Posted on 01/21/2008 11:33:00 AM PST by pianomikey
This is an analysis of Mitt's CURRENT positions and proposals: He's got problems with his past, but no frontrunner doesn't, but that's for another thread. I'm taking all information from his website and current news releases, starting with his entrance into the race.
Mitt's catching on it seems, so I'm posting this largely for my own reference and for other freepers to join in if they want. The other purpose is to catalogue his positions so we can spot changes OVER THE COURSE OF CAMPAIGNING. It'll be a good measure of overall campaign consistency.
Conservative:
-"I believe that we are overtaxed and government is overfed. Washington is spending too much money." (romney 2-13-07)
-Veto domestic nondefense discretionary appropriations that increase spending by more than inflation minus one percent.(website)
-Impose congressional rule requiring a three-fifths (60%) supermajority to pass any law that would raise taxes.[this would be great even when fighting dem congress, but it'd be hard to pass](website)
-"The key to effective homeland security, in my view, is intelligence, finding the attackers before they attack, gathering and analyzing tips, monitoring suspects, wiretapping, surveillance, all of the tools associated with intelligence work." (Romney 2004)
-While there has been much emphasis on protecting facilities and responding to attacks, a key priority must be prevention. (website)
-"I think many of us still fail to comprehend the extent of the threat posed by radical Islam, by Jihad." [ya, half the country!] (romney 4-10-07)
-Governor Romney has called for strategic divestment from companies that support the Iranian regime's dangerous actions, using efforts similar to the actions taken against Apartheid South Africa.[as long as sanctions are only the beginning](website)
-Lower The Corporate Tax Rate.(website)
Zero Rate On Middle Class Savings. Eliminate all taxes on interest, dividends, and capital gains for anyone with Adjusted Gross Income under $200,000 to make it easier for the middle class to save. [i like this idea, but it would add to the complexity of an already burdensome tax code. The flat tax does this in its very nature] (website)
Make The Bush Tax Cuts Permanent, Eliminate The Death Tax Once And For All. (website)
Implement National Tort Reform. [put Edwardsesque leeches out of business for good!](website)
-Pursue our domestic sources of energy, drawing from our broad and diverse base of options, including opening ANWR to oil and natural gas development.(website)
-Accelerate construction of new nuclear power plants in order to ensure that nuclear power continues to be a part of a robust, cleaner, and reliable energy mix.[directly resulting from EPA/envirowhackos etc, we've become practically 3rd world in our nuclear power supply. This is ridiculous](website)
-Pursue our domestic sources of energy, drawing from our broad and diverse base of options, including opening ANWR to oil and natural gas development.[ANWR=good](website)
-Follow through on Congressional commitment to build a physical and technological fence along the southern border, and secure other points of entry.[None of this virtual fence stuff! Incredibly, the only time when Fed govt has a direct right and responsibility to take action, they drag their feet](website)
-Do not give amnesty or any special pathway to those who have come to this country illegally.(website)
-Punish Sanctuary Cities, Improve Interior Enforcement, Reject Amnesty.(website)
-Deregulate State Markets. Encourage states to eliminate the cumbersome insurance regulations that drive costs up and providers out of the market. (website)
-Level the playing field by making all health care expenses tax deductible, eliminating the special treatment afforded employer-provided health plans. (wbsite)
-"Conservative principles have the answers for health care. I think I'm going to be able to demonstrate to you today the conservative principles of personal responsibility and free market dynamics and choice and personal care – these kinds of elements allow us to reform health care in such a way that we can solve the problems that America faces in health care without having a government takeover, without having socialized medicine with all its drawbacks and all its weaknesses." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The Florida Medical Association, 8/24/07)
-As President, Governor Romney will promote a culture of life. Governor Romney believes that Roe v. Wade should be overturned so that the issue of abortion can be returned to the American people and their elected representatives at the state and federal level.[Yes I know he's got a dirty past but he's turned in the right direction. This policy is the correct conservative policy, NOT "making abortion illegal!" like Huck supporters have been calling for. Prez doesn't have that right](website)
-Governor Romney supports a Federal Marriage Amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. (website)
-Appoint Conservative Justices Who Abide By The Constitution. Governor Romney will appoint judges who respect the Constitution and the rule of law, and will not legislate from the bench. (website)
-Repeal McCain-Feingold. Governor Romney believes that McCain-Feingold should be repealed because it restricts our First Amendment rights. He believes we should enact reforms that promote transparency and disclosure, preserve grassroots activism and protect the ability to criticize or endorse current officeholders and candidates. [biggest single assault on our constitutional rights in any of our lifetimes.](website)
-Support Court Decisions That Strengthen The Second Amendment. The Governor applauds court decisions finding the Second Amendment protects an individualized right to keep and bear arms. As President he would support that interpretation and protect the right of every law abiding adult to keep and use firearms. [well and good, but just support constitutionalist judges and it's a non-issue.](website)
-Governor Romney Strongly Opposes The Taking Of Private Property For Private Development. Governor Romney believes that the Kelo property rights case was wrongly decided.(website)
-Governor Romney Will Promote School Choice, will support performance-based pay, Governor Romney Has Proposed A Federal Home Schooling Tax Credit. [similar to vouchers, and definitely a plus.](website)
Iffy:
-address the looming budget crisis caused by increasing entitlement spending in a BIPARTISAN WAY.(website)
-Create A Special Partnership Force (SPF). The SPF will integrate all elements of national power under a new force with leadership drawn from a core group of our Army Special Forces trained to work with civilian governments and intelligence personnel (website)[yet another bureau of govt??]
