VS.
I'll admit, I felt pretty disheartened after Florida's primary results. But then I watched Wednesday night's debate, and then I read all the conservative blogs online and listened to conservative talk radio and gave it some thought and I'm happy to say that as of yesterday, I am officially optimistic again! THERE IS STILL HOPE!!
Conservatives across the country are beginning to wake up and realize that we are about to nominate John McCain for the Republican party... HELLO!
Do I even need to outline all the reasons why this is scary? John McCain has admittedly been a conservative senator in many respects, but he has leaned too far left on many important issues: illegal immigration, first amendment rights, environmental issues, etc. In the early 2000's he even considered defecting to the Democratic party, and there were talks of him becoming John Kerry's running mate in the 2004 election. Yes, McCain has been endorsed by a lot of people in the past week but those people have all been moderates at best. (And liberal at worst: he was endorsed by the New York Times and by the Sierra Club!)
He claims to have great leadership skills and touts his brief stint as a squadron leader, 40 years ago. Of course I admire him for his military service and his years in a POW camp in Viet Nam; the whole country admires him for that. BUT THAT DOES NOT QUALIFY HIM TO BE PRESIDENT. In his long senatorial career, he has sat on committees, placed his vote on issues, and helped pass a few pieces of legislation but he has not had executive leadership experience. Don't even get me started on his lack of knowledge of the economy.
In contrast, Mitt Romney has been enormously successful as an executive in his business career in the private sector. He possesses incredible leadership and problem-solving skills. He governed perhaps the most liberal state in the country, successfully passing a decent state-wide healthcare plan and balancing a completely-out-of-whack budget. He came to the rescue of the scandal-plagued Salt Lake City Olympics. He is a social conservative, a economic conservative, and a national defense conservative. The major endorsements he has received have been from -- you guessed it -- conservatives. Yesterday Sean Hannity announced on his radio show that he is going to vote for Romney in the New York primary. This morning Laura Ingraham said the same thing on her radio show, and also on her radio show this morning former senator Rick Santorum strongly endorsed Romney. Conservative publication The National Review endorsed him. Hugh Hewitt, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck and other major names have all made strong statements for Mitt Romney and against John McCain.
Many of them have gone so far as to say that if McCain gets the nomination, they will either a) not vote, or b) vote for Hillary or Obama! I haven't decided if I will go that route or not but the more I'm learning about John McCain, the more I'm realizing what a disaster he could be as a president... and before that, as the Republican nominee. He would have you believe that he is the "most electable" because current polls show him doing better vs. Clinton or Obama compared to Romney. Those polls mean NOTHING!! In January of 1980, Jimmy Carter was beating Reagan in national polls but that November, Reagan beat Carter in a landslide! Polls often change overnight, let alone in several months. Six months ago Giuliani was the clear front-runner among the Republican presidential hopefuls...
I know this post is already too long and I'm sure I lost most of you several paragraphs ago. In closing may I refer you to an article by Mark Levin, a contributor to the National Review, called Rally to Romney.
And let's rally, people; let's rally!! The stakes are high -- it's time to start getting involved rather than sitting idly by and watching our country fall apart!
Update: I just read a great article here. After you've read it, I'd encourage you to browse through the rest of that site; they have some great contributors and great articles that I have enjoyed over the past few weeks.
Another update: Mitt Romney won the Maine caucuses, in a landslide victory with 52% of the vote! See I told you; THERE IS STILL HOPE!!
10 comments:
that is a great picture of mccain. boo for him. go mitt!
I love when you get on your soap box, you rock.
LOVE it! I needed that kick in the pants :) I have been "standing idly by" and I am so glad you have motivated me to get off my duff!
Thanks for the encouragement...and thank you for being a politically informed individual. So refreshing!
This was great! I enjoyed reading it. I totally feel the same way, although I am less informed than you for sure.
Hey - nice to see a comment from Joanie! You're so popular, Sare.
Girlfriend you kick butt! Well-stated, well thought out, just wish we could get everyone in the nation on board.
Hooray for Sare! You are awesome. This post was inspiring and well written. I'm so proud you're my sister. :)
Thanks for the birthday wishes--I'm so impressed you remembered! Also, I'm liking Maine right about now.
Sara--saw your comment on cjane's mitt/mccain/obama post. She really got folks into it. I wanted to say to all those folks advocating gay marriage: You can get all the legal benefits of marriage if you are gay by doing the legal legwork, ie, appoint a guardian, form a partnership, write a will or a trust, appoint a power of attorney, etc. You may not get exactly the same benefits (like married, filing jointly), but I for one believe the strong public interest in marriage (between a man and a woman) and having children raised by a father and a mother (which nearly all experts agree is ideal) is something worth encouraging.
However, I'm a little scared by the brutal flagging (in the sense of beating with sticks) that happened to some of the promoters of marriage between a man and a woman. So I'm telling you my thoughts (in a safe environment).
To all who argue that protecting the traditional legal definition of marriage is "legislating morality," I'd have to agree. Heck, nearly our entire criminal code (and much of our civil code) legislates morality: What do you mean it's against the law to beat my wife? You mean I actually have to pay to support the children I father?
If you insist that a relationship between homosexuals be legally equal to that between a married man and a woman, you are defining the two as morally equal. And that is a line I cannot cross. So there, I've said it. Homosexual relationships, even if they are long-term and satisfying to some, are immoral. Just as a long-term sexual relationship between an unmarried man and a woman is immoral. Just as adultery is immoral. Just as bestiality is immoral. Now you see my slippery slope argument coming into play--once you open the door, you open the floodgates. Heck, why can't a man marry his own 10 year old daughter if he wants to? I'll even admit that at one time I wanted to marry my horse (not in any way sexually)--he was just a stud! Ha ha.
Oh I'm sorry, I'm going on too long. Forgive my soapbox. Do a new post so I can talk to you more or just give me a call!
One more thing. Don't couch the issue of same-sex marriage in with civil rights. There is no right to be married. It's a privilege. You can't marry whoever who want (ie, married persons, your sister, your son, your sheep).
And do our court systems really need the additional clogging of same-sex divorces would inevitably result if such marriages were legal? Based on that fact alone the state has a public policy reason to limit legal marriages to those such as already established.
There. I'm done. Till the next time.
And sorry Sara, this really is a tangent from your post.
No problem Laurie; I love hearing the attorney's perspective! :)
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