Why Would He Want To Come?

The Washington Times reported yesterday that Mitt Romney will not be invited to the Conservative Political Action Committee’s 2020 Conference. In the past, Senator Romney has attended CPAC.

I am really puzzled as to what happened to Mitt Romney. He was an adequate governor of Massachusetts and came across as a good man. Now it seems that he has been so overtaken by dislike of President Trump that he has lost his compass.

The article reports:

CPAC doesn’t want Sen. Mitt Romney’s shadow darkening the door at its annual conference.

The Conservative Political Action Committee formally disinvited the Utah Republican from its high-profile conference next month, after he voted in favor of new witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial.

“BREAKING: The ‘extreme conservative’ and Junior Senator from the great state of Utah, @SenatorRomney is formally NOT invited to #CPAC2020,” tweeted Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union.

I am not convinced that Mitt Romney