comMITTed to Romney!

Below is a brief excerpt from An NPR blog that I came across. The author makes a couple of statements that I would like to refute.

1. Mitt Romney is not the “average Republican activist’s cup of tea.” He may not have been in 2008, but now that Republican activists have had a chance to fully sort out the 2008 primary campaign, Mitt Romney is soaring in the estimation of these same grassroots activists.

Sarah Palin has morphed into a celebrity author, famous for being famous and her announcement that she will campaign for candidates possibly outside the Republican Party makes her anathema to this Republican activist. If we are able to regain our ability to filibuster the Obama administration’s toxic bills, it will be because we have 41 Republicans in the U.S. Senate. We will not have the luxury of electing any third party candidates who may or may not vote with the Pubbies.

2. Mitt Romney kept a “low profile in 2009.” Huh? He endorsed winning candidates across the country, including the election of two high profile Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia and he has written well received Op-Eds in respected newspapers at regular intervals.

The bottom line is simply this. Mitt Romney continues to be the candidate that the Left and their sycophants in the Dinosaur Media fear the most. Don’t buy the Dem talking points that it’s Palin that they fear most. Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson destroyed Palin by asking her simple questions in televised interviews. Can you picture her at the podium debating Obama on the details of rebuilding the American economy, or the minutiae of the Health Care bill? Or try to picture her debating venture capitalist Mitt Romney during the 2012 primary. To a growing body of party activists, the candidate that they are looking at to restore their viability is Mitt Romney.

~~John Cronin~~

Question No. 7: Will Sarah Palin go back to Alaska and tackle its thorny problems as governor or pursue a career as a national media figure? Answer: All too obvious. Palin resigned as governor in midsummer and mounted a national tour as co-author of a tell-and-tease autobiography trashing the campaign staff of her ticketmate John McCain. We expect to see a lot of her on TV and in the blogosphere in months to come. And she will campaign for other Republicans around the country in 2010. But don’t bank on her being in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2011. She will flirt with another national campaign, but the downside of a poor showing would be too steep. She will opt for the spotlight but not the hot seat.

Question No. 6: So who will emerge as an early favorite for the GOP in 2012? Answer: No one so far. Mitt Romney, the venture capitalist and former governor of Massachusetts who ran a pretty good campaign in 2008, remains the class of the field but kept a low profile in 2009. Mike Huckabee led in some polls of Republicans that also found Sarah Palin popular. But Huckabee ended the year uncertain about running (and damaged by a clemency scandal from his days as Arkansas governor). Romney remains too much a general election candidate, a problem for the Democrats to be sure but far from the average Republican activist’s cup of tea. His past positions on social issues were too styled to Massachusetts, and his Mormonism still leaves the party’s religious base lukewarm at best.

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http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13953660

Group likes his Olympic, business perspectives

The Salt Lake Tribune

The National Ski Areas Association likes Mitt Romney’s perspective and has arranged for the Republican presidential candidate and former organizer of Salt Lake City’s Olympics to be keynote speaker at its annual meeting in May.

“Not only does he possess a unique perspective of the ski industry, given his work in organizing the [2002] Winter Olympics, but we’re confident that [former Massachusetts] Gov. Romney’s pro-business, small-government message will resonate with a number of our member ski area owners and operators,” said NSAA President Michael Berry.

He said Romney’s appearance at the national convention and trade show, May 2-5 in Orlando, Fla., will occur shortly after the scheduled spring publication of No Apology: The Case for American Greatness . In that book, Romney is expected to address 21st Century challenges facing the United States.

– Mike Gorrell

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Below is some material that I excerpted from Paul LePage’s website. Mr. LePage is a Republican candidate for Governor of Maine. He is one of a large number of candidates from several parties running for that office.

I know very little about Mr. LePage and his positions at this point, but from little I know, he seems to be a businessman/politician with decidedly pro-business, pro-tax cut instincts.

