... so I opted instead to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!" in front of the whole wide Internet, for all the world (well, all 3 people who still look at this site) to see!
Don't worry... there is still a real present in the mail...
Four years ago, I wrote this article about remembering 9/11. While Oregon today has a different governor - and as of the time of posting this, I have no idea if he has even issued any sort of statement this year - I believe my message still rings loud and clear. Please go read what I wrote back then.
Be sure to properly display your U.S. flag today to show your love for your nation:
Today is NATIONAL EMPTY CHAIR DAY!
(did you notice - the chair has a teleprompter?)
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is OBAMANDIAS, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Why am I using Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" to reference Obama? Oh... no reason...
So last night, FOX News token liberal commenter Juan Williams attacked Ann Romney, calling her just a "corporate wife" and implying she can't possibly relate to real women. I guess he thinks she can't be a First Lady. But what about the ultimate liberal ideal of the White House, the ideal President and First Lady, what about Camelot? Let's compare and contrast, shall we?
Went to BYU and finished her education at Harvard - while living in a basement and raising a son as her husband finished graduate school. Taught Sunday School. Active in the PTA and League of Women Voters. Survivor of breast cancer. Continues to suffer from multiple sclerosis, but still manages to campaign for husband despite this summer's relapse. Director of teen assistance charity Best Friends, United Way volunteer, and Director of Massachusetts Faith Based Initiatives. Full time mother of five. And yes, stood by and supported her husband as he made his own way in business. Guilty.
Born into wealth and priviledge. Raised by oil money. Well known equestrienne. Named "debutante of the year" at her "coming out." Storybook wedding named "social event of the season." Best known for her fashion sense and Chanel dresses. After her husband's death, married a billionaire.
This is not meant to denigrate Jackie. I am sure she was a charming woman and loving wife and mother. But rather, this is to show that Ann Romney shares many qualities of Jackie, but also grew up much more humbly and did far more as a wife and mother, including her own selfless accomplishments in education, political, and charitable work. Ann Romney has far more in common with working moms and average women than Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis ever had. But to a liberal like Juan, Ann Romney is just a corporate wife - while Jackie remains the liberal icon, the ideal First Lady.
I just don't understand the liberal mindset. They are simply not like us.
Folks, this here is what we call a "tipping point."
Yes, that is the actual cover of Newsweek - NEWSWEEK! - that hits stands tomorrow. You can read it online here.
This marks the first time I can think of that a major establishment news source has printed anything remotely like this - even though millions of readers and viewers agree. The mainstream press has been completely in the tank for Obama - and suffering nightmarish declines in ratings and readership as more and more regular people recognize the partisan cheerleading for what it is and tune out.
It starts with Newsweek. This will be a big selling issue. And now that the dam has started to crack, other news media sources will start to publish their own hit pieces on Obama, in order to keep up and remain relevant. Thanks to Newsweek, now other sources can run critical pieces without sticking their necks out to be first. And this comes on the eve of the Republican National Convention, which will provide plenty of fodder.
Momentum has shifted - big time. Write this day down in your history books. This is the moment that Obama's fate became sealed. He will lose. Now the question is no longer "will Obama get re-elected?", because he won't. Instead, the question becomes "how big a victory will the Republicans have?"
Soon.
Very soon.
Well, there you have it:
As you can see from my earlier post, I was wrong. Romney, however, was right. Ryan is an unbelievably great candidate. In my earlier prediction, I didn't consider Ryan simply because I didn't believe Romney would be bold enough to choose him. I am glad to be wrong!
Ryan is the best possible choice for transforming government. I don't just mean reforming. I mean TRANSFORMING. Government has grown so much and is so far from what the Founders intended, mere reformation is not enough.
