Posted on 03/19/2011 3:57:08 PM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner
Currently, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is being billed as a genuine conservative who can defeat Barack Obama, reform the federal government, and balance the budget. Yet a close examination of the governor's record and statements reveals that he is actually a strident liberal who cannot be taken seriously.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The guy has shown outright contempt for true conservatism. No thanks.
the GOP needs real regime change.
Anybody but Mitch, Mitt or Huck.
I don't think this is true. Daniels has made some pretty harsh statements against the enviro-Nazis.
"In terms of climate change, I think that everyone would be well advised to take a substantial time out. There’s been nothing but dubious news about the science of all this now for about a year, including apparent scientific wrongdoing. Meanwhile, we’re left with a situation where even if the zealots had their way, and the most extreme measures were taken, by their own computer models, we don’t move the world thermometer at all."
That has to be Photoshopped, lol. He looks like a modern day mayor of Munchkin City.
I think Mitch is 5’7”. Too short to be our nominee.
“I think Mitch is 5’7”.”
Only if he’s wearing a pair of Sarah’s 4” spikes.
Mitch is all of 5’2”... cartoonish, if you ask me.
One of Daniels' first actions on becoming governor in 2005 was to revoke a long-standing executive order permitting collective bargaining for public employees. In other words, he did the exact thing that people are lauding Walker about, but he did it more than 5 years ago. Strangely, that's not mentioned.
He's consistency shrunk the size of Indiana government while privatizing a ton of state services, to the point where Indiana hasn't had this few state employees since 1978. How is that being a liberal? Someone already addressed the budgetary lie so I'll skip that.
He's now in the process of fighting through a comprehensive set of education reforms, including voucher, merit pay and merit-based layoffs, etc., that are wildly opposed by teacher's unions. Heritage did a piece on it. Again, how is that being a liberal?
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/03/14/indiana-seizing-the-initiative-on-education-reform/
The two biggest substantive complaints about Daniels, his "social issues" comment and postponement of fighting for right to work, mistake strategic thinking for softness on the substantive issue. Daniels believes that the way you get the most things actually accomplished legislatively is to focus on one major issue at a time, fix that, and then move on to the next. Practice divide and conquer on your enemies by building coalitions for specific issue, and getting that legislation enacted. He believes that if you try to tackle everything at once, you end up uniting everyone who opposes you on any of those issues, and the result is a lot of good conservative rhetoric, but zero significant legislation.
If they pushed RTW (which is the nuclear bomb issue in many states) right now, huge amounts of private sector union money would flow into the state, and his conservative education agenda and other budget plans would hit a brick wall. All he said is that he wants to maintain the coalition he has on those issues and get that legislation enacted before hitting RTW. That's not liberal. That's just sound strategy.
And the same applies to social issues. This nation is in a fiscal/budgetary meltdown. If we don't fix that stuff, and fast, nothing else is going to matter. So all he wants to do is make fiscal/budgetary conservatism his priority, which is going to require the creation of as broad a coalition as you can possible have when it comes to tackling entitlements. If you take on Social Security and Medicare -- both third rails of politics -- you're going to need every vote you can get. That's all he's saying.
I understand why some people may not agree with that strategy, but favoring a focused, sequential approach on issues doesn't make you a liberal. It just makes you a conservative who values enacting conservative legislation over rhetoric.
Daniels is out there fighting the good fight while armchair snipers here on FR bash his height. Talk about shallow. Sheesh.
I don’t care how long his legs aren’t.
I do care what’s between his ears and in his heart.
Daniels strikes me as a very serious politician (for the Noonan/Will/Krauthammer types). He’s been a very effective governor of Indiana, and a pretty good retail campaigner.
He understands the importance of timing in tackling issues and has the ability to focus on the priorities of his state or the Nation as the case may be.
In my view, he’s worth looking at for 2012.
Thanks. Btw, my battery was attached to 1/11 in 1991. Great cannon-cocker minds apparently think alike.
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