Based on the candidates we have been forced to choose from, starting at the Presidential level and working our way down to dog catcher, anytime I see or hear a candidate talking “conservative” my first thought is to help publicize their political programs, because as we have said many times, the anti-Republican, anti-conservative Dinosaur Media aren’t interested in giving them a fair shake. So, it falls to the New Media to act as a counter balance and to help bring these ladies and gentlemen to the voter’s attention.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.lepage2010.com/index.php

Bio

Paul LePage, mayor of Waterville, and general manager of Marden’s, will offer Maine’s voters an unusual opportunity next year - the opportunity to elect a chief executive with an actual lifetime of executive experience. This may sound strange, but it is true that most governors come to office after a lifetime almost entirely devoted to chasing votes. This is one reason that forty-five out of fifty American states face a financial crisis this year.

Paul is no business bureaucrat who worked his way up the corporate ladder by following the rules, working the angles or playing office politics. He has spent most of his life tackling one challenge after another, the kinds of challenges that defeat most people.

The oldest son of eighteen children in an impoverished, dysfunctional family, Paul left home at the age of eleven and lived on the streets of Lewiston for two years, making a meager living shining shoes.

At age thirteen, two families jointly “adopted” Paul. Eddy and Pauline Collins kept him busy washing dishes at the Theriault’s Cafe. Bruce and Joan Myrick kept him busy hauling boxes. Bruce was a Pepsi-Cola truck driver. Later Paul worked at the Antoine Rubber Company and at a meat packing company.While attending Husson, he supported himself as a short order cook and bartender, while making time to be the editor of the college newspaper.

Getting into Husson presented a challenge in itself. Paul was brought up speaking French. Although his S.A.T. scores in math were excellent, his verbal performance was so poor that no college would accept him. It was only because Sen. Olympia Snowe’s first husband Peter persuaded Husson to administer the exam in French that Paul was admitted at all. After that, his mastery of the English language and his academic achievements soared and he graduated with a BS in Business Administration in Finance/Accounting. He subsequently earned an MBA from the University Of Maine.

Vision

“People, communities, businesses…”

I am running for Governor because, as most of us born or raised in the state, I love Maine. It’s people, communities, businesses and natural beauty are like no other place on earth. We face many challenges in coming years, and I want to be your voice, to represent you in our state government, and to protect your finances and individual rights from the encroachment of state and federal government.

• Fiscal Responsibility: Fiscal responsibility starts and ends with the understanding that taxpayers have a right to keep as much of their hard-earned money as possible-not that government has the right to collect as much money as it needs. I promise that my first priority as Governor will be to ensure that state government spends every tax dollar wisely. I will not allow wasteful spending. Government tax and spend practices will come to an end, and I will fight to keep every dollar possible where it rightfully belongs, in your pocket.

• Tax Reform: Our vision for Maine must include tax reform, repeal and excise tax reduction. As Mayor of Waterville I set a goal to ensure property tax reduction each year from the year after I took office. By seeking efficiency, applying sound business principals, and always looking out for the taxpayer, I have proven my ability to reach these goals. In my tenure as Mayor of Waterville, we have cut property taxes without sacrificing any city services. The city’s fund balance has increased from $1 million to $10 million and our credit rating has been upgraded from A-Minus to A-Plus.Government needs to practice the same discipline and fiscal responsibility with the taxpayer’s money that any responsible individual would practice with their own. I strongly support repeal of all new sales taxes.

• Taxpayer Bill Of Rights: I am in favor of the Taxpayer Bill Of Rights. It merely limits the power of state government to increase taxes above the rate of inflation and population growth-without a vote of the people. As Mayor of Waterville, I have cut taxes several times while maintaining services, with no ill effects. As Governor I can show you how to do it for all of Maine.

