Mitt out of luck

As i said in my last post, ive been trying to get on geezey for a while because, among other reasons, i wanted to weigh in and give my presidential endorsements before super tuesday. What a difference it could have made.

Had you asked me then who i support for the republican nomination for president, I would've said this:

Mitt Romney. Why, you might ask? Is it because you think he would be a weaker general election candidate than john mccain and make it that much easier for hilary clinton to turn the USA into the soviet union? Nooooooooooo.

In all honesty, I do believe that Mitt Romeny would have been better for this country. First of all, i think the idea that mitt is a panderer is bogus. isn't that the whole point of electoral politics? Who cares what mitt really thinks. isn't the question of interest what he would do once in office? and if the republican establishment wants someone who won't raise taxes or appoint baby-killing judges or let larry and jim buy monogramed bath towels, isnt that what they should get. and isn't mccain, mr. oh no its irresponsible to give rich people tax cuts when poor people are dying for freedom in a poorly planned and unjustified war, just as much of a panderer, now that he wants to make the bush tax cuts permanent. why the flip-flop, grandpa munster?

which brings us to out next issue, something obviously less important than whether people in the top 1% have to forfeit 37% or 41% of their annual income to the federal government: war and peace. Now, McCain is trying to position himself as a latter day winston churchill in this election, as the only man with enough clairvoyance to recognize the imminent threat of islamic fundamentalism, and the only man with enough guts and know-how to silence the appeasers and promote a policy of aggresive containment. now, to me, the implied argument seems to be that, just like the only way to stop hitler was total war, so too is it the only way to stop a bunch of poor, undersexed teenagers in the middle east from unhinging the political foundations of the modern world. I genuinely fear the way a president mccain would react to some incendiary news coming out of iran--like the successful enrichment of uranium (for energy purposes, of course)--or, god forbid, a catastrophic terrorist attack. Obama isn't doing his party justice when he says that mccain represent a continuation of the bush doctrine. mccain would be worse.

Now i have the utmost admiration for mccain. I really do. 1999 was about the time that i began to understand all that stuff in the newspaper, and john mccain was instantly attractive to me. it was his record, his independance, things that still attract voters to him. but most of all it was in the ways in which he was not like his rival, that swaggering, proud-to-be-ignorant governor from texas. That hug in 2004 just about did it for my relationship with mccain. And if every war hero were automatically better than every draft-dodger, then we'd have a president kerry right now, bob dole and george bush sr both wouldve beat clinton, and martin van beuran would never have had the opportunity to become some name that alot of people have heard of before.

so why mitt? well, i think the country could do alot worse than to be run effectively. i mean, politics is so drenched in ideologies and, well, politics, that sometimes we forget to look for that all important quality in our politicians: competence. Now, i'm obviously not one to blindly favor experience over change, but at the very least i could see mitt finding good, cost effective solutions to our recession and energy crisis. militarily, he strikes me alot as an eisenhower, eager to put american resources to work in making for more freedom and less danger around the world, but recognizing the extent to which military commanders don't have the vantage point from which to make reasonable assessments about things like troop levels, budget forecasts, or whether or not england would be pissed if america doesn't protect its sovereign rights over egyptian canals (well, you know what i mean).

But, all this for naught. mitt is out, and goiter-face is in. It will be fun watching him for the next 8 months trying to get republicans to vote for him. And, of course, his last day in the race, mitt couldn't help but make a fool of himself one last time, smiling that "i'm your boss, i'm on your side" smile and declaring that the reason he is getting out of the race is so that he won't help the democrats and thus contribute to a "surrender to terrorism." Ah, republicans. As hard as i try to be not partisan (and i do try hard), they always seem to remind me why i'm a democrat.

stay tuned for my democratic endorsement...that is, when voters (and/or superdelegates) have already decided.