Could This Man Be the Next U.S. President?

Frontpage Magazine ^ | 1/10/07 | David Frum

[Sunsong]

The Republican presidential field for 2008 is led by one of the nation's greatest military heroes, a seasoned senator, one of the most famous and best-liked men in America. Running hard alongside him is the most successful mayor in American history, the man who saved New York City from crime and defended it from terrorism. And the third front-tier candidate is . . . a one term governor of Massachusetts.

How did this happen? How can it be that Governor Mitt Romney has come to be seen as one of the top three contenders for a presidential nomination? Romney has benefited from the secret issue in the 2008 presidential race: competence. Since Hurricane Katrina, Americans have lost faith in George W. Bush's ability to manage the government. In every poll conducted after the summer of 2005, about 60% of Americans describe Bush as "ineffective." Suddenly, everybody wants a president who can make government work.

[Plutarch]

Rudy McRomney--no thanks. I'll stick with the Conservative option...

Hey, instead of putting that spam-like Hunter button graphic on every thread discussing GOP candidates, maybe you should find articles discussing your man Hunter (such as this Frum piece discussing Romney), and start a new thread headed by the Hunter article.

(Of course you may find that there are no such articles, because Hunter's groundswell of support consists only of a few posters at FR).

[Stentor]

why with a Republican Congress did he have so many problems with his candidates.

You are joking, right?

[curiosity]

One thing missing from these discussions are issues of a candidate's competence and skills. Romney started and ran one of the most successful venture capital firms in history. He has more knowledge about finance in his finger than do any of the other candidates in their entire bodies, and he succesfully leverged that knowledge to balance the MA budget, as well as restore its state pension fund to solvency.

That kind of knowledge and experience, coupled with his demonstrated political saavy as governor, will be indispensible to averting the looming financial crisis resulting from all the unfunded liabilities associated with social security and medicare. It's going to require a financial professional to get that job done, and McCain and Gulliani and Hunter know squat about finance. Romney is the only candidate of either parties with the skills to do it. This has grave national security implications, for how can a bankrupt country run a war on terror?

Let's also not forget that save Gulliani, none of the other candidates has any executive experience. Executive competence is going to be at a premium in the general election as a result of our experience with Bush.

[Unmarked Package]

"Also, don't forget that Romney pushed to protect the freedom of religious adoption agencies to refuse to place orphans with homosexual couples."

Thanks, I was not aware of that before now. It’s consistent with Mitt Romney's position supporting the right of local councils of the Boy Scouts of America to make local decisions and enforce their policy regarding homosexuals in the Boy Scouts.

Some FReepers are very concerned about Romney’s personal opinion that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation. However, it’s reassuring to me that Romney will stand firmly for local and states rights in setting policy regardless of his personal opinions.

As an Eagle Scout myself, I disagree with Romney's personal opinion if applied to Boy Scout leaders, but I applaud his stand in support of the right of the Boy Scouts to set and enforce their policy.

I also note that Romney served on the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Board from 1993 to 2002 despite his personal beliefs about their policy on this one issue.

[Antoninus]

Hey, instead of putting that spam-like Hunter button graphic on every thread discussing GOP candidates, maybe you should find articles discussing your man Hunter (such as this Frum piece discussing Romney), and start a new thread headed by the Hunter article.

There have been plenty of articles on Hunter, but ones on the other candidates are a lot more prevalent at this point and even though articles like this one don't get too many posts, they're still helpful for raising Hunter's profile.

A conservative candidate is sure to attract a lot of attention on a conservative website where a select group of posters are pushing liberals as the "only choices."

[numberonepal]

Any day now Tommy Franks is going to announce his candidacy, I just know it. Waiting, waiting, waiting....

[Mia T]

 

Hillary Clinton? She had a good view of how the White House is run--but no responsibility for running it.

Could This Man Be the Next U.S. President?
Frontpage Magazine
1/10/07
David Frum

Not exactly right. She did have one administrative job and she was a complete flop at it.

In fact, according to a clinton administration veteran who was there, she was even too stupid to notice that she was too stupid.

Clinton Administration Veteran:
"Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to be kept very far away from the White House for the rest of her life."

My two cents' worth--and I think it is the two cents' worth of everybody who worked for the Clinton Administration health care reform effort of 1993-1994--is that Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to be kept very far away from the White House for the rest of her life. Heading up health-care reform was the only major administrative job she has ever tried to do. And she was a complete flop at it. She had neither the grasp of policy substance, the managerial skills, nor the political smarts to do the job she was then given. And she wasn't smart enough to realize that she was in over her head and had to get out of the Health Care Czar role quickly.... there is no reason to think that she would be anything but an abysmal president.

J. Bradford DeLong
professor of economics, Berkeley
clinton Administration veteran

Hillary Clinton?
Who would even know her name were it not for her attachment to a man?

Thank you, Gavin McNett, for your tribute to the incomparable Tammy Wynette. (TAMMY WYNETTE, 1942-1998)

Too many pundits, usually leftist and privileged, sneer at country music. To these critics, any music created by poor, Southern whites (at least those poor, Southern whites who didn't attend an Ivy League university) must be held in contempt, along with its correlatives: incest, racism and trailer parks.

