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Perry, Romney, Electability
National Review Online ^ | September 1, 2011 | Stanley Kurtz, The Corner

Posted on 09/01/2011 11:48:22 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

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To: Cincinatus' Wife

What is the best plan for Social security and medicare?

First, repeal Obamacare, because they’ll bankrupt both.

Next, say they are both broken and need fixing....something everyone agrees with. In fact, admit that Americans were sold a lie about these being solvent for forever, because no one should have dared to predict the future.

Third, the “fix” should be easy to understand.

Fourth, we will take half the budget of other “less important” federal departments to refund both SS and Medicare. (EPA, Education, IRS, Transportation, Banking, Congressional pay and perks, etc.)

This way we will NOT increase taxes, we will increase spending, we will pay for it with cuts elsewhere.


21 posted on 09/01/2011 12:19:14 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True Supporters of our Troops PRAY for their VICTORY!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
and all, Romney is not only the more likely winner

No he not, he is McCain 2.0. How many times do these Rinobots have to get their butts kicked before their realize Democrat Lite is NOT a winning political strategy? Ford-Bush 1-Dole-McCain. The RINO elctoral batting average is 0 yet EVERY election they come back preaching the same "moderate" dogmas.

22 posted on 09/01/2011 12:20:15 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I think what this article overlooks is the fact that the leftists’ playbook will be the EXACT SAME against Perry, Romney or any other GOP nominee. Even if Mittens got the nomination, of course they will still run the same old scare ads about medicare, abortion, “extremist”, etc. etc. against Romney, because if the election is about Obama, the communists lose. And they know that.

So, why not at least go with the real conservative (Perry) rather than the liberal (Romney) since they will be smeared with the same slime by Hussein and his media anyway?


23 posted on 09/01/2011 12:20:39 PM PDT by crusader71
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

All I can really say is this...

The left will always tell you who they are afraid of. The ones they attack the hardest are the ones we have to acknowledge as being the ones who truly CAN beat Obama.

Therefore, Perry and Bachmann either one terrifies the left.

They seem to really want Romney. That says everything.


24 posted on 09/01/2011 12:20:59 PM PDT by conservativebabe
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To: Gen. Burkhalter

Perry’s polling numbers are high for older Americans.


25 posted on 09/01/2011 12:22:48 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
The Left has been busily mining Perry’s book Fed Up! for material they can use to paint him as an extremist.

Reminds me of the story about Gen. Grant in the Wilderness campaign. His aides told him he should be cautious because Lee was tricky. He told them, "You all seem to think Lee will do a double somersault and attack us from both flanks and the rear at the same time! Quit worrying about what Lee will do, and let him worry about what we will do. And bring up more guns!"

26 posted on 09/01/2011 12:32:07 PM PDT by Hugin ("A man'll usually tell you his bad intentions if you listen and let yourself hear it"--- Open Range)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The polling data is mostly in the context of a GOP universe. Although I agree with Perry that Social Security is basically a Ponzi scheme, that is not something I would say in public if I were running for public office. The GOP nominee will win the GOP vote. It is independent voters who decide national elections. And the overwhelming majority of independents like Social Security and Medicare. But they also hate Obamacare. Obamacare should be the focus of the campaign. My concern here is that Perry has given Plouffe and Axelrod enough ammo to make the election about Social Security.


27 posted on 09/01/2011 12:33:26 PM PDT by Gen. Burkhalter
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The polling data is mostly in the context of a GOP universe. Although I agree with Perry that Social Security is basically a Ponzi scheme, that is not something I would say in public if I were running for public office. The GOP nominee will win the GOP vote. It is independent voters who decide national elections. And the overwhelming majority of independents like Social Security and Medicare. But they also hate Obamacare. Obamacare should be the focus of the campaign. My concern here is that Perry has given Plouffe and Axelrod enough ammo to make the election about Social Security.


28 posted on 09/01/2011 12:34:27 PM PDT by Gen. Burkhalter
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; Gen. Burkhalter
If Perry had done things the way Rove requested, Perry knew that the Democrat voters would vote for Bush then cross back to vote for the popular Democrat, John Sharp for Lt. Gov.

It would be nice to have a Pub POTUS who isn't so "genteel".

29 posted on 09/01/2011 12:35:32 PM PDT by wmfights (If you want change support SenateConservatives.com)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Perry’s my kind of rascal!


30 posted on 09/01/2011 12:37:56 PM PDT by drdemars (Each moment new)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Rick Perry as governor, used all resources at his disposal in an attempt to make a cancer vaccine available to Texas children.

equals

Rick Perry used everything he could, including denigrating conservatives, to force an unproven vaccine on Texas taxpayers with an opt out program that was cumbersome and prevented them from getting any other vaccines.

As for the DREAM ACT in Texas, it is still rewarding criminals.

Acting as a proponent for special rights for homosexuals in the Hate Crime legislation will also come back to bite him.


31 posted on 09/01/2011 12:38:17 PM PDT by Ingtar (Together we go broke (from a Pookie18 post))
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To: Gen. Burkhalter

This election will not be about SS or medicare, it will about the economy and Odumbo. Bank on it.


