Elections Blog

I take it for granted that it Israel’s right to exist is self-evident; I have learned to my chagrin that this is not nearly as universally shared as I would prefer. For those who question it, I present the following (I don’t claim it as complete - if anyone has additional arguments, feel free [...]

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My title to this blog entry: “Religious Intolerance is What We’re Fighting . . . Not Who We Are as Republicans and Americans” is one that I chose to convey the gist of my U.S. Congressman, Jim Leach’s speech just before Romney took the stage at the GOP Chairman’s Dinner in Cedar Rapids this past Saturday night. His speech focused on the religious tension and strife that dominate world politics and foreign relations. He mentioned the religious strife between Israel and Hezbollah. He also mentioned that in Iraq, much of the problem stems from the strife amongst militant factions of Shiites and Sunnis (despite having Islam as a common base). This was a segue into the final point of his discourse (which he was kind enough to write out for me! Thanks Jim!):

****First off, Rep. Leach was clear that these words were not to be viewed as “an endorsement” of Romney . . . but they sure aren’t damning of Romney and his efforts!***********

“In America, no one should be excluded from leadership based on their faith.

“All individuals should be judged on the timber of their convictions, not the nuances of inter- of intra-faith differences. That is the American way. It is why we Republicans respect, for instance, the Democratic Party for putting forth a Catholic who became a great President, John F. Kennedy. It is why we welcome this evening to Cedar Rapids an extraordinary leader, a man of a minority faith.

“I have watched Gov. Romney from afar, and, on several occasions, up close. His is the kind of leadership the country yearns for. I am confidant Iowans will give him respectful consideration and that he will not let the party and, more importantly, the country down.”

Representative Leach is a good and smart man. I have had occasion to speak with him rather in depth on four occasions over the last two months. Leach is a self-proclaimed moderate Republican . . . however, he is the kind of congressman we need since he has proven, again and again, that can keep our district Red when it leans heavily to the blue side. Interestingly, Leach was listed as #10 on the “Top 10 RINOs” by Human Events online (BTW, Romney was listed as #8 on that list . . . Leach seemed very surprised that Romney was on that list at all since he realizes that Mitt is much more conservative than he is. We speculated that it may be the fact that he governs in Massachusetts, or that possibly, some people whose real objection to Romney is his religion would feel more comfortable giving him a label like RINO as a reason to not vote for him/consider him.)

Well, on a brighter note, it seems pretty clear that the visible leadership of the Evangelical community will not “blackball” Romney because of his religion. That doesn’t surprise me, but recently Jerry Falwell said: I have no problem voting for a person who is not of my faith as long as he or she stands with me on the moral and social issues. (Massachusetts governor) Mitt Romney may be a candidate for president. He’s a Mormon. If he’s pro-life, pro-family, I don’t think he’ll have any problem getting the support of evangelical Christians.

Previously, prominent Evangelical leader, Chuck Colson, said something similar: Someone willing to go on the record was Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship. Notwithstanding his “fundamental” theological differences with Mormonism, Colson said, “I could in very good conscience support Romney,” calling him “a first-rate guy in every respect” and “a social conservative on most of the issues we care about.” Colson obviously wasn’t declaring for Romney, but simply indicating that he would not in religious principle, so to speak, be opposed to Romney and indeed could find political reasons to support him.

Also, the rather glowing 9 minute profile of Romney on the Pat Robertson run 700 Club News segment for CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) seems to show that there is not inherent opposition to Romney because of his religion.

While I wouldn’t expect any of these leaders to go on record as being against Romney because of his faith, at least they are willing to publically say “the right thing” on the issue. I’m apt to believe them on the individual level. However, whether the every-day religious-right voter will feel the same way remains to be seen.

Anyways (and getting back to my first point), I thought Jim Leach made a great point: that the U.S. sacrifices too much time, effort, money, and lives helping to resolve religious conflicts around the world . . . that we, as Republicans, cannot afford to let any similar religious disagreements to potentially divide our party or our country. A great man with a great mind.

Jeff
Check out other ongoing updates of Romney’s pass through my state at “Iowans for Romney”

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From the Associated Press:
Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night and told Cubans he underwent surgery.
The Cuban leader said he had suffered gastrointestinal bleeding, apparently due to stress from recent public appearances in Argentina and Cuba, according to the letter read live on television by his secretary, Carlos [...]

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Jeez, there’s a lot of ugliness in the air these days.  Fortunately, in America, the good always outweighs the bad.  There are some folks who do an awful lot of good for other folks who are finalists in the Dr. Pepper Community Service Awards.  The 2 organizations with the highest vote totals, as voted on [...]

