|
Posted on 08/17/2012 3:40:53 PM PDT by mkjessup
I've been on FR since 2003. Hard to believe next March will be my 10th year here, assuming I don't get zotted for one reason or another, lol
To that handful of detractors who would LIKE to think this is my opus, guess again suckers - I would never give you the satisfaction of it. Now that we have that out of the way, why this vanity?
First of all, I'm posting this in News/Activism not because this is sourced from a network, newspaper, etc., but because I've noticed that nobody else worries about posting their vanities in the 'Personal/Blogger' section, so WTH should I?
Now for the purpose of my writing today: after a great deal of soul searching and I might add, a goodly amount of prayer, I have come to the conclusion that my vote in November must and will be cast for the GOP ticket of Romney and Ryan. I did not reach this decision easily. Even a casual review of my past posts will reveal that I have reviled, ridiculed, lambasted and sneered at Mitt Romney with the best of them. I've posted my own home brewed graphics to the laughs of my fellow FReepers, I have been steadfast in saying 'no damn way' would I ever even consider voting for that liberal Republican from Massachuetts, no way would I reward the GOP elites with my vote after they've pissed on conservatives from sea to shining sea. The Party of Reagan is no more, let no one deceive you. We as conservatives are more at home in the Tea Party, and yet what was for a short while the natural home for conservatives, i.e. the Republican Party is an unfamiliar neighborhood, a place that sometimes looks like the place we remember, but upon a second glance, we realize that everything is different now, everything has changed.
Now there are good and Godly conservatives who in a perfect world, WOULD be viable candidates for the Presidency, there is no need to list them all here, we all have our favorites and we all know who we would prefer to be voting for. Our own Tom Hoefling would be a better President than the miserable Kenyan sonuvabitch that is stinking up the White House right now, hell *I* would be a better President than that despicable usurper and liar, and so would most of you, my fellow FReepers.
Now I can recite (and in the past, I have) endless reasons as to why I could not and would not vote for Mitt Romney. In many ways it galls me no end to have reached the conclusion that my own Constitutional duty is to vote for a guy that I had sworn never to vote for. It really REALLY starches my shorts however I have had to question my own perspectives, my own views and ask myself the question, "can I honestly justify another four years of what one of my heroes Senator Joe McCarthy would certainly have labeled a 'Communist regime'?
I cannot do that. I do not like the presumptive GOP nominee, I do not agree with many of his past positions. However I cannot deny that one and only one of the two major party candidates for President is going to be sworn in next January. It will either be that treasonous little bastard 0bama, or it will be Mitt Romney. Anyone, and I mean ANYBODY, who thinks that Tom Hoefling, Virgil Goode, or any other non-'Rat/non-GOP candidate is going to be sworn in as our 45th President next year, I will personally bet $100,000 against that happening at any odds they wish, because that is how likely it is that NEITHER 0bama or Romney will end up being elected in November. I won't lose one dime on that sort of wager.
So how do I justify voting for the GOP and Romney this time around? Well, some things I do NOT believe about Romney is that he hates America, that he hates our capitalist system, that he wants to weaken our national defense, sell out our allies and reward our enemies. I don't agree with nor support his religious faith. But his belief in the tenets of Mormonism is quite frankly between him and God. Now while it is easy to find all sorts of things about the Mormon faith that fly in the face of basic traditional Christianity, if the choice is between a closet-crypto Muslim in the White House, and a church going, charitable, prayerful Mormon who doesn't cheat on his wife, doesn't smoke dope, doesn't even drink (is that true? I'm not sure but I think Mitt is a tee-totaler), I'm pulling the lever for that Mormon guy.
