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 Saturday, February 9, 2008
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Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly beat John McCain, 35 to 34 percent, in a straw poll of conservative political activists gathered Saturday in Washington — a vote that is viewed as a barometer of support from that major GOP voting bloc. A few emails have come in urging us to throw support behind Mike Huckabee.
As for myself, I have already stated that I think some strategic voting might be appropriate here. That is only if it is clear in your states that McCain is going to beat Huckabee. If it isn't clear, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, vote for McCain to make sure Huckabee doesn't get anymore support. We can all muse about what order of candidates we would have prefered. Mine ran like this: Mitt Romney Fred Thompson Rudy Giuliani John McCain Duncan Hunter Tom Tancredo Tommy Thompson Ron Paul Any Other Republican Candidate Several Democratic Candidates Mike Huckabee Aside from being pro-life, Huckabee did not govern conservatively in Arkansas. Now, I don't want to open a new round of accusations about Mike Huckabee's record versus Mitt Romney's. I just want to point out that there are very good reasons to support McCain over Huckabee. Especially on fiscal conservatism and spending. Finally, I know I am part of not a small group of people who felt that Mike Huckabee misused the name of Christ to promote his own political ambitions. I fundamentally disagree with his approach to the campaign and believe he cheapened holy and sacred truths by making Christianity a tag line.
Link Friday, February 8, 2008
A light note to close out today's posting. It is with great pride that I present to you the well respected and widely read center-right blogger...
 Evidently it gets a bit cold over there on Blogger's Alley, even for the Minnesota contingent. From Politico:
After pulling out of the race, Mitt Romney attended what turned out to be a "thank you" session with a group of his congressional supporters yesterday at the Capitol Hill Club. Looking at the site traffic just now, we appear to be humming along still.
For those still wondering, MyManMitt will keep going. We are working on it right now. In the short term we will undoubtedly support John McCain in his bid, just as Mitt does, but this is a blog for Mitt, and will remain one. So give us a few days or more to hack out the differences, and in the mean time keep coming back! And I just want to say, you guys have been awesome. Thanks for your comments, donations when we have needed them and your readership. We have a lot of years ahead of us still! One Reader Sends this Important Question along:
"I think that there is still a thing or two that you could help us with before you cease activity on your site or undergo a metamorphosis." "There are still states that have not voted. I'm not clear about whether the suspension of the campaign means that Mitt Romney's name will be removed from the ballots of those states. Or if the ballots will still be valid if I were to vote for him." "For example, I'll be voting in the primary on March 11. It will be either Mitt Romney or Ron Paul. I would rather that it be Mitt Romney." "My vote is not going to prevent John McCain from becoming the nominee, but I am not ready to give my highly prized (by me) vote to one who I feel does not deserve it and does not need it either. And if Mitt Romney is to continue as either a conservative leader or as a future candidate, it seems that the more votes he gets, the greater his credibility will be to pursue either or both of those paths." "If you could find the answer to this and put it on your site, it could help more people than just me." Response: Mitt Romney's name will be on the ballot and you can vote for him if you want to, but lets think about this for a while first. Conscience Votes are Okay... First of all, let me say how proud I was to cast my ballot for Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday. I took my son along and told him to always vote for good people (Funny Story, the night I was at the Long Beach rally, I talked to my son on the phone who cried when he found out I was going to get to see Mitt Romney and he couldn't come). I look forward to voting for Mitt again one day. For those of you out there who simply want to vote for Mitt Romney anyway, as a matter of principle, as a matter of pride in his candidacy, whatever it may be, I say go for it. As for me, I wouldn't do that at this point and I will explain why. Strategery... I think it is a foregone conclusion that John McCain is going to be the Republican nominee at this point. I know Mike Huckabee continues to stand in the way of the launch of his national campaign, but most voters will continue to reject Huckabee, a man who is as soft on illegal immigration as McCain and even softer on crime. As a result, those who have yet to vote find themselves in a unique position to engage in strategic voting. A Strategic Vote for Hillary Clinton... If I were in a state that had an open democratic primary, I would cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton. Let me tell you why. Between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama, I believe McCain is much more likely to beat Clinton. One of the main reasons is because the most effective attack available to the Democrats, in my opinion, is going to be to paint McCain as a warmonger. Clinton's ability to do this will be severely undercut by her vote to authorize the war in Iraq. She can't very well blame McCain for voting for war in Iraq when she did as well! On the other hand, Barack gets to sit back and claim he was against the war from the beginning and saw the hubrous of running in there thinking it would all be peachy keen. I think this attack from Barack could be very effective. Barack is also going to be more effective in representing change because he is good at selling the sizzle, even though there is no steak. People love hype. They will pay more for the same product simply because of branding. Unfortunately, right now, the Barack brand is being promoted heavily amongst the main stream media. McCain is going to find that the MSM is not nearly as friendly to him if Barack Obama is the nominee. In addition, I would take pleasure in voting for Hillary over Barack because Obama unnecessarily attacked Romney on the day he dropped out. To think that a guy with Obama's impressive list of accomplishments would call Mitt Romney ineffective is dumbfounding to me. What if McCain Loses... By bringing this up, I want to make sure that I clearly say I believe we can win in November and it is imperative that we do so. However, if we don't, who would we rather have as President for four years. I believe the answer is clearly Hillary Clinton. There is evidence that Obama is far to the left of Hillary or simply inexperienced. For Example, Barack Obama was quoted as saying that nuclear options against Al Qaeda are not on the table. This is just crazy! Even if you never wanted to use nuclear weapons, you don't tell your enemey that. The whole point of deterrence is that everyone has a healthy respect for you because you might do it if you were provoked enough. I also think that Hillary cannot afford to be weak on national security and to some extent, cannot afford to nationalize health care. She knows the potential for this to severely weaken her presidency. She has seen it happen to her husband. For this reason, I actually believe that her ambitions will be more balanced and she will govern more responsibly overall than Barack. After all, Barak was the most liberal member of the Senate in 2007. Conclusion... If you have the stomach for it, a strategic vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary election may help the party in the long run. John McCain is more likely to beat Hillary Clinton than Barack Obama. Finally, Hillary Clinton as president, as scary as that might be, is not as scary as Barack Obama. Now that I’ve had some time to process the fact Mitt has now exited stage right in the 2008 Race for the Oval, I’m ready to look ahead to what awaits in the remaining months before the conventions and the general election this November. I’ve seen the various reactions to Mitt’s “stepping aside” as pundits, bloggers, and everyday people make their feelings (good, bad, and indifferent) known. I must admit that I find troubling the number of people who declare steadfastly that, now that Mitt has taken himself off the field, there is no way they will ever support the candidacy of John McCain. People, this is the way politics work. Sometimes your guy wins, many times he does not. Either way, once the squabbling and primary brass knuckle fights are over, there comes a time when you need to look at reality and get behind the candidate who comes nearest to your values. I have made no bones about my disagreements with Senator McCain. I could go into great detail about where he and I differ on policy, strategy, and overall Republican-ness. I do not believe he’s the best qualified candidate for this nation’s highest office. The best candidate, in my mind, is Mitt Romney. Mitt stepped aside, so while McCain may in fact be a Maverick SOB, now he’s my Maverick SOB. Some of you reading this are probably too young to remember the 1976 Republican primary contest. I was only five-years-old, so what I know about that contest I read from history. The long and the short of the story is that Ronald Reagan fought Gerald Ford tooth and nail, state by state, all the way to the Kansas City convention. Ford narrowly beat Reagan on the first ballot, and Reagan gave a speech endorsing Ford which in fact overshadowed Ford’s own address. Reagan had a way of overshadowing everyone. But I digress. There was no love lost between Reagan and Ford. The two had deep differences and Reagan could have just as easily left the stage and gone home. He didn’t. He put his heart and soul in to campaigning for Ford. When the convention dust had settled, Reagan knew Ford would have been better for American that Carter ever would be. He was right. There are those within the Republican Party who believe four years of wandering in the w | |||||||||
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