comMITTed to Romney!

Hat Tip To SED!

Below is listed a comment from one of our readers in Massachusetts. I understand from SED’s comment that MA. has a ballot initiative to abolish their state income tax! This coming from one of the most socially liberal states in the country. I wonder if this is the start of a trend?

I also noted that SED would like Mitt Romney to spend time in the state rebuilding it’s Republican Party if he is not picked for the VP spot. This is what I was writing about in my post “Participatory Democracy.”

It is very encouraging to hear from readers like SED and to be kept informed of the grassroots efforts in other states to steer the country back toward the conservative principles that set off the economic boom of the Reagan years.

~~John Cronin~~

SED on 05 Apr 2008 at 2:07 pm

This election cycle has the potential to be big for the mass gop. We have the abolishment of the state income tax on the ballot as well as great candidates for the US Senate. I hope that if Mitt is not chosen as McCain’s VP, he will spend some considerable time here rebuilding our party in this state. Massachusetts maybe a socially liberal state, however I believe the fiscal conservatives will have a great shot this year due to fear of an imminent recession. In one year, Mitt’s surplus is now a 1.6 billion dollar deficit under the dem’s super-majority!

John Cronin

SED, thanks for the great feed back! I was thinking about Missouri’s income tax about a month ago when I filed my taxes. Our rates have been steadily creeping up for the last few years and I was thinking we need our state politicians to start the process of getting Missourians some tax relief.

The locality where I live now has a 7.3% sales tax as well. Hats off to the citizens of Massachusetts for their income tax ballot initiative. Wow!

Share on Facebook

Share This

Following are results of a CNN exit poll conducted in New Hampshire Tuesday among 1,520 voters. Though these results reflect the fact that the majority of voters chose McCain and Romney, there are some very interesting differences, especially where Romney ended ahead of the winner, McCain:

Republican Voters (”Vote by party ID” — excludes independents) chose:

MR — 35%
JM — 34%
MH — 13%
RG — 10%
.
.
All voters chose their candidate as the “Strongest Leader” — This measures the strength of the voters’ choice (in other words, which candidate got the most votes in this category by comparison to the others?):

MR — 86%
MH — 84%
JM — 81%
RG — 55%
.
.
Voters of New Hampshire that strongly oppose civil unions:

MR — 37%
JM — 32%
MH — 11%
RG — 6%
.
.
Very worried about Terrorism:

MR — 39%
JM — 33%
MH — 12%
RG — 10%
.
.
Voters that think the new President should be more conservative than President Bush:

MR — 35%
JM — 31%
MH — 13%
RP — 10%
.
.
The following result was stunning to me. John McCain, the military man came in third! Even McCain supporters are less sold on McCain by comparison to the other voters. And Giuliani 4th at 58%? What about his “9/11″ credentials?
All voters chose their candidate as the “Best Commander in Chief” — This measures the strength of the voters’ choice (in other words, which candidate got the most votes in this category by comparison to the others?):

MR — 94%
MH — 89%
JM — 78%
RG — 58%
.
.
Conservative Voters chose:

MR — 38%
JM — 30%
MH — 12%
RG — 8%
.
.

Check the gap here between Governors Romney and Huckabee:

Very Conservative Voters chose:

MR — 43%
MH — 19%
JM — 18%
RP — 7%
.
.
Voters that think this candidate shares their values:

MR — 38%
MH — 22%
JM — 16%
RP — 12%

See link in the opening paragraph for many more results. These are but few of many very interesting numbers. Governor Romney was the strongest candidate in many of the voters’ minds.

~ Vic

SMALL DOLLARS COUNT BIG — Please Contribute Here to Governor Romney’s Campaign

Share on Facebook

Share This

I was talking with a friend this evening. He’s a McCain supporter. Where I ended up is that I would find McCain marginally acceptable (gritting teeth now…), except that his conduct during this campaign toward Mitt, I find completely unacceptable. Tonights debate really reinforced that for me.

I found this Newsmax article by Ronald Kessler from July 5, 2006 entitled “McCain’s Out-of-Control Anger: Does He Have the Temperament to Be President?” It makes a very comprehensive case that McCain does not have the temperament to be President.

Read it all, but here are a few key excerpts:

McCain’s outbursts often erupted when other members rebuffed his requests for support during his bid in 2000 for the Republican nomination for president. A former Senate staffer recalled what happened when McCain asked for support from a fellow Republican senator on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

“The senator explained that he had already committed to support George Bush,” the former Senate staffer said. “McCain said ‘f— you’ and never spoke to him again.”

**************************

“McCain used the f-word,” the former senator said. “McCain called the guy a ‘sh–head.’ The senator demanded an apology. McCain stood up and said, ‘I apologize, but you’re still a sh–head.’ That was in front of 40 to 50 Republican senators. That sort of thing happened frequently.”

**************************

But only a few news outlets, like the Phoenix New Times in Arizona and the National Journal, that ran an Associated Press story reporting McCain’s 1998 joke suggesting that Chelsea Clinton was ugly and Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton were lesbians.

“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?” McCain said at a GOP fund-raiser in Washington. “Because Janet Reno is her father.”

