This is not an easy post for me to write and actually one I had hoped to avoid. Any regular reader of Red State knows that I am vehemently anti-Obomney (Obama and Romney) primarily because I see so many similarities in the two. I will spare you the detailed reasoning for that statement as it is counterproductive to my purpose here. However with Rick Santorum leaving the race and my personal favorite (of whose left) Newt Gingrich having zero chance of winning. It is time to start to come to grips with the idea of a Romney nomination. So as a personal exercise I will list what I DO LIKE about Romney as perhaps a starting point for eventually being able to support his candidacy.

He has been married to his lovely wife Ann for 43 years. In our society this is no easy feat. Having been married myself for 14 years I can tell you this takes honesty, compromise, commitment and you truly have to love your spouse. He and Ann also have 5 happy, healthy and what appear to be very nice children. So the first on my list of what I like about Mitt Romney is dedicated and faithful family man. As a culture we definitely need more honorable fathers and husbands as role models.

He appears by all measures to be a patriot and a man who truly loves his country. Though he didn’t serve in the military I don’t think Mitt Romney will be doing any apology tours either. I also don’t think you will hear Mitt in public or private discussing undermining our national defense with our enemies. Or bad mouthing our staunchest allies to other world leaders, think Obama and his “open mic” comments about Israel’s prime minister. So second on my list Mitt is a proud patriot who would represent us faithfully on the world stage. Considering the last 4 years of representation we have had I think we can all look forward to having a president who actually likes Americans, America and our way of life again.

His tax returns reveal a man who is very generous in his charitable giving. I personally give to Wounded Warriors, The American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. What I can afford of course though not nearly on the same levels as Mitt. I think it is important to share with those of us who truly need our help. Third on my list Mitt Romney is compassionate and appears to generally care for those less fortunate (which in Mitt’s case is all of us).

As that is all I can honestly come up with for now and I have successfully avoided a drinking binge I will leave this as TO BE CONTINUED…… Perhaps… Maybe… Don’t hold me to anything

For conservative’s the 2012 primaries are beginning to resemble another installment of the infamous SAW horror franchise.

You wake up in a brightly lit room surrounded by garbage and filth. Your ankle chained to a thick iron pipe. As you scan your surroundings and try and figure out just how you ended up here. You notice a large metal door slightly ajar. You pull on the chain to no avail and that’s when you see it. A large serrated tooth saw marked Romney just within reach. Across from it a revolver marked Obama.

Slowly the realization of your situation becomes clear. Saw off your foot and hope you survive the arterial bleeding long enough to make it through the door and presumably help. Or spare yourself the agony of sawing into your own flesh, tendons and bone while almost certainly bleeding to death in a drawn out painful ordeal and choose the revolver?

I guess the real question is what’s behind the door?

I think we can all agree this primary season has been a disaster. Our A list chose to sit out the contest or stumbled early committing ‘ritual seppaku’ in full view of the electorate. The remaining candidates are terribly flawed each in his own way and the conservative base is bitterly divided against itself. The ramifications of this are potentially more devastating than we yet realize.

Consider our “front runner” Mitt Romney. A recent dailybeast article entitled “Is Mitt Romney the Most Unpopular Likely Presidential Nominee Ever?” very effectively details the problem Mitt Romney faces. According to the article “Romney would have to overcome a larger favorability deficit than any other modern presidential candidate, and currently boasts the worst primary-season favorable-unfavorable split of any major-party nominee of at least the last 36 years.” As of March 12, when the last of these polls was released, Romney was averaging 49.6 percent unfavorable to 37.6 percent favorable—a gap of 11.7 points. This does not bode well for our “front runner” in the general when the democrats and their surrogates in the media begin their assault in earnest. Further his scorched earth campaign strategy is likely to leave large portions of the base disenfranchised making it harder for him to build momentum while simultaneously pivoting to the center to gain moderate support. “Mr. Inevitable” is anything but come November. With Romney at the helm the GOP is essentially gambling the house, senate and presidency on the hope that the American economy doesn’t noticeably *or appear to* improve before November.

