[Just for the record, I'm not a blind sheep - I wrote this before posting today's message about conservatives closing ranks against McCain...I have no proof, so you'll just have to take my word for it!]
Let me share my thought process with you. First, let's be real. Huckabee and Ron Paul don't have a realistic chance at winning. Ron Paul has lots of money but negligible support, and Huckabee probably won't get more than 10-15% of the vote next Tuesday. Even if either of them was viable, I couldn't support them. Some of Ron Paul's policies are just this side of insanity, so he's out of the question. Huckabee has plenty of positives, but on several important issues what he says now and what his record shows just don't line up (and the changes are recent, not progressive over time). He's also been relying heavily on identity politics, which is a distinctly liberal tactic used primarily by Democrats. Frankly, that makes my toenails curl backward, and is the final nail in the coffin. So, my decision is between McCain and Romney.
There are several components to my decision. The issues, of course, are the most important thing, but I also think that things like character and experience are extremely important, too. People can change their positions as they go through life -- I've changed my own position on some issues over the past couple years -- but character and experience are permanent. Let's take the issues first. As I see it, the most important issues at this point in time are national security, growing the economy, illegal immigration, judicial nominations, and promoting smaller government. To a lesser extent are abortion/stem cells (I know, I know, but wait until I explain) and global warming.
National Security
McCain seems to have the edge here, but not by as much as you'd think. While he's an undeniable war hero, there are some tarnishes on his shine. He wants to close Gitmo (and doesn't propose a good solution for the terrorists there) and he opposes measures like waterboarding to learn information that could save American lives. He likes to trumpet the fact that he was the only one who supported the surge years ago, but that's not quite true. He was one of the major voices for it, yes, but to say he was the only one is a bit of a stretch. His record is hideously weak on closing the borders, which is a HUGE national security risk. Quite honestly, I don't believe him when he says he will secure the border. He's never shown any sign of willingness to do that, and several of his current top campaign advisers are rabid open-borders fanatics. If he had really 'heard the American people', would he surround himself with people like that?
Romney doesn't really have a record on national security issues that I can determine because he's never really been in a position to have one. I saw one pundit observe that this was usually a good sign in politicians - if they don't know the topic well, they won't speak out until they learn more about it. His current statements and positions are solid, though, and he does have executive experience in Massachusetts dealing with crime, and I haven't heard a single complaint about that experience. It seems logical that protecting a state from crime should translate fairly well into protecting a nation from foreign adversaries. There's a lot of conceptual overlap there.
Growing the Economy
From what I've seen, McCain has a decent history of keeping government smaller. However, he did not support Bush's tax cuts, and has publicly said (on Meet the Press) that he would oppose making those tax cuts permanent (of course, he then pledged in this week's debate that he would support making those tax cuts permanent, but I'll deal with that in a moment). As any informed person would know, tax cuts are a huge stimulant for the economy, and Bush's tax cuts are what pulled us out of the recession after 9/11 and spurred six years of major growth. The fact that McCain opposes such measures is strange to me. McCain is also on record as saying things like business experience isn't necessary for effective governing and Wall Street (meaning successful, wealthy Americans) needs to be punished. These are not economic warm fuzzies.
Romney, on the other hand, has a history of success in both business and government. He understands the economics of job creation and streamlining efficiencies and has proved his ability to make smart business decisions through his track record. Listening to economic points in the last debate, it was a no-brainer that Romney knows far, far more about the economy than McCain, and I have no doubt that he would make smart decisions about our economy. He supports tax cuts, the end of the death tax, and entitlement reform (he illustrated in the last debate that the entitlements of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are on pace to take up almost 3/4 of the national budget in the near future!). These are huge, huge, huge items on the economic horizon, and the next President will have to be able to deal with them. I believe Romney can.
Illegal Immigration
Everyone knows McCain's an open-borders hack that tried to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. He's said he would do it again, too. He's always been soft on border security, he's always been soft on illegal immigration, and he currently employs open-borders fanatics as some of his top advisers. There is no question that McCain would be every bit as bad as either Clinton or Obama on this, maybe worse.
Romney, on the other hand, has no such history. His plan calls for the registering of all illegals, and immediately deporting all those who are recently arrived (this raises the question of how we determine how long they've been here, though, which I think is darn near impossible). For those who've put down some roots, he advocates a certain period of time (a few months, perhaps) to close up their affairs, sell their house, etc. before they will be required to leave. They'd have to get in line behind everyone else already waiting to come back in. He also favors securing the borders, which is an absolute must for any serious immigration reform. It's not a perfect plan, but one I could live with. It's infinitely better than McCain's history and position.
Judicial Nominations
I believe judicial nominations are absolutely critical to the proper functioning of our country. I've blogged about this many times in the past, but there is something wrong with a single activist judge overruling the vast majority (sometimes as much as 70%) of the American people on important issues like defining marriage, military maneuvers off our coasts, and property rights. Judges should never -- EVER! -- re-write the law to match their own agenda. If they want to do that, they need to run for Congress. Their responsibility is to interpret the law as it already exists. Originalist judges (who stick to the original interpretation of the Constitution rather than looking at it as a living, evolving document) do just that. McCain has expressed concerns over Samuel Alito, a brilliant originalist judge appointed by Bush to the Supreme Court. While he might make some good nominations if he were President, I have doubts that McCain will come through in spades like Bush has. Another problem here is that McCain led the Gang of 14, a group of Senators that essentially roadblocked judicial nominations unless the nominees' personal beliefs met with their approval. That's abusing his position in the Senate, in my opinion. Add to that the McCain-Feingold Act, which was a direct assault on the 1st Amendment, preventing free speech against incumbent politicians close to elections.
