“THE GOVERNOR GAME”
December 19th, 2007 Posted in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney
The following comparative was compiled by David Bradford and is published here with his permission. He dubbed it “The Governor Game” — This is a very challenging exercise, so concentrate and you might figure it out.
- One Pardoned Zero criminals during his term as governor; the other Pardoned or commuted the sentences for 1033 Criminals in his state.
- One is endorsed by 68 current or past members of Congress - the other is endorsed by 4.
- One kept spending increases during his term in office to a low 2%; the other increased spending in his state 140% from $6 Billion annually to $16 Billion.
- One says that illegal aliens should not have tuition breaks that allow them to have lower tuition than citizens; the other as Governor supported a failed measure that extended in-state tuition and scholarships to the children of illegal aliens.
- One is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful businessmen in America; the other was a paid minister and worked for a televangelist before becoming a politician.
- One has wide-spread support across a number of American Constituencies; the other has the wide-spread support of one - the Evangelical movement.
- One spent years in volunteer service leading a worldwide effort to rescue the 2002 Winter Olympics, the other has not served in any similar capacity.
- Both served for 12 years as leaders of their respective Churches - one took zero salary for his years of service; the other was paid.
- One took zero salary for his years in Government service; the other took full salary, gifts, and more (for which he was fined).
- Only one has a chance of beating Hillary or Obama in the “blue” seaboard states that will be critical to win in the next election and demonstrated his electability in the most liberal of States—Massachusetts. The other will not be taken seriously in any of the critical blue states.
- One has shown respect for the other candidate’s faith and beliefs; the other has used less than subtle methods, to criticize the faith of the other candidate, while at the same time conspicuously elevating his own religion above others.
- In recognition of his outstanding leadership, one was elected by his fellow Governors as Chairman of the Republican Governors’ Conference; the other was not.
Need I give you the answer to David’s game challenge?
~ Vic
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“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
— Helen Keller, American social activist, public speaker and author (1880-1968)
December 19th, 2007 at 2:56 am
In fairness . .
#12 Huckabee was head of the NGA (National Governor’s Association) while Romney was head of the RGA. Maybe that just shows that many liberal democrats had no problem voting for him (since he’s not to far away, eh?)
#11 Good and valid point . . . but I think it’s time to try to end this “Holy War” . . . everyone’s talking about it too much and if ROmney beats Huck a lot of his supporters could blame Romney and enshrine Mike as a political martyr of faith.
#10 Actually I think there’s a better argument that Mitt could get Michigan and other “non-southern swing states” much better than Huckabee. I don’t think Mitt realistically puts the Northeast “in play” . . . besides maybe New Hampshire.
# 9 really isn’t fair . . . Romney does have the luxury of incredible wealth that others don’t. Pretty sure Huckabee (or anyone who’s nearly a billionaire) would turn down salaries if they were similarly blessed.
# 8 C’mon . . . you know that’s not fair (It’s not like Romney was declining a salary . . .). I do like the idea of a comment that shows that Romney was a leader of a congregation and was payed no money for it . . . but maybe it could be re-phrased.
#5 . . . maybe try to keep the criticism away from being a preacher and televangelist . . . but bring out that he dropped out of his graduate degree program to become an understudy to a televangelist (pretty telling of his priorities IMO) . . . or compare educational records (Valedictorian at BYU, Baker Scholar at Harvard Business, Cum Laude at Harvard Law . . . to BA in Bible Studies at Oachitia (sp???) and then dropped out of theology graduate school (but still claimed he had a theology degree on multiple occasions).
#3 Selective use of percentages is deceiving . . . Huckabee’s number is for the full 10 years . . . Romney’s number is a per-year percentage (adjusted for inflation IIRC)
Just tryin’ to “Keep it Real”
But a great list and a great idea for further propagation . . . lets make it as accurate as possible and post it everywhere we can.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:01 am
BTW, I do not think GMR was valedictorian. I recall an interview in which GMR stated he was never valedictorian; that this is an assertion others constantly make that he simply cannot suppress.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:22 am
I do think he was the top student within his college . . . but not sure if that qualifies as “Valedictorian” at BYU. Maybe I’ve just been repeating a common misconception?
December 19th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Below are the facts of Gov. Romney’s record of academic achievement at BYU in his own words taken from a C-SPAN interview with Brian Lamb on 3/19/2006 (Q&A with Gov. Mitt Romney). He was the graduating class valedictorian but did not finish first in his class. His GPA at BYU was 3.97
LAMB: You finished first in your class at Brigham Young University in Utah.
ROMNEY: Almost. I did very well at Brigham Young and I was the valedictorian in terms of speaking at the graduation. And I think I had the highest grade point in my college of humanities.
But I don’t know who was number one in the entire class. So I will correct the record on that. I graduated with highest honors and I did pretty well at Brigham Young.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
3.97!!!
See everybody. He’s NOT perfect!