Super Tuesday & CPAC Reflections

I’m referencing CPAC since that’s where Mitt Romney bowed out and John McCain attempted to reach out to conservatives. McCain has been choice #1 for me for about a month; I arrived at him after performing deductive analysis rather than inherently being in agreement with him (I caucused for Obama as part of the ABC (Anyone BUT Clinton) Alliance. After Super Tuesday, I didn’t see a path for Romney to achieve the nomination, though the lack of a path is significantly influenced by the outcomes from three large-delegate winner take all states that McCain (or any Republican) has next to no chance of winning in November (NY, NJ, CA). Of all the Republicans referencing Reagan, I think Romney had the best chance of succeeding in Reagan’s footprints, but his conversion to conservatism was abrupt. (He might have earned my #1 choice if he had a longer track record of being guided by conservative principles) Reagan’s conversion took some time (as in decades). Romney would be wise to emulate Reagan’s activity between his tenure as Governor (CA) and Party Nominee.

McCain – we’ll be able to observe the effectiveness of reaching out to the other side. Immigration, Campaign Finance Reform, No Child Left Behind, Gang of 14 are a few of the issues where McCain has compromised on conservative principles. I do think those are examples of leadership, but I also have concerns about the direction of such leadership. And what are the chances that media outlets like the New York Times will endorse him in the General Election? That entity would endorse convicted drug-dealer former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry over Sen. McCain for President.

So Mrs. Clinton had to “loan” her campaign $5 MILLION dollars? Where did that money come from? As Senator, she’s in the 100K-200K range. Her husband was in the 200-300K range while President. Even if your investments pay off like Whitewater and Cattle Futures, those salaries don’t turn into having chunks of $5 MILLION dollars lying around. Especially when they had all of those legal bills to pay and those 2 houses to buy after leaving the White House in 2001 (and they didn’t have any home equity to cash in, having lived in Arkansas-provided housing prior to moving to D.C.). Did this money come from the likes of Norman Hsu, the Daly City, CA postal workers, or some Saudi Oil royalty? IF it has Saudi Oil roots, then how can HRC be all upset w/ Big Oil? Big Oil might just be the force keeping her afloat in the campaign. And now she wants to debate Obama every week? If I’m Obama, I don’t take that unless I can guarantee a question that will cause her to outcircle Sen. Kerry like the driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants did last October. At least Mrs. Clinton finally exhibited some honesty about HillaryCare when she said she’d approve of garnishing wages to fund her health care plan. That is code word for ADDITIONAL FEDERAL INCOME TAX. I think the people who want universal health care should move to Canada and try it out for awhile. Then they can come back to the USA and share what they learned. I can see a benfit to disconnecting health care from employer benefits, but am not sure how painful that would be to implement. But I would be in support of improving the process in that manner. Just look at the cost of Lasik eye surgery. It has significantly dropped in price and seems to be of high-quality, and IT IS NOT PART OF MOST EMPLOYER COVERAGE. When will a conservative candidate recognize this and use it?