More bad news for the republican faithful is the libertarians. With the defection of republican governor Gary Johnson to the libertarian ticket our nominee whoever he is is going to face a serious challenge for the moderates who are so important in tipping the electoral scales. Unlike in previous contests where third parties have nominated “Ralph Nader” and “Ron Paul” types Gary Johnson is a serious candidate with a record that is very impressive. Founder of one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico. He
served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. Elected twice with a 10% or greater margin of victory in a state that at the time was 2-to-1 Democratic. Governor Johnson followed a strict small government approach. He vetoed 200 of 424 bills in his first six months in office – a national record of 48% of all legislation – and used the line-item veto on most remaining bills. Some of the highlights of his record and background include:

Left office with New Mexico as one of the only four states in the country with a balanced budget

Left New Mexico with a budget surplus

Vetoed 750 bills during his time in office; more than all other governors combined

Cut over 1,200 government jobs without firing anyone

Created more than 20,000 new jobs

First New Mexico Governor to challenge education status quo and propose statewide voucher program

Restored State General Fund reserves to more than $222 million from a low of $28.1 million

Limited annual state budget growth to 5.0% during eight years in office

Cut taxes 14 times while never raising them—a first for New Mexico

Vetoed 32% of the total number of bills submitted for his signature

While arguably 90% or more of the electorate doesn’t even know his name Gary Johnson is already outperforming the 2 to 3% we typically see from third parties nationally.

Q11 If the candidates for President this year were Democrat Barack Obama, Republican Mitt Romney, and Libertarian Gary Johnson, who would you vote for?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 47%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 40%
Gary Johnson …………………………………………. 7%

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/02/santorum-down-five-romney-seven-vs-obama-nationally.html

When our most probable nominee has the worst favorability numbers in a generation and a challenger like Gary Johnson for moderate voters. I think we all have to agree we have a problem. The question we have to answer now is what do we do about it?

Alot has been made here at redstate by Romney supporters regarding Rick Santorums introduction of social issues into the campaign. However I wonder how many of these same supporters realize that Mitt Romney ran on a very similar platform?

Mitt Romney in 2007 cut a campaign ad called “Ocean,” where he vowed to “clean up the water in which our kids are swimming. I’d like to keep pornography from coming up on their computers,” Romney said in the ad. He also expressed a desire in the ad to “keep drugs off the streets” and “see less violence and sex on TV and in video games and in movies.”

Read the DC story here.

Seems that Romney also see’s social issues like pornography as important. Well he did, or does… What do the latest polls say????

According to posts on hotair and fox political blogs Gingrich maybe looking to form a ticket with Perry.

Sources close to the Gingrich campaign say preliminary “what-if” conversations are underway that could lead to a Gingrich-Perry ticket being announced prior to the Republican National Convention at the end of August.

Gingrich insiders hope forming a predetermined ticket with Perry will unite the evangelical, Tea Party and very conservative voters that make up the core of the GOP.

Read Here….

While I believe this will certainly help him is it too little too late? Gingrich needs to win Mississippi and Alabama to prove his “southern strategy” is still a viable option. Would seem that this is very late in the game for this type of announcement. I definitely think Perry can shake things up for Gingrich. I just wonder if there is time left for this to matter.

What an interesting couple of days it has been. The long promised Newtagedon finally arrived when Newt Gingrich dropped a hydrogen bomb on Romney’s electability argument. Attacking directly Mitt Romeny’s tenure at Bain Capitol. Reinforced by Rick Perry’s attack’s on Romney’s character, the conservative world has exploded. The talking heads at Faux News have roundly condemned Rick Perry with Meagan Kelly calling his attacks “dishonest and disingenuous”. Way to stay impartial there Meagan. Hannity and Rush have wrapped Mitt in the sacred cloak of capitalism, conflating instantly any assault on Mitt as an assault on our free market system as a whole, yeah that seems accurate. Rush going so far as to call Rick Perry the Governor of Texas Castro? No none is over reacting at all. At Redstate the ammunition has once again been passed out, sides have been chosen and various scrimmages have already ensued. Though I fear this may just be the quiet before the storm. You have to hand it to Newt, the guy doesn’t disappoint. When he says it’s on, baby he means it. So this brings us to the here and now and the purpose of my posting.