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I liked Passion of the Christ, okay, and I was positively thrilled that it was such a phenomenal success, but still, Mel Gibson’s assurances that he wasn’t an anti-Semite kind of look rather weak after his latest drunken tirade, don’t they?  But why should I address the subject? Well, because I want to.  Rather, I [...]

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Henry Kissinger believes we must engage Iran, but stand firm against its nuclear threat. He admits it’s a tightrope:
The legacy of the hostage crisis, the decades of isolation and the messianic aspect of the Iranian regime represent huge obstacles to such a diplomacy. If Tehran insists on combining the Persian imperial tradition with contemporary [...]

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That’s seems damning to the Administration, no? Well if you are a left leaning blog, you change the may have to did, and you’ve got yourself a story! Too bad it won’t hold water! The source for this? None other than John Conyers (D-MI).
The laws implicated by the Administration’s actions include federal [...]

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Recognizing that a cease-fire imposed anytime soon would be a huge propaganda victory for Hezbollah, the Israeli Prime Minister responded to Condi’s assertion that a cease-fire is imminent with a flat denial:
Just hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that she had achieved general agreement on terms for a U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution [...]

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This, from the Nashua (NH) Telegraph: (emphasis mine)Friend of Mitt?

Is Senate President Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, already in the 2008 presidential camp of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney?

Romney couldn’t leave his Big Dig scandal-dominated state to do some politicking, so he did the next best thing Thursday, busing 14 GOP state senators to a Boston fund-raiser to benefit the Gatsas-led Senate Republican Victory PAC.

Nobody’s talking about the haul taken from the penthouse fete at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, but Gatsas couldn’t stop smiling when asked about it.

Some rival presidential hopefuls already put Gatsas in the Romney stable and the marriage of these can-do, successful business tycoons would hardly come as a shock to many GOP observers.

But those who say it’s a done deal are dead wrong, Gatsas said.

“It’s much too early for that. I think he’s done a great job running a very liberal state, but there are many, very qualified people in this field,’’ Gatsas said, listing more than a half dozen others who have impressed him thus far.

And Romney’s not the only one holding out-of-state fundraisers for the Gatsas PAC either.

Gatsas has one in the works for Aug. 25 during the summer horse meet at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He said a number of state GOP senators will be on board his jet to the event – and the lead greeter at this one is none other than New York Gov. George Pataki.

Dave

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I want to make those of you in South Carolina aware that South Carolinians for Romney is coming soon. It should be bare bones ready by this evening, with a finished product sometime by the end of the week. So, if you are interested in blogging on the site contact me ASAP, and I’ll get ID’s set up for you, so we can hit the ground running as soon as it’s “live”.

Thanks in advance,

Ann Marie

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One more day until the ‘Big Crawford Surprise.’
I just can’t wait.

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Japanese troops in Iraq, 2005.Photo credit: Mohammed Ameen, Reuters

Despite incredible domestic political obstacles, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, president of the Japanese Elvis Fan Club, and not a bad karaoke singer, to boot, welcomed home his troops from Iraq after completing their entire tour of duty in Iraq — as pledged at the time of [...]

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http://myclob.pbwiki.com/Video We need to back up and share Romney videos from this site

There are many reasons to back up, archive, and distribute Mitt Romney videos. First, they will go away from his Massachusetts site when Romney is no longer Governor. Have you been to that site? There are over 100 videos! That is enough to fill a DVD! In fact, that is a good idea. Is it possible to make DVD’s of these? I would rather watch Romney on a DVD than on my laptop.

In addition, there are places like Google Video (http://video.google.com) and You Tube (http://www.youtube.com) that will archive and distribute anyone’s videos free.

The question may come up of weather or not Governor Romney wants these distributed. Well of course he does! He approved them being put on his site!

Also, in his book, Turnaround, Mitt mentioned managers that like to focus on their employee’s weaknesses and try to “fix” their problems. However, his managerial strategy is to higher people for their strengths, and if someone has a weakness, he hires someone else to compensate for that weakness. Maybe the connection is a stretch, but I think we can do the same thing with Mitt. Maybe something that he said will be taken as a weakness, and so maybe we should not facilitate its distribution. However, on the other hand, if we share tons of Mitt Romney videos, people will not just see that statement in context of that statement, they will see the bigger picture of which he is and what he stands for.