Picture all of America on a gigantic airliner, streaking through the sky, when word comes back from the cockpit that Captain 0bama has never even flown a plane of this size or any size, he's been reading the instruction manual from a hidden teleprompter on top of the instrument panel, we're headed for a bad patch of CAT (Clear Air Turbulence) and the illustrious fake pilot is going to try and fake his way through that turbulence, and it is a foregone conclusion that "we're all gonna die!" - but up in first class (of course, lol) Mitt Romney stands up and informs everyone that he IS a licensed pilot, and that he can get our airliner away from the turbulence, down to a safer altitude, get us back on the proper heading, and land safely at our destination. He offers to take the controls. SOME passengers question him "have you ever flown a plane like this?" and he answers honestly "no, not quite this size, but I AM a pilot, I HAVE flown in difficult circumstances before, and I've got more skills than that fake pilot up in the cockpit that we are about to crash with". Who the Hell is going to argue against that logic? No other pilots on board. No parachutes. And indeed, a fool and an oaf at the controls of the cockpit. WTF do we have to lose?
And another analogy that I've already posted recently, which is that conservatives need to do what the Western allies did in World War II, they did not particularly like Joe Stalin, in fact they knew him to be a rotten communist sonvuabitch but the "enemy of our enemy was our friend" (or at least a convenient ally) and the GREATER enemy was in Berlin, in the form of Hitler and we needed Stalin and his troops to attack the Nazis from the East, and that is why we sent them tons of lend-lease assistance to help them accomplish that. And what kind of fools would have urged a different course in that war? A course of telling Stalin and Soviet Russia that they were "on their own" and they would receive no assistance from us? Can you imagine for just a moment if Nazi Germany had prevailed on the Eurasian continent, the Swastika flying all the way from London to Vladivostok?
Now having painted that sort of grim picture of alternate history, I think we can agree that for all of Mitt Romney's faults, he is not a Joe Stalin, he may be a liberal but he is no Communist.
Can we say the same for 0bama and his crew of America-hating scumbags?
Now a powerful factor in my decision to support the GOP ticket was in fact, the selection of Paul Ryan as Romney's VP running mate. Now Paul Ryan is nobody's fool. If there was anybody I wanted to have the ear of 'President Romney' it would be Vice President Paul Ryan. Everyone keeps saying "if Romney would just move to the right", well I believe Paul Ryan is the best person to accomplish that task. They seem to have a good chemistry and that bodes well for the success of their ticket. The polls show Romney-Ryan up, and 0bama and the 'Rats freaking and shrieking as their numbers decline.
Now I have myself made the argument in the past that the only difference between Romney and 0bama is that 0bama is driving us to the edge of the cliff at 100 mph, and Romney is going to reduce our speed to a thrifty 55 mph. And even IF that were to be proven true, I'm not in any hurry to reach the edge of that cliff.
Now in closing, I ask the following question: how many of us would clench our teeth and pull the lever for Gerald Ford, or Bob Dole, or any other establishment RINO if it meant the end of 0bama? To get that filthy Communist out of the White House, I would (to paraphrase Sir Winston Churchill) 'consider writing in the name of the devil himself', and so for that reason my friends and FRiends, I will support and vote for the GOP ticket of Romney & Ryan in November, not because everything about it excites and pleases me, but because I cannot be a party to another 4 years of the Kenyan traitor staining and besmirching the Office once held by the greatest President of all history, Ronald Wilson Reagan. I submit that Reagan would vote for Romney. We can be assured that Sarah Palin is going to vote for Romney. So will Newt Gingrich. So will Rick Santorum. So IF I am making a mistake by casting my vote for the GOP this year, I will be in good company.
Thanks for your kind consideration.
Mark Jessup
My take on Romney is that he is more the professional politician, tailoring his positions and messages to the audience, than he is a committed ideologue.
No unwavering full spectrum conservative could get elected or influence policy in Massachusetts. Anyone who climbs into the arena there will get their hands dirty. If people think its hard to hold their nose and vote for a suboptimal option in one election, imagine the lousy options he had to choose from every day in Massachusetts. Romney was pragmatic and disciplined enough to do what it took to get power and influence the action there, pulling policy to the right (relative to MA), getting an American Conservative Union rating of over 88 and balancing the budget in the process.