Romney supported Roberts and Alito, and has pledged to make nominations similar to them if he were President. Done deal.
Smaller Government
I don't think anyone would disagree that Washington has critical problems. They are hopelessly out of touch with the American people, and they are very much led around by lobbyists. McCain has done a fair job of limiting the spread of the government, but he is a career politician. To my knowledge, he's never had a job outside of politics. He's not from the world you and I live in. He's an insider, accepted by the left-wing media and liberals alike. Is the friend of my enemy my friend? Or is the friend of my enemy my enemy?
Romney, in an extreme contrast, is an outsider. He has stellar business and governing credentials, but is not tainted by Washington politics. His own wealth has allowed him to remain largely un-indebted to lobbyist groups while campaigning. He will provide a set of new eyes on things, and hopefully begin the process of cleaning that place up. He'll face a severe uphill battle, of course, but there is no question in my mind that he would provide a better representative for the American people in the alternate universe that is Washington, D.C.
Abortion/Stem Cells
To my knowledge, both McCain and Romney oppose abortion and stem cell research (although McCain would allow research done on existing stem cell lines, much like Bush did). Romney ran for governor in Massachusetts as pro-abortion, but he got complaints about acting pro-life from those same abortion groups, so I'd say that that combined with his Mormon background are a pretty solid footing. It's a wash. And, keep in mind that the President really doesn't have a lot to do with the abortion debate. He can advocate, of course, but he doesn't set the policy. The only real power the President has to affect this issue is by his judicial nominations, and a strict originalist judge should support pushing the abortion debate back to the states, where it belongs. See my previous blog about that for more details.
Global Warming
McCain is firmly on the hyped-up bandwagon for global warming hysteria. In the debate earlier this week, he put it this way: if he's wrong about global warming, the worst that can happen is that we improve emissions, reduce greenhouse gases, etc., and that's all good stuff; if he's right about it, global warming legislation could save the world (McCain is a named sponsor of a major bill currently under consideration). You'll be shocked to know I think that's a really stupid way of looking at it. For starters, every piece of global warming legislation ever devised has hammered at economic and free market growth, some more than others. The whole idea of global warming is anti-capitalist and anti-business, usually targeting America specifically. McCain's position on this is not only damaging to the country, but it is the ultimate CYA, and he even admits it. McCain also opposes drilling for oil in ANWR (Alaska National Wildlife Refuge), which is one very simple way we can begin reducing our dependence on foreign oil. If you have concerns about drilling in ANWR, don't: it's a wasteland where NASA sometimes tests out equipment intended for use on the moon, and the proposed drilling site is a mere few hundred acres (out of thousands and thousands of acres out there).
As far as I can tell, Romney doesn't buy the global warming hype. He doesn't appear given to knee-jerk legislation to satisfy environmentalist wackos, and I believe his business sense will help keep him steady on this important issue.
So, those are the issues. What about experience? McCain has lots of experience in Washington. To me, this is a bad thing, so it's an automatic edge for Romney, who has no shortage on executive leadership experience himself. Character? Do you trust a man with a legendary temper to run the country safely? McCain has cussed out his fellow Republicans on more than one occasion. I know he's a war hero, but that doesn't mean he and his positions are exempt from any and all questioning. Michael Reagan (the son of Ronald Reagan) has it pegged:
I don't like the way he treats people. You get the impression that he thinks everybody is beneath him. He seems to be saying, "I was a war hero, and you had damn well better treat me as your superior."
He has contempt for conservatives who he thinks can be duped into thinking he's one of them, despite [his] blatantly anti-conservative actions.
McCain's integrity has completely fallen off the map. He's descended into thinly veiled slurs against Romney (casually accusing him of laying off employees) and telling outright lies (accusing Romney of supporting timetables for withdrawal in Iraq), among other things. I have to say that Romney has greatly impressed me with his steadfast refusal to attack McCain in kind, instead attacking McCain's positions, policies, and record. At the same time, Romney is not afraid to defend himself strongly while keeping things professional. That combination of self-restraint and internal fire speaks volumes to me about Romney's character, and that's the kind of person I want leading the country. I'm not at all concerned that he is a Mormon - we've had deists, Christians, Catholics, and who knows what else in the Oval Office over the years, and we're still a Christian nation. As long as the President has a healthy respect for the Constitution, my religious faith and yours will be protected. We're electing a President, not a spiritual leader.
So, this is why I've thrown my lot in with Romney. There is no doubt that McCain will be a Diet Democrat, and whether it's him or Clinton or Obama in the Oval Office, the country will hit hard times due to their stupid and self-destructive liberal policies. I believe that if we are to have any chance at a sane President who will keep America on a track for prosperity and freedom, and any chance at salvaging conservative values in America, Romney is the only choice left to us right now.
There's my two cents.
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