comMITTed to Romney!

In the last month, traffic to this blog site has doubled, more or less. To all of you who have visited this site, THANK YOU! And to all those who contribute as writers, THANK YOU.

For a couple of weeks now, I have been thinking of all the new visitors coming to the site to learn about Governor Romney. Many of us have been studying him for well over a year and we know all about him, his life, his career, his family.

But many of you are new to Gov. Romney and know nothing about him. His speech last month in College Station, Texas was a turning point in his campaign for the presidency, much as a similar speech was for JFK in 1960. Arguably, this speech by Gov. Romney will go down in history as one of the great statesman speeches of all time in this great nation of America. Indeed, many political experts and pundits, including Chris Matthews opined that this speech was the single best political speech they had heard in decades.

I still run into supporters of Governor Romney who still have never heard this speech. This speech is worth the time it takes to watch it. Please do if you have not seen it yet.

I was fortunate to attend this speech. It was an event I will never forget. It was a deeply emotional speech; emotions I observed among many not of the faith of Gov. Romney.
.
.

.
.
~ Vic

Share on Facebook

Share This

This morning, U.S. Senator Jim Talent sat down with me to express why he is such an ardent supporter of Governor Romney. A couple of things caught my attention as we began and I started asking questions related to Mike Huckabee. Senator Talent is a Evangelical Christian and is one of the strongest national leaders in promoting pro-life issues. His official title is Chairman, Domestic Policy Task Force – Mitt Romney for President, Inc. The interview was at the Romney Iowa Caucuses Headquarters in Des, Moines.

Press Release at the time Senator Talent joined Mitt Romney’s team

Senator Talent’s Wikipedia Description

The interview was conducted in a large, open space in what is effectively an office building among several tables and dozens of people making calls to get the vote out. After five minutes, about six volunteers joined us and actually helped me conduct the interview. How you ask? Well, I do not know short-hand, so first, their brief interruptions served to allow me time to better write my notes, and second, they had a couple of great questions that added to the interview!

Q: Why Romney and not other candidates such as Huckabee?

“Governor Romney is the only candidate with the whole package necessary to defeat the Democrats in the general election. The others do not have what it takes including Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, or Thompson.

None of the other candidates are as effectively pro-life as Governor Romney. All you have to do is look at what he did as governor of Massachusetts. Nobody fought harder in the protection of traditional marriage than Governor Romney and nobody was more effective in fighting for life at the early stages than Governor Romney. Regardless of any of the candidates’ positions in the pro-life agenda, Governor Romney is the only one that will be the strong, effective pro-life leader. He is the only one who will serve the pro-life agenda in a truly effective way.

Governor Romney is the only Republican candidate who can accomplish all of three of the following:
• Unify and mobilize the entire the Republican Party.
• Articulate an incredibly powerful message around 1) strong national defense, 2) strong families, and 3) a strong economy.
• Reach out to and connect with the center of America.

Governor Romney is the only true, comprehensive conservative among all the Republican candidates.

Q: Why Governor Romney over Huckabee?

I like to ask the simple question, “What would happen if Mike Huckabee were to be the Republican nominee?”

Think about Hillary Clinton deciding to run to the right of Huckabee on crime and taxes. Clinton could easily challenge Huckabee on any number of issues and run to the right on his past. Crime for example: Huckabee pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1,033 felons. On taxes, Huckabee raised taxes on the middle class.

As a person who has run several campaigns myself and who has run a couple of very tough campaigns, I know how important it is to have adequate resources. Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate who has the resources to wage a long, tough, national campaign against the Democrats; all the other Republican candidates are underfunded and do not have the necessary resources.

Governor Romney has the executive management skill of all candidates and his campaign is the best run campaign of all.

Anybody who has ever met Mitt Romney knows him as a very open and genuine person. It is very touching when he is with his family.

Governor Romney is the only Republican who will make many good things happen and prevent bad things from happening.

Neither McCain nor Huckabee can mobilize all conservatives of our nation. Neither has a strong record on tax cuts. Republicans will not be able to win the general election without a strong stand on illegal immigration and Mitt Romney is the only candidate who is strong in this critical issue.

I have been a strong pro-life advocate my whole life. Certainly, we should scrutinize the pro-life position of any leader that has converted from a pro-choice position. Those of us who are national leaders (James Bopp, Jr. and Jay Seculow) in the pro-life movement have performed that scrutiny of Governor Romney and know him to be absolutely committed to the pro-life agenda in every way. He is the strongest pro-life candidate running today.

