comMITTed to Romney!

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid={223B0E95-C272-47B7-BCFA-2ECF65583015}&siteid=rss

U.S. stock futures pointed to opening gains on Monday after the last session’s blast higher, with Citigroup set to rise after the government injected $20 billion as part of a rescue package.

A late-hour rally pushed U.S. stocks to huge gains on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping 494 points, the Nasdaq Composite rising 68 points and the S&P 500 rising 47 points. The gains came after news leaked that Timothy Geithner will be President-elect Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary, though not all observers were convinced the gains were on the new selection alone.

“Anyone watching the markets Friday will be seriously suspicious of the validity of the huge rally. It was option expiration, and the rally seemed to feed on it itself and in a few select stocks,” said Tom Hougaard, market strategist at City Index in London.

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The Republican party is in the Jacuzzi this morning, trying to soak out the pain and stiffness from the bruising defeat it just suffered. The American people have rightly rebuked us for forgetting what the Republican Party used to stand for. We foolishly abandoned fiscal conservatism, oversaw a dramatic escalation in the size and scope of the federal government, chalked up record deficits and insisted on nominating a guy who, for the most part, couldn’t be distinguished from the run of the mill Democrat when it came to most of his policies.

For me, there where no surprises on election night. I said to friends and to commenters on this site that I expected a fairly close popular vote, but a big electoral defeat, and that is what happened. In the waning days off the campaign, when crowds called out to McCain to get tough with Obama, to fight harder for the principles that were important to them, you just knew this ticket was in big trouble. There was more passion, more fire in the belly of the people in the crowds than there was within the nominee.

As we look at the smoking ruins of what’s left of Congressional Republicans, it is apparent to me that we must bulldoze the landscape clean, so that we can start the rebuilding process. That has already started. The work of purging the Party of the people responsible for the loss began on Election night as the voters rejected McCain. I sincerely hope any future leadership role for him in this party has also been rejected by the rank and file as well. Hopefully, we have learned some hard lessons. As Rush Limbaugh said several days ago, when will Republicans ever learn that conservative Republicans never lose and moderate Republicans never win? These past attempts by Republicans to ingratiate themselves to the MSM and to left-center voters never works at the national level.

In spite of all the negative feelings we are working our way through, the rebuilding process that has already started is giving cause for a much more optimistic view of the future.

An article in Friday’s WSJ provides a stunning quote from none other than the ubiguitous Nancy Pelosi. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a two-stage effort to boost the shaky U.S. economy: a $60 billion-to $100 billion stimulus package this month, followed early next year by a companion measure that would include a “permanent tax cut.” You may be rubbing your eyes and squinting at that last sentence to try to make sure you saw it right the first time. Nancy Pelosi actually said those words. She said “permanent tax cut.” That is why I said in the title to this post that we won the debate. Isn’t it amazing how a sea change is political thinking came come about in such an off hand way? One of the most doctrinaire Democrats in the country now agrees with Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney that the best way to boost the economy is with “permanent tax cuts.”

Ms. Pelosi also said, in the long term, a capital gains tax cut, as pushed by Congressional Republicans, should be considered as part of a “tax simplification” bill.

Ronald Reagan in Heaven and Mitt Romney in Massachusetts must be grinning a little this morning!

~~John Cronin~~

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From The Wall Street Journal

He Touts Expertise as Focus Shifts to Economy
By ELIZABETH HOLMES
January 26, 2008; Page A4

The bad economic outlook might be good news for Mitt Romney, the millionaire venture capitalist who is in a tight race here for the Republican presidential nomination.

As voters’ worries have shifted away from the war in Iraq and turned to the roiled markets, Mr. Romney, with his fixation on PowerPoint slides and fever lines, has come into his own on the stump just ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Armed with a stimulus plan that favors big business, a reputation for hard-line cuts and even a sign that boasts “Economic Turnaround,” Mr. Romney has shifted his campaign rhetoric back into his comfort zone.

The new focus has put his opponents on the defensive — but also helped them step up their jabs at the perpetually stiff and rehearsed Mr. Romney. “Gov. Romney is touting his qualifications and his experience and his résumé as a manager,” said Arizona Sen. John McCain. “I am telling the American people, and they know it, that I am a leader.”

His punches didn’t stop there. “You can hire managers all the time. People who do the mechanics, people who implement policies. People who are good with assets,” Mr. McCain told reporters Friday. “Leadership is people who have had the hands-on experience and patriotism in service to our country and the nation.”

Starting at the southern tip of the Sunshine State before flying north Friday to the Panhandle, Mr. Romney, a former head of Bain Capital, was every bit the confident executive. To a crowd standing in the parking lot outside a military-technology manufacturer, Mr. Romney heralded the focus on the economy. “I particularly like the fact that the other candidates are increasingly talking about the issues that you want to have talked about,” he said.

