Mitt’s not my first choice.
If Perry (c’mon Governor!) doesn’t run, I prefer(ed) Daniels and Christie because they are heroic public employee union slayers. And I love Drew’s dream Tea Party ticket of Cain and West to confront Obama’s cheap thinking: Black = Socialist. That’s a winner, too.
Make no mistake; there are lots and lots and lots of ways to beat Obama.
But the issue at hand is Romney, and far too many who claim the mantle of the Tea Party are not being honest about blue state Republicans. We have to grow up. Romney can wipe the floor with Obama.
Does ANYONE think that if Mitt were Governor of South Carolina, he’d have overseen the creation of the Massachusetts healthcare law?
Of course not. Romney did what a Republican in MA had to do to be the Governor of Harvard Intellectuals: He gave them the most conservative market-driven universal healthcare plan he could. If Mitt Romney were President, he’d be far more conservative than he was as Governor of Baby Blue Massachusetts.
And folks screaming RINO need to stop. Now.
“States’ Rights” is both the best policy and the best political strategy for Republicans in this day and age. It is easy to explain and it works.
However, a thinking person cannot argue for states’ rights AND call for a national definition of Republican Governor. A thinking person understands that as DC withers, states and their Governors will take on more power and Senators will become less national in their stature. We will inevitably have more diversity of opinions in GOP politicians.
A thinking person knows that politicians reflect the demands of their constituents. They play the ball as it lies. A thinking person knows a President Barbour would be far more liberal then Governor Barbour. This is to be celebrated, precisely because we are sure that when any of these GOP leaders become President, they will change.
As in MA, states have the right to force their citizens to buy health insurance. And the only state where what YOU think matters is your state.
This means no real Tea Partier uses the word RINO. You can’t have it both ways. A Tea Partier who hollers “Don’t Tread on Me” and insists every other state live like theirs is an idiot. Do not be an idiot. Idiots have no place at this table.
Here’s the personal question: If Romney were President, do you think he’d support Universal Healthcare? No friggin way. He’s a 100% completely safe bet on signing whatever bill he is handed to end Obamacare. And we all know it. We all know Obamacare is dead no matter what Republican wins.
And speaking of safe bets…. the only safe bet for Romney now is states’ rights.
Romney needs to say out loud – and often – that arguing about the health insurance he delivered for Massachusetts is a terrible way for Republicans to preach the Tea Party Gospel to Independents and Conservative Democrats.
Undecideds in Iowa, Ohio, and Nevada need to know that Republicans from South Carolina and Georgia have no designs on making laws for their states.
Being a states’ rights guy intellectually means celebrating Utah Mormonism, cheering Arizona’s demand of a controlled border, understanding the women in California will be having abortions; in short, it means letting other states do what they want, so they leave your own state alone.
As governor, Chris Christie kicking the teachers in the butt is great. I love him for it. But if as President, he’d force every state to fire public employees, he’d be part of the problem.
And this should be Mitt’s message. At every Tea Party event, discuss an important local issue, that he’ll leave for their state to handle in their own way. Mitt should force the Tea Party to act like Patrick Henry. “Corn Subsidies? Sure! If the state of Iowa wants to give them! Now, the Federal Government can’t pick winners. But, we can let states keep more of their taxes, and if Iowa wants to spend theirs on ethanol subsidies, live and let live.”
Instead, we get this.
As a business pro, Romney could use states rights to attack the Fortune 100 in a way that no other populist can. The argument against saving GM isn’t just about how bad government is at business; it is that aiding GM is an affront to states’ rights. If we bail out Michigan we might have to bail out California.
The Tea Party will respect it.
And while I’m at it, the Wall Street Journal is wrong and much of their readership has a low opinion of Tea Partiers.
If he wanted, Mitt could quickly show Main Street what Wall Street has to learn about liberty. He could say TARP was really a bail out of New York City. Tea Partiers readily favor a tax on stock transactions to end high-speed-trading. They readily support letting Wall Street fail. They want to see Goldman’s management go to jail as much as the readers of Rolling Stone. Does Mitt? That’s what matters in the primaries.
In the US, you get to choose where you live. You get to try and politically change your own state. We do not live in America, we live in united states. And being united happens when we all live and let live at the Federal level – just like in 1787.
We’re at each others throats because EVERY DAMN ISSUE is now a national issue; we’ve reached a point where every Congressman can change any part of our lives with every vote. That’s not how it is supposed to be. If you are worried about Congressional races other than your own, it means the Federal Government has too much power.
And personally, when I hear conservatives from states other than MA acting like Romney is not one of us – I distrust that person, not Mitt Romney.
Note: if Perry doesn’t run (c’mon Governor!), I hope whoever wins the nomination asks him to be VP and focus exclusively on returning Federal power to the states. Essentially, turn the Vice Presidency into a more powerful version of the Republican Governor’s Association he currently runs. How great would it be it the VP never went on foreign trips and never went to funerals? What if instead, he was given a single Herculean task of delivering anti-federalism?
A real Tea Partier knows the greatest issue facing us is “States’ Rights.” It is, in fact, a bigger issue than public employee unions. Because states’ rights is the correct answer to almost every single domestic issue troubling us.
States’ rights is the free market version of Democracy.
And Romney, like all other GOP leaders, should not be judged by his state’s healthcare, but whether he’ll leave it up to your state. Make him prove it, make all of them prove it. The more things a pol will leave up to the states, the better a Republican she/he is…
That’s the adult conversation.