Which brings me back to his father’s “mistake”? His father changed his mind of Vietnam. At first, he agreed with the generals. He thought they could win, and he wanted to give them a chance. He went over to Vietnam to see things for himself. What the generals showed him re-assured him, and he supported them for a while longer. But the more he thought about it, he decided to change his mind. He tried to explain how the generals had put their best foot forward, and not really been completely honest about their progress. He said that they had brain washed him. The secretary of defense attacked Romney at that time, very viciously. However, before he died, he admitted that they had lied to the high-level people that toured Vietnam, and Romney’s dad felt much vindicated.

So what does Romney need to learn from his father’s experience? To watch what he says, and not say anything stupid? I do not think so. The Mayer of Chicago speaks his mind. He does not sound rehearsed. He sounds like he is giving you the straight scoop. To an outside observer, it sounds like he is saying something stupid every day. However, people love him for it. He over communicates, and sure people try to take his words out of context, and they laugh, but he does not care. He is a very interesting person, and people like watching train wrecks! I wish Romney’s dad had fought back harder. He did not need to be embarrassed about what he said. I think he was on the side of the right. Well, history proved that he was on the right side. Maybe he did not give up, but that is how it seems to me.

People are trying to take Mitt Romney out of context already. However, if he floods us with content, and goes around the Media, I do not think they will be able to do it. If I were he, I would start his own pod cast. Be the first pod casting presidential candidate. Let him respond to the news as he drives into work, or jogs. Let us hear him rant!

The days are over when you wanted to control your message. You just have to open the spigot, and distribute the content to who ever want it. There are millions of bloggers, and voters, each with different taste and interest. You can’t try and guess what will be the best Mitt Romney content to distribute, you just make it all available, and let people figure out for themselves what is the best video, speech, picture, press release, or action.

Let us not think about it; it is obvious that we want more people exposed to videos of Mitt. Let us just do it.

If Mitt Romney’s campaign is going to have the most impressive online campaign, we are going to have to do a better job.

Other things we could do with the video’s
1. I do not know what percentage of these videos have transcripts. Maybe each of us should commit to finding or making the transcript of one video.
2. Maybe we could upload the content to the I-Pod store. Does anyone have a video I-pod? Does anyone know how to make content for a video I-Pod?

Technical problems
1. Or better yet, if you know how to capture video, you could upload it to this site: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=mitt+romney as you can see there is only one video available. Alternatively, here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search=mitt+romney&search_type=search_videos&search=Search
2. When I tried downloading the videos and uploading them to Google Video or YouTube, it did not work. A friend told me that the files are streaming from “Akamai” and that the files are “actually the streaming hint file”. Does anyone know how to fix this?

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http://www.evangelicalsformitt.org/front_page/no_problem.php Evangelicals for Mitt has an interesting quote from Jerry Falwell that speaks volumes.

Ann Marie

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http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/articles/2006/07/30/governor_vetoes_31m_for_greenway/?page=1
Governor Mitt Romney has vetoed $31 million for the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the 27-acre ribbon of parks and development being built in downtown Boston, saying it is much more important to use the money to repair the Big Dig tunnels underground.

The move has surprised and angered supporters of the Greenway, who said the veto could delay construction of two highly anticipated cultural institutions — The Boston Museum, a history center near Quincy Market; and the New

Center for Arts and Culture, a forum for music, theater, and dance near The Boston Harbor Hotel. And tentative plans for a YMCA community center near the TD Banknorth Garden might have to be scrapped altogether, said John M. Ferrell, president and chief executive of the YMCA of Greater Boston.

Supporters fear that Romney is losing sight of the grand vision of renewal for Boston that Big Dig planners promised, epitomized by the replacement of the hulking Central Artery with an inviting green space and a walkway from the North End to downtown.

“You’ve got to take the long view, and the long view is the tunnel is going to be repaired, public confidence is going to be restored, and we have to create the Greenway that has been envisioned all along,” said Ronald M. Druker , chairman of the New Center.

The Legislature had approved the money to build covers over the ramps that connect Interstate 93 to streets near the North End, Faneuil Hall, and Rowes Wharf, where each of the proposed buildings is planned.

But Romney — having seized control of Big Dig inspections from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and forced out its chairman, Matthew J. Amorello — said the state must reserve the money for fixes to the project’s highways and tunnels.

I understand why some people want this beautification project to continue, but, I believe that Governor Romney is doing the right thing here. Sometimes being a leader requires that tough choices be made, oftentimes unpopular at that. He’s making a decision that is fiscally smart, and responsible. The project has already overrun it’s budget multiple times, and this $31 million should be used in making sure the infrastructure is sound. It just makes good budgetary sense.

Romney also argued that spending $31 million on Greenway ramps placed an unfair burden on the millions of taxpayers who live outside Boston.

