions have now been destroyed, by Jon Huntsman himself! And this is very upsetting!

Huntsman has now changed his view on climate change, on the economic stimulus, and the health care issue, and has told George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that were he in the House of Representatives, he would have voted for the Paul Ryan plan on Medicare, which would destroy Medicare as we know it in ten years.

The man may be charismatic, handsome, and appealing in an intellectual way, but he is a major disappointment by his abandonment of what he believed in.

His decision to move his unannounced campaign headquarters from Utah to Florida indicates he hopes to have an impact in the Sunshine State, but that indicates that he might even abandon his support of gay civil unions, as in Florida and many other states, the opposition to gay rights is still very strong in Republican primary voters, many of whom are evangelical Christians.

If Huntsman, who is Mormon, and must deal with that issue just as much as fellow Mormon Mitt Romney, hopes to gain evangelical backing, he will have to change his position on gay rights. Not that such a decision will guarantee evangelical support, but without such a switch, there is no hope at all of such backing!

So, disllusionment with Jon Huntsman just adds up to a sense of hopelessness that there is any chance of ANY Republican being mainstream in the traditions of the party in the age of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, and EVEN Ronald Reagan!

WIth Mitt Romney backing away from “Romneycare”, and Jon Huntsman surrendering to conservative extremist views, the GOP is a shell of its old self, and gives progressives no hope that there could be any sense of acceptance of ANY Republican Presidential winner in 2012!

The Silly Season Is Here: Republicans Look To Michele Bachmann And Rick Perry? Give Us A Break!

Ronald Leave a comment

With the withdrawal of Mike Huckabee and Haley Barbour, the implosion of Newt Gingrich, the fake campaign of Donald Trump, and the decision of Mike Pence and John Thune to stay out of the Republican Presidential campaign, the GOP is running scared, that they feel as if they have no roots or substantial possibility of challenging President Barack Obama in 2012.

So, grasping at straws, attention is being paid to Michele Bachmann, the loony Congresswoman from Minnesota, and Rick Perry, the secessionist oriented Governor of Texas, as people to flirt with and encourage to enter the race.

The fact is though, whether Bachmann or Perry enter the race, neither has the slightest chance to win the GOP Presidential nomination. Were either to actually win the nomination, the result would be such a landslide defeat for the Republicans, that it would match the 1964 Barry Goldwater candidacy.

As reiterated constantly by this author, the only reasonable candidates left are Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and Tim Pawlenty, as Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie are not going to enter the race by any estimation. When one hears Republicans act as if Obama is an easy challenge to defeat, one has to wonder at the hallucinations going on in GOP circles!

Why Newt Gingrich Is A Horrible Candidate For The Presidency

Ronald Leave a comment

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has faced literal Hell this week from members of his own Republican Party for his MEET THE PRESS interview this past Sunday, where he criticized the Paul Ryan budget plan, including radical changes in Medicare, and called for the individual mandate, exactly what he believed in the 1990s, and which Barack Obama made part of his Health Care reform plans last year.

His chances to be the nominee of his party for the Presidency seem to have been destroyed by his statements, but actually there are better, more substantive reasons for him to be passed by for the Presidential nomination.

1. Gingrich is a “loose cannon”, who has no discipline and will say anything he thinks of immediately after thinking about it! As a result, he is often seen as a “firebomb thrower”, and that is no recommendation for the nation’s highest office.

2. Gingrich has a horrible moral record, in relation to the cheating he committed on TWO WIVES, and being married three times. He was condemning Bill Clinton while he was engaged in extramarital relations himself during the impeachment debacle of 1998-1999.

3. The fact that it has been discovered that he owes back taxes and is very loose with money and credit makes one state that is not a credential we want in a future President.

4. Gingrich has few friends in politics, even in his own party, with basically no one coming to his defense. He is seen as a supreme egotist, who has no loyalty to anything but his own aggrandizement and glory. He would be involved in constant conflict with his own party, as well as the Democrats, because he would be stubborn and inflexible.