Hillary Clinton? Who would even know her name were it not for her attachment to a man? Where would she be now if she as a child had to pick cotton from sun up to sun down?

Tammy Wynette stands alone, a legend; and she will be admired wherever people appreciate the honesty of the human experience. Human beings are vulnerable. We all should be thankful to any artist courageous enough to bare her soul on the public stage so the rest of us who are listening and know whereof she speaks might benefit.

Sean Smith
Fresno, Calif.
Salon.com

HILLARY ON THE COUCH
IS MISSUS CLINTON MENTALLY FIT?


THE 'MATERNALIZATION' OF HILLARY
(CLINTON MACHINE DUMPS THATCHER FOR 'MOTHER')
HOW THE CLINTONS ARE HANDLING THE HILLARY DUD FACTOR ₅


HILLARY "Zelig" CLINTON: WHEN A CONGENITAL LIAR'S RUTHLESS AMBITION EXCEEDS HER ABILITY

COPYRIGHT MIA T 2007

[Mia T]

Hillary Clinton? She had a good view of how the White House is run....

Could This Man Be the Next U.S. President?
Frontpage Magazine
1/10/07
David Frum

True.
Especially the corruption.

Listen to "the smartest woman in the world" --oops!--confess....

[WestSylvanian]

I think Romney is a real possibility. I want a competent, smart, ARTICULATE candidate and he has those qualities. The Dems and the MSM are already getting worried about this guy. I think he has the talent to beat a Hillary/Obama ticket. I think he could whack the Breck Girl easily.

Guiliani and McCain are out in my book. They have too much personal baggage. If the Iraq situation gets worse, McCain will be dead meat because he backs a troop surge. Guiliani apparently has some questionable business connections he's worried about. Hunter and the rest are too obscure; they won't be able to raise the cash. Gingrich says he won't run unless neither Guiliani nor McCain has emerged as the leader by the fall of 2007. I don't think he will run and the MSM has fatally wounded him.

[Sunsong]

Thanks for your posts! It's good to know the enemy.

[Mia T]

you're welcome. :)

It's good to know the enemy.

Indeed.

[Mia T]

excellent analysis.

Get Gingrich out of your mind, people. Please. He is the only candidate who is perhaps more reviled by the masses than missus clinton. And while you're at it, forget the drab and the ideologue. They are nonstarters.

Romney has the smarts, the articulateness, the charisma, the competence, the achievement... and let us not forget... the movie-star good looks... to trounce whomever the Ds put up.

Giuliani is a flawed candidate if we measure him by pre-9/11--and especially pre-clinton-- standards. Frankly, I think we must develop a more mature way of assessing the candidates. We are playing for the whole ball of wax, folks. Giuliani has a lot to offer this country, especially now.

What's black and white and read all over and is more self-destructive than pre-9/11 thinking?
Pre-clinton thinking, that's what....
Putting doctrinal purity ahead of making sure a defective and dangerous clinton never again controls this country is pre-clinton thinking.
We no longer have the luxury of time or circumstance to massage our sensibilities, to indulge our indignations.
We will not survive another clinton. (We may yet not survive the first one.)

[MHGinTN]

It is Mitt Romney's proven executive capabilities that put me over the top to vote for him over all the other Republicans I've looked at, except Newt. Sadly, I don't think Newt can overcome the visceral hatred in media whoredom so he is not electable.

[TheLion]

Do you know where Romney stands in regards to the border issue and the illegal alien invasion?

[Afronaut]

Pure snake oil, this guy is so full of crap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9IJUkYUbvI&eurl=

[Marysecretary]

My guess is too many RINO's. And since Bush is a Christian, there IS a huge spiritual warfare going on around him. He couldn't do anything right as far as Congressfools are concerned. They hate him.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Also, Romney has the same birthday as me. So thats another reason to vote for him. lol

[Unmarked Package]

"Do you know where Romney stands in regards to the border issue and the illegal alien invasion?"

I found the following pertinent points at the Evangelicals for Mitt web site:

- He opposed a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses
- He vetoed a bill to give illegal aliens the right to in-state tuition at public universities
- He is seeking to allow state troopers to arrest illegal immigrants

Quote: “I’m against an amnesty and against anything that provides an incentive for people to come here illegally.”

The quotes below are published on the Americans for Mitt web site

“I would like to see us, as a nation, bringing in fewer illegal immigrants.”

“I do not like the idea, therefore, of Amnesty because I’m afraid that when you have a regular Amnesty program, of one form or another, you will create a greater incentive for people to come into the country illegally.”

“In my state I’ve said that I will veto any legislation which calls for a drivers license for illegal immigrants.”
-Source: Speech at the Heritage Foundation (September 2005)

The issue of Immigration has a section on the web site for Mitt Romney's Presidential Exploratory Committee.

[Sunsong]

Also, Romney has the same birthday as me. So thats another reason to vote for him. lol

LOL - yes, it will be hard for the other candidates to beat that :-)

[jla]

bump