Several amongst us, myself included have let the emotions of the moment overshadow the actual issue at hand. By way of example I am a 39 year old white gun owning male from the outskirts of Dallas Texas who has over the last 24 hours or so been called a liberal, an OWS supporter and a “stupid shill for Obama” no less. While I certainly match the demographic for these labels I have never cast a democratic or third party for that matter ballot in my life. Further there are literally scores of post’s denouncing the Governor of Texas as a traitor, liar, democrat and (insert your favorite here). Is it at all possible that we are going a little to far with all of this? Could it be we have let the heat of the moment cloud our collective judgment? Let’s take a look at what Governor Perry actually said.

We have all heard or seen by now the “Vulture Capitalism” line but I will include it anyway so we can see what he actually said.

“I happen to think that companies like Bain Capital could have come in and helped these companies if they truly were venture capitalists, but they’re not — they’re vulture capitalists,” Perry told voters in Lexington, South Carolina.

There it is folks, Rick Perry the three term governor of Texas the reddest of red states. Champion of free enterprise, small government and conservative values as proven by his extensive record has proclaimed socialism is the path forward for America, the free market has failed. But wait a second, we seem to be missing something here? Does that say “I happen to think”? Could it be that Perry is expressing an Opinion? Could it be that Perry is attacking the leadership and character of Mitt Romney his opponent for the Republican Nomination? I know this is a stretch but lets investigate.

“greedy people on Wall Street were taking advantage of small companies”, but added that the answer was not more regulation.

“We’ve got plenty of regulations,” he explained. “You got a Congress that’s in bed with Wall Street. When you look at Barney Frank, and when you look at the people who did away with the oversight of Glass-Stegal and then go to work for Wall Street firms. I think we need to have a serious look at substantially reducing all of the agencies that are supposedly protecting the consumer,” Perry continued. “They’re not protecting the consumer.”

Now that doesn’t sound like someone who is advocating abolishing the free market to me. In fact it sounds more and more like someone who is questioning the business practices of a rival who has made his “Private Sector Experience” and the fact that he “Has Been In the Private Sector” a center piece for his campaign. Otherwise why would he be advocating removing regulations and abolishing government agencies? Just doesn’t make since does it? It seems more and more that Governor Perry disagrees with the appropriateness of Mitt Romney’s business practices, especially as a candidate running for president on a jobs creation platform.

But what are these business practices that the Governor of Texas “happens to think” are so inappropriate for a presidential candidate to take part in?

By way of example we will start with GSI Technologies.

Mitt Romney became majority shareholder in a steel mill that had been operating since 1888. The old mill was renamed GSI Technologies, company managers then cut jobs and benefits almost immediately. Bain and other investors received management fees from GSI and a $65 million dividend in the first years following that acquisition. Less than a decade later, the mill was padlocked and some 750 people lost their jobs. Workers were denied their severance pay and health insurance they’d been promised, and their pension benefits were cut by as much as $400 a month. What’s more, the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (i.e. YOU the taxpayer) had to pay $44 million to bail out the company’s underfunded pension plan. Nevertheless, Bain profited on the deal, receiving $12 million on its $8 million initial investment and at least $4.5 million in consulting fees.

Another prime example is DDi.

Bain invested $41 million in DDi starting in 1996. Bain took the DDi stock public in 2000 and eventually liquidated most of its stake in the company, selling shares to the public as well as distributing them to its investors and partners. It generated at least $93 million from selling the stock, according to a 2003 Register story. Romney personally sold $4.3 million of his DDi stock in May 2001. And just in time. The tech bubble burst and by the end of 2002, DDi defaulted on debt and cut its workforce by 1,300 workers, to about 1,900. In 2003, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Later that year, the SEC cited Lehman Brothers, one of four investment firms that took DDi public, alleging it pressured analysts to lie about DDi’s worth. Shareholders sued DDi, saying it withheld information that the company’s fortunes would soon sour, and the company settled for millions. In 2005, DDi was the worst performing public company in Orange County, losing 79 percent of its stock value.

I have to quote the Newt here because as is so often the case I think he says it best.

“I think there’s a real difference between people who believe in the free market, and people who go around, take financial advantage, loot companies, leave behind broken families, broken towns, people on unemployment.”

These are but two examples , I could continue but I think we all get the point.

Sure companies succeed and fail that’s how the market works after all, certainly Romney has his success stories… Staples, Dominos and Sports Authority are the chosen few he likes to mention. Though one must wonder. Would these companies have actually failed had Romney and his minions not taken so much out of them? Would they have turned a profit with the benefit of the capital they were able to raise yet somehow found it’s way to the coffers of Bain, Romney and his offshore investors? Was Romney actually trying to help these companies or himself? That is the real question.

