It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Forget all that holiday commercialism – and honoring the Lord is not restricted to the month of December. I’m talking about the time leading up to the primaries. Later on, we may grumble about whomever we “get stuck with” for our candidate, but right now we have the duty to find the best candidate and support him. Now is the time to go candidate-shopping. Not after the primaries. Now is the time we can get really excited about the process, because we get to decide who the candidate will be.
Back in August, I compared McCain and Guiliani on some issues for Republicans. Now add Mitt Romney to the mix, because it’s official – he’s going to run. When the race really gets going, this grid should change a great deal, because the candidates will have more to say.
I keep reading that Christians are supposed to be disturbed that Romney – a Mormon – is running for office. While I might enjoy having governmental representation that believes as I do, that’s far from my main criteria. And the fact is that anyone can claim Christianity. Bill Clinton claimed to be a Christian, but I don’t think that most Christians feel that he represented them in any moral sense. Whatever faith he professed, Clinton was primarily the secular left’s candidate. Our government is at best deist, as were many of the founding fathers. I’m far less interested in a candidate who “speaks my language” where faith is concerned, than I am in finding an honest candidate who will do what I consider the right thing for the country. I think the “Christians hate Romney” meme is really a product of the MSM, because Romney is shaping up to be the most conservative of all the candidates and it’s an easy way to chip off support for him. Not only does the meme focus attention on Romney’s Mormonism (remember George Allen, the Jew?) but it has the added benefit of making Christians seem closed-minded. Well, we’ll see what they do with it, but I feel certain they’re going to beat that horse to death.
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Issue
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War on Terror |
Long list of quotes here, but the readers digest version is that he was once strong on this issue, and is now "going wobbly." | Not much to say on Iraq recently: Liberating the Iraqis is something we should be proud of. (Aug 2004) Removing Saddam needed to be accomplished. (Aug 2004) | |
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Illegal Immigration |
Open borders in practice, famous for "jobs Americans won’t do" and the "lettuce pickers" speech. | Supports Senate guest worker plan & path to citizenship. |
Says that tuition breaks encourage illegal immigration.
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Pro Life
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"nuanced:" No partial birth, no public financing, overturn Roe v. Wade but keep incest and rape exceptions, abortion okay if raped, no test for rape, fetal tissue research okay, embryonic stem cell research okay. | Pro-choice including partial birth abortions. |
Vetoed stem cell research, approved RU-486, personally disapproves but is prochoice as governor.
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Money
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Porkbusters likes him enough to let him post. Overall pretty good, fiscally. | Nothing to add to this: "Fiscal responsibility turned $2B deficit into $2B surplus." |
Not much info; claims to be against pork, wants to reduce deficit.
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Civil Rights
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Free speech killer via McCain-Feingold. Allow, but not mandate prayer in schools. No flag burning. 1st amendment doesn’t shield "hate groups." | Limited information to draw from, but "Free speech for private expression, not publicly-funded art. (Oct 1999)" |
Supports assault weapons bill and Brady Bill.
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Crime
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Pro death penalty, stricter sentences | Cut crime in NY in half, seems to take a common sense approach. |
Supports death penalty, mandatory sentencing, and three strikes.
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Schools
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Vouchers, charter schools | Privatize, vouchers, charter schools. |
Reform underperforming schools or replace with charters, abolish the Department of Education, means-tested vouchers.
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It’s going to be an interesting year.
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Good homework u did!..ty for the link and the read.:)
Laura,
I never did get a tb ping for this post… found it at Technorati.
In the future, if I don’t send a tb ping within 10 hours or so then let me know by email at:
tele64@gmail.com and I’ll surely send one pronto!
Sorry ’bout that!
Butch