Where's Romney?

Many GOP insiders, Beltway mavens, and East Coast conservatives have held up Mitt Romney as the presumptive 2012 GOP presidential nominee and, indeed, he appears to be quietly laying the groundwork for another presidential run. However, with all of the Tea Parties, town meetings, and ObamaCare protests, he has been strangely silent. This is exceedingly odd behavior for a man who would be president.

What could he be thinking? Well, I am not a mind reader, but I would guess that his silence is motivated by two concerns. First, he wants to keep his powder dry for 2012. He does not want to run the risk of being overexposed before a tired electorate. As he also appears to be a very cautious person, he would naturally want to only be engaged in debates on issues he cares about, on his time schedule, and on his terms.

This brings us to the second concern. ObamaCare is in part modeled after the health care system he championed in Massachusetts while he was governor. While the architect of the program was apparently Deval Patrick, the current governor or Massachusetts and a best friend of Obama, Romney took credit for the program when he ran for president in 2008. This leaves him in an uncomfortable position regarding the current debate over ObamaCare. No doubt, he wishes that the whole controversy will just blow over, as nothing about the current health care debate plays to his benefit.

Yet, the Obama presidency is a target-rich environment. There are many, many things that Romney could and should comment on. While it is true that he has occasionally issued a press release, and he sometimes appears on Hugh Hewitt's show, at a time when the GOP so desperately needs leadership, he has been nearly off the radar screen. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that he is generally pleased with Obama's policies, and is having trouble finding things in the current administration that he is really critical of.

Since it appears that the GOP establishment is going to try to ram Romney down everyone's throat in 2012, I'll cut to the quick:

America needs a leader, not a manager. A field general, not a staff officer. However, Romney is not a leader, and will never be one.

I am greatly troubled by the man. Those who have read my post, "What is Civilized?" will probably understand why. Romney is the ultimate "civilized" man, in that he confuses politeness, congeniality, and civil discourse for basic morality and ethics. The most telling moment of his life was in the 1994 debate with Ted Kennedy. There is a lot to say about this video. However, if he ever had a chance to get my support, he lost it with his statement on abortion. He said that he was personally against abortion, but did not want to impose his views on others. Therefore, he was in favor of Roe vs Wade.

The very essence of abortion is the imposition of one's viewpoint onto another. With Roe vs Wade, the Supreme Court has imposed its will over the American electorate, taking away the voters' right to decide how their states and districts should be run. More potently, mothers are often put under extreme pressure--without being made aware of the many other options--to kill their babies. And what of the babies themselves? Killed without their consent. At the very least, abortion is a civil rights issue--just as Africans were impressed into slavery in America against their will, against their will unborn children are deprived of their life, liberty, and ability to pursue happiness.

Yet, Romney cast this as a moral question--he thought abortion was wrong. Thus, at least in 1994, he thought of the issue in terms of weighing the "rights" of women against the immorality of abortion. In this case, he allowed the "rights" of women to trump morality.

Sorry, but this will not wash. If rights--and the unwillingness to impose one's views over others--always trumps morality, then just about any kind of immorality, no matter how egregious, can be countenanced. This is the triumph of "civilization" over morality, the same triumph that gave us slavery, the gas chambers, and any number of horrors.

Late in the game, largely because of pressure from Iowa conservatives during the 2008 primaries, Romney took a stronger stance against abortion. We were told by many pro-life conservatives that we should welcome such a change and allow him into the fold as a pro-life candidate. Of course, we should do so. Having said that, like just about everything the man does and is about, the change of heart smacked of expedience. He waited to change his position no doubt because he hoped and thought that Giuliani would attempt a strong showing in Iowa. Since Giuliani's pro-abortion stance was well known and on appearance more extreme than his own position, Giuliani would serve as a lightning rod and make Romney more palatable to conservatives. The only problem was that Giuliani skipped Iowa, making Romney the only pro-abortion candidate on the ticket, and thus forcing Romney's hand.