• Job Creation: Too often politicians and bureaucrats in state government make the promise that they “will create new jobs”. At best this sort of statement shows a complete misunderstanding of the Maine economy. At worst it shows an eagerness to increase the size of government. The jobs that our state needs are not the kind that can be created by our governor, state legislature or any other government entity. The jobs that Maine needs are the kind created by intelligent, visionary entrepreneurs who will choose Maine as the place to start or grow their business. They will create new, higher paying jobs in industries where growth is possible. These jobs will stimulate our economy, bringing revenue into state coffers while reducing the burden on individual taxpayers. As Governor, I promise to work tirelessly not to “create new jobs” but to create an environment and public policy that promotes the growth of business, envision a landscape bounding with economic activity.

• Limited Government: Never before in the history of our state or our nation have the individual rights of citizens been so openly under attack. Each and every Maine citizen has the right to live their life without the shackles of government. From over-taxation that is forcing some into economic slavery to excessive government regulation by bureaucrats who do not understand the industries they attempt to regulate, it is time to halt the growth of government. It is time to push back against this steadily growing interference into our personal lives, our finances, and our businesses.

• Traditional Values: Family is the foundation on which civilization is built. I will oppose any effort to undermine traditional values in our great state. The traditional values that we hold dear are part of what has made Maine the exceptional place to live that it is today.

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Below is David MacKay’s first post for CommittedtoRomney.com. I asked David to become a contributor several days ago and this is his essay explaining why he supports Gov. Mitt Romney for President in 2012.

~~John Cronin~~

By: David MacKay

When I found out the truth about Mitt Romney… not only did I found out that his first name isn’t Mitt (its Willard BTW — but then again you already knew that right?), I found out that just about everything negative that I heard about him was flat out false. Not only that there was a lot of misinformation about Romney, I learned that there was an agenda or strategy if you will. As you learn more about politics you sadly learn that there isn’t a sincere interest for the welfare of America… only an interest in wealth and in power. Thankfully, there was another thing that I found out. I found out the about Mitt Romney.

The truth about MItt Romney is that he was hired to rescue the Olympics after the bribery scandal and was signed on as Governor of Massachusetts to save them from financial bankruptcy. He turned around the Olympics with a $379 million deficit and ended up clearing a $100 million dollar profit. He turned around the state of MA with a $3 Billion deficit and left the state with $700 million surplus.

He was also able to pass a Healthcare Reform Law which requires almost all MA residents to buy health insurance coverage inviting the private companies to compete amongst themselves for the costs of their premiums which presently is now covering more than 98% percent of their residents without increasing costs to it’s state. Not only this but when he worked for the private sector at Bain Capital he turned around plenty of ordinary companies into world known companies such as Staples and Dominoes Pizza. Now who in this world has done all that?

No wonder the Left felt so threatened by this impressive man. With that resume alone you got to wonder why in the world wouldn’t you want this man to be the president of this great nation. No other politician had ever received so many ill construed hit pieces from the media but the truth about Mitt Romney is that he has always been pro life at heart, of course he had to make a truce in Massachusetts about not changing the existing abortion laws as they were — how else might have he won as a Republican Governor in that state?

And when it came to making a decision between Pro Life and Pro Choice he always fell on the side of Life. Then the media went on to say that Romney was Pro Gay rights back in his failed bid in 1994… the truth is that back then Pro Gay rights meant equal opportunities in the work force and military.

The truth about Mitt Romney is that he would have won nomination if he had only been hit by the Democrats, but sadly he was tackled by the right also when McCain and Huckabee teamed up against him to bring a good man down — how else would have Romney lost. In spite of everything that was against him, Romney took full responsibility for his failed run for nomination and quickly put ill feelings behind him, endorsing all his delegates over to John McCain. Ever since Romney has been true to his word and has continued to support the conservative cause helping Republicans win their nominations everywhere. I have known few men with such integrity and I feel fortunate to know that he will most likely run again in 2012.

The truth is that we have the opportunity to elect Romney again in 2012, by building up the foundation or the grassroots in your home town. Every effort no matter how big or small is worth it in the end, because together we will most likely see this man elected again. As Mitt Romney has stated it himself, this isn’t about him… the truth is that it’s about having a Free and Strong America — a better place for you and for me.