It is what he has wanted to talk about all along. Mr. Romney has served up the economy as part of his stump fare for months. At a debate in Iowa in August, he was asked about fixing roads and bridges following the Minneapolis bridge collapse. As part of his answer, he prescribed: “Invest in the future of the economy.” In December, the first slide of a PowerPoint presentation in Manchester, N.H., was titled, “What is the future of the U.S. economy?”

Now, with troubles from the housing sector spilling over into other markets, Mr. Romney’s financial background gets a warmer reception. “What you want is someone that’s competent,” said Luis Espino, a 38-year-old attorney from Miami and undecided Republican, “someone that’s able to engage with the people that make decisions about the economy.” He paused before adding: “Just like the president does when he’s talking to generals to make military decisions.”

Mr. Romney’s economy-heavy stump speech plays well in Florida, the state with the highest population — roughly 17% — of residents 65 years and older. Many are retirees who worry about their income. “I live on a fixed income, mostly from investments in the Wall Street,” said Mildred Klemp, an 80-year-old Republican living in Naples, who hasn’t decided between Messrs. Romney and McCain. “The bulk of my estate is in the stock market, and I don’t know about that,” she said of the turbulent markets last Tuesday. “Had me worried.”

It also doesn’t hurt that Mr. Romney, with his tanned face and slicked-back hair, looks the part of a successful investor. Mr. Romney also has plenty of experience asking people to trust him with their money. In Iowa and New Hampshire — two early contests he poured resources into only to place second — the 60-year-old regularly brought out PowerPoint presentations with bar charts and bullet points to delve deep into the wonky side of politics.

Mr. Romney touts himself as a turnaround artist, and is a staunch defender of big business. Earlier this month, he held an impromptu news conference outside a General Motors Corp. facility in Ypsilanti, Mich., to talk about the auto industry’s troubles, not to slam the corporate giant for job cuts. “General Motors is taking action to remain competitive, to remain profitable, and that’s essential for the survival of that company,” he said.

Those kinds of comments have opened him up to attacks from his rivals. Mike Huckabee, who came from behind to trounce Mr. Romney in the Iowa caucuses, has repeatedly said voters don’t want a White House run by the “guy who laid them off.” And Mr. McCain has said that running the Senate Commerce Committee, as he has done, is better experience than running an investment company.

Mr. Romney directly responded to those attacks Friday. At an outdoor rally in Pensacola, he ticked off several quotes from Mr. McCain’s past in which the Arizona senator admitted to knowing more about foreign policy than the economy, including when Mr. McCain told reporters in December, “the issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”

At a meeting of the Latin Builders Association in Miami Friday morning, Mr. Romney subtly addressed Mr. Huckabee’s critiques — without naming his opponent. Mr. Romney called layoffs “the hardest thing I’ve done in business” and said it was “awful, feels terrible.”

Mr. Romney, speaking to a crowd of executives, sought to turn around the critiques of his business record. “I hear people now and then say not every business that you invested in or managed was successful,” he said. “It’s like, yeah, of course — have you ever been in business before?” He continued: “They don’t all work. That’s the nature of risk and return.”

Mr. Romney’s handling of the touchy subject impressed Israel Velasco, a regional executive for Banco Popular and an undecided voter. “It’s bad times — the experience with those bad times — that help you grow a business,” said Mr. Velasco, a 43-year-old from Coral Gables, Fla. “He was dead on the money when he talked about that.”

Even Republican voters who support other candidates don’t doubt Mr. Romney’s capabilities when it comes to the economy. Daniel Diaz Leyva, a 28-year-old attorney from Coral Gables, said he has great respect for Mr. Romney’s economic expertise but plans to vote for Mr. Giuliani on Tuesday. “You can’t be one-track minded,” he said. “The economy obviously is a huge issue but…experience in foreign affairs, I think, is a big issue.” He’s still holding out hope for Mr. Romney elsewhere in the new administration.

“I hope they appoint him Secretary of the Treasury,” he said.

Write to Elizabeth Holmes at elizabeth.holmes@wsj.com

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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 wrote the following blog back on Jan 5th . . . and the issue has only become more and more important. However, with the worldwide stock market crashes today (here too) and Wall Street likely to suffer as well (the Dow Futures look dismal) it bears repeating now. I think it’s becoming clearer and clearer that we NEED Mitt Romney at the helm of our country and economy. And we absolutely DON’T NEED John McCain anywhere near the control panel of our economy . . . . :

So “The Economy” constantly ranks up there among the top issues/concerns among voters of BOTH parties. With the Iraq issue being far less polarizing of late, the Economy, Illegal Immigration, and Healthcare look to be the key issues for the general election. Additionally, this New Hampshire Fox News Poll last month had the Economy and Illegal Immigration as the two most important issues to GOP voters with the Economy being by far the most important issue.