It is telling that Romney, like most pundits and the GOP establishment, thought the front runner would be Giuliani. This proved to be a total misreading of the GOP electorate. So potent were moral issues and the desire for authenticity among rank and file Republicans that even McCain was viewed with suspicion, propelling Huckabee--who ran on a shoestring--into the lead or into contention in many of the primary races. On the other hand, Romney burnt money by the barrel full, but never really gained traction.

It will be the same in 2012. However, there is always the possibility that the GOP establishment will try to rig things and make him the nominee no matter what rank and file Republicans want, or that Romney, with his organization and war chest, will so wound and tire the eventual nominee that she/he will not survive the actual election. In either case, Obama will be reelected.

In so many ways, Romney reminds me of the Rich Young Ruler. He has studiously kept all of the laws on the book. I doubt he has ever even gotten a speeding ticket. It is unimaginable that he might have ever snorted cocaine or danced naked on top of a bar. Yet, for all his virtues, he confuses personal decency with morality, a sunny disposition with passion, and the ticking all of the boxes on the conservative checklist with conviction. He has everything in the world, but ultimately he does not have God--there is no compass guiding his life, except for his belief in his own goodness. As he said in the 1994 debate, he wishes that he could do more to help people. If he really means that, he can give all of his money to the poor and work in a soup kitchen somewhere. But, of course, he won't do that--he believes that he can best serve others by ruling over them. Like the Rich Young Ruler, I love Romney, but I pity him. Certainly, I do not want him to be president. I just want him to go away.

Romney - Author of the original Death Council

"Mass. Pushes Rationing to Control Universal Healthcare Costs (RomneyCare)
A 10-member Massachusetts state healthcare advisory board unanimously recommended
that the state begin rationing healthcare to keep the state’s marquee universal health care program afloat financially.
The July 16 recommendations, the Boston Globe explained, would result in a situation where “patients could find it harder to get procedures they want but are of questionable benefit if doctors are operating within a budget.
And they might find it more difficult to get care wherever they want, if primary doctors push to keep patients within their accountable care organization.”
The Globe stressed that the recommendations would “dramatically change how doctors and hospitals are paid, essentially putting providers on a budget as a way to control exploding healthcare costs and improve the quality of care.”
"Budget" is a more politically acceptable word for rationing.
The Globe also noted that “consumer advocates said patients are going to have to be educated about the new system.” Yes, apparently they will have to get used to having their healthcare rationed.

"Massachusetts Universal Healthcare System Breaking Down Already
When Governor Mitt Romney instituted a universal healthcare plan for Massachusetts in 2006 he proclaimed it a conservative idea.
But has it worked? Has it been successful?
For a time, many thought it might but cracks in the system are already being seen.
These cracks are instructive as a lesson on how Obamacare will crash and burn just like Romneycare is now in the process of doing.

One of the early claims that helped push Romneycare through to law was the insistence by its supporters that Emergency Room visits would fall as more and more citizens became covered under healthcare insurance.
Since ER care is far more expensive than a doctor's care, it was thought that more people with insurance would ease the overcrowding of ERs as well as lower the overall costs of healthcare.
However, a flaw in this logic has been seen throughout the state. As more people became insured, more people demanded the care of doctors. These doctors became overloaded with patients and waiting lists for doctors got longer and longer.
As a result, ERs in Massachusetts have not seen a downturn in visits. On the contrary, it seems that ER visits are actually on the upswing in the Bay State. In fact, in 2007 they were higher than the national average by 20 percent...

"Hospital patients 'left in agony'"
"Patients were allegedly left screaming in pain and drinking from flower vases on a nightmare hospital ward.
Between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust over three years, a damning Healthcare Commission report said.
The watchdog's investigation found inadequately trained staff who were too few in number, junior doctors left alone in charge at night and patients left without food, drink or medication as their operations were repeatedly cancelled.
Patients were left in pain or forced to sit in soiled bedding for hours at a time and were not given their regular medication, the Commission heard.
Receptionists with no medical training were expected to assess patients coming in to A&E, some of whom needed urgent care.
Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS, said there had been a "gross and terrible breach" of patients' trust and a "complete failure of leadership".
The Healthcare Commission's chairman Sir Ian Kennedy said the investigation followed concerns about a higher than normal death rate at the Trust, which senior managers could not explain.
He said: "The resulting report is a shocking story. Our report tells a story of appalling standards of care and chaotic systems for looking after patients. These are words I have not previously used in any report.
"There were inadequacies in almost every stage of caring for patients. There was no doubt that patients will have suffered and some of them will have died as a result."
Julie Bailey, 47, was so concerned about the care being given to her 86-year-old mother Bella at Stafford Hospital that she and her relatives slept in a chair at her bedside for eight weeks.
She said: "We saw patients drinking out of..."