-David MacKay

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Do we even need to say “We told you so?”

CEO Waggoner is gone, they are talking pre-packaged bankruptcy, Larry Kudlow at CNBC is going ballistic over the need to restructure the auto industry’s cost structure and lo and behold, Mitt Romney looks like a rocket scientist because he flat out nailed it in his Op-Ed piece in the NYT, that goes back to November of last year.

As you now, we are all unabashed Mitt Romney partisans here at Committed to Romney and today’s developments clearly demonstrate why that is so.

~~John Cronin~~

The New York Times

By: Mitt Romney

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

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For 100 years, Harvard Business School has produced a veritable who’s who of American corporate leaders and innovators. Now, on the occasion of the school’s centennial, CNBC takes you inside the hallowed halls for a student’s eye view of the mystique and the pressure-filled realities of higher education at it’s highest level. Featuring interviews with HBS graduates Jeff Immelt, Meg Whitman, Steve Schwarzman and others.

Reported By: Carl Quintanilla

Wednesday, Dec., 17—10P ET/PT

CNBC First In Business Worldwide

Also being interviewed is Harvard Business School Graduate and Baker Scholar, Gov. Mitt Romney, who finished in the top five of his class in HBS’s joint MBA/JD program. Call your friends and family and let them now this is the man we think is best qualified to be President in 2012 and the credentials I just mentioned are a big part of why he is our pick to lead the country.

~~John Cronin~~

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In case we wild and crazy Americans think we are the only ones whose banks and stock markets fall apart like $2 watches every 20 years or so, check out my cousins over in the Emerald Isle. Seems like the dear lads have got themselves into a bit of a sticky wicket, so to speak.

Since we are on the subject of All Things Irish, as an added bonus, ( at least I’d like to think it’s a bonus ) I’d like to throw in one of my favorite Irish sayings.

“May those that love us, love us. And those that don’t love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so we’ll know them by their limping.”

~~John Cronin~~

By Aude Lagorce, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) — The Irish government Tuesday said it will guarantee domestic banks’ deposits and debt for two years to allay fears of an imminent collapse of its banking system after shares in the sector lost more than a quarter of their value in Dublin Monday.

“The government has decided to put in place with immediate effect a guarantee arrangement to safeguard all deposits (retail, commercial, institutional and interbank), covered bonds, senior debt and date subordinated debt,” the finance ministry said in a statement.

The measure sent banking shares soaring. Anglo Irish Banks rose 16% in volatile Dublin afternoon trading. Bank of Ireland shares climbed 18% and Anglo Irish Bank added 41%. Irish Life and Permanent shares gained 26%.

The recovery in the banking sector lifted the ISEQ 20, which rose 6.1% to 521.04, after a drop of roughly 13% on Monday.

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Gov. Romney’s former company Bain Capital LLC has teamed up with Hellman & Friedman LLC to acquire prestigious investment management firm Neuberger Berman. The headlines are sobering, but there is value out there, if you know where to look for it. Bain Capital knows where to look.

~~John Cronin~~

WSJ Online

Private-equity firms Bain Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC reached a deal to acquire a chunk of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s investment-management unit, including its prized Neuberger Berman division, for $2.15 billion.

An auction of the profitable investment-management unit began more than a month ago as Lehman scrambled to raise capital.

The Wall Street firm originally planned to sell a 55% stake in the unit, but as a result of its bankruptcy filing the entire business was placed on the block.

The price paid by Bain Capital and Hellman is a sharp discount to the amount Neuberger and Lehman’s had previously valued the unit.

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By: Alexander Bolton THE HILL

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/downturn-hits-house-2008-06-16.html

Maybe the Pelosis should give Mitt Romney a call. I’ve heard he’s a pretty sharp portfolio manager. While they are at it, maybe they should ask him his advise on energy policy as well.

