comMITTed to Romney!

Read it all here in the USA Today
My favorite parts:

Massachusetts also proved that you don’t need government insurance. Our citizens purchase private, free-market medical insurance. There is no “public option.” With more than 1,300 health insurance companies, a federal government insurance company isn’t necessary. It would inevitably lead to massive taxpayer subsidies, to lobbyist-inspired coverage mandates and to the liberals’ dream: a European-style single-payer system. To find common ground with skeptical Republicans and conservative Democrats, the president will have to jettison left-wing ideology for practicality and dump the public option.

and

When our bill passed three years ago, the legislature projected that our program would cost $725 million in 2009. At $723 million, next year’s forecast is pretty much on target. When you calculate all the savings, including that from the free hospital care we eliminated, the net cost to the state is approximately $350 million. The watchdog Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation concluded that our program’s cost is “relatively modest” and “well within initial projections.”

And if subsidies and coverages are reined in, as I’ve suggested, the Massachusetts program could actually break even. One thing is certain: The president must insist on a program that doesn’t add to our spending burden. We simply cannot afford another trillion-dollar mistake.

Now Governor . . . it’s time to hit the media circuit and be visible attacking this horrible plan and defending your more responsible and reasonable Mass Plan (which is taking hits from far too many conservatives who just don’t look into the details of the plan).

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Romney is the most popular major politician when compared to the popularity of their political parties. Check it out over at Iowans for Romney. I would have posted it all here, but I’m having trouble copying/pasting the code from Blogspot to this blog publisher. The Fox News Poll link is here showing Romney leading.

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WE WILL BE LIVE BLOGGING AT WWW.COMMITTEDTOROMNEY.COM THIS THURSDAY, JULY 30 @ 9 PM CENTRAL……VOLUNTEER CHAT/SIGNUP….BE A PART OF 50 STATE PODCAST EFFORT!!

We are looking for volunteers who are willing to research political bloggers in their home and surrounding states in order in collect their email addresses. Craig Edwards, who produces the podcast for both the Committed to Romney and for the Solid Principles sites, will then contact them to see if they are willing to be interviewed for the www.solidprinciples.com podcast.

We are interested in getting their takes on the upcoming 2010 mid term elections and since this is such an ambitious project, involving most if not all 50 states, we will have to slice the task up like a salami, with each volunteer taking on one or two smaller states and with several volunteers taking a big state like California, New York and Texas.

Since these local bloggers know there candidates and incumbents better than Craig and I ever could through any research we might do, we feel this method will produce the most accurate analysis of state wide and Congressional races.

We also hope to bring attention to this critical election, because as you well know, the stakes are high. I honestly question this country’s future if we continue on the path we are on for another 3 1/2 years.

So, use the comments section of this post to volunteer, or you can also sign up at the CommittedtoRomney.Net social networking site. Paulee has stepped up to the plate on the .Net side of the blog and will have a post up there as well.

Thanks in advance for everything you do to advance the conservative cause.

~~John Cronin~~

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http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/07/21/romney-on-obama-s-push-for-health-reform-slow-down.aspx

By: Katie Connolly

In the last two weeks, political commentators have expressed doubts over President Obama’s time frame for healthcare reform. Meanwhile, even some Democrat lawmakers appear to be getting cold feet. In response, Obama is relentlessly pitching his plan. He has spoken about healthcare on eight out of the last nine days, and he’s scheduled to hold a town hall meeting on the topic this Thursday. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is one of the few politicians in the country with first hand experience of steering major health care reform through the legislative process. The reforms he enacted in Massachusetts have been critizied for being costly, but they’ve also managed to extend coverage to a significant number of uninsured people. By 2007, the proportion of uninsured people in Massachusetts was the lowest in the country.

I spoke to Romney about his experience with healthcare reform this morning. His cautionary words for Obama? Slow down. Here are some excerpts from our conversation:

What do you think needs to happen over the next couple of weeks if President Obama’s deadline for healthcare reform is to be met?