"Paramedics told: 'Let accident victims die if they want to' in new row over patient rights (UK)"
Health Service paramedics have been told not to resuscitate terminally-ill patients who register on a controversial new database to say they want to die.
It has been set up by the ambulance service in London for hundreds of people who have only a few months to live so that they may register their 'death wishes' in advance.
It is believed to be the first in the country, but other trusts around the country are expected to follow suit to comply with Government guidelines which state that patients' wishes should be taken into account, even at the point of death.
Patients' groups and doctors have welcomed the scheme, but it has met opposition from pro-life groups who say it violates the sanctity of life.
The system would come into play if a cancer patient, for example, was in serious pain and rang 999 for help to alleviate the suffering.
But if the paramedics arrived and the patient was close to death, he or she would not be resuscitated if such a request was registered on the database.
This would also be the case if a patient on the database was being transferred between hospitals, and had a heart attack.
Dominica Roberts from the Pro-Life Alliance said: 'This is very sad and very dangerous. It's another step along the slippery slope, at the bottom of which is euthanasia as we see in Holland. 'Paramedics should be there to save lives. They should not be there to let patients die. The medical profession should not agree with someone's belief that their life is worthless.'"

"National Health Preview - The Massachusetts debacle, coming soon to your neighborhood."
"Three years ago, the former Massachusetts Governor had the inadvertent good sense to create the "universal" health-care program that the White House and Congress now want to inflict on the entire country.
It is proving to be instructive, as Mr. Romney's foresight previews what President Obama, Max Baucus, Ted Kennedy and Pete Stark are cooking up for everyone else.
In Massachusetts's latest crisis, Governor Deval Patrick and his Democratic colleagues are starting to move down the path that government health plans always follow when spending collides with reality -- i.e., price controls.
As costs continue to rise, the inevitable results are coverage restrictions and waiting periods. It was only a matter of time.

They're trying to manage the huge costs of the subsidized middle-class insurance program that is gradually swallowing the state budget.
The program provides low- or no-cost coverage to about 165,000 residents, or three-fifths of the newly insured, and is budgeted at $880 million for 2010, a 7.3% single-year increase that is likely to be optimistic.
The state's overall costs on health programs have increased by 42% (!) since 2006.

What really whipped along RomneyCare were claims that health care would be less expensive if everyone were covered.
But reducing costs while increasing access are irreconcilable issues.
Mr. Romney should have known better before signing on to this not-so-grand experiment, especially since the state's "free market" reforms that he boasts about have proven to be irrelevant when not fictional.
Only 21,000 people have used the "connector" that was supposed to link individuals to private insurers."

A Very Sick Health Plan; Bay State’s ‘Grand Experiment’ Fails [RomneyCare]
"The Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, Va. - 2009-03-31 "
"For folks increasingly leery of President Obama’s plan to radically overhaul America’s health-care system,
or 17 percent of the nation’s economy, all this could hardly have come at a better time —
that is, fiscal troubles aplenty within Repubican Mitt Romney’s brainchild, Massachusetts’ “grand experiment” in “universal” health care."

"Initiated on Mr. Romney’s gubernatorial watch in 2006, this “experiment” has fallen on hard times, and predictably so.
Even though the Bay State commenced its program with a far smaller percentage of uninsured residents than exists nationwide,
“RomneyCare” is threatening to bankrupt the state. Budgeted for Fiscal Year 2010 at $880 million,
or 7.3 percent more than a year ago, this plan, aimed at providing low- or no-cost health coverage to roughly 165,000 residents,
has caused Massachusetts’ overall expenditures on all health-related programs to jump an astounding 42 percent since 2006.

