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Thursday, December 8, 2011

Dear GOP Candidates, Come Get Me

As I noted last week, I've been officially "undecided" about who I'm supporting in the Republican presidential primary for a few weeks. 

I originally wanted Mitch Daniels to run, but he didn't. Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint, John Thune, and Mike Pence also all declined to toss any headgear into a circular hoop. I liked Tim Pawlenty, but he melted away after the Ames Straw Poll. I met Governor Perry at the RedState Gathering and was very impressed, but he's hit some road bumps during the past few months, and as anyone who's read this blog for awhile knows, I took a two month ride on the Cain Train. 

So, after the roller coaster that we've all been on this year, I thought it was wise to reevaluate the candidates. I'm starting from scratch.

(Note to the Ron Paullowers: The only candidate I'm not willing to support is Ron Paul, because I am just never, ever going to agree with his foreign policy positions. Trying to change my mind is a complete waste of time.)

I've been reaching out to friends working on different campaigns and people I respect to hear why they support specific candidates, but I also want to hear from you. Post in the comments who you're supporting and why. Lobby for your candidate. I'm open minded. You never know, you might actually give me the article or argument that sways my mind.

A few notes:

  • Give me facts and details, not gossip and insults. Posting links to back up your arguments will be greatly appreciated.
  • I'm pro-life, pro-Israel, a strict constructionist, and think the federal government meddles in way too much stuff that the states should handle. I support our military, think the UN is a corrupt and useless waste of money, and want our country to have a strong and clear foreign policy. I support gun rights. I think we need to throw the current tax code in a chipper shredder and start over. Make arguments that appeal to me on these issues.
  • I'm a big believer in supporting the "most conservative candidate who is electable." The polls have been all over the place, and I'm not convinced that we're really down to a two-man race, but there's a point where reality does have to kick in.
  • Yes, I'm aware that Gingrich has been married three times. Talk about something else.
  • Yes, I've heard of Romneycare. I'm also of the opinion that, contrary to the opinions voiced elsewhere in the blogosphere, Mitt Romney is not the devil and will not singlehandedly destroy the entire Republican party if he gets the nomination.
  • Cain supporters are not a monolithic group and are not all going in the same direction. I'm a free agent and under no obligation to support a candidate just because someone else is.
  • Endorsements from other politicians I haven't met doesn't help me. I know what an endorsement means in Florida because I know these people but a list of New Hampshire state representatives or South Carolina tea partiers or Iowa ministers is completely useless to me. 
So, here I am...

...an undecided voter who (1) will definitely vote in Florida's primary next month, and (2) has a solid audience of conservative voters around the state. 

Come get me. Make your argument. 

I'm listening.

6 comments:

  1. In The Washington Post, George Will writes: “[Huntsman] endorses Paul Ryan’s budget and entitlement reforms. (Gingrich denounced Ryan’s Medicare reform as “right-wing social engineering.”) Huntsman would privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Gingrich’s benefactor). Huntsman would end double taxation on investment by eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends. (Romney would eliminate them only for people earning less than $200,000, who currently pay just 9.3 percent of them.) Huntsman’s thorough opposition to corporate welfare includes farm subsidies. (Romney has justified them as national security measures — food security, somehow threatened. Gingrich says opponents of ethanol subsidies are “big-city” people hostile to farmers.) Huntsman considers No Child Left Behind, the semi-nationalization of primary and secondary education, “an unmitigated disaster.” (Romney and Gingrich support it. Gingrich has endorsed a national curriculum.)”

    The New York Times Ross Douthat writes: “Huntsman has none of Romney’s health care baggage, and unlike the former Massachusetts governor, he didn’t spend the last decade flip-flopping on gun rights, immigration and abortion. Meanwhile, on many of the highest-profile issues of the primary season (the individual mandate, Paul Ryan’s House budget, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), he has arguably been more consistently conservative than Gingrich.”

    RedState‘s Erick Erickson writes: “His record as a Governor is more conservative than Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney combined. He is more pro-life than either of them. He is more economically wedded to the free market than either of them. He has better foreign policy experience than either of them. Huntsman should be a conservative hero in this race.”

    The American Enterprise Institute‘s James Pethokoukis: “If elected president, Huntsman says he would like to slash tax rates to their lowest levels since before America entered World War One and eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends. Powerful supply-side medicine for an anemic economic recovery. Huntsman has embraced Rep. Paul Ryan’s transformational, market-oriented, debt- reduction plan, calling it “the model I would work from.” He’s also pro-life, a dedicated free trader and – at least as evidenced by his sweeping bank reform plan — an ardent anti-crony capitalist.”

    Whether it is a fair or unfair characterization, the perception among conservatives is that Huntsman just does not like them. But what if Huntsman could change that perception. What if he invested some ad buys on conservative talk radio shows in early primary states? What if he pushed to get on the Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham talk radio shows and explicitly laid out why he, not Newt, represents the genuine conservative?

    Trump, Bachmann, Perry, and Cain all vanished as fast as they appeared. The same could happen to Newt. Huntsman just might get a real second look.

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  2. I'm so glad you're a neocon that supports NDAA, so I don't have to bother convincing you of anything. You already know it all.

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  3. According to BLR Ron Paul will give you free bananas! Vote for him :)

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  4. I could give u facts 4/against each candidate. More than that though we have a man in the White House who has more wrong with him than any of 'our' candidates combined would lead me 2 vote 4 WHOEVER gets 'our' nomination. On that note u get 2 pick/choose.

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  5. I'm down in Palm beach, and I'm not sure who im going for either. Im thinking newt, I don't perticularly like him, but i definitly want to see a obama/gingrich debate. I think Santorum would be my first choice, from what I've seen of the debates, I trust him as a conservative.

    I hate Ron Paul's foreign policy, but I agree with his Domestic ideas, and his thoughts on the role of government in our lives, I would vote for him over Romney though.

    He talks a really good game, but he doesn't govern as a conservative, hes not pure evil, or the devil (at least as far as I know). The idea of state healthcare and an individual mandate goes against everything I believe in as an individual. how can you be a conservative in favor of that? I don't trust him.

    Im interested to see who you decide on.

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  6. Newt Gingrich is by far the most qualified candidate. I think the litmus test of qualification is important now more than ever considering the current occupier of the White House.

    Gingrich led the takeover of the House of Representatives by Republicans in 1994 and was able to balance the budget with a Democratic President for 4 years.

    He is a student of history. Gingrich understands the consequences of decisions made in the past and how those decisions are relevant today.

    His foreign policy is right on target with where we need to be internationally. Newt believes in American Exceptionalism (a concept lost on most liberals).

    Most importantly, he is an intelligent person. All of the experience in the world can't prepare a person for leading the nation through tragedy. Newt has intellect, which is applicable in every situation.

    Newt Gingrich is a leader, which is something we are lacking right now.

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