I think the President ought to hit the reset button. I think it is critical that he have the participation, involvement, and support of people on both sides of the aisle, as well as people in various sectors of the health economy. If we are going to have a dramatic shift in the nature of so large a part of our economy then it needs to be something that has been thoroughly vetted and has received great support. Out of a desire to move very quickly, while his support is highest, he has skipped the critical steps of educating, involving, and evolving his own plans to meet the perspectives of the great majority of our citizens.

It sounds like you are encouraging the President to slow down. Aren’t there risks in delaying?

He’s in a very difficult position. We faced a very similar question [in Massachusetts] as we began our process. We spent over two years putting together a health care plan and then building support for it on both sides of the aisle - working with hospitals, providers, doctors, business groups, labor groups, advocates for the poor. We involved all of these parties, and it took a long time, but what we ended up with was a bill that passed the legislature - if you combine the House and the Senate - 198 to 2.

What lessons can be gleaned from your experience in Massachusetts?

After we crafted the architecture of our plan, the first person I went to was Ted Kennedy. He and I met numerous times and what we fashioned was not perfect in either one of our eyes, but we worked together, because only together could we know that we would have the support of all the parties necessary to make it work.

The states are laboratories of democracy. Well, our state passed a bill. It’s been in place now for several years. Have they studied it? Have they spoken with the Republicans and Democrats in Masssachusetts? Have they spoken with hospitals? Doctors? Have they sent the GAO there to take it apart to see what is working well and what is not? Nobody has given me a call, except Republicans. I’ve received no calls from Democrats saying what do you think about it? What would you do differently if you were to do it today? There’s a whole series of things I’d do differently. And yet, there seems to be such a rush to act. I understand that President Obama wants to get this done in his first term, but more important than getting it done in the first year is getting it done right, before he is out of office. There is time here to get it done right.

In terms of the reform proposals before Congress, what do you see that you like and dislike so far?

I’m not happy that the President wants to provide a so-called public option. There is no need for the government to become an insurance company. I’m convinced, as many before me have said, that this is a step towards a single payer system; that it will result in billions, if not hundreds of billions, of subsidies down the road and a new entitlement, which is one of the last things America needs right now. On the other hand I am happy that he is actually working to reform healthcare. It’s important for us to get everyone insured. It’s important that there be an effort made to reduce the excessive inflation in the healthcare sector.

How well do the current proposals deal with reducing costs?

The legislation has almost nothing to do with cost reduction. Nothing I have seen in the bills that are being discussed by the Democratic leadership suggests that there will be a significant change in health inflation.

This is an extraordinarily important topic and one for which there is a great deal of information around the world. Normally, if this were private enterprise, you would spend a great deal of time with brilliant analysts, looking at alternatives, evaluating lessons from foreign places, and perhaps even experimenting with some alternatives before unleashing them on the entire US economy. Healthcare reform is a matter that should be focused on allowing our citizens to have better health at more reasonable cost, as opposed to being thought of as a political success or failure. We really can’t afford a lot of trillion dollar mistakes.

What do you think the President’s message to the American people should be when he speaks on Wednesday night?

I don’t presume to give the President advice. I can say that the campaign promise that President Obama made to work on a bipartisan basis and to change the atmosphere in Washington is something which I think America is still hoping to see, particularly in health care. It is just not consistent with his original vision to anticipate jamming through a piece of legislation which has numerous flaws, and which can only receive the support of his own party if members of that party have had their arms twisted into knots. That is not going to be the right kind of answer to America’s health care needs.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533900,00.html?test=latestnews

SALT LAKE CITY — A mass-kissing protest near the Mormon church temple Sunday drew a shouting match between gay activists and their critics.

For the second consecutive weekend, about 100 people gathered to stage a “kiss-in” to protest the treatment of two gay men cited for trespassing July 9 after they shared a kiss on the plaza owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both gay and straight couples exchanged kisses during the protest.

Demonstrators were greeted at the south entrance by a group of protesters carrying large signs that denounced homosexuality, prompting a heated verbal exchange.