So what does Mr. Romney’s successor, Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, propose as a remedy for these skyrocketing costs?
Well, whaddya think? The standard litany of prescriptions (no pun intended) — price controls and spending caps, for a start, and then, again predictably, waiting periods and limitations on coverage.
As in Europe and Canada, so too in Massachusetts. And, we feel certain, everyone from Mr. Romney to Mr. Patrick said, “It would never happen here.”
But then, such things are inevitable when best-laid plans, with all their monstrous costs, run smack-dab into fiscal reality.

"Dem Congresswoman Admits Obama Health Care Plan Will Destroy Private Health Insurance Industry"

"Romney’s mistreatments a sick man, as Gov. Mitt Romney meets a medical marijuana patient"

Thousands of patients with terminal cancer were dealt a blow last night after a decision was made to deny them life prolonging drugs.
The Government's rationing body said two drugs for advanced breast cancer and a rare form of stomach cancer were too expensive for the NHS.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence is expected to confirm guidance in the next few weeks that will effectively ban their use.
The move comes despite a pledge by Nice to be more flexible in giving life-extending drugs
to terminally-ill cancer patients after a public outcry last year over 'death sentence' decisions."

"Patients Forced To Wait Hours In Ambulances Parked Outside A&E Departments
"An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found that thousands of 999 patients are being left to wait in ambulances in car parks and holding bays, or in hospital corridors – in some cases for more than five hours – before they can even join the queue for urgent treatment.

Experts warn that hospitals are deliberately delaying when they accept patients – or are diverting them to different sites –
in order to meet Government targets to treat people within fours hours of admitting them."

"Cancer survivor confronts the health secretary on 62-day wait (UK Socialized Medicine)
WAITING times for cancer treatment need to be cut, the Scottish Government was told yesterday.
..Cancer experts later said that patients elsewhere in Europe would be "outraged" by having to wait two months to start treatment, with most being seen within two weeks.

The current target of 62 days from urgent referral by a doctor to starting treatment has still not been met in Scotland, despite that originally being the target figure for 2005."

"Hospital patient so shocked at dirty ward she climbed out of bed to clean it herself
After 12 years cleaning care homes and private houses, no one is better qualified than Tereza Tosbell to say whether a room is spotless.
So hospital bosses should take heed of her opinion after she spent four days on a 'filthy' ward.
The mother-of-one said during her stay there was a single, brief visit from a cleaner who left dusty curtains, dirty bedframes and a messy floor.
Disgusted at the conditions, she grabbed the antibacterial fluid dispenser at the end of her bed and some hand towels from the bathroom.
She then set about cleaning her four-bed ward, at one point dropping to her hands and knees to sanitise the floor as she dragged her drip trolley behind her.
'It was shameful to see how sloppy the cleaners were while I was there. I was not prepared to put up with such conditions,'
said Miss Tosbell, a 48-year-old divorcee who was admitted to Colchester General Hospital in Essex with an abscess in her neck.."

"Kidney cancer patients denied life-saving drugs by NHS rationing body NICE (UK Socialized Medicine)
Thousands of kidney cancer patients are likely to lose out on life-prolonging drugs.
The NHS rationing body, NICE, has confirmed a ban on three out of four new treatments.
.. 'Families will be denied time together and doctors will be unable to give patients the best treatment.'."

"Girl, 3, has heart operation cancelled three times because of bed shortage (UK Socialized Medicine)
A three-year-old girl awaiting heart surgery has had her operation cancelled three times this month because of a shortage of beds.

... A hospital spokesman said that procedures would be reviewed, but the case highlights a growing problem of cancelled operations in the NHS.
More than 57,000 surgeries were postponed for non-clinical reasons, including a lack of beds, last year – 10 per cent more than the previous year."

(Invoke Romneybot simulator)

All of you are bigoted haters.

Mitt is WONDERFUL!

He is handsome and good looking and a great business man!

He only was liberal because he was in Massachusetts!

He saved the Utah Olympics, 32,345 Tsunami victims, a boyscout troop about to plunge off a falls in Colorado, 16 nuns in Ecuador and a kitty from a large oak tree ALL BY HIMSELF...

Mitt only did his health care plan because Aliens were beaming messages into his brain....