This is important. The Massachusetts Citizens for Life do not give out their highest award to just anybody and they gave theirs to Governor Romney for his tireless work in Massachusetts for life issues!

Stayed tuned for more news from Iowa. I have been working all day, but based on the buzz around me and what I have seen here today, there is a lot going on FOR Governor Romney. There are lots of really cheerful, enthusiastic volunteers all around, coming and going. I have been around very organized projects my entire career. Nothing compares to this though.

Ann Romney stopped in and went around and met many volunteers along with Mary Romney (Craig’s wife I think) and her son. Scott Romney, Mitt’s brother also stopped in and gave a little update along with Senator Talent accompanied by cheers. Apparently tonight there is a rally for supporters. When you get a chance, look for updates from Jason Bonham over at My Man Mitt who is embedded with Governor Romney’s press corp as they fly around Iowa. I had dinner with Jason last night and he was pretty excited about today.

~ Vic

Share on Facebook

Share This

The Romney campaign was feeling pretty good about itself and the impressive list of endorsements it had garnered, especially with the recent announcement by the highly respected Paul Weyrich that he is supporting Mitt Romney for President. That is, until the recent block-buster news that God has endorsed Mike Huckabee for President!! Man, how do you top that!!

This from EVANGELICALS FOR MITT:

Tuesday, November 06, 2007
PASTOR AND TELEVANGELIST CLAIM: GOD SUPPORTS HUCKABEE

This article from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has some interesting nuggets:

New Beginnings church hasn’t endorsed anybody in the 2008 presidential race, but God probably has, pastor Larry Huch said Sunday.

The Almighty, who chose a Goliath-slayer to reign over Israel years ago, apparently has selected an Arkansan to rule over the United States, the Irving pastor repeatedly told his congregation as Mike Huckabee stood nearby.

Huch, saying he believes he has a word from God for the Republican hopeful, quoted a Scripture passage from 1 Samuel that ends with the Lord declaring: “Arise and anoint [David to lead the nation ] for this is the one.”

The crowd, some of them wearing yarmulkes, cheered noisily after Huch’s declaration, and they later stretched their hands toward Huckabee as they prayed for campaign season favor from heaven.

“I believe that Sen. Huckabee is the David that you’ve brought in to be a head over this nation’s house,” Huch said, misstating Huckabee’s political rank. “And Father, I ask for the blessing on him, on his family, on their campaign, that you will keep them safe, you will give them wisdom, that you will give him favor, for he is giving you all the praise and all the glory.”

Two observations:
1. Can you imagine the brouhaha if this had happened to Gov. Romney in an LDS church?
2. Does this violate the IRS tax codes, to have a pastor lay hands on a candidate and declare that God has anointed him to win the election… at church? Just curious and my resident attorney is away.

I also found the fact that a famous televangelist in the Word of Faith movement has donated the maximum amount to Huckabee’s campaign:

In the entrance, televangelist Kenneth Copeland said Huckabee’s chances of victory are “big. Big.”

“Why ?” a reporter asked.

“God,” Copeland replied. The prosperity gospel preacher predicts evangelicals will rally around Huckabee.

“If you ever get all this bunch stirred up at the same time, it makes a big difference, and I think it’s stirring time,” Copeland said.

I wrote a post a couple of days ago that was titled: “Keep Religion In Politics, Not Out Of It”, but this isn’t what I had in mind.

As the article from Evangelicals For Mitt points out; what would happen if an LDS congregation had Mitt Romney standing there by the leader of the service as he informed those in attendance that God had anointed Mitt Romney as the next President? The media would explode with 24/7 coverage of the announcement of God’s “endorsement” and MR’s candidacy would be over in a heart beat.

…..And yet, those of us who are partisans for Romney are held to a very different standard. The story is new and I haven’t had a chance to see how the MSM is treating it, but I will be very
surprised if they ridicule Huckabee out of the campaign.

The article also points out the “elephant in the living room” that is the fact that some candidates seem to be able to hold campaign rallies in church, while others cannot.

When I was involved in Jim Talent’s campaign, we approached our pastor about having a town hall type meeting with Jim at our parish meeting room. He told us that was O.K. as long as we invited Jim’s opponent to attend as well. We asked our pastor, what happens if the other candidate is a no-show? He said, “Offer Mr. Talent a cup of coffee and a couple of cookies and be sure to turn off the lights before you lock the doors to the meeting room. We are not going to risk losing the Archdiocese’s tax exempt status by appearing to engage in partisan politics.”