Police say no one was arrested or cited, despite a large group exchanging kisses by a reflecting pool at the plaza’s center.

“We didn’t call the police. We didn’t do anything,” church spokeswoman Kim Farah said.

The church bought one block of Salt Lake City’s Main Street to build a plaza in the 1990s alongside the Temple, where Mormon marriages and other religious rituals take place.

Matt Aune has said he and his partner, Derek Jones, exchanged a modest kiss at the plaza 11 days ago, but church officials contend their behavior was lewd.

“There was much more involved that a simple kiss of the cheek,” Farah said in a statement Friday.

“They engaged in passionate kissing, groping, profane and lewd language, and had obviously been using alcohol.”

The men have said they were walking home from a nearby concert and cutting through the plaza on their way home.

A police report said they sat down for a kiss and were approached by a pair of church security guards, who asked them to leave because their behavior was “unwanted.”

Both were handcuffed and Aune was pinned to the ground.

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Here come the Peasants with Pitchforks! Rasmussen will release details this morning. I am growing more confident daily that Obama is a one term President and this Rasmussen poll show how strong Gov. Romney is versus Obama.

Let’s continue to work hard to ensure that Gov. Romney has some conservative Pubbies to work with in 2012 by getting some elected in 2010.

~~John Cronin~~

RASMUSSEN 2012 poll released at 10:30AM ET

Obama 45% Romney 45%
Obama 48% Palin 42%

No details available at this time on the story below. Not sure what to make of it. I am sure more details will follow. Stay clicked.

POLITICO

Obama to meet Mormon leader

From the no-stone-unturned department: Tomorrow’s schedule says the president will meet Latter-Day Saints Church President Thomas Monson, in the company of Senate Minority Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Mormon.

Obama’s likeliest 2012 foe, Mitt Romney, is a Mormon whose political organization has long drawn support from LDS, but that’s evidently no obstacle.

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While I don’t always agree 100% with Patrick J. Buchanan, I think he is spot on with this recent essay (currently being headlined by Drudge) where he decries our slide into socialism.   If anyone in the Romney campaign is reading, Buchanan just outlined Our Favorite Candidate’s talking points for a landslide victory over the Obama/Pelosi/Reed “sharp left turn.” 

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Photo Courtesy: Gallup

Read this in depth analysis at GALLUP

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While it’s true that you can’t buy the Presidency, a candidate’s fund raising ability is very important because it is a good gauge of the level of grassroots support. I once heard someone say, “Show me your checkbook stubs and I’ll show you what you believe in.” That is true in all areas of life and it is certainly true in politics.

It’s good to see Mitt Romney leading the pack because when you are not the lead dog of the sled, the view never changes.

~~John Cronin~~

Press reports

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the way in terms of fundraising by potential 2012 Republican candidates. Romney showed nearly $1.4 million raised through his Free and Strong America PAC at the end of May.

Palin’s showing is, however, a sign that she can raise cash at the national level and that she will be a player in the 2010 midterm elections if she, as expected, chooses to involve herself in downballot races.

It is all the more impressive given the chaos that surrounded her operation — and herself — over the first half of 2009. If Palin can spend her time out of office organizing a serious national effort, these numbers suggest the financial support is out there to help her.

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This is a repost from Solid Prinicples article: We’re Not Even Close to Sweden

Earlier this year, ‘media pundits’ called the Obama Administration Automaker bailouts a step closer to Swedish styled Socialism for America.   Even The Daily Show with John Stewart sensed a gag in the making and sent comic Wayatt Cenac to Sweden on a series titled ‘The Stockholm Syndrome’.  So what would Sweden have done with an automaker on the ropes?  Bail them out?

One of the least reported stories of the GM restructure was the loss of their European brands Opel & Saab.  At one stage, Saab did attempt Government funding to save the Automaker.  They refused.  Enterprise & Energy Minister Maud Olofsson said the following:  “Voters picked me because they wanted nursery schools, police and nurses, and not to buy loss-making car factories”.

