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Posted on 09/27/2011 4:39:10 PM PDT by shield
I don’t speak for all conservatives, but most every single conservative I know will gladly settle for Mitt Romney and support him over Barack Obama. Even the conservatives I know who right now are saying they could never support Mitt Romney will . . . when push comes to shove . . . support Mitt Romney.
The issue is that most conservatives, myself included, don’t want to settle for Mitt Romney. I don’t have a problem with him personally. He, his wife, and family are super nice people. But I think he is just wrong for this election and his positioning this year as a centrist when he positioned himself four years ago as a conservative is disturbing.
But at the top of the race we are confronted with two men who have two problems. Both are 10th Amendment issues and both are states right issues. And I think whether we like it or not, we should, as conservatives who believe the states should be engines of experiment, respect their right to solve problems in their states as they and their legislatures see fit.
You and I may not like Romneycare, but it was Mitt Romney and Massachusetts’ decision.
You and I may not like Texas giving illegal aliens in-state tuition rates, but it was Rick Perry and Texas’ decision.
Digging deeper though, there is a real and serious problem that distinguishes the two issues and gives me greater concern about Romneycare. And I’m afraid with so much pile on over the Texas immigration decision, it has distracted us from a core issue of Romneycare about which we should be more focused.
Texas did what Texas did because Washington failed to do anything. The difference between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry is that Perry never said that what Texas did on immigration is the right fit for every state.
Given Texas’ history and long standing ties to Mexico (a lot of its now major cities were founded back when Texas was part of Mexico and it continues to maintain historic ties to Mexico) and the failure of the federal government to deal with illegal immigration, Texas did what was right for Texas in a near unanimous vote of the legislature (only 4 no votes out of 181 members in the Texas legislature). Neither the administrations of Bill Clinton nor George W. Bush nor, for that matter, Barack Obama would let Texas deport all these people, so Texas decided that the kids should at least be given an education and made contributing members of society instead of sucking up tax dollars in jail or on government assistance for which federal law would not have allowed Texas to deny them.
At the same time, Perry supported Arizona’s right to handle the problem as Arizona saw fit. There’s never been a claim that the Texas solution is a one size fits all solution that Washington should impose.
Mitt Romney, however, came up with a healthcare plan that may be the only political position in modern American history on which he hasn’t stood on both sides, continues to defend it despite Massachusetts now being weighed down by a costly, dysfunctional healthcare system bankrupting the state, and had the audacity to say it was a model for the nation until after Obamacare passed. Then he got rid of that claim from his book.
And that is a key part. Rick Perry never said the Texas way should be the American way and has a history of supporting other states’ rights to deal with immigration in the way those states want while Mitt Romney wrote in his book that the Massachusetts plan could be a model for the nation. Then, when the paperback version came out after Obamacare came into being modeled on Romneycare, Mitt Romhey deleted those lines from the paperback version of his book.
You may not like Rick Perry’s immigration position, but he’s never said, nor would he ever say that it should be national policy. It just happened to be the right fix for Texas. You may not like Mitt Romney’s healthcare position, but he put it in his book that it was a model for the nation and it just so happens to be the model Barack Obama used.
That is a significant and profound difference in my mind and one that is overshadowed by the present Perry pile on in the debates.
Rick Perry should apologize for saying those of us who disagree don’t have a heart. I hope he will. That was baseless demagoguery against his own base of supporters. Mitt Romney has made it clear he will not apologize for what factually was the foundation of Obamacare.
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Well, there ya go. Where are we going to find a perfect one?
No one cares about the two rino humping each other.
Healthcare is a much worse problem because it leaves us without a free country. At least with illegal immigration, we're still around to fight another day.
Yup.....this is what I’ve been saying. We have 2 guys, who each own 2 positions, that the conservative base cannot live with. This situation may cost us the 2012 election if either Romney or Perry runs against Obama.
Forget perfect. I’d settle for someone who doesn’t reek on key issue like Mick Pomney.
Piss on Romney
Perry's comment was in response to the badgering he was taking fron Mitt Romney and Chris Wallace, the "don't have a heart" comment was addressed to them. I watched the debate, I never thought he was talking about me or other conservatives. He was visibly annoyed by the two smarmy weasels Wallace and Romney. Perry should explain that, not apologize for it. If he apologizes he'll just be accused of pandering or flipfloping. He can expain it or ignore it, but he would be crazy to apologize.
Perry need to take control of the conversation. He needs to stop being pushed around. Instead of stating what he is against he needs to emphasis what he is for and why. He needs to emphasis what he has positively done about the border issue.
Perry is the man this country has been waiting for.
Lots of mental acrobatics going on here to pretend Perry would not try to carry on the same open borders policies nationally as he has as governor of Texas. He calls a fence “ridiculous” and opposes mandatory use of e-Verify, both absurd positions for anyone remotely serious about enforcing immigration law. And also the Dream Act thing and he said the Arizona law was “not right for Texas”.
Romney’s using the tenth to justify Romneycare and Perry using it to justify many things related to immigration are both weak excuses.
Both Romney and Perry have albatrosses around theirs necks from their actions as governors on two critical national issues. Does anyone really think Romney would fight to keep Obamacare? Would he sign a repeal of Obamacare if Congress passed it?
These two large negatives look about equal to me and I’d like to see someone else emerge who doesn’t have either of these abatrosses around their necks (Palin or Cain, maybe, but definitely not Christie).
Don't count on me, Erik! I will never vote for that flip-flopping liberal bastard.
The in-state tuition issue with Perry doesn't rise to the level of disgust and hypocrisy that plagues Romneycare. Romneycare was the basis for Obamacare and Myth can't run from that fact no matter how often he says he'll dismantle Zero's mandated health care program.
The Texas in-state tuition law provides a ~$100,000 benefit to a family as a direct result of the family's long-standing violation of federal immigration law.
Providing in-state tuition ought to be a federal felony. John Calhoun might have considered it a legitimate state's rights issue.
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