Mitt Romney was my governor. He was my commencement speaker when I graduated college. He’s a good salesman. He’s a fine family man. He’s a successful businessman. He was a half-passable alternative to the Democrat running for Governor in a state like Massachusetts.
He’s never given me any evidence of being a principled conservative. Life, taxes, limited government - none of them have ever been a hill Mitt’s been willing to stake his political life on. He’s a deal-maker and a “winner,” first, and a Johnny-come-lately on every conservative principle.
He has no foreign policy experience.
He has no national government experience.
He has no pro-life or pro-marriage bona fides.
He never speaks passionately or articulately on conservative principles.
He hasn’t taken personal responsibility for his own investments in over a decade.
He’s surrounded himself with the same Goldman Sachs network that pushed Obama last time.
His only political success at anything was winning a single term as governor of one of the most leftist states in the union.
Frankly, when you get right down to it his political resume stacks up somewhere around Sarah Palin.
What he does have is good hair, good posture, a Super-PAC, and a huge ball of money shot anyone that gets between him and the nomination.
The tenor and content of his campaign and the media coverage around it has further turned me off on my former governor. $15 million dollars - outspending the nearest competition 5-1, and almost all of it is competitive character assassination. We’re not talking about negative opinions about policy disagreements, saying someone is wrong on the issues or has a bad voting record. We’re talking about outright character assassination. That’s no way to choose a nominee.
Ronald Reagan knew it. That’s where you get the famous “11th Commandment” from. I shouldn’t be surprised, though - Mitt’s already made it abundantly clear during his past elections how much contempt he can hold Reagan and Bush Sr. in when it suits him. Romney can hide behind a Super-PAC all he wants, but its still on him that he’s sunk so low to get what he wants. It’s not about principles, or even party, but about winning by any means necessary.
I’m not going to buy into this re-imagined Buckley Rule either. It isn’t “vote for the most electable candidate is marginal conservative,” it is “vote for the most conservative candidate that can be elected.”
No, I’m voting for Rick Santorum and holding out for a brokered convention at worst. The not-Romney votes are more than sufficient to force a compromise among the rest of the party to come up with someone better.