Saab then went into the restructure process while finding a new buyer.  To starve of bankruptcy in May, they gained more time for the process through the courts.  When Sports Car maker Koenigsegg bought Saab, they in turn renegotiated the Saab creditors into accepting massive write-downs so Saab could survive.

America is not even close to being Sweden, they took the same approach Mitt (Told You So) Romney suggested back in November 2008 for the failing Automakers “…a company restructure is by either having a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, where you stay in the court’s guidance, or you can that on an out-of-court settlement, where the parties come together and agree a restructuring. That would be preferable, of course.”.

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Mitt Romney is now the lead 2012 republican horse at politicalderby.com!  For the 2008 race, Mitt was briefly ranked as the number one horse twice, on August 16, 2007, and January 16, 2008, but this is the first time he has been atop the 2012 rankings. 

For what it is worth, back on November 6, 2006, politicalderby.com editor Jason Wright, picked John McCain as the lead republican horse in his early 2008 rankings.  So it looks like he has a track record of picking the winner early on.

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Pretty good pro Romney video. Makes me nostalgic for the good old days back in 2007-08 before America went socialist.

~~John Cronin~~

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I know the YouTubes on the 4th of July Tea Parties will start rolling in tomorrow, in the meantime, here is a YouTube that has a very good soundtrack and the protest signs held by patriotic Americans are a good indication of what’s bugging us on this holiday weekend!

~~John Cronin~~

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Gov. Romney’s pick for the Republican nomination for Governor of the beleaguered state of California, Meg Whitman, has gotten off to a fast start, according to her fund raising team.

Gov. Romney continues to enjoy a high level of success with his candidate picks, with the vast majority of them going on to be successful in their races.

From a personal standpoint, I wish that Ms. Whitman was pro-life, but if I can’t get everything I want in a candidate for statewide office, I’ll settle for a great businesswoman, who likes to cut taxes and keep government smaller, simpler and smarter.

~~John Cronin~~

MEG WHITMAN ANNOUNCES FUNDRAISING RESULTS
WHITMAN RAISES OVER $6.5 MILLION IN FIVE MONTHS

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

CONTACT:

Tucker Bounds
408.400.3887
Mitch Zak
916.448.5802

CUPERTINO - Meg Whitman, Republican candidate for governor, announced today that her exploratory committee has raised more than $6.5 million since launching her campaign just five months ago. Whitman was the last Republican candidate to form an exploratory committee, yet she has quickly attracted contributions from every corner of California and far surpassed the other candidates’ fundraising totals during the first reporting period ending June 30, 2009.

“There is no more certain measure of enthusiasm for a candidate than heavy early campaign contributions. This unprecedented outpouring of support for Meg confirms the demand for a new style of leadership that creates jobs, cuts wasteful spending, and effectively manages state government,” said Campaign Chairman and former California Governor Pete Wilson. “Meg’s appeal reaches far beyond just traditional Republicans. She is attracting new donors and new voters to expand our party at a critical time. They are putting their money where their hearts and minds are.”

Of the more than $6.5 million total, 85 percent was raised from Californians. The campaign showed particular fundraising strength in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, and in the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay Area. Whitman’s strength in the Bay Area is particularly encouraging given that her Republican opponents are from there as well.

Since announcing the formation of her gubernatorial exploratory committee on February 9, Whitman has described her vision to thousands of Californians, amassed prominent endorsements, traveled the state to attend grassroots events, and is building the campaign infrastructure needed to win the primary and general elections.

Meg Whitman, 52, retired from eBay in March 2008 following a decade with the company. She helped eBay grow from 30 employees and $4.7 million in revenue to more than 15,000 employees, almost $8 billion in revenue, and a network of 12 million users in California alone. Before eBay, Whitman distinguished herself in leadership positions with Procter & Gamble, Bain & Company, Disney, Stride Rite Corporation, FTD, and Hasbro. On February 9, 2009, she announced the formation of her Exploratory Committee for Governor of California.

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