Ryan is a man of policy and ideas, not simply someone who fills in important boxes on a checksheet. I was afraid Romney would bow to pressure from certain demographics, and think he had to choose a running mate in order to appeal to "the Hispanics" or "the women" or "the evangelicals" or "the South" or "Ohio." Nope. Romney chose a man based on principles of policy and ideas. This signals two important things:
1) Romney is a man who will govern according to the principles of policy and ideas, and,
2) Romney is confident he can win with these principles, instead of needing to rely on "the Hispanics" or "the women" or "the evangelicals" or "the South" or "Ohio."
In other words, this choice exudes both principle and confidence in principle.
This is a good day for America. A VERY good day. Up until now, I was only hopeful that Romney could beat Obama because people dislike Obama more, and then Romney would simply not be as bad. Now, I am hopeful Romney and Ryan can beat beat Obama and Biden because America WANTS Romney and Ryan, and that together they will repair our nation.
There is a lot of talk today about Condi Rice for VP. I like Condi and all. But it won't be her. She is perceived as a moderate - probably unjustly so, but the fact is, on some social issues, she is distrusted by the conservative base. This conservative base is already skeptical of Romney, so Romney needs a reassuring pick, not a controversial one in this regard. She is also closely associated with the Bush administration. Now remember, for the most part, I liked Bush. This is not a bad thing for me. But Obama wants to run against the last two years of the Bush administration - two years that went south, largely because Pelosi and Reid were running Congress... but I digress. Romney needs to be able to say that he would not be just another Bush Republican. Condi on the ticket negates that. Finally, unlike most other politicians who say it, when she says she never wants to run for office, she convinces me. So who should Romney choose? I say, Bobby Jindal:
Jindal would be perfect for many reasons:
1) Let's get the obvious out of the way - Jindal is an Indian-American, and Romney is a boring white guy. Jindal on the ticket would be abother historic first, and would forever change the race debates in this nation. The GOP would no longer be the white people party. And it would highlight the racial double-standard of the left: to liberals, if you are black or Mexican, you are a special minority. But if you are Asian, you are nothing to them. However, Asians have just surpassed hispanics as the fastest growing immigrant group. They are an important voting bloc, and have been largely ignored by politicians across the country. This would be big. Real big.
2) Jindal is both the second coming of, and at the same time, the polar opposite of, Sarah Palin. Palin and Jindal agree on most issues, excite the tea party and conservative base, and break ground as historic minority figures. Jindal would add needed fire to the Romney campaign as Palin did for McCain. But elites hated Palin, unfairly, because she is a "low brow" figure who took more than four years to graduate from a podunk state college and went on to do things like work on fishing boats instead of working at law firms, universities, or major corporations like "respectable" people. Jindal is at home with blue collar working class folks, but has elite cred up the wazoo (see below).
3) Jindal would be one of the most intelligent, best educated candidates on a ticket - just like Romney. Obama fans brag about his Harvard Law degree and tenure as a professor. Well... Romney graduated with honors from Harvard Law AND Harvard Business. He needs a running mate with similar achievement, to avoid diminishing his own. Jindal graduated from Brown with honors (double majoring, in just three years), then went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, graduating with a Master's degree in Political Science, and was a consultant for McKinsey and Company and president of University of Louisiana - that's real brains, with the paper to back it up. It would be impossible for anyone to say with any credibility that the Republican Party is the "stupid" party with Jindal on the ticket alongside Romney.
4) Jindal has government experience and executive experience that defies belief for someone so young. Jindal was the head of Louisiana Health and Human Services, president of University of Louisiana, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Congressman, and Governor of Louisiana - all before age 40. He is younger than I am by a year. I feel so pathetic in comparison! Romney's big advantage - his private sector experience - is also a weakness in that people expect a President (especially after the Obama nightmare) to have extensive experience running GOVERNMENT. Romney has only his one term as a governor; adding Jindal to the ticket would add incredible balance in that regard.
5) Jindal excites the tea party. Romney doesn't. A Romney-Jindal ticket unites the big tent of establishment GOP, moderates, conservatives, and the tea party. Romney needs that.