Who is he at heart? A hard working pragmatic executive who gets excellent results. If his goal is to get elected, he does what it takes to succeed. I believe that he ran on a socially liberal/fiscally conservative platform in MA and honored it after the election. That is what it took. He can get things done.
The contract that he is offering to this more conservative nation is a more conservative one. History indicates to me that he will honor what he runs on, has a knack for picking good people, and manages like a top tier pro.
Obama Must Be Defeated!
My take on Romney is that he is more the professional politician, tailoring his positions and messages to the audience, than he is a committed ideologue.
No unwavering full spectrum conservative could get elected or influence policy in Massachusetts. Anyone who climbs into the arena there will get their hands dirty. If people think its hard to hold their nose and vote for a suboptimal option in one election, imagine the lousy options he had to choose from every day in Massachusetts. Romney was pragmatic and disciplined enough to do what it took to get power and influence the action there, pulling policy to the right (relative to MA), getting an American Conservative Union rating of over 88 and balancing the budget in the process.
Who is he at heart? A hard working pragmatic executive who gets excellent results. If his goal is to get elected, he does what it takes to succeed. I believe that he ran on a socially liberal/fiscally conservative platform in MA and honored it after the election. That is what it took. He can get things done.
The contract that he is offering to this more conservative nation is a more conservative one. History indicates to me that he will honor what he runs on, has a knack for picking good people, and manages like a top tier pro.
Obama Must Be Defeated!
“Obama is evil, but Romney is NOT the answer to Obama.”
Uh, yes, in fact Romney is the answer to Obama. Electing Romney as President of the United States in 2012 is the ONLY legal way to remove Obama from office. It’s not the answer I would have picked. It’s not the answer I want. It’s not the answer I like. But at this time, it is THE answer! The ONLY answer. Doing ANYTHING else except electing Romney as President gives Obama four more years to finish off our country.
Seriously, thanks for posting. It's helped me in ways I won't go into here.
But I think, for now at least, I'll be able to be more clear when I'm being sarcastic again. ;)
And for clarity, I'm not being sarcastic now.
I'm done with any kind of ABR vs ABO debate though. I really can't fight that, before, now, or in the future. I decided long ago my position there, when I considered the possibility of the dire choice we all find ourselves in now, so maybe that's why I don't understand why it's not the clear choice for everybody.
At any rate, this all truly brings the taste of bile in my mouth, so I can't take any more flames as you have may endured already. Just wanted to post my support for your well written post.
And an early happy Anniversary to you. Posts such as yours only help FR in the end, IMO, when people like me can't muster the words you have humbly and eloquently written. Hope to see more.
That doesn’t describe Mitt Romney at all, Romney knows exactly who he is, and has passionately advanced his politics, with money, fund raising, campaigning, governing, and he has been bold in his speaking for, and advancing liberalism, and now he is the presidential nominee of the republican party.
Romney set out 5 years ago to create the myth that Reagan was pro-choice, he has spread it on TV, radio, in interviews , calling Reagan “adamantly pro-choice”.
Romney despises Reagan, Reagan ran against his father in the presidential primary of 1968. Mitt Romney renounced his republican party membership in 1979, because of Reagan winning the nomination.
After leaving the party because of Reagan, Romney became a supporter of liberal republicans through the 1980s, until 1989, after that, all of Romney’s donations went to democrats, Romney even did democrat fundraising and voted democrat, and then in October of 1993, after Reagan was gone, and Bush defeated for reelection, Romney rejoined the GOP.
In 1994, Mitt was giving to, and fund raising for Planned Parenthood and campaigning on having been anti-Reagan during the Reagan years.
When 2005/6 came, and it was time to take over the GOP at the national level, he did almost an entire reversal of all of his public politics and beliefs, did it work? Read your posts, look at who the nominee is, it worked.
I see you've crossed the rubicon. All I can say is that I'm not there yet, and if Romney loses this November, it won't be because of voters like me, or, say, JimRob: it will be because Romney is a weak candidate. Quite honestly, he should be running away with this. Maybe he will yet.
