Thursday, August 24, 2006

what about McCain supporters?

I've recently spoken with some folks here in Utah who are McCain supporters. It seems to me that something to focus on would be to get McCain supporters into Mitt's camp. It might not be easy. McCain seems like a good, honorable man. I'm wondering what to say to these folks to encourage them to take a look at Romney.

Should I try and point out problems or weaknesses of McCain to try and create doubt? Should I try and prove that Romney is a better leader than McCain?

On Aug. 5th I posted 5 characteristics that are important to me in a President. What I'd like to do (instead of the two suggestions above) is to find an example in Mitt's political or business life which illustrates each of the 5 characteristics I mentioned in that previous post (honesty, selflessness, experience, mental and physical capability, and ability to compromise). Then I could share with folks some Mitt-promoting stories. In this way I would be planting seeds of support, rather than flinging the mud.

1 Comments:

Blogger Myclob said...

Great blog! I'm trying to compair romney to other candidates on this site:

http://myclob.pbwiki.com/Romney%20vs%20other%20Candidates

Specifically I look at Romney vs McCain here:

http://myclob.pbwiki.com/Romney_vs_McCain

I would like to have as many people help me with this site. It is very easy to edit. Just push the Edit Button. Please contact me for the password, if you would like to add any content.

If you are very lazy, I will post My analisis of Romney vs McCain...

Governor Mitt Romney vs Senator John McCain

Mitt Romney's advantage's:

1. McCain is old.
2. Mitt Romney is a Govenor, and John McCain is a Senator. It is harder for a Senator to become President than a Govenor.
3. John McCain thinks we spend too much money on politics. He is not very good at Math, or Economics. America spend more money on Gum than we do on the whole political election cycle, including every political commersial and yard sign.
4. McCain, easily one of the most gifted, charismatic politicians of our time, has good reason to be concerned. But why would that be? McCain is the original bipartisan reformer, after all. Given his carefully cultivated reputation as a moderate willing to work closely with Democrats on campaign finance reform, a patient's bill of rights, global warming, immigration, and spending restraint, you'd think McCain would simply own voters looking to back "the party of performance." Yet it is increasingly clear that he has chosen the wrong issues on which to embrace a more moderate, results-oriented view, both in light of Republican biases and the likely general election landscape.
5. (1) Campaign finance reform was never a burning issue for voters. Rather, it was an issue of totemic significance, particularly for journalists and a narrow slice of the upper-middle-class, that pitted McCain against much of the Republican base. Achieving a victory on this front certainly generated "good vibes," for a time, but it's left little in the way of lasting voter loyalty. Moreover, McCain's efforts set very high standards for ethical behavior that can and in fact have been used against him. Every time McCain raises funds for, say, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, he will be accused--fairly or unfairly--of rank hypocrisy. Worse yet, it is hard to argue that the McCain-Feingold legislation has been a success. McCain's conservative opponents feel vindicated--the legislation solved nothing, and may have made matters worse. His allies are dissatisfied. To say the very least, this doesn't bode well.
6. Following his release after 5-1/2 years as a Viet Nam POW, John McCain divorced his wife, who had raised their children alone during his confinement. The second (and current) Mrs. John McCain was embroiled in a huge controversy over an addiction to drugs illicitly obtained from her own non-profit medical relief organization. Since 2000, a roller-coaster of controversial positions within his own party have unfortunately left this maverick Senator with the label “Republican in Name Only.”
7. Similarly, the patient's bill of rights appears--again, fairly or unfairly--to have solved nothing. It has not made insurance coverage more widespread, it has not reduced the number of medical bankruptcies, and it doesn't seem to have improved the quality of medical care for very many, if any, voters.
8. Global warming is a worthy cause, and yet the winners from any forward movement on the issue are a large, diffuse, mostly indifferent group. The losers are a small, focused, and intensely engaged group. That's never a good thing in an election.
9. Then there is immigration. Insofar as the desire for immigration reform stems from a general sense of unease about rapid demographic change, economic insecurity, and a strongly-held belief that law and order has broken down, it seems unlikely that any legislation that deemphasizes stemming the low-skill influx in favor of legalizing the existing illegal population and actually increasing the size of the low-skill influx will win McCain many friends among Republicans.
10. Finally, spending restraint, one area where McCain is very much in tune with the Republican intelligentsia, is not an obvious winner against the old Clinton battle-cry of "M2E2"--Medicare, Medicaid, Education, and the Environment. Root-canal economics was unpopular in the 1980s, and it remains unpopular today, elite opinion notwithstanding.
11. The Media loves John McCain. Republicans hate the media.


Mitt Romney's Disadvantage's:

1. The Media loves John McCain
2. John McCain is a war veteren.


Sources:
1. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/04/health_care_plan_gives_romney.html
2. http://lowdowncentral.townhall.com/g/9ed05262-03c3-44ab-baae-0b4966b2d886
Romney vs McCain Google Search

5:58 PM, August 25, 2006  

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