~~John Cronin~~

Congressional leaders lost millions of dollars in last year’s economic downturn.
New financial disclosure reports reveal, however, that while House members suffered losses, senators defied the odds and saw their profit margins rise.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Ca.) husband, the San Francisco financier Paul Pelosi, lost between between $880,000 and $7.4 million in various investments. As a result, the Pelosis earned only several hundred thousand dollars if income from their assets, which range between $29 million and $133 million, according to public records.

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We could sue the oil producing states when the price of gasoline gets “too high” for us, thereby encouraging the states to withhold supplies to the American market and also encourage another escalation in “protective” tariffs and other job destroying moves……or if push comes to shove we might consider drilling for oil right here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Just a thought.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWAT00953020080520?
feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.

The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.

The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.

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Brief article over at HOT AIR touts Mitt Romney for the vice presidential slot.
The article talks about the strength that Romney would bring to the ticket because of his mastery of business and economics. If Mitt is not picked for VP, I think this is what needs to happen.

The McCain campaign needs to send a message to conservatives, IMHO, in two areas of vital importance, or they will not be pleased with the results they get at at the ballot box in November.

1. We need an iron-clad promise to secure our borders and to enforce the existing laws on immigration.

2. We need a comprehensive economic policy that includes making the Bush tax cuts permanent, killing the death tax, balancing the budget and moving to reform the bloated entitlement spending that threatens to bankrupt this country.

Failing to accomplish this, the feckless leadership we have been getting from the Republican Party at the national level, will usher in eight bleak years of Democratic rule.

I know I am repeating myself, but I will say it again. Unless grassroots Republicans rise up and retake this party in order to guide it back toward the conservative principles that made the Party and the country great, we are going to lose this election. If there isn’t two cents worth of difference between the Democrat’s platform and the Republican’s platform, who cares which party wins? Obviously the career politicians do, but I am talking about the voters who have to pay for all of this.

We are not getting our money’s worth!

~~John Cronin~~

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/05/01/pew-mccain-gaining-at-the-center/

The economy will present a critical test for McCain. He has worked on building economic chops, and his campaign has notable assistance in this area from Steve Forbes and even Mitt Romney. Obama’s stumble on capital-gains tax increases could help narrow this gap, but thus far the McCain campaign hasn’t offered any focus on that gaffe from the April 16th debate.
McCain could use a well-recognized hand on economics as a running mate. I’ve suggested that Romney could fill that role, although Allahpundit has been less enthusiastic. Romney did a great job with fundraising in 2007 and could help fill a critical gap there as well. Now that Jeremiah Wright has managed to splatter himself all over Obama, not too many people would worry about Mormons in the general election. Mormons aren’t known for asking that God damn America or promulgating weird conspiracy theories about HIV and government-sponsored genocides. Wright’s demagoguery has taken the Mormon issue off the table, if Obama wins the nomination.

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How do you defend against attacks that are purely dishonest? Barack Obama had to struggle with that issue last week when the Clinton machine went after him. Perhaps we can take solace in his resounding win in the Democratic contest that took place yesterday. But I believe the short answer to that question is: control the message (i.e., change the subject).

Readers here know what McCain said about Mitt’s comments weren’t true. I’d seen the clip McCain was referring to weeks ago, and there was nothing in there about Mitt proposing or supporting a timetable for withdrawal: it was about whether there may be a Bush administration timetable and how if there was one it was important not to share any such timetable with our enemies. So why the manipulation of the facts by McCain? As others have said here, it’s likely that he’s seen his lead slip in Florida and felt he needed to do something to change the subject. So let’s change it back.

Unfortunately, as Senator McCain likes to say when he’s not the source of the attack, “you don’t mud wrestle with a pig, because you both get dirty and the pig likes it.” Of course it’s quite hyporcritical for McCain to be doing what he did today (e.g., abandoning “straight talk” and his “principles,” going negative, criticizing Mitt for a position McCain endorsed, etc.). But it’s apparent a discussion of any topic but the economy would be an improvement for him.