There is a lot more…read the whole thing.

Share on Facebook

Share This

Hat tip to Mark Twain for borrowing his famous line to use as my post title.

I just saw Ann Marie’s new post quoting Huckabee’s campaign manager to the effect that the Reagan coalition of social conservatives, economic conservatives and defense conservatives is dead and I had to respond.

The first thought that comes to my mind is this: Has Ed Rollins taken leave of his senses? I have come to expect this from Huckabee, but Ed Rollins is an old pro and should know better. It is patently ridiculous to suggest that the triad that swept Reagan to victory is passe’. These are the grassroots activists that continue to propel conservatives into office and the ones that yank them out if they sell out their base.

Witness the 40 ft. Tsunami that rolled ashore after Kennedy/McCain et. al. tried to shove the immigration bill down our throats this past June. The people who rallied against this bill not only included the Reagan coalition, but a broad spectrum of voters from both sides of the aisle who saw it for what it was, a give away of American sovereignty.

Huckabee strikes me as an amateur in Presidential politics, someone who is in way over his head and doesn’t have the sense to keep quiet until he knows a little bit more about what he is talking about. Just wait until his flailing campaign feels the back lash from members of the Reagan coalition who are not aware that they have pasted into the mists of history.

Here is a salient fact that the Huckabee campaign might want to consider. Many members of the triad that brought Reagan to power were 20 something young people when RR was first elected in 1980. In case the Huckabee campaign is as math-challenged as it is politically-challenged, that would mean that these folks are not exactly in their dotage, but rather in the prime of life! Another fact for them to consider. These mature Reagan conservatives now have 20 something children who have been raised in pro life, pro business and pro military families and are more conservative, generally speaking, than their parents were at the same age. So not only is the Reagan coalition alive and well, a second wave is coming!!

~~John Cronin~~

Share on Facebook

Share This

I was disgusted when I saw the video below. How long will Huckabee get a pass on this kind of language? Who wants their President talking this way? Last time I checked, suicide is at best morally ambiguous and at worst a mortal sin. How can a “Christian leader” talk so lightly about such a tragic act that takes over 30,000 lives per year (and another 24,000-750,000 attempted suicides) in the United States and leaves a massive wake of devastation?

“…and the point is, with limited resources, if you look at where we are, even in the national polls, we’ve spent a nickel to the hundred dollar bill of some of these guys. It’s not that I’m depressed thinking where we are, heck, I’m pretty encouraged. If I were some of these guys who spent tens of millions of dollars and weren’t any further ahead, I’d have to be sitting in a warm tub of water with some razor blades in both hands at this point saying how much money does one have to spend uh, you know, to get on track?“

First, let’s set aside that he gets his math wrong by two orders of magnitude (he meant to say a nickel for every dollar unless he believes that Romney has spent $654M in Iowa). Those kinds of gaffes are par for the course for Huckabee.

What is he saying here? Is he saying that Romney should be depressed and commit suicide? Is he saying that if he were in Romney’s place he would be committing suicide? That seems more likely. In that case, what does it say about the moral fiber and character of Romney vs. Huckabee that Mitt is nowhere near considering suicide given that’s where Huckabee would have ended up were their situations reversed? Do we really want someone so unstable and suicidal as our next POTUS?

Huckabee fans, before you accuse me of being willfully literal in my interpretation of Huckabee’s comments, let me assure you that what I think Huck is really saying is that he feels really good about his position in Iowa and that Mitt should feel really bad.

I just object to the way he’s saying it. It is crass, mean spirited, and unbefitting a public office holder, much less a “Christian Leader.”

I sent emails to the American Association of Suicidology (AAS) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) letting them know about Mike Huckabee’s disgusting and trivializing remarks about suicide. These are leading suicide prevention and issue advocacy organizations.

If you feel similarly, you can email the AAS at info@suicidology.org and the AFSP’s Public Relations Manager, Wylie Tene at wtene@afsp.org.

UPDATE: Apparently, this story first broke back in October. And, it’s not the first time he’s done it, and he’s been called on it in the past. “Razor blades in a bathtub” is a regular part of Huckabee’s repertoire.

Implication? He must actually think that this line is funny and continues to use it despite being made aware that it can be taken the wrong way!

Share on Facebook

Share This

I had heard rumors of this story for a couple weeks, but now there’s confirmation in Newsweek.

As Mike Huckabee gains in the polls, the former Arkansas governor is finding that his record in office is getting more scrutiny. One issue likely to get attention is his handling of a sensitive family matter: allegations that one of his sons was involved in the hanging of a stray dog at a Boy Scout camp in 1998. The incident led to the dismissal of David Huckabee, then 17, from his job as a counselor at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, Ark. It also prompted the local prosecuting attorney— bombarded with complaints generated by a national animal-rights group—to write a letter to the Arkansas state police seeking help investigating whether David and another teenager had violated state animal-cruelty laws. The state police never granted the request, and no charges were ever filed. But John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas’s state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee’s chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor’s request. Bailey, a career officer who had been appointed chief by Huckabee’s Democratic predecessor, said he viewed the lawyer’s intervention as improper and terminated the conversation. Seven months later, he was called into Huckabee’s office and fired. “I’ve lost confidence in your ability to do your job,” Bailey says Huckabee told him. One reason Huckabee cited was “I couldn’t get you to help me with my son when I had that problem,” according to Bailey. “Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son,” says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock, who worked closely with Bailey and called him a “courageous” and “very solid” professional.

