Fixing America: It sounds like a futuristic action movie: 'The Fixers Versus The Destroyers'. But it's not. It's the 2012 election.
This is no Tweedle-Dee versus Tweedle-Dum presidential contest. The lines and differences are clearly drawn. Will Americans choose the continuing path to European-style socialism with spiraling deficits, elevated unemployment levels, a highly-regulated and restrictive business environment, state-metered health care and increased government welfare dependency? Or will they chose to repair the damage already done and return to fiscal conservatism and lessened government intrusion/interference?
In accepting the VP slot, Paul Ryan said, "I'm proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience, that if you have a small business - you did build that."
"We Americans look at one another's success with pride, not resentment, because we know, as more Americans work hard, take risks and succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit and individual lives will be improved and uplifted."
"But America is more than just a place ... it's an idea. It's the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes."
In case you haven't yet seen the oft-watched C-SPAN video, in a February 2010 Obama-orchestrated dog-and-pony show about the 'health care crisis', Paul Ryan deconstructed and laid-waste-to Obamacare calmly and logically right in front of the president. Note the befuddled look on Barry O's face - his pet plan was given a magnificent takedown by a savvy, knowledgeable congressman.
Ryan's impressive April 2011 'Path to Prosperity' proposal offered a concrete, detailed debt reduction proposal - a serious, practical plan to fix the looming insolvency of the growing welfare state. That's another reason why Paul Ryan is a great addition to the Republican ticket. Of course, Obama ignored Congressman Ryan's proposal as well as the bipartisan Deficit Reduction Commission's recommendations. And, the president offered nothing as a counter-proposal.
This time, Barack Hussein Obama can't run on vague and ephemeral Hope & Change. He has to run on his record:
Mitt Romney has said, "In the days ahead, join me in the next step toward that destination of November 6th, when across America we can give a sigh of relief and know that the Promise of America has been kept. The dreamers can dream a little bigger, the help wanted signs can be dusted off, and we can start again."
The Romney-Ryan ticket represents the single best hope for reforming America's runaway government and reviving our sickly economy. Those issues are what motivated voters in the 2010 mid-term elections. I am hopeful that 2012 voters will feel the same way.
After all she's been through, America could use some R&R. (posted 8/13/2012, permalink)
'A Better America Begins Tonight' was the theme of Mitt Romney's stirring speech Tuesday night. In my view, it was the best speech Mitt has ever given. Excerpts:
• "Americans have always been eternal optimists. But over the last three and a half years, we have seen hopes and dreams diminished by false promises and weak leadership. Everywhere I go, Americans are tired of being tired, and many of those who are fortunate enough to have a job are working harder for less."
• "Tonight is the beginning of the end of the disappointments of the Obama years and the start of a new and better chapter that we will write together."
• "Four years ago Barack Obama dazzled us in front of Greek columns with sweeping promises of hope and change. But after we came down to earth, after the celebration and parades, what do we have to show for three and a half years of President Obama?
Is it easier to make ends meet? Is it easier to sell your home or buy a new one? Have you saved what you needed for retirement? Are you making more in your job? Do you have a better chance to get a better job? Do you pay less at the pump?
If the answer were 'yes' to those questions, then President Obama would be running for re-election based on his achievement ... and rightly so. But because he has failed, he will run a campaign of diversions, distractions and distortions. That kind of campaign may have worked at another place and in a different time. But not here and not now. It's still about the economy … and we're not stupid."
• "In the days ahead, join me in the next step toward that destination of November 6th, when across America we can give a sigh of relief and know that the Promise of America has been kept. The dreamers can dream a little bigger, the help wanted signs can be dusted off, and we can start again.
And this time we'll get it right. We'll stop the days of apologizing for success at home and never again apologize for America abroad.
There was a time - not so long ago – when each of us could walk a little taller and stand a little straighter, because we had a gift that no one else in the world shared. We were Americans. That meant something different to each of us but it meant something special to all of us. We knew it without question. And so did the world.
Those days are coming back. That's our destiny.
We believe in America. We believe in ourselves. Our greatest days are still ahead. We are, after all, Americans!
God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."
Are you ready for a better America? I know that I am. (posted 4/25/2012, permalink)
Choices: The way conservatives are renting their garments in mourning over the lack of a True Conservative in the 2012 campaign whilst they wail about the seeming inevitability of Mitt Romney heading the Republican ticket, it might be advisable to invest in apparel stocks, perhaps Men's Warehouse, Limited Brands or Dress Barn. These people will eventually run out of things to wear and will have to buy some new clothes at some point.