So let’s remind ourselves of what Mitt’s message is:

1. Washington is broken. Nothing serves as better evidence of this than McCain’s recent attacks. If we want more of the same we can send the same sorts of people back to Washington. McCain has been there 24 years; now he wants to be President. If we obliged, it’s hard for me to see how things would change, in particular given McCain’s legendary inability to work well with others in the Senate and the vendettas / back room favors he’ll owe if he goes back.

2. The economy needs Mitt. Since the days of Clinton and before, it’s always been about the economy. You can’t have a strong national defense if we dont have manufacturing and a strong economy at home. You can’t be a strong nation if you have to buy all your equipment from your enemies. And the American economy won’t be strong if we can’t keep the jobs from flowing out to our overseas competitors. So we need to send someone to Washington who has an intimate knowledge of the economy and can fix the many manifestations of problems we’ve had recently: stock market crashes, surging oil prices, real estate collapse, mortgage melt down, etc. Unfortunately, John McCain does not have the requisite experience, and has repeatedly said he’d have to find someone else to help him with this issue. McCain didn’t support the Bush tax cuts, then he did. Then he said he wanted to cut government spending to stimulate the economy. Unfortunately in the short run cutting spending would harm the economy and make it more likely to push the country into recession, or at least offset the benefits of any tax rebates. Unfortunately, as he’s said himself, he just doesn’t know enough about economics.

3. Mitt stands for strong families, and he wants to appoint judges to the Supreme Court that will read the Constitution as the framers intended it, not in a manner that creates new laws without a democratic process. Not all the other candidates have this same priority. McCain in fact has gone up against his own party on the issue of judges being appointed, and has a very spotty record on issues of family values.

4. Mitt stands for legal immigration, but “turning off the magnet” on illegal immigration. McCain very recently proposed a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens to stay in the country indefinitely. His own party rejected this stance only a few months ago, but he seems ill-at-ease saying he was wrong.

We’ve got lots of positive parts of our own message to spread without getting distracted by McCain’s attack. I’m positive that staying on message will benefit Mitt incredibly (as it’s done in Florida so far), while indulging in mud wrestling allows the media to just report on the wrestling match. I’m hoping that the media really gives it to McCain today for his intentional misrepresentations, but even if they don’t, let’s keep on task and keep spreading our own message.

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I don’t have the time to make it all pretty right now, so just go to this link.

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We all knew McCain had bootstrapped his campaign from near-bankruptcy earlier this summer. The campaign was bragging about this after their NH 1st place showing, talking about how they’d pledged their donor list to a bank for a loan. Here’s what was reported at the Politico yesterday:

Back on the plane, he [McCain campaign manager Rick Davis] reiterated that they had not accepted federal matching funds nor used anticipated receipt of funds to guarantee the line of credit they took out late last year to keep their campaign afloat.

The collateral, Davis said, was their fundraising list. The windfall from selling or leasing such a list was sufficient to get them their cash.”

I wondered at the time whether that was a great idea, and whether donors would be happy about their private, confidentially-given information being pledged to a bank, sold or leased.

Now we find out that McCain’s actions likely violated his own privacy policy. That’s the form you get in the mail saying what the recipient of your private info, like on a credit card application, plans to do with it. I believe the content of these policies is voluntary, meaning you can sell info, you just have to tell people your plans. McCain apparently didn’t. Here’s what McCain’s policy says, in bold in the original: “We will not sell your personal information.”

According to the related story at Politico, the McCain campaign is spinning the angle that “it’s customary” and that all the campaign’s assets were pledged. While that’s likely true, a struggling political campaign’s only valuable asset is the donor list, which would suggest that the campaign, likely with John’s awareness, was probably offering their donors’ private info to one or more banks in trying to get that loan. And while it’s customary to pledge assets to banks when repayment is iffy, it’s also customary for banks to foreclose when loans aren’t repaid, which was a real danger at the time. It looks like the campaign either wilfully violated their own policy or didn’t read their own fine print. Or maybe McCain will try to walk the tightrope that is the semantic difference between “sell” and “pledge.” Perhaps John should have called a lawyer…

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