Additionally, unlike many issues listed, the status of the economy is something that touches EVERY American in some real and powerful way (as opposed to Iraq, or abortion, or foreign policy, or those without healthcare insurance).

In the financial world, the news of an imminent recession has been dominating the headlines (including the sinking strength on Wall Street). Just yesterday, Bush met with the economic advisors and the Fed Chairman to discuss these issues. The press conference afterwards was not terribly positive.

So is a McCain presidency a good fit for a good economy? Back in 2003 many didn’t think so. His new economic plan isn’t impressing many. And let’s not forget what the Club for Growth thinks about McCain’s economic record (Their main points are that “John McCain is No Supply-Sider” and that he has a “Tenuous Record as an Economic Conservative”)

Those are the words of others . . . but what does McCain think of himself in relation to the ecomony?

Just one month ago, a piece from the Boston Globe (who has since endorsed McCain) led off with this:

SALEM, N.H. — John McCain, who happily volunteers he doesn’t know much about economics . . .

Later in the piece:

McCain stood before a line graph showing the increase of the alternative-minimum tax, a low-budget campaign’s alternative to the PowerPoint presentation Mitt Romney uses when talking about economic policy, a subject McCain has said he feels he is unknowledgeable and that filling the void would be a priority when selecting a vice-presidential nominee.

So McCain wants to bolster the ticket because he’s weak on the #1 issue and at a time that recession is a real concern? Sounds scary to me.

Yet further:

Like Mike Huckabee, who joked recently that he “may not be the expert that some people are on foreign policy, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night,” McCain suggested to reporters Monday that American consumer culture offered a short cut to expertise. “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” McCain said. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.“

Sorry John, but if you haven’t gotten a grasp of economic issues after 71 years of life, and after 3+ decades in politics, something tells me that you’re not ever going to “get it” . . . even if Greenspan’s book is really good.

If we really are headed toward recession in the next few months, do we really want John McCain as our nominee to put up against Hillary or Obama? I think we have much better options to have at the TOP of the ticket.

Update Jan 14th:
I was just watching Road to the White House 2008 on C-Span (DVR’d) and John McCain, in a Saturday town hall meeting in MI, got a question about the economy and the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

He promptly said he knew it was a problem, but didn’t know much about the details and so he brought up Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard to discuss the issue. After she answered the question, McCain mentioned that he wasn’t an expert on every issue, but that he’d get people like her to advise him. I mean, this is a major issue in our economy and every other POTUS candidate can grasp it enough to say a few nice lines. Even Huck can sound conversant on the issue!

Update Jan 20th:
McCain is showing his lack of depth on economic understanding . . . and is proposing policy based on his faulty logic. It’s SCARY folks!

I also noticed that the Romney campaign has been reading my blog
Jeff Fuller

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THANK YOU to my good friend Mark Cragun for the tip on what is happening world wide. Mark is a trader and he told me that what he is seeing worldwide is really, really scary. To read this entire article sent to me by Mark, click here:

Stocks Plummet in Germany, Hong Kong and India in Global Rout — By Sarah Thompson — Jan. 21 (Bloomberg)

Governor Romney is the only person any voter should be considering for President right now. The United States of America, and the world are entering an era unknown to man. Economically, we are in unchartered territory. We need an economic expert to navigate the waters we are entering!

Stocks tumbled from Hong Kong to Germany and Brazil and U.S. futures posted their steepest drop since 2001 on mounting speculation the world economy is slowing and company defaults will rise.

Check out this quote. Folks, I think we are only at the beginning of this:

Trading in the U.S. is closed today for Martin Luther King Day.

“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Johan Stein, who helps manage the equivalent of about $14 billion at Nordea Asset Management in Stockholm. “The financial system is in terrible shape, and no one knows where this will end.”

Today’s declines follow the worst week for U.S. stocks in five years after President George W. Bush’s $150 billion plan to revive the economy and expectations of interest-rate cuts failed to allay recession concerns.

The risk of European companies defaulting soared to a record today on speculation credit-rating cuts at bond insurers including Ambac Financial Group Inc. may trigger forced asset sales. European Central Bank council member Nout Wellink said economic growth in the region may slow more than policy makers had expected.

Market Crisis

“This is a stock-market crisis,” said Alberto Roldan, head of research at Inverseguros SVB in Madrid. “Investors believe that neither a government package nor a huge rate cut is going to help evade a recession in the U.S.”

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in Washington today the government doesn’t comment on daily market moves.

Check this link too: Hourly Action In Gold From Trader Dan — Author: Dan Norcini

Hold on tight for the next year!

~ Vic

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H/T to Kyle over at My Man Mitt. In my opinion this is one of Mitt’s best interviews. He will dominate the talk on the economy while in Florida this week.

Part 1

Part 2

~Ryan Jesperson

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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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