“Massachusetts taxpayers throughout the state should not be forced to pay for the build-out and development of parcels that will benefit predominantly residents of the city of Boston and select organizations that are capable of accessing private funds,” Romney wrote in a letter to the Legislature accompanying his veto Friday. “It is more appropriate to rely on the private sector and the City of Boston for additional costs.”

Romney vetoed the $31 million as part of $56 million that he cut from an approximately $189 million spending bill passed by the Legislature.

This also makes sense. It could foster community pride if the private sector were to pay for it. They could possibly set up sponsorships for certain parts of the project (i.e. planting flowers, etc), and put individuals and corporations names on them. Also, maybe the community could come together and do some of the work in a volunteer capacity, thus bringing the cost down. Teams could be brought together, they could have competitions, and bring out a sense of community pride. Just imagine how much more it would be appreciated too if some of the communities sweat went into it?

Greenway supporters said they would push legislators to override the veto tomorrow, the last day of formal sessions.

“It’s not realistic to expect nonprofit organizations to pay for those ramps, and if you look at the record, it’s always been up to the government to do that,” Ferrell said. “And I’m surprised that the governor doesn’t see it that way because the legislative leaders in the House and Senate and the Boston Redevelopment Authority have been very supportive of this, and the governor is the only public official I know who is not.”

So, because “it’s always been up to the government to do that”, it needs to continue to be done that way? Just because something has always been done one way does not mean it’s the responsible way of doing things. If one wants to use that analogy then we my as well be using horses and buggies instead of automobiles.

The veto surprised city leaders because the state agreed to pay for the ramps in the early 1990s when it certified the Big Dig’s environmental credentials, said Richard A. Dimino, president and chief executive of A Better City, a coalition of downtown business leaders formerly known as the Artery Business Committee.

Well, I’m sure that back in the early 1990s it wasn’t expected that:
A ) The project would have gone so overbudget.
B ) The construction would have been so shoddy that it would have killed someone.

So, it’s a whole new ballgame. Tough decisions have to be made, and Governor Romney is making them.

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Rumors that this is the Governor’s new executive vehicle are false.*

Yesterday, the Democratic Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, and former Energy Secretary under Bill Clinton, spoke in response to President Bush’s weekly national radio address. (ABC) He took the opportunity to lecture the President and Dr. Rice about how America needs a “new realism” [...]

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The site has recently added state-level (and some county-level) data for the Presidential Elections of 1876, 1880, 1884, and 1888 to the database. The total figures for some states have changed slightly from the original html files due to differing figures between the primary sources referenced and the source …

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This story comes from the Governor of Massachusetts Press Releases…Please excuse the slight cutoff on the right of the release.

Photo Courtesy Mass.gov

As a mother of special needs children, this really is of interest to me. With the reports of mercury possibly being the cause of neurological problems, I’m glad the Governor is taking steps to eradicate the substance from our environment.

Ann Marie

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What are we to make of this…?
WASHINGTON, July 28 — Two summers ago, on a Congressional trip to Estonia, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton astonished her traveling companions by suggesting that the group do what one does in the Baltics: hold a vodka-drinking contest.
Delighted, the leader of the delegation, Senator John McCain, quickly agreed. The after-dinner [...]

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Gov. Romney went to Iowa today, resuming his traveling schedule after focusing almost exclusively on the Big Dig for almost 3 weeks. As expected, he had to respond to questions about him leaving the state:

“I’ve indicated there that I’ll be there any time I’m needed,” Romney said at the outset of a day of Republican politics in the lead-off caucus state. “I’m not an engineer, so I can’t do the drawings. I can’t screw in the new bolts. But whenever it’s time to make a decision or make an inspection, I’ll be there.”

He also addressed the question of whether taking over the Big Dig was the smart thing to do:

“The best thing politically would be to stay as far away from that tar baby as I can,” he told a crowd of about 100 supporters who gathered for indoor picnic at the Gateway Hotel on a sweltering day in Ames.

“I’ll get the blame for anything that goes wrong,” he said. “But I’m sure tired of people who are nothing but talk. I’m willing to take action.”

Boy I hope that he’s responding to outside critics and not relaying fears from his inner circle. Taking over the Big Dig was a no brainer both from a policy and political point-of-view. It’s something that just had to be done. For a politician to allow himself to be paralyzed by political fears in case something goes wrong would be self-destructive.

If all goes well, Gov. Romney will soon be subject to unimaginable scrutiny. When he’s president he won’t have an option to punt. If something goes wrong blame will inevitably (and often unfairly) fall to him.

Thank goodness his first instinct is to face the problem head-on.

~~~Thomas

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