5. In foreign policy, he would cause international crises and “bad blood”, as he does not have an ounce of diplomacy in his approach to those who disagree with him.

6. It is difficult to say that Gingrich has any basic principles or beliefs, as he has so often changed his views to fit the moment, and in any case, he is certainly not, by his historical record, a small national government man, which is the view of the present Republican Party and the Tea Party Movement.

7. Being a professor in his past, being an “ideas man” and an intellectual, may be seen by some as positives, but in the modern GOP, those are all disadvantages and turnoffs. He often seems to be lecturing, rather than speaking to his audiences.

So it is clear that the chances of Newt Gingrich being the Presidential nominee and even the winner of the Oval Office are as likely as the chances of Gary Johnson, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum.

It still comes down to the reality that the next Republican nominee is almost certainly going to be from Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, or Tim Pawlenty, with Pawlenty, despite his low public opinion ratings, seen as having the fewest negatives of the three.

And don’t expect Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Jeb Bush of Florida, Rick Perry of Texas, and Chris Christie of New Jersey to enter the race, one which looks more likely to be that of a losing cause for 2012!

The Effects Of The Latino-Hispanic Vote On The 2012 Presidential Election

Ronald Leave a comment

With the rapid growth of the Latino-Hispanic population, from one eighth in 2000 to one sixth of the population in 2010 according to the Census Bureau, the 2012 Presidential Election will be giving President Obama a tremendous edge in states that otherwise would be major battlegrounds.

Assuming a decent turnout for Obama among Latinos-Hispanics, as well as African Americans, Obama is now seen as likely, statistically, to win Nevada and Florida again and have a real shot at winning Georgia, which he failed to win in 2008.

Obama only needs to win 25 percent of the white vote in Georgia, 35 percent in Nevada, and just under 40 percent in Florida to win those states in the electoral college.

Obama’s call today for comprehensive immigration reform, calling on the Republican opposition to work together on this important issue, may be a political ploy, but realistically, if the GOP continues its hard line view on illegal immigrants, as in Arizona, the result is likely to be a smashing defeat in 2012, and this is not considering the issue that the Republicans seem unable to come up with a winner, someone that turns party members on and is likely to draw the votes of other than whites in the population.

It seems to the author that only Jon Huntsman, and possibly Mitt Romney, even have the potential to appeal to non white voters in 2012, but the odds of either being the nominee seems remote at this point of time.

The Fox News Channel South Carolina Debate: What It Tells Us About The GOP Presidential Race!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Presidential debate in South Carolina this past Thursday, the first in a long group of debates over the next year, tells us a lot about both the Republican race and South Carolina at the same time, and it is not good!

The focus audience at the debate sponsored by Fox News Channel seemed like aliens from another planet, certainly not the mainstream of the nation, and doubtfully, of the Republican party future.

Asked their favorite candidate among the five who showed up, the majority said Herman Cain, the African American former Chief Executive Officer of Godfather Pizza, also a talk show host on radio. His main point was to get government out of the way of business, a typical Republican viewpoint, but his chances for the nomination can be seen as zero!

Their second favorite was former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who has made himself look foolish and extreme on social issues, and no serious observer takes him as a likely nominee, either!

It was interesting that Ron Paul, despite his support among libertarians, and actually making quite a good debate perfromance, failed to excite the South Carolina focus group.

It was also noticeable that Tim Pawlenty, often considered one of the more likely nominees as a “dark horse”, seems to have had no positive impression among the participants in the focus group.

The sum total is to demonstrate that Pawlenty probably lost some advantage by NOT impressing that group of voters, and that the focus group made one realize that there are a lot of people in the Palmetto state who seem not to have advanced beyond the times of John C. Calhoun and Strom Thurmond–meaning continued hatred of the national government as somehow the evil incarnate!

Without the “serious” candidates in the race–Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee–and the controversial candidates–Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich–the debate was basically a waste of time since nothing came out of it that could promise a good future for the Republican Party in the 2012 Presidential race!

