REPUBLICANS, WHAT IS OUR GOAL?

Our goal, to DEFEAT OBAMA, needs to remain squarely in front of us as we choose a GOP candidate.

The GOP candidate needs to be bulletproof. Obama and his big money are digging up every juicy bit of information that they can use against their opponent. It doesn't even have to be true! It just needs to sound good and it needs to influence the opinions of the American voters against the candidate.

So, as I evaluate the candidates in this primary election, I am using a different measuring stick than I have used in previous elections. Truthfully, ALL the remaining GOP candidates would serve well as President (maybe with the exception of Ron Paul!). I am looking for the person who will appeal to all the people who voted for Obama in 2008! The liberals and independents who now see the real inadequacies of Obama's presidency and the damage he is doing to the nation. The minorities who voted for him because he was a "black" man, who now see that the minorities have not benefited from his presidency. The people who were looking for "hope and change" but have found the "change" they got was not what they had hoped for.

I don't look at our prospective GOP candidate as someone who needs to be super conservative. A little moderation is good because it draws in more voters.

I don't want someone who has spent their entire career in Washington. Judging by the low Congressional approval rating, most people are fed up with the Washington establishment and the "throw the bums out" mentality is alive and well.

I want someone with a clean background that doesn't have excess baggage that can be used against him. If they've been in Washington for any length of time, the opposition has a treasure trove of baggage to use against the candidate.

In the primaries, I'm not voting for the GOP candidate that I think would be the best President in my view! I am voting for the candidate that I think can DEFEAT OBAMA in the type of campaign that Obama will conduct. I want the most level playing field we can get, not one full of potholes waiting to bring down our candidate.

If, in the process, I can choose someone who is not Washington establishment and someone who has the skills to fix the economy and manage foreign affairs, I will consider myself very lucky! Just let him DEFEAT OBAMA in 2012 and I will be happy to support him as President of the United States. We can't do much worse than the President we have now!

FLORIDA, a critical vote

Floridians need to keep in mind that the goal is to BEAT OBAMA as they go to the polls to vote in the upcoming GOP Primaries. The results of the Florida vote may greatly influence the emergence of our GOP candidate against Obama.

Rick Santorum is a nice Washington career politician, who is a conservative. He doesn't have a prayer against Obama. The Obama campaign machine will run over him.

Newt Gingrich is a very capable, intelligent, and sometimes high strung, man who would probably be a very good President. BUT, he has enough baggage to bring down a 747! The Obama campaign is probably salivating hoping that Gingrich will be the candidate because they have so much material to use against him.

Nancy Pelosi said today that "Newt Gingrich will NEVER be President!" She wasn't speaking out of animosity. She was speaking with assurance that if he's the candidate that he will be defeated! She's been around Washington long enough to know where the bodies are buried, and she and Obama will dig them up and use them against Gingrich! I am old enough to have lived through Gingrich's term as Speaker of the House and I can tell you it wasn't pretty! He was a very controversial Speaker who left office being disliked by many in his own party. Not to mention the juicy stories of his numerous wives and tumultuous personal life. There is so much garbage that can be used to make Gingrich look bad and to make Obama look good! That's exactly what the Republican party DOES NOT NEED going into this critical election.

Mitt Romney, in my opinion, is our best chance against Obama. Romney is definitely more cautious and self-restrained than Gingrich. That's Romney's style. These are good characteristics for a President. But most of all, Romney has a relatively clean background with very little ammunition for the Obama campaign. Most of what can be used against Romney has already been brought out by Gingrich. Romney has executive experience in government and in the private sector. He understands the economy. He is moderate enough and conservative enough to appeal to a large portion of the electorate. I don't care if he's Mormon or Hindu. To me that is not relevant to the situation we have now in our country. I want an honest and honorable man in the Oval Office again.

Romney can hold his own against Obama in a debate and in the campaign as a whole. If I still lived in Florida, I'd be voting for Romney.

Obama's State of Dysfunction speech

Tonight, Americans who bother to tune in to the President's State of the Union message will watch the work of a rhetorical master with a flair for illusion. He will take the podium in the Capitol in hopes of laying the groundwork for a political debate on his terms--one where he stands on emotional appeals, populism, and class warfare, not the shaky ground of his crumbling record. And looking back at him will be the US Senate which, for the last 1000 days, has failed to pass a budget--a total shirking of their fundamental duty to be the diligent stewards of the taxpayers' dollars.

The President will rely on the power of his words. He will tell us the story of America through a progressive's eyes--one where "fairness" takes on a new meaning, where America's core values are brushed aside, and where the truth about a failed presidency is forgotten.

He will tell us that the federal government should be the guarantor of equal outcomes and that "fairness" of achievement should be decided by bureaucrats in Washington. This is the root of the President's ideology. It is not, however, the ideology on which our country was founded.

The American dream is that people may use their individual freedom to apply their talents and abilities in order to better themselves. The President does not support that dream. Instead he has made clear that he believes that only through government engineering can society advance. He believes that this is accomplished by government power, federal programs, economic regulations and infrastructure spending--all funded by "fair" taxes on the wealthy.

President Obama's message will be designed to appeal to the American people. That's what politicians do. Listening to what the President says tonight, we will hear subtle references to class warfare, to blaming others for failures of his administration. However, we all need to ponder how the people have actually fared under the President's policies. It's hard to miss the 13.1 million unemployed Americans, the plodding economy, the inflation of prices, the businesses that are not growing or expanding. He won't bring up the trillion dollar stimulus bill, government takeover of the auto industry, the proliferation of government regulations, the crony capitalism of the Solyndra scandal, and the illegal appointments to critical federal agencies. He will not bring up these "achievements".

President Obama makes great promises, but his ideology is faulty and becomes evident to anyone who looks beyond the words he speaks and actually looks at the results of his ideology!

(Excerpts from The Heritage Foundation 1/24/12)

America's Super Bowl

I just watched Kristin Chenoweth sing the National Anthem at the opening of the NFC Championship game. A huge American flag was displayed on the playing field. As she sang, the crowd roared and cheered with patriotic fervor. Hopefully, for the few minutes of the song, thousands of people in that stadium and watching on TV felt the exceptional spirit of America.

The outstanding teams on the field are symbols of the competitive spirit of our nation. Those who work hard and strive for success are often rewarded with it. But some teams will win and some teams will lose. Those that lose will retrench and retrain and try again! They don't whine and complain about fairness. Imagine how ridiculous it would be if a player was told to give up his super bowl ring because it wasn't fair that the players on the losing team didn't get one!

Some win and some lose. This is true in sports, in business, in life! This principle is inherent in the concept of capitalism. In a capitalistic economy, the goal is making a profit. Just like winning is the goal in a football game, making a profit is the goal in business. Like football teams, some businesses succeed and some don't. Profit is the catalyst that creates a free market, that generates jobs, that grows businesses, and that runs our economy.

Government doesn't create profit. Government shouldn't decide which businesses will be winners and which will be losers. Government interference in the free market has a negative effect on business growth and prosperity. What would happen if the football referees, instead of the coaches, would decide which plays could be made on the field, so that the game would be "fair" to everyone? Referees, like government, can have limited power to protect against abuses, but not to control the team itself or the outcome of the game!

The Obama administration and the Democrats want to be in control. They want to call the plays. They want to control the game, so they argue about "fairness" and try to convince people that the "winners" are not giving their fair share!

We want a Super Bowl that really defines the best of football. We need to have a Super Economy that defines and produces the best of the free market capitalistic system. With a thriving economy, we will all be winners.