Influential columnist George Will has suggested that Romney is hopeless and has urged conservatives to "turn their energies to a goal much more attainable than, and not much less important than, electing Romney," namely, winning both houses of Congress.
What a colossal pantload. Some of these conservatives have set standards so rigorous that Attila the Hun couldn't meet them.
As governor of Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states in the union, Mitt Romney accomplished something even Ronald Reagan was unable to do when he was governor of California - Romney balanced the state budget without raising taxes.
Governor Romney bravely vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill. Why? Because he was pro-life. Was he always pro life? Apparently not. But in the face of mounting evidence that life begins sooner that was thought, he changed his mind.
Romney remains strong on illegal immigration - an issue which is just behind terrorism and Obamacare as the most important issue facing the nation. Speaking of Obamacare, Mitt has vowed to kill it on "day one" if he wins the White House. Yes, people jabber on about Mitt's failure to condemn Massachusetts' Romneycare or declare it a failure but it's Obamacare that is negatively impacting most voters. And sinking the economy in a sea of debt.
Romney's resume as a turnaround consultant is impressive. Doing turnarounds is hard work - I've had some experience in that arena. It requires making tough decisions and often firing good people in order to keep a company alive. America needs a conservative business guy to resuscitate the American economy. And downsize a ballooning, outta-control government.
He's beeen married - once only - for 43 years. His children seem happy and have no Kennedyesque drug, alcohol or baby-sitter scandals in their resumes. His father - now maligned by Democrats who take glee in pointing out that he was born in Mexico - was a successful auto executive, politician and family man ... not an absent Kenyan deadbeat.
Finally, there's the religion thing. Mitt's a Mormon. So what? Have you ever had Mormons in your neighborhood? They make good neighbors - their kids are well-behaved, their homes are kept up and you'll never be exposed to beater cars up on blocks, beer cans in the shrubbery, strange cooking odors or blood-curdling screams in a foreign language at 3:00 am. Or frequent police visits. Or, as in the case of - say - Barack Obama, a drunk-driving, illegal immigrant uncle in the picture.
Whatever they preach inside a Mormon temple is nothing compared to the racist, hate-filled craziness which has emanated from Obama's former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
SNL regularly trashes Mitt Romney, a sure sign that liberals are worried. They should be. Barack Obama's record is one of failure and waste - bloated government, record debt, useless and ineffective stimulus programs and high unemployment.
Richard Epstein has written that President Obama's "insistence that his program will open up opportunities for all Americans across the board is a bit of idle self-promotion in the face of the deadly combination of high unemployment rates and shrinking labor-market participation that his policies have wrought. His plea to restore the dignity of the middle class is code for his nonstop program of strengthening the hand of labor unions whose regressive and exclusionary policies undermine job opportunities for the very individuals Obama purports to hold closest to his heart.
He compounds these errors by insisting that the enormous contributions of those at the top of the income scale are futile exercises in 'trickle down' economics, without bothering to note the literally thousands of good jobs created by the new technologies and businesses introduced by the billionaire entrepreneurs whom he castigates at every turn. His final insult is to denounce those who pay the bulk of the nation's tax revenues as free riders on those who take much from it. Right now, the top 1% that garners roughly 20% of the income pays about 40% of the taxes. But in our current political culture, it receives only a small fraction of the particularized goods that constitute the bulk of the entitlement budget.
Yet Obama, without argument, always treats the current social distribution of burdens as the legitimate baseline. Every new increase of burdens on the rich is legitimate. Any effort to undo them is not. But it is not possible to cut the taxes on those who at present pay no taxes nor to cut benefits on those who at present receive no benefits." Well said.
Andrew Malcolm has added, "This 2012 Obama is strident and mean, even deceitful, divisive, telling half-truths after half-truths. He's using Air Force One as his personal Brinks truck with wings to collect cash all over the country, disguising the trips as official.
He tries to intimidate the Supreme Court, an equal branch of government, when its thinking might stray from his. He distorts history, and if no one calls him, then it's true. If he's caught, this Obama says you obviously mis-heard. Because, as everyone knows, he could never mis-speak.
This year's Obama talks of the importance of windmills, algae and green energy, but he takes a 17-SUV motorcade to a photo op with an electric car.
He lambastes oil companies for getting the same legal tax incentives (he calls them "subsidies") that other companies receive, hoping to aim anger at them so voters won't notice that gas prices have doubled since his inauguration with Honest Abe's Bible."