I think the playing field needs to be leveled out for us. We can’t do it, we haven’t done it and it is time for pastors from other denominations to stop doing it.

~~John Cronin~~

Share on Facebook

Share This

The Democrats want to take your baby and offer birth-control to your 12 year old. This is a statement ready made for good, old-fashioned propaganda except for one thing. It’s true and it has already happened.

Just last week the Anaya family of Omaha, Nebraska filed a lawsuit against the state health department director and two people who oversee the newborn screening program. The Anaya’s had religious objections to having their newborn son undergo a state-mandated blood test. Nebraska, like 3 other states in the country, has no provision for parents to opt out of the test. So earlier this month, a judge signed an order and sheriff’s deputies entered the Anaya’s home and forcibly took the 5 week-old infant. The baby was not returned to his family until the state received the results of the test, six days later.

This story comes just on the heels of the controversy over the King Middle School Health Center decision to offer contraceptives to students who admit to being sexually active. While a parent permission slip is needed to use Health Center services, doctors are not required to notify parents if a child seeks help for sex, drug, or mental health issues.

The health care system of our nation has become a major issue among presidential candidates. The Democrats are falling all over themselves promising bigger and more lavish government health plans than the one before. John Edwards has already proposed that every person in the US be required to attend a health check-up once a year. If they can take a baby from his home for a required blood test, what will they do to an adult who misses his government-mandated annual check up?

Even some of the Republicans seem to want in on the action of proposing to fix health care problems. Earlier this year Governor Rick Perry of Texas signed an executive order mandating that all girls from the sixth grade up be given vaccinations against cervical cancer. (A parental opt-out was included in the mandate.)

In my estimate, his position on health care is one of Mitt Romney’s biggest weaknesses. He speaks with glowing pride of his accomplishments with the health care of Massachusetts. And with some reason. In the first place, he worked with a Democrat controlled state legislature and he was able to implement the plan without raising taxes. In the second place, his approach shows a new train of thought about the problem of governments role in the health care process.

However, the answer to any problems with the health care of this nation are not going to be fixed by more government involvement. If they are to be fixed at all, it will need to be with less government regulations and restrictions. Much of this is tied up in the tax code. The way that health insurance is bought and sold in this country revolves around the tax benefits, or penalties, associated with it. Changing these laws so that the health insurance market can operate in a more traditional marketplace setting would be a great advantage to the American people.

I do not pretend to be an expert on health insurance or taxes. But this seems to be pretty apparent. In the first place, health insurance purchased through an employer is purchased with “before-tax” dollars. This means that taxes are not deducted from the money going to pay for your health insurance. Should you purchase health insurance from another source, the money is considered taxable income and the government expects a percentage of it.

In the second place, as your salary goes up, so does your tax rate. Not only your personal tax rate, but also the taxes that the company who employs you is expected to pay on your behalf. So it is in the company’s interest to pay you less cash and, instead, offer you benefits that are not subject to taxation. This, in essence, raises your salary without raising your taxes. In the instance of health care, however, it limits you to whatever plan or plans your employer wishes to offer.

Naturally, overhauling the tax code is messier work and more difficult to explain to voters than simply promising that no matter what the government will make sure they have health insurance. But as Romney points out, making promises without explaining the costs rings hollow in the ears of the American people.

In this case, the cost will not just be in money and increased taxation, but in the quality and availability of health care for everyone. We have examples of socialized medicine readily available for study in Canada and in the UK. In both countries, wait times for routine procedures are ridiculously long and delays for life-saving treatments cost people their lives. People from these nations with serious illnesses are coming to the US in large numbers because they cannot depend on the government system at home to give them the kind of care they need to save their lives and restore their health. To paraphrase a famous quote: to implement the same policies and expect different results is insane.

But most of all, allowing the government control, any control, over our health care system means giving up personal freedom. The freedom to care for our health and the health and well-being of our children according to our own desires and beliefs.

The Anaya family is not seeking any money in their lawsuit against the State of Nebraska officials. Instead, they simply want to make sure that none of their children can be taken from them again for following their religious beliefs. And for that matter, none of your children either.

Additional Reading:
Journalstar
MSNBC
Rush Limbaugh

Share on Facebook

Share This

Boston, MA – Tonight, Governor Mitt Romney delivered remarks at the Family Research Council’s “Washington Briefing: Values Voter Summit.” In his address, Governor Romney proposed a 12-point conservative plan to strengthen families in America. Below is the full text of Governor Romney’s remarks as prepared for delivery. More »

Share on Facebook

Share This