Romney was born rich, a person like that chooses his own path in life, the path doesn’t choose him. With all the opportunities in the world one must wonder, why did Romney choose to make his money in this way? He could have made a ton of money in anything he chose, why then did he choose this particular path? I think it is a fair question and one the American voters have a right to ask.

My father said three very important things to me as a young man, things which I have passed on as basic principles to my own sons.

1.Courage is not the absence of fear, courage is what you do despite it.

2.Strength is not demonstrated in the subjugation of the weak.

3.An honorable man does not profit from the suffering of others.

I personally believe that Governor Perry is right to ask these questions of Mitt Romney. Further Governor Palin is leading a growing chorus demanding Mitt Romney release his tax returns which is also fair. If Mitt Romney has nothing to hide why would he deny such a basic request to the American people? I feel that he should be required to answer for his actions as the rest of the candidates have. We need an honorable president again. A person who can lead by the example of his own character. Mitt Romney should answer these questions of character, it is after all one of the most important qualities of a man.

One of the leading debates of this primary cycle has been whether or not Mitt Romney is actually a conservative. You here from supporters of Perry, Newt and Santorum daily the sins of Willard’s past that disqualifes Mitt as a conservative. This is then attacked by his faithful supporters and the fur fly’s. So I have an idea that perhaps will actually bring some closure to this contentious question. As a Perry supporter I do not believe Romney is a conservative, so Mitt faithful here is your chance to make your case.

Please provide credible PROOF that Mitt Romney is a conservative.

Governor,

In moments like these we find out a lot about ourselves. It is truly our failures that teach us character. It is in defeat that we learn determination. Iowa was a failure to be sure. The question now is how do we move forward? You can certainly choose to end your campaign, no one would blame you. In fact many expect you to and for my part I a proud Texan will not think poorly of you for that decision. In all honestly Romney is the establishments choice and as you represented the greatest threat to him you have been playing against a stacked deck. The debates, media and “election experts” have been aligned against you since the beginning. Winning the nomination on a level playing field is hard enough. You have had a taste of just how ugly this can get and I believe it will get worse as the talking heads will now I believe black out your campaign further in the media claiming you are not legitimate after Iowa. So there it is the bad. Certainly ample reason to justify ending your campaign.

Of course there is another option also. Pick yourself up, spit that blood out of your mouth and onto the ground. Take this as it is, an opportunity to improve. You could not quit and evaluate your failings honestly. Take the lessons of Iowa however painful adjust your strategy and messaging and fight another day in South Carolina. I am not saying its going to be easy we both know it won’t. I am not even saying you will be successful. I am saying this though. If you believe as I do, that our nation is on the brink of disaster and our way of life has a very real chance of ending. Saving the freedoms, liberties and birthrights of our children is what hangs in the balance. If you believe that you are called for this moment, that you can stem the tide and correct the course of this great nation. Then for Gods sake Cowboy Up. This is no time to be timid or indecisive. If you want it and your family is prepared for the dark days ahead. Then stop with the sound bytes and cutesy messaging. Step up to that microphone and tell the American people why they should vote for you. Quit with the outsider crap and talk to your strengths. You have the best jobs record in the country, you have the best economic record in the country, you have the best energy plan in the country. You are a proven leader with a record of success, Romney can’t say that! Only you can. Romney ranked 47th in economic growth during a booming economy, for all his liberal “compromises” he left office with a 34% approval rating after a single term. Why aren’t you talking about this? Why are you wasting your energy on Santorum and Gingrich? They aren’t standing between you and the nomination, Romney is.

I like many others governor will stand with you if you have it in you to soldier on. But don’t do it out of vanity or ego or even to honor the support of people like me. If you continue, continue because you believe in your message and for Gods sake make it a message YOU BELIEVE IN!

You and your family are in my prayers.
David XXXXX
Aubrey Texas

P.S. As Texans we have a wonderful history and heritage. I find it helpful in difficult times to look back on this for inspiration. I hope you will take heart in this message as it seems very fitting for the moment.

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World

Fellow citizens & compatriots

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls I shall never surrender or retreat.
Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country VICTORY OR DEATH.

William Barret Travis,
Lt. Col. comdt.