6) Jindal is right on the issues. He favors limited federal government, states' rights, low taxes, less regulation, secure borders, life, liberty, guns, babies, God and country. Jindal is top rated by Right to Life, the NRA, and Club for Growth. He has the right vision for America, and will help reassure those on our side who fear Romney lacks a conservative vision or core conservative principles.
7) Jindal has experience that Romney lacks. Jindal served on the Homeland Security Committee in Congress and has national security expertise. This helps make up for a significant Romney weakness while the U.S. is still engaged in the Global War on Terror and faces new threats from the likes of Iran.
8) Jindal is a turn-around specialist, like Romney, but with government instead of private business. As head of Louisiana HHS, Jindal wiped out a $400 million deficit and created a $200 million surplus. As governor, he rescued his state's credit rating. He has the same vision for rescuing failing organizations with sweeping changes for improved efficiency as Romney - but has experience doing it with failing governments.
9) Jindal's greatest area of expertise is healthcare policy. The GOP is running on repealing Obamacare. The left keeps saying the GOP has no vision for replacing it. Romney's greatest weakness is that he implemented Romneycare as governor. Having Jindal on the ticket demonstrates a commitment to making actual healthcare REFORM, and not just Obamacare repeal, a top priority.
10) Jindal is Catholic. Romney is Mormon. Many voters will not support a Mormon. The Catholic Church has been, historically, one of the most critical anti-Mormon organizations. A Mormon-Catholic ticket would be an incredible thing, more so (in my opinion) than a Mormon-Protestant ticket. While there are many Protestant evangelicals who will not support Romney, I believe their biggest problem with him isn't religion so much as perceived weakness on social issues like abortion, gay marriage, and gun control. Jindal would do more to help with this than probably any Protestant other than Mike Huckabee - and Huckabee would do more harm with tea party conservatives than he would help with social conservative evangelicals.
11) JIndal has been vetted. He has been elected and re-elected congressman and governor. Louisiana is a tough state for politics. If there was dirt on Jindal, it would have already derailed him.
12) Jindal has handled crisis. He succeeded in leading during the Gulf oil spill and Hurricane Gustav when other states failed, and in stark contrast to Katrina before he became governor. When the 3 a.m. call comes, Jindal will have a cool head and get right to work solving the crisis.
13) Unlike some other potential candidates, Jindal was not in Congress during the end of the Bush years, and therefore does not have a TARP vote to rationalize! He has congressional experience (important, as VP is also President of the Senate), but without a long history of bad votes to drag him down.
14) Jindal has a strong family story. He is the child of immigrants. His parents came to America to make use of their education in a free country. His siblings are all successes. His wife is a chemical engineer with an MBA working on her PhD. Everyone in the family has strong personal values. There won't be any embarassing uncles showing up drunk or children being born out of wedlock.
And that brings up something that needs discussed: there is a lunatic fringe of the birther crowd who will claim Jindal is not eligible under the Constitution. Let's just clear this up. HE IS. Jindal was born in the United States. His parents came to America legally, under a visa, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Anyone saying otherwise is a fool, allowing a non-issue to distract us from the REAL issue at hand: Obama, whether born in Hawaii or not, is a FAILURE as President who must be replaced because of his bad policies.
So that's my take. Jindal would be best. You can agree or disagree. But regardless of who Romney chooses as his running mate, my vote is with Romney to defeat Obama. I hope you and I can agree on that!
Readers may have noticed: I almost never post anything here. It is not that I am inactive. It is simply that almost all my posting is done on facebook these days. It is quicker and easier and I have a much better sense of who is reading and responding. Downside is: not much in the way of creativity for posting larger articles with multiple images and other attachments. But then, such posts aren't quick or easy. So... the dilemma...
Do I continue to keep this site running? Or just put it out to pasture?
I am a Renaissance Man!
Recent Comments