Super Tuesday is right around the corner folks, and you know what that means: it’s voting time. On February 5th, 24 states will hold their Presidential Primary elections, and Massachusetts is one of them. I love Super Tuesday because my vote actually matters. That’s right, unlike the general elections in this dark blue state, the candidate that I vote for has a shot to win the Primary. So I thought that I would give you my take on the Republican Presidential candidates: Senator John McCain:
There is much to admire and respect about Senator McCain. He heroically served our country in Vietnam and then bravely persevered torture and captivity in a Vietnamese prison. He has supported the Iraq War from the start and is strong on National Defense. He has consistently fought against earmarks and pork barrel spending. His lifetime American Conservative Union rating is 89%. Pretty impressive. But while 82% of the time, he has stood with Conservatives, it’s the other 18% of the time that is so troubling for me, simply because it was on such big issues. For instance, he opposed the Bush tax cuts that helped resuscitate a battered economy after 9-11, claiming that they disproportionately favored the wealthy. He co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform bill. This debacle is a violation of the 1st Amendment and shifts power away from the informed voter and into the hands of special interest groups…liberal special interest groups. Senator McCain also sponsored a bill that would have given Amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. He believes in man-made global warming and is endorsed by the New York Times and Boston Globe. In fact, the media loves John McCain. That should serve as a warning sign to Conservatives everywhere. They call him a “maverick” and “a straight shooter”. Translated from liberal speak: he occasionally sides with Democrats on big issues. So, to sum up: Senator McCain is a mixed bag for me: tough on terror and earmarks, but too often leading the charge against Conservatives on some important core issues.
Governor Mike Huckabee
I like Governor Mike Huckabee’s values, but he has a record of endorsing big government spending, and it just doesn’t sound right to say: President Huckabee. Besides, I’m still recovering from the last Arkansas Governor we let in the White House. My prediction: he’ll be out of the race soon.
Mayor Rudolph Guliani
Rudy is a great leader and had real success cutting taxes and balancing the budget in New York. He is tough on crime and strongly supports President Bush and the War on Terror. Who could forget his leadership during and after 9-11? He galvanized a city during the worst of times. The best thing I can say about Rudy is that I would have confidence in him as President to handle the War on Terror and keep us safe. Outside of that, we have some problems. He has been very liberal on a variety of social issues and that is troublesome. Of course, he is now hedging his past positions in order to appease the Conservative base, but I’m not buying it. Rudy is a politician at heart, and in the end, there are too many question marks for me here. I’m just not sure how fiscally or socially Conservative he would end up being.
Governor Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney looks like a President and acts like a President, but could he really be President? I think so. Mitt has a long track record of success: in business, in governing and in his personal life. I think all three are important indications of the type of man that he is. Here is good story about Governor Romney: his business partner’s daughter disappeared in New York City in 1996. Mitt shut down the company, brought many of the employees to New York, established a command center and found his daughter in three days. The man simply gets things done and whether it is planning the Olympics, running a large corporation or governing an important state, Mitt has shown the ability to mange people efficiently and effectively. You know, I have a dream that one day our government will run like a successful business with the waste eliminated, spending curbed and the books balanced. Mitt can do this (no he can’t of course, but just go with it for now). There are questions as to whether Mitt a true Conservative? I can only hope so. There are indications that he will be, and while it appears that he has changed positions on some important issues, a closer look will reveal that, in the end, he has sided with Conservatives almost every time. Will he lead a Conservative revolution like Ronald Reagan? I don’t think so, but I believe that he will bring an approach to government that will lead us down the right road on taxes, the War on Terror, wasteful spending and social issues, and that is all I can ask for out of this field of candidates.
So there you have it. I am officially endorsing Mitt Romney as the Republican Candidate for President. Of course, whoever ends up winning the Republican Primary will have my vote in the general election. After all for the sake of my children, it's A.B.H in 2008. That's Anyone But Hillary.
...more columns by Todd A. Carges