-Strengthen Global Alliances. The failure of efforts such as the United Nations Human Rights Council has given multilateralism a bad name. America’s strength is amplified when it is combined with the strength of other nations. [America's strength is directly proportional to the strength of our alliances. Multilateralism is acceptable only when subordinate to America's strength and interests. Too often "work together" means "at the expense of USA international interests]
-"I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother. I wish the people of America agreed, and that the laws of our nation could reflect that view. But while the nation remains so divided over abortion, I believe that the states, through the democratic process, should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate." [good, except I don't like "pro-life except" positions.] (Governor Mitt Romney, Boston Globe, Op-Ed, 7/26/05"
-Software Filters To Guard Children From Online Pornography. Governor Romney will work with computer and software companies to make sure all new computers have optional parental control software filters that are ready and easy to use during setup. Governor Romney will also promote and increase awareness of available parental control filtering products for existing computers. [nice idea, but outside the purview of the presidency imo. Nannystatery](website)
Liberal:
Improve Worker Retraining. Consolidate and streamline the numerous federal programs in this area, and focus on giving workers the skills they need to succeed in a global economy.[it is not the responsibility of the federal government to train individuals!](website)
Build And Repair Transportation Infrastructure. [This is buying into the canard that the MN bridge collapse last year was evidence of an aging infrastructure and that federal government needs to swoop in and help. Let state governments maintain and oversee their own transportation systems. The last thing we need is expansion federal power!]
-Dramatically increase federal spending on research, development, and demonstration projects that hold promise for diversifying our energy supply and increasing our energy efficiency. [I call bullshit: private enterprise and investment are the ONLY effective means of innovation and advancement. Computing hardware/software, medical/drug advancements, etc are all the result of private investment, not federal grants! The market WILL drive and decide.](website)
-Support More Severe Punishments For Those Who Commit Crimes With A Firearm. Those who use a firearm during the commission of crime must be punished severely. The key is to provide law enforcement with the resources they need and punish criminals, not burden lawful gun owners. [Lame. Crimes are crimes, gun-involved or not. Demonizes gun ownership.](website)
I'm sure it is possible that HITLER,just before he decided to run for President of the United States, could have come to the realization that the mass extermination of JEWS was wrong and run as a friend of Israel.
“Refer to post 63.”
You wrote that between them, there are glaring differences.
Yea. Names are different.
Mitt is for Man Dates.
Mitt is for Mandates.
Mitt is a confirmed Panderer.
Mitt has little familiarity with truth.
Mitt has too great a comfort level with Porn.
Mitt is no pure Second Amendment supporter.
Mitt, despite his business background, supports a nanny state.
You might as well swap the names between Mitt and the others.
That is just a scam picture. I’ve shaken hands with liberals too, that doesn’t make me a liberal. You ought to know that.
The pic of him at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser is FAR more incriminating than him just shaking hands with a decades-long member of the Senate.
Don’t speculate on what I might do.
Stay focused on your man, Myth.
I am sure he would pull the lever for MYTH over Hillary/OBAMA.
At some point in the past year, people like Limbaugh and other conservative thought leaders have had face to face meetings with some of the Republican candidates, at least the ones that cared about the conservative base of the Republican party.
Romney was one of those candidates and he got grilled by those present and he was able to defend himself.
Rush is also a Buckley/NR friend and he agreed with their analysis.
NR's endorsement isn't an emphatic one, but that's the nature of this year's Presidential election cycle.
Okay, the Swimmer would be hard-pressed to find a single issue on Mitt’s website he would agree with, that’s my point. There’s a picture out there of Kennedy shaking hands with Reagan too, that doesn’t disqualify him for the presidency??? The pic is just ridiculous.
Politicians never lie.