32 posted on 09/01/2011 12:39:11 PM PDT by sunmars
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

If unemployment is around 10% at election time, a dead skunk will be able to beat the Won.


33 posted on 09/01/2011 12:39:25 PM PDT by freespirited (Stupid people are ruining America. --Herman Cain)
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To: sunmars

Exactly. It will be all about the economy. And since BHO and Axelrod and Plouffe will want to avoid that the subject and focus all of their energy whipping up fear and hysteria among seniors that Perry wants to destroy Medicare and Social Security.


34 posted on 09/01/2011 12:45:17 PM PDT by Gen. Burkhalter
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To: Hugin

Oh, I like that!


35 posted on 09/01/2011 12:49:19 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

IMHO...

Romney is closer to Obama than any other Repub candidate. He therefore actually stands the best chance of losing to Obama - he is, in essence, an Obama-lite. That is why Democrats love the idea of Romney running, the Romney brand is close to the Obama brand than any other Republican brand. Romney can not differentiate his ideas and principles enough from Obama to rally the far right. He may get a lot of “middle” votes, but so will Obama. If an incumbent faces a vanilla/generic/wish-washy candidate it helps their chances. An incumbent wins by default unless the country is in a mess or the challenger is wildly popular with the opposition. While the country is in a mess, Romney is only popular with the political establishment because he is “open for business” with their lobbyists. The establishment, however, is very out of favor with voters, and will have a hard time inspiring people.

Conservatives would only be motivated to vote for Romney because he is “not obama”, not because they would believe that he would move America to the right.

That being said, Perry has spent most of his career as a politician. He is part of the Texas political establishment, and has the mark of a true politician: he changed parties. The only business I have found so far that he participated in was cotton farming with his father when he was young. Farm subsidies anyone ? His business is politics. Again, this type of person is not what the conservative base is looking for. Texans who are conservative, of course, absolutely love the idea of a Texan for a Republican candidate. But once one gets beyond the emotion, Perry’s life history is out of step with what conservatism, the Tea Party and small businesses are looking for in this election.

Political consultants always look for an entertainer - a person whose appearance and voice make a good candidate. As the country financially collapses under the weight of $15 trillion in future taxes, however, people are looking for the person they used to want to study with and be lab partners with in school. The person who had the real answers. The one who did their homework. The one with real capability. Not the beauty queen. Not the jock. Not the entertainer. The worker.

Perry’s appeal is based on being from Texas, a place that conservatives love, and having the good looks and folksy manner of a “Republican for the masses” type of candidate.

The Republican party is supposed to be an alternative to the Democratic party. It’s becoming painfully obvious that they have fallen down on the job, that they’ve abandoned any principles that differentiated them from Democrats. They still have some watered-down version of them in their platform, but, then again, everything’s negotiable and we need to get past partisan politics and compromise, right ? Wrong.

If the Republican party does not select a solid Christian, small business, Constitutional originalist, then it’s time for the Republican party to go.

Big business is easy to support. They should have to stand on their own without help. Small business is a lot of little people - more difficult to support, you’ve got millions of people to talk to. So, instead, the small business-friendly politician must do something crazy - simply support the right free enterprise principles, instead of favoring a few specific crony companies. Once they support true free enterprise principles, then small business can prosper and “float all boats”. But first, the politician has to actually understand what is good for small business. Bachmann, Cain and Santorum are the only ones who are remotely close on that, and Bachmann is the far and away the best. Once you understand what helps and hurts small business, so you know what legislation to promote and what to oppose, you need to go rent a backbone so you don’t sell your soul to big business and knowingly go against small business. Bachmann does not have to rent a backbone, her record and public statements prove that she has one. When you go objectively detail by detail through Bachmann’s history and Perry’s, through the eyes of a small business owner, the handwriting is on the wall.


36 posted on 09/01/2011 12:53:57 PM PDT by PieterCasparzen (We need to fix things ourselves)
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To: Gen. Burkhalter
.....My concern here is that Perry has given Plouffe and Axelrod enough ammo to make the election about Social Security.

People aren't stupid (for the most part) and they KNOW the money is either running out, not there - that times are going to be tough (and their kids and grandkids can't shoulder this) so if someone is willing to speak about it, to me, would be more comforting (let's get it on the table and deal with it) than sweeping it under the rug. We're tripping over the rug. We know what's under the rug. It's no secret! We need someone to get on with it and deal with it. Perry.

37 posted on 09/01/2011 12:53:57 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: sunmars

Kurtz reflects Eastern soi-disant “elite” thinking. Mittens is unelectable, but in the NR/DC “conservative” echo-chamber they think of him as one of them: he went to the right schools, has the right accent, made his career in their part of the country, and so on...


38 posted on 09/01/2011 12:54:54 PM PDT by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I used to agree that people aren’t stupid....until November 4, 2008.


39 posted on 09/01/2011 12:56:05 PM PDT by Gen. Burkhalter
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To: PieterCasparzen

Thank you for your in depth comment.

However, I feel Perry has worked hard for Texas. Yes, as Romney would say, he’s a career politician. But he’s good at what he does and he has done good for Texas (and as 2 time leader of the Republican Governors Association).

He will bring that same zeal and love of country to the White House.


40 posted on 09/01/2011 1:01:45 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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