12.12.2007

GTKTPRFP - Mitt Romney: Part I: (Seriousness Level: Severe)

For every candidate I’m going to devote 2 hours to look over their opinions on key issues and pointing out where I disagree. Then I’ll be looking at the major issues playing in the media that will dissuade people from voting for them. I’m trying to summarize thoughts, so please don’t take my words as absolute fact. If you have any grips with my summary, please look to the candidate’s website for their official opinion. This is my interpretations from 2 hours ONLY. I reserve the right to change my opinion as this proceeds.



Baseball Card Statistics:

Full Name: Williard Mitt Romney
Age: 50
Marital Status: Wife, Ann – Married for 38 years
Party Affiliation: Republican
Most Recent Office Held: Governor of Massachusetts
College: BYU
Religious Affiliation: Mormon
Eric’s Official Nickname: Mittens
Official Candidate website: http://www.mittromney.com/
Randomness: His family has a blog called Five Brothers.

Interesting Issue Watch

Terrorism: Mittens seems to have a very practical approach to combating terrorism. He sees the issue larger than any specific country or any one terrorist group, i.e. Al Qaeda. A title of one of his “issue watch” pieces is “Confronting Radical Jihad”. He calls it this century’s nightmare. The main point that jumped out is his call for the creation of the Special Partnership Force. This sounds a little like a superhero club. I like it. Basically this would coordinate our anti-terrorist activities under one military banner. I think this is a wise way to combat terror. Focus on individual cells rather than blow up countries that harbor terrorists.

"This [Special Partnership] Force would work hand-in-glove with local host governments. Together, they would seek to target and separate terrorists from the local population, and to disrupt and defeat them. (Remarks At AEI World Forum, 6/21/07)

Illegal Immigration: Apparently illegal immigration has skyrocketed from 3 millions per year in 1997, to over 12 million last year. Who’s counting these people? Shouldn’t they be arresting them instead of counting? Just a thought. Anyway, snow Mittens agrees, and has two points I haven’t heard before (I’m learning these issues, so this may be a common thought):

From his website:

Implement An Enforceable Employer Verification System. Issue a biometrically-enabled and tamperproof card to non-citizens and create a national database for non-citizens so employers can easily verify their legal status in this country.

This sounds WAY too much like a George Orwell book for me. Maybe we should give them tattoos of I’s on their arms. Then we can catalog them in one of my wife’s fancy spreadsheets. Maybe this is good, sounds a little weird though.

Punish Sanctuary Cities. Cut back federal funding to cities that are "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants and refuse to comply with federal law or aid federal law enforcement.

Now we’re talking. Just like cities that didn’t adhere to the national seatbelt law, let’s bring the hammer down on cities that aren’t complying. Let’s give something teeth, even though this would be almost impossible to imploy.

Eric’s Gut Feeling After 2 Hours of Research

Look, I’m trying to give each candidate a lot of my time. I know that 2 hours doesn’t sound like much, but it feels like a lot, especially because most party candidates say the same stuff. My opinions will grow, so more depth will be added as the time goes. There’s one thing that KEEPS getting brought up about Mittens: He’s a Mormon. So the question of the day is: Does religious affiliation matter when electing a president? Of course it does to some degree. I think it would be naïve to think otherwise. I live by a certain set of morale guidelines. The happen to run hand in hand with the Bible. They’re based solely from that. So why would I vote for somebody that differs dramatically from my personal set of moral guidelines?

So the larger issue for me is: Would Mitt Romney’s religious beliefs negatively impact the county as a whole? (Side note: I don’t understand the full differences between our two faiths. And there is a difference. This isn’t the time to address everything, but there are differences). I don’t see the difference between a Mormon and another candidate who calls himself a Southern Baptist just to get votes.

Eric’s Official Rating

As of today, my ranking system is out of 100 points. Those 100 points are arbitrarily thrown around. Anything under 50, I will not consider voting for and pretend they don’t exist. From 51-75, I will keep my eye on for new developments. If they do something interested, they get a second column. Anybody will an initial score of over 75 will receive a second column in the coming weeks. I know that’s about as simply as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but I’m new at this so give me a break.

I’m giving Mittens an early score of 80. We share a lot of similarities on the issues he comments on, but I’m not blown away. He has a very high appeal with voters and that makes him VERY relevant. Seems like a good guy and any Republican that wins office in Massachusetts has to have something going for him.


Tomorrow Afternoon: Ron Paul

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"This sounds WAY too much like a George Orwell book for me. Maybe we should give them tattoos of I’s on their arms. Then we can catalog them in one of my wife’s fancy spreadsheets. Maybe this is good, sounds a little weird though."

I was thinking the EXACT same thing. I appreciate the look at Romney, and the solid facts and your opinion stated with it. I think that's a great way to share both.

Shannon Adams said...

Very good writing! I love the nicknames...you should be a political coorespondent!

Anonymous said...

Eric- This is fantastic, really. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the other candidates.

You and Shannon are both so good at this! I love reading your opinions on this blog and well...others.

Anonymous said...

Nice work my friend- Nice Work