Huckabee called Bailey’s account “totally untrue” and described him as a “bitter” exemployee. “I asked him to resign because he had so alienated the entire state police,” he said. “It had nothing to do with my son.” Brenda Turner, Huckabee’s then chief of staff, and Kevin Crass, the Huckabee family lawyer, also disputed Bailey’s account, although both acknowledged talking to him about the dog killing. “I asked him, ‘Is it normal for the state police to … investigate something that happened at a Boy Scout camp?’ ” Turner says. “We wanted the same treatment that anybody else would get.” (Animal cruelty in Arkansas is a misdemeanor, not a felony.)

The details of the incident remain murky. The Animal Legal Defense Fund got an anonymous fax that summer alleging that David Huckabee and another youth had been involved in the hanging of a stray dog at the camp on July 11. A local animal-rights activist, Joyce Hillard, later contacted the camp director. Notes of Hillard’s report to the defense fund read, “Boys confessed & were fired. Dir. is making excuses, saying dog was sic & boys were putting him out of his misery.” (The director told NEWSWEEK only that a stray dog was “put down” and that the counselors were fired for violating the Scout credo to be “kind.”) The father of the other counselor was quoted by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in August 1998 as saying that his son found the dog “hung over a limb and choking.” David Huckabee did not respond to requests for comment. (In April of this year, he was arrested—and paid a fine—when he forgot to remove a loaded gun from his carry-on luggage at Little Rock airport.) His father told NEWSWEEK that his son did not engage in “intentional torture.” “There was a dog that apparently had mange and was absolutely, I guess, emaciated.” A campaign official says David “regrets” the incident and notes that he later made Eagle Scout.

I’ve said it about Rudy, and I’ll also say it about Huckabee. Do we really want this kind of drama representing our party and potentially in the White House?

Contrast that with the Romney boys.

Share on Facebook

Share This

A long time friend and staunch democrat called me yesterday from Colorado. Ken told me that he was being pulled in many directions during this campaigning cycle.

“My loyalty to the democrat party that I’ve always had tells me that I should vote for Obama” he told me.

“However”,

he continued,

“No one in the democrat party seems to be concerned about the values that I want protected for my family, so for the longest time I’ve been thinking strongly about voting for Huckabee.”

And then Ken surprised me with this comment:

“Kevin, you’ve known me a long time, so I want you to be the first to know that I watched the speech given by Mitt Romney. During that speech something inside me changed and I realised that Romney is the man that we need as our President. He (Romney) seemed sincere and I believed him. He is different than all the rest and although I am a democrat, I am a family man first. I think he will be the best President in representing what the families in this country need. You can count on my vote.”

That was a shocker coming from Ken. But then again, I wasn’t too surprised. I honestly believe that when the average American sees the true difference of what Romney has to offer compared to the all too common message of the other candidates, they will find something much more appealing and inspiring. I’m beginning to discover that many individuals walk in lockstep with their “registered” party’s message, but in reality, deep inside, feel a greater need for something better than what is being offered. True patriotism and love of family demands something greater than the status quo, or a simple commonality of overlapping messages.

A good friend (Gary L.) wrote:

“Without contrast there is no education…there is no persuasion…there is no motivation…there is no growth…there is nothing.”

I believe that Governor Romney’s contrasting message of hope for families, hope for the security of our nation, hope for a strong and competitive economy and ambition to bring common sense back into government will ring loud in the inner hearts of many like my friend Ken. As Romney continues to contrast his message with those of his rivals, I think others will come to realize that what they silently and inwardly believe may be much closer to the message that Romney so eloquently evokes.

America is full of ‘Kens.’

Share on Facebook

Share This

A new wave of push poll style calls have surfaced in Iowa and this time there is no secret to their origin. The automated calls direct voters to a website paid for by Common Sense Issues, Inc. with the web address trusthuckabee.com. The calls begin by asking questions about the voter’s intent to participate in the upcoming caucauses and then asked for thier stance on issues such as abortion and marriage.

The information then dispensed depends on the answers given by the voter. Many of the call recipients are deluged with negative information about Giuliani, Thompson, and McCain. However, voters who identify themselves as Huckabee supporters were given highlights of the Governor’s accomplishments. All groups were referred to the trusthuckabee website.

The Politico was able to reach Trust Huckabee’s founders. The group stresses that they are independent from the campaign and are trying to organize a grassroots effort to elect Governor Huckabee. They are unapologetic about the Iowa calls and say that they intend to do many more as the race for the GOP nomination continues.

Huckabee as well as representatives of his campaign denounced the calls, saying that it takes the campaign “off message.” Huckabee stated, “I don’t want to become President because I disabled the other candidates, I want to become President because I am the best candidate.”

Share on Facebook

Share This