The “Dark Horse” To Watch In The GOP Presidential Race: Jon Huntsman Of Utah!

Ronald Leave a comment

Anyone who is paying attention to the GOP Presidential race knows that there is great dissatisfaction with the field of candidates.

Either they are highly controversial and divisive figures such as Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Donald Trump.

Or else they are such long shots that are “unknowns” such as Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, and Buddy Roemer.

Or they are candidates who have been around before, and are seen by many as uninspiring, including Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

Or they are newcomers who are seen as having potential, such as Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman.

There is also Ron Paul, who excites the libertarian wing of the party, but has no chance to be the nominee.

And then, there are those who imagine that Chris Christie, the “bully” Governor of New Jersey, somehow can translate his tough guy image to the national scene.

In reality, other than Mitt Romney, who has many issues to deal with, but is seen by many as the best candidate, it is, as the author has said many times, Pawlenty and Huntsman who are the best alternatives, but in many ways, Huntsman is much more interesting.

Former Ambassador to China under President Obama, and former Governor of Utah, where he came across as a moderate, Huntsman is much more charismatic than Pawlenty. He is very handsome, dynamic, has the experience in China which makes him appear strong on foreign policy, and could be much more appealing in a two man race against Obama than any other candidate. He is truly the ultimate “dark horse” in the race, and this weekend, he is in South Carolina delivering the commencement address at the University of South Carolina. He is said to be ready to enter the race next month, and seems to many the most interesting person in the race.

Being a moderate on most issues, a Mormon like Romney is, and having worked for Obama in China, are all negatives to many, but don’t bet against him surviving a long way in the Presidential race and keeping it interesting!

Watch Jon Huntsman and read up on him, as he should be a major factor in the political race for 2012!

The Republican Sense Of Desperation As Fox News Channel Debate Occurs In Five Days!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Republican Party, the Grand Old Party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan, is facing a sense of desperation as the first scheduled debate among GOP Presidential candidates is only five days away, due on May 5 on Fox News Channel.

No one has really emerged from the pack, and those who have been noticed–Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump–have embarrassed themselves as well as the party. If this is the best the GOP can do, they may as well concede the election for President next year to President Obama!

Of course, no such thing will happen, but the mainstream candidates–Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman–have not excited the party, and Mike Huckabee seems unlikely to run, and in any case, has put his foot in his mouth too many times already to be the ideal candidate.

With the decision of Haley Barbour to drop out of the race, attention is being drawn again to Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, and former budget director under George W. Bush, but he has alienated social conservatives by emphasizing economic and budget issues, and suggesting there be a truce on social matters, such as gay rights, abortion, and school prayer. He also lacks charisma and presence, and since the budget debt doubled under George W. Bush, one wonders if his so called “magic” abilities with budgets, plus his strong anti labor stand in Indiana, ahead of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida, is to be seen as a plus.

But once you go past Mitch Daniels, the others being promoted are even less thrilling!

To suggest “Bully” Governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin seems suicidal, as neither has high public opinion ratings, has declared war on labor, and has an aggressive public personality that turns many people off!

And to suggest Texas Governor Rick Perry is really to promote desperation, as Perry is not too bright, and has advocated secession of his state in past political rhetoric! What the Democrats could do with that–wow!

But then, those who suggest Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the author of the GOP budget bill that wishes to make Medicare privatized in ten years, but admits no balanced budget for thirty years, are even more crazy. Not only is Ryan seen as a “wise guy” arrogant person, but also he has received many attacks at Town Halls in his own district, and his plan has been attacked bitterly by people of all age groups, and become cannon fodder for the Democrats, which they will be able to use next year in the Presidential Election of 2012.

The way things look, the best bet for the Republican Party is to turn toward Mitt Romney, as the most “mainstream” they can get to run against Barack Obama, but will the Tea Party activists and the evangelical Christians allow a Mormon, who was once a liberal to moderate in the party, to be its nominee? Stay tuned!