Sometimes, to regain the Presidency, though, the non-incumbent party must field its best candidate, like it did with Reagan in 1980. The GOP has failed to do that in 2012, even among those party members who actually did run.
I hope it is enough...
I would much rather be voting for a reversed ticket:
Ryan/Romney
August Devotion -- The Immaculate Heart [of Mary]
Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of August is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The physical heart of Mary is venerated (and not adored as the Sacred Heart of Jesus is) because it is united to her person: and as the seat of her love (especially for her divine Son), virtue, and inner life. Such devotion is an incentive to a similar love and virtue.
This devotion has received new emphasis in this century from the visions given to Lucy Dos Santos, oldest of the visionaries of Fatima, in her convent in Tuy, in Spain, in 1925 and 1926. In the visions Our Lady asked for the practice of the Five First Saturdays to help make amends for the offenses given to her heart by the blasphemies and ingratitude of men. The practice parallels the devotion of the Nine First Fridays in honor of the Sacred Heart.
On October 31, 1942, Pope Pius XII made a solemn Act of Consecration of the Church and the whole world to the Immaculate Heart. Let us remember this devotion year-round, but particularly through the month of August.
INVOCATIONS
O heart most pure of the Blessed Virgin Mary, obtain for me from Jesus a pure and humble heart.
Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.
ACT OF CONSECRATION
Queen of the most holy Rosary, help of Christians, refuge of the human race, victorious in all the battles of God, we prostrate ourselves in supplication before thy throne, in the sure hope of obtaining mercy and of receiving grace and timely aid in our present calamities, not through any merits of our own, on which we do not rely, but only through the immense goodness of thy mother's heart. In thee and in thy Immaculate Heart, at this grave hour of human history, do we put our trust; to thee we consecrate ourselves, not only with all of Holy Church, which is the mystical body of thy Son Jesus, and which is suffering in so many of her members, being subjected to manifold tribulations and persecutions, but also with the whole world, torn by discords, agitated with hatred, the victim of its own iniquities. Be thou moved by the sight of such material and moral degradation, such sorrows, such anguish, so many tormented souls in danger of eternal loss! Do thou, O Mother of mercy, obtain for us from God a Christ-like reconciliation of the nations, as well as those graces which can convert the souls of men in an instant, those graces which prepare the way and make certain the long desired coming of peace on earth. O Queen of peace, pray for us, and grant peace unto the world in the truth, the justice, and the charity of Christ.
Above all, give us peace in our hearts, so that the kingdom of God may spread its borders in the tranquillity of order. Accord thy protection to unbelievers and to all those who lie within the shadow of death; cause the Sun of Truth to rise upon them; may they be enabled to join with us in repeating before the Savior of the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."
Give peace to the nations that are separated from us by error or discord, and in a special manner to those peoples who profess a singular devotion toward thee; bring them back to Christ's one fold, under the one true Shepherd. Obtain full freedom for the holy Church of God; defend her from her enemies; check the ever-increasing torrent of immorality; arouse in the faithful a love of purity, a practical Christian life, and an apostolic zeal, so that the multitude of those who serve God may increase in merit and in number.
