Candidates

Until Richard Milhous Nixon ran for President in 1972, I was not really into politics and presidential elections. Tricky Dick changed all of that. Well, I guess I can't really blame it all on him since I had just started College and was exposed to the leftist thinking of the time. I’ll admit it, I was an avid supporter of George McGovern, and both NK and I worked his campaign from the outset, even before Shriver became the VP candidate. While have voted in every presidential election since, I have not worked to support a candidate since 1972 and I probably won’t again in my lifetime. But I do have strong opinions on the path our nation should take and who should be leading us so I’m going to get political for awhile.

Sometimes I’m will take a position on a particular candidate, sometimes I’ll just post what a candidate says that they stand for at let you think about it. I’m going to go through every declared candidate for President, Republican and Democrat. Much of the information will come from the candidate’s WEB site. Some of it may be the opinion of others (I will credit them when appropriate).

The first victim will be Mitt Romney or just plain old Mitt (Lettermen likes to stretch it out like Mittttttt), PETA’s choice for man of the year. For those of you that may not be aware, the Romney family pet, an Irish Setter, was placed in a carrier and strapped to the top of the car. By the time the family got to their destination (a 12-hour drive from Boston to Ontario), there was dog shit everywhere. While PETA does not have a position on Romney's candidacy per se, the President of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk called the incident "a lesson in cruelty that was ... wrong for [his children] to witness...Thinking of the wind, the weather, the speed, the vulnerability, the isolation on the roof, it is common sense that any dog who's under extreme stress might show that stress by losing control of his bowels: that alone should have been sufficient indication that the dog was, basically, being tortured." Romney, of course, has expressed support for the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques when it comes to terrorists; his campaign refused to comment about the treatment of his dog (credit Time Magazine…"Romney’s Cruel Canine Vacation", 6/27/07).

What will he do if elected?

Crime:

Well according to the Romney agenda as noted on his WEB site, as President, Governor Romney will propose new, tougher federal penalties for first-time offenders who use the Internet to sexually assault children, including stiff mandatory jail time to be followed by lifetime tracking by Global Positioning Satellite (GPS). This will represent a "One-Strike, You're Ours" law for child predators.

Taxes:

"It's absolutely critical that we don't have that massive tax hike and instead we make the Bush tax cuts permanent." "We should strive to keep marginal tax rates on America's families and businesses no higher than those imposed by our major global competitors. We should end tax penalties against saving and investment, and promote fairness and simplicity by ending special interest loopholes and lowering tax rates for all Americans."

Protecting children and lowering taxes, the first two of three agenda items for Romney. Touch the soul and the pocketbook hot buttons. His final agenda item; don’t talk to 3rd world dictators – here he criticizes Obama’s response to a question during one of the debates. "During a nationally televised debate, Obama responded to a hypothetical question: 'Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?' The senator from Illinois responded: 'I would, and the reason is this: the notion that somehow not talking to countries is somehow punishing them, which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration, is ridiculous.' "

So then, Mitt Romney, if elected president will go after Internet predators, retain (and possibly expand) the Bush tax policy, and choose to ignore leaders of unfriendly nations. "Instead of embracing these brutal dictators, we need to work with (covertly) freedom-loving people in their countries" (my emphasis). If you would like to know more, go to:

http://www.mittromney.com/Issue-Watch/Romney_Agenda