Posted on 09/23/2011 12:39:50 PM PDT by freespirited
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) disagreed with several of the GOP White House contenders after Thursday night’s GOP debate, saying President Obama is not a socialist.
During the debate, most of the candidates described the president that way.
When asked Friday if he thought Obama had pursued socialist policies, Daniels laughed wryly and simply said, “No.”
He also used the opportunity to warn the contenders to be more careful with their rhetoric.
“At some stage I just think that if you’re interested in results you should just try to be careful to use words that don’t drive anybody away and if possible just take a chance to be more civil, more likeable than the other guy,” said Daniels, who added that he did not see Thursday’s debate.
“The perfectly human temptation is to match insult for insult and strong language for strong language and it feels good for about 10 minutes — but then you realize you probably didn’t add anybody to your point of view,” he said during a breakfast with reporters sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.
Several conservatives have charged that the president’s economic policies, especially his call for the wealthy to pay more taxes, show he is a socialist.
Daniels, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget, has also earned conservative ire with his stance on social issues.
The governor, who decided earlier this year not to run for president, said that while he thought a year ago that Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) would not have been a strong presidential candidate, the political situation has shifted radically since then.
“I’d have thought, ‘Another Texan so soon?’ But boy, do things look different now,” he said. “It’s not about Rick, it’s sort of about where he’s from, but now as desperate as the national situation is I think the door is open.”
He also said that Perry’s centrist stance on immigration is “not going to be a stopper” for him in the GOP primary.
During the breakfast, Daniels warned that while any Republican “who can breathe and speak English” might be able to beat Obama in the next election because of the president’s sliding poll numbers, the problems America faces are so serious that it is important to find the right candidate.
“If it were more normal times, as a partisan I’d say, ‘That’s fine,’” he said of Obama’s decreasing popularity and the GOP field. “Winning the next election without having really prepared the country and rallying the country to go do some big things would really be a lost opportunity.”
He said Obama’s 2008 campaign should be a guiding force for what Republicans should not do this time around.
“That non-specific charisma campaign is not what I hope we as the opposition mount next time,” he said. “The situation is way too important for that.”
Daniels, who is promoting a new book, “Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans,” did not completely shut the door on accepting a vice presidential nomination but became agitated when asked about the possibility.
He said he was becoming tired of the question. He also said he had no timetable for making his own endorsement for president.
Daniels has endorsed his former boss Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), in the Republican primary against Tea Party candidate Richard Mourdock. While being careful not to criticize the Tea Party movement, he called Lugar a “mentor” and an “extraordinary public servant.”
“I’m not sure he’s in that much trouble,” Daniels said. “My sense is he’s likely to win, he’s working hard and he’s an icon in our state.”
When asked about the deep-pocketed fiscally conservative Club for Growth, which is targeting Lugar for defeat, Daniels was circumspect.
“All is fair game,” he said. “I regret the tactics that are often used but it’s not for me to say that people with a strong point of view ought not to be able to express it and participate.”
Yeah, but don’t call him that. It is “dangerous”...for someone named Mitch Daniels and his pals in the GOP.
Your'e entire post made me puke. You statements apply to the somewhat civil society that once existed in our Republic.
I have saved your post and will reference as the 2012 campaign unfolds. We are entering a new period when the left will rip off any mask of civility. With their willing accomplices in the evil MSM, the rabid left will carry out the most vile and vicious campaign our Republic ever faced.
The days of being nice are over. We must bluntly and honestly state what the left is all about. Obama and his friends are out to transform our Republic into a socialist hell.
The weak, pathetic Daniels would NEVER EVER undertake the bold steps to save our Republic. He is a very weak man who deserves nothing but contempt.
Daniels faces evil and says to be civil. The man is a fool beyond words. Oh, those so called precious (weak) independents -- they will awaken.
There are only two choices in 2012: Those who support the tyranny of the State power and those who cherish Liberty.
It disgust me how some Freepers are afraid to have candidates with fire in their belly take on the evil left. They are as weak as those they support.
Obama isn’t a socialist, he’s a fascist. The two are not the same.
Socialism implies communal ownership.
Under fascism, there is no communal ownership, there is private ownership that is heavily regulated by government to the benefit of the state. The state picks the winners and losers and it is never the public. Winners participate in a kind of symbiotic relationship with the state that is run by a ruling elite and a huge bureaucracy.
"...I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody..." - Barack Hussein Obama 2008.
Both of these fellows, peas from the same pod, believe that its good that some central organization manage the output of an individual's ability (i.e., their earnings), and to spread it to those in need. Sounds good on paper, but not when you consider the depravity of man, and the ultimate goal of this 'central organization'. I suppose Karl could be excused for just talking out of his ass. Barack has the historical record of the 20th Century (Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Castro, Ill Kim, etc) to show the utter vileness when this philosophy is attempted to be implemented in practice. Yet he still champions this approach...
Sure, Mitch Daniels, lets not speak harsh words about those that are trying to destroy our Country...
By other idiots of course.
If he is not a pure genuine property hating, profit hating, freedom hating socialist,he is a socialist/statist sympathizer which is also evil.
Ok Mr. Daniels, and I'm the queen of England. E-mail me at queenofengland@buckinghampalace.com
5.56mm
The correct term is ‘Corporatist’, I believe.
like FDR, Mussolini, and, yes, Hitler.
I agree with Mitch. BHO is not a socialist. He is a muzzie lovin commie.
YOU ARE CORRECT, SIR....aayyoohh! (best Ed McMahon imitation).
Socialism is for European Social Democrats. It even kind of works, sort of works after a fashion in Germany, Sweden, France and a select few other European states. A large reason why the Euro Socialist model works is because the US pulls their economies over the finish line by carrying a large part of their defense burden and by providing a market for their high priced goods
Obama is a Marxist / Fascist totalitarian hybrid who wishes to nationalize as many of our countries private companies possible, for those he can't nationalize he wishes to impose de facto control via regulation and he wishes to redistribute the wealth of our people to his favored interest groups.
His new name, Bitch Daniels.
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