The Republican candidate liberals want out of the race

Are you familiar with our 'no exchange/no return' policy on presidential candidates? Voting for McCain because he was a POW a quarter-century ago or Huckabee because he was a Baptist preacher is like buying a new car because you like the color. The candidate Republicans should be clamoring for is the one liberals are feverishly denouncing. That is Mitt Romney by a landslide. -- Ann Coulter

Romney for real

Romney's very public migration rightward over the last few years is a different kind of act, one intended not to hide his real views but to liberate them. In 1994, Romney struck me as an extraordinarily bright, talented, and decent man -- and a political neophyte who fell for the canard that the only way a conservative could win in Massachusetts was by passing for a liberal. [Now,] Romney is where he should have been all along. -- Jeff Jacoby

Election Issues for Evangelicals

Here is what I believe is at stake in this election:

• Someone is almost certain to appoint two, three, or four justices to the Supreme Court. Do we want that person to be Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney?
• Someone will cast vision and lead Congress on matters of national security, including securing our borders against illegal immigration. Should that be Hillary, Rudy or Mitt?
• Someone will deal with the definition of marriage in America -- and will either defend and model a faithful marriage and strong family, or not. Who should that person be?
• Someone will either defend unborn life -- or defend those who place THEIR rights and desires above those who can't defend themselves. Would we prefer that Clinton, Giuliani or Romney be in that position?
• Someone will need to deal with radical Islamic Jihadists and the threat they pose to our nation. As evangelicals, do we want to entrust Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney with that critical assignment?
• Finally, someone will either welcome evangelicals and people of faith into the White House and their administration; or shut them out of deliberations and consideration for various appointments. Would Hillary, Rudy or Mitt be most accepting of evangelicals and people of faith?

. . . I concluded that I am more concerned that a candidate shares my values than he shares my theology.

-- Evangelist Mark DeMoss, quoted by Hugh Hewitt, townhall.com, 10/11/07

My Fellow Republicans

If we're going to change Washington, Republicans have to put our own house in order. We can't be like Democrats -- a party of big spending. We can't pretend our borders are secure from illegal immigration. We can't have ethical standards that are a punch-line for Jay Leno. When Republicans act like Democrats, America loses. It's time for Republicans to start acting like Republicans. -- Mitt Romney, open letter to the Republican party

A Manager for President? Instead of a Lawyer? Duh!

It would be helpful to have a person leading the country who understands how the economy works and has actually managed something. In the case of the three Democratic front-runners, not one of them has managed even a corner store, let alone a state or a city. -- Mitt Romney

Mormon canary

[Hugh] Hewitt's message [in "A Mormon in the Whitehouse?"] is that Mitt Romney has become a political canary in the coalmine. If a man of Romney's intellectual and professional stature is taken down simply because of his religious beliefs, others will follow. Permission will have been granted to destroy political opponents across the religious spectrum for believing "weird" things -- or perhaps for being excessively moral in the eyes of a skeptical, secular press. -- Richard Kirk, spectator.org, 5/11/07

MAKE THIS DAD PRESIDENT

I've seen my Dad [Mitt Romney] in action, not just in one crisis, but in dozens. I don't think there is a person alive in whom I'm more confident in placing my trust.

Take a look back to 2002. That was the year he put on an incredible Winter Olympics with a $100M surplus (right after 9/11, and despite a major scandal that almost ruined the games before he took them over), won as a Republican Governor in an overwhelmingly Democratic state, and turned a $3B budget deficit into a surplus without raising taxes.

Ask yourself who you want leading our nation over the next decade as we face the following challenges: a Jihadist enemy intent on destroying our way of life; liberal elites and activist judges attempting to break down the social values and norms that have existed for centuries; an exploding immigration problem; a serious threat to our status as economic and military superpower from Asia; a looming energy crisis; out-of-control spending in Washington.
What kind of person should we want to be leading our nation at this time of challenge and opportunity? The answer seems obvious – we want someone strong; someone who recognizes our challenges and is willing to deal with them head on; a fiscal conservative; a social conservative; someone whose personal integrity and moral values are unquestioned; someone who has been tested; someone who isn't a career politician; and someone who will get the job done.

There is only one person I believe can do all of that. There's no question that I'm biased—I love my Dad. But my love hasn't blinded me. Like Lincoln in 1860, Roosevelt in 1901, and Reagan in 1980, Mitt Romney is the right leader at the right time for our great nation. He may not be Superman. But he's close enough for me.

-- Taggart Romney, townhall.com, 4/2/07

BIGOTRY IS BACK: Anti-religious bigotry serves a lot of agendas. The war on faith in America -- the effort to drive faith-based people from the public square and faith-based arguments from polite conversation -- has been underway for three decades, and is picking up steam. A Mormon is just a convenient target, and one that provides media pundits with a convenient cover. They voice their concern with [Mitt] Romney's faith by putting that concern into the mouths of unnamed evangelicals. ... Most of the published attacks on Mormons for being Mormons come in the mainstream, secular press. The legitimizing of this bigotry is far advanced. Excuses are offered for it, but it remains bigotry. ... Will Romney's religious faith hurt his candidacy? That remains to be seen, but if it does, it will have hurt the country much more than him. The bigotry that was thought to have been buried in 1960 will have been exhumed. It will be difficult to kill a second time. -- Hugh Hewitt, townhall.com, 2/19/07

DAVID O. ROMNEY? There is no work more important for our nation's future than the work done in the home. . . . How is the American family made stronger? With marriage before children. With a mother and a father in the life of every child. With healthcare that is affordable and portable. With schools that succeed. With taxes that are lower. And with leaders who strive to demonstrate enduring values and morality. -- Mitt Romney, meridianmagazine.com, 2/14/07

MITT'S PLATFORM:

• I love America and I believe in the people of America.
• I believe in God and I believe that every person in this great country, and every person on this grand planet, is a child of God. We are all sisters and brothers.
• I believe the family is the foundation of America -- and that we must fight to protect and strengthen it.
• I believe in the sanctity of human life.
• I believe that people and their elected representatives should make our laws, not unelected judges.
• I believe we are overtaxed and government is overfed. Washington is spending too much money.
• I believe that homeland security begins with securing our borders.
• I believe the best days of this country are ahead of us, because . . . I believe in America!

-- Mitt Romney, meridianmagazine.com, 2/14/07

[ ... and I believe we have some common ground, here! -- KJK ]

HOW 'BOUT AN OUTSIDER WITH A SOLID TRACK RECORD? I do not believe Washington can be transformed from within by a lifelong politician. There have been too many deals, too many favors, too many entanglements -- and too little real world experience managing, guiding, leading. -- Mitt Romney, meridianmagazine.com, 2/14/07

ANTI-MORMON OR PRO-CHRIST? I think a lot of resistance to a Romney Presidency is the fear that this would further the goals, causes of the LDS church. In this respect, the resistance is more anti-Mormon than it is pro-Christ. Anyone sympathetic to this view (if honest) is worshiping a smaller God than that of the Bible, who made it abundantly clear that He uses all things for the good of the believer who loves Him, called according to His purposes. -- Christopher Suleske, opinioneditorials.com, 1/10/07

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: [Rudy] Giuliani and [Newt] Gingrich are on their third marriages, and [George]Allen and [John] McCain are on their second, while [Mitt] Romney's been married to the same woman for 30-plus years. Thus, the candidate in the race with the fewest wives is the Mormon.