Mitt is the most conservative real contender.
We surely don’t want Mckennedy.
To the best of my knowledge, he has never said he doesnt' "support" the Second Amendment.
He HAS stated his desire to ban semi-automatic "assault weapons", repeatedly. More recently, he expanded the list of firearms he would like to ban, to include weapons of "extraordinary lethality".
His statements regarding semi-automatic "assault weapons" sound as though they came from the desk of Sarah Brady:
"These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense," ... "They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people."
(Source: Boston Globe)
One cannot "support" the Second Amendment, and want to ban firearms, at the same time.
But since you seem incapable of grasping that simple fact, there is no point attempting to discuss it with you.
I’m a gun lover, but, I do have a problem with an individual owning a TANK.
Nice strawman.
See the Chart. Click HERE
No, we don't support medifascism, and we don't support $50.00 abortion-killing co-pays either, which punish the innocent with death.
Cordially,
COOL, I’ll check it out.
Bookmark for later reading. I’m a FRederalist looking for a fall-back option, if it comes to that. Romeny will have to convince me that he will govern in a conservative way. He will need to explain his position(s) on abortion, for example.
There is an epidemic of Romney Derangement Syndrome in these parts. It is challenge trying to have intelligent discourse once the name-calling begins....the afflicted are the same ones to cry foul if you post a critical comment in an Arthur Branch-Fred Thompson thread.
I haven’t seen many Romney supporters bashing Fred, but it is open season on Romney by a few Fred supporters. Not many of them are/were in MA during Romney’s tenure as governor. He was the most conservative Republican in that office compared to his three Republican predecessors (Swift, Cellucci, Weld), and he held to his campaign promises.
Mitt is definitely the only real option left....assuming Fred bows out. Fred isn’t currently polling well in Florida.
I feel exactly like Rush. Mitt will govern the way he campaigns and he is genuine.
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You Anti-Romney (Mormon) guys got me to look into your charges. I looked into what he DID as governer. What he DID was be the most conservative governer of his state in the history of the state. What he DID is what is important to me.
He agreed to domestic partners rather than have queer marriages. He agreed to uphold the law on abortion just like Bush does now because IT IS THE LAW OF THE LAND!
What’s wrong with fees? I’m a business man, I have my own business and don’t mind paying for what I use. I find it much better to pay for what I use than having you pay for it, so what is wrong with fees?
What he did in Mass. is pretty important. He was a lone conservative voice in a socialist state yet he ruled as a conservative much to the discontent of the citizens of the state.
I was a Thompson supporter, he is not willing to work hard enough for it. Romney is now my guy, he is putting his own money into it, I find that refreshing. His kids and wife are out supporting him. He doesen’t have any ex-wives to worry about or children that will make him look bad. Generally a man that is good to his kids and wife is a good man I don’t care what religion he has.
People tell me they can’t vote for someone who thinks someday he will be a god. Well I don’t care what he thinks he will be once he is dead, what difference does it make. Some people say they will be sitting on clouds playing harps, I don’t buy that either. I don’t dis a guy because he thinks he will play a harp in the next life even though he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket in this life.
Go-Mitt!!
Bush said he would sign an awb if it came across his desk. The AWB was going to pass in Mass anyway, with or without Mitt. What did he do....he rolled up his sleeves, worked with the congress and the NRA and got a much better bill that actually helped gun owners in Mass. The NRA endorsed the bill!
Romney has been getting a lot of votes from the people you say won’t support him.
Most states have ENDA's already, anyway. I don't favor them, but I don't see why some people make such a big deal about it. Discriminating against someone because of what he does in the privacy of his own home with another consenting adult doesn't make much economic sense and strikes me as unprofessional anyway, though I don't think such discrimination should be illegal.
At any rate, it's not a Federal issue.
Romney embraced state-funded programs for GLBT youth & said in '02 he would see what he could do to replicate them at the federal level.
Nope. He cut funding for them.
Straight from the horse's mouth:
"2002: The Gay and Lesbian Youth Support Project changed our name to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth Support Project to more accurately represent our priorities. That same year, Governor Mitt Romney slashed funding for services for GLBT youth; Community-based programs for GLBT youth lost significant funding, and the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students was entirely de-funded."
source: http://www.hcsm.org/glys/about.htm
Romney was pro-taxpayer funded domestic partnership benefits for alternative sexual minorities.
Romney supported things like hospital visitation rights. Frankly, I don't understand why you find this so offensive.
In 2002-2004 he was pro-civil unions and then started speaking out of both sides of his mouth on the issue in '05.
That's a lie. Romney always opposed civil unions. I defy you to find a single statement from 2002-2004 in which he supported them.
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