Finally, even as the Church and all mankind were once consecrated to the Heart of thy Son Jesus, because He was for all those who put their hope in Him an inexhaustible source of victory and salvation, so in like manner do we consecrate ourselves forever to thee also and to thy Immaculate Heart, O Mother of us and Queen of the world; may thy love and patronage hasten the day when the kingdom of God shall be victorious and all the nations, at peace with God .and with one another, shall call thee blessed and intone with thee, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the everlasting "Magnificat" of glory, of love, of gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, in which alone we can find truth, life, and peace. — Pope Pius XII
IN HONOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART
O heart of Mary, mother of God, and our mother; heart most worthy of love, in which the adorable Trinity is ever well-pleased, worthy of the veneration and love of all the angels and of all men; heart most like to the Heart of Jesus, of which thou art the perfect image; heart, full of goodness, ever compassionate toward our miseries; deign to melt our icy hearts and grant that they may be wholly changed into the likeness of the Heart of Jesus, our divine Savior. Pour into them the love of thy virtues, enkindle in them that divine fire with which thou thyself dost ever burn. In thee let Holy Church find a safe shelter; protect her and be her dearest refuge, her tower of strength, impregnable against every assault of her enemies. Be thou the way which leads to Jesus, and the channel, through which we receive all the graces needful for our salvation. Be our refuge in time of trouble, our solace in the midst of trial, our strength against temptation, our haven in persecution, our present help in every danger, and especially) at the hour of death, when all hell shall let loose against u its legions to snatch away our souls, at that dread moment; that hour so full of fear, whereon our eternity depends. An,; then most tender virgin, make us to feel the sweetness of thy motherly heart, and the might of thine intercession with Jesus, and open to us a safe refuge in that very fountain of mercy, whence we may come to praise Him with thee in paradise, world without end. Amen.
Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954
|
Sacred Heart Of Jesus |
Immaculate Heart of Mary |
|
Blessed be the Most Loving Heart and Sweet Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the most glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, in eternity and forever. Amen. ....Only the Heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way ----From the Catechism. P:1439 From the depth of my nothingness, I prostrate myself before Thee, O Most Sacred, Divine and Adorable Heart of Jesus, to pay Thee all the homage of love, praise and adoration in my power. The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the cross in the Savior's steps.-- >From the Catechism. P: 2669 |
||
|
|
|
|
The first is that we ought to love and honor whatever God loves and honors, and that by which He is loved and glorified. Now, after the adorable Heart of Jesus there has never been either in heaven or on earth, nor ever will be, a heart which has been so loved and honored by God, or which has given Him so much glory as that of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Never has there been, nor will there ever be a more exalted throne of divine love. In that Heart divine love possesses its fullest empire, for it ever reigns without hindrance or interruption, and with it reign likewise all the laws of God, all the Gospel maxims and every Christian virtue.
This incomparable Heart of the Mother of our Redeemer is a glorious heaven, a Paradise of delights for the Most Holy Trinity. According to St. Paul, the hearts of the faithful are the dwelling place of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself assures us that the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost take up Their abode in the hearts of those who love God. Who, therefore, can doubt that the Most Holy Trinity has always made His home and established the reign of His glory in an admirable and ineffable manner in the virginal Heart of her who is the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son, the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, who herself loves God more than all other creatures together?
How much then are we not obliged to love this exalted and most lovable Heart?
— St. John Eudes
Today: Immaculate Heart of Mary [DEVOTIONAL]
The Immaculate Heart of Mary [Devotional] Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Saturdays and the Immaculate Heart of Mary [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
The Brown Scapular (Catholic Caucus)
The History of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Catholic Caucus)
Homilies preached by Father Robert Altier on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Marian Associations Unite to Celebrate Immaculate Heart
Solemnity Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary
FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, AUGUST 22ND
Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Amen..Obama Must GO
The choir sure is singing sweet tonight!
I find such refrains much more convincing than the slavering hostility against those who legitimately can't stomach Romney as yet...
I been getting *some* grief too on this,
It looks like we cant have principles anymore or recognize or appreciate honesty.
We must defend EVERYTHING the party does even if it means lying or contradicting our own past statements like they do. The important thing is winning, Republicans winning, That is all that matters.
Close your eyes, close your ears, stop thinking, you must say Romney is right, repeat it, “Romney is right always. No you must be lying if you heard him say the opposite before “. Listen to Hannity. Become hannitized .... LOL :)
* Those giving me grief on this are lightweights after .... you know
Not exactly sure why this (above) is important to know , but trouble-maker Gilbo :) pinged me here so I will give it a go.
Do you live in a state where your vote will have any effect at all?
Did you vote in the Primary? If so did that change the outcome of the primary? Will this vote be any different?
How do you know who all those people you listed will vote for? Don’t they vote in secret as you do?
I would NEVER base my vote on who someone else tells me they were voting for. I don’t care who it is. I don’t work that way.
I am watching and I find the Romney/Ryan team pretty uninspiring. And the future is very difficult to predict regardless of who wins. GWB won two terms, then what?
RE :”I don’t see us being repaired by anything less than a catastrophe and a major purging of the other side. The irony of it is, the other side is PUSHING for that catastrophe - which I truly believe will destroy them ultimately “
I was thinking similar thoughts over this Amnesty position that Obama is taking. it's like the Sal Alinsky rule “Overwhelm the system so it collapses. I see no good from it.
Here's the paradox. Do you really want the side (Republicans) that talks conservative and talks free markets (regardless if they believe it or not) to be at the visible wheel when it all collapses? AGAIN?? a second time? And get blamed for two of them? How would that work out in the longer run?
Or the economy could get better (I am not counting on that) and the next years POTUS gets the credit for it.
That is the complexity of real life that we live in and our inability to see the future.
Oh if the world were only black and white like on the Hannity show
reference comment above source at this link #54
You said....
“Sorry, not buying your Chicken Little, “The Sky Is Falling” routine.
The only reason we have a congress as conservative as we have right now, is Obama.
The only reason we have the Tea-Party so energized, is Obama.
With Romney, the GOP Congress will go along to get along, there will be no conservative fight anymore.
And the only reason Obama has been able to do as much damage as he has, is because of Boener and McConnell and their lousy, GOP-E leadership.
You running because of irrational fear, and throwing your conservative principles overboard because of that fear.
The founders only had 30% approaval during the Revolutionary War, they faced off against an unbeatable British army that was the best trained and most successful in the world.
They didn’t run because of the odds or because of what would have been a more rational fear than you have. “
Well said. I will not be voting for Romney. IMO, voting for Romney is like voting for Hillary
Nobody’s perfect. Reagan did later say that he regretted signing pro-abortion legislation as Govenor in California. In other ways he was solidly conservative and he did evolve to be solidly pro-life. Despite his (then) scandalously liberal personal life as a divorcee (Jane Wyman) and previous Democrat party and union membership, he was ultimately a transformative principled Conservative leader in freeing our economy and defeating communism.
Thank goodness that conservatives supported him despite his Libertarian social leanings and personal variances from the perfect candidate (the only perfect person, Jesus Christ, was not running in the election that year either).
I think that the points that you make about Romney aligning himself with mainstream Rockerfeller/Country Club Republicans, or cozying up with the ruling Democrat power brokers while he was in business at Bain Capital in Boston are consistent with a pragmatist who is working with the existing power structures, or positioning himself to get elected in Massachusetts. (such as registering as an independent, and voting for the local candidate from Mass, Paul Tsongas in the Democrat primary, but not in the general election). Any responsible executive has an obligation to manage a favorable relationship with the political powerbrokers - it is common to contribute to both sides like Trump does.
The rumor I heard on abortion is that a Romney family member died from an illegal abortion, but that is just an unsourced rumor.
Romney does not have the ideological credentials of Ronald Reagan, but he does have the executive experience as a business turnaround expert in a wide range of industries and in government. Your points seem to focus on his past ideological credentials, and then attributing them to ideological committment rather than opportunism or pragmatism: and then leap to discrediting his excellent ability to manage complexity, recruit talent and get results: or his personal character of disciplined self-morality, or his extensive charitable/church work (up to 30 hours a week) in Boston, or his legitimate ability to change his position and stick to it.
Romney knows well what contributes to business success, and is a superb manager. His ACU rating of 88% while Govenor shows that he was not the unmitigated liberal that he is painted as by some on this forum. He was considered by many in the Republican establishment as too conservative for the 2008 nomination.
Obama Must Be Defeated!
You post the sad truth, You see the other side that they are blind to . Please read :#174
Well said, Mr. Jessup. Come November, I also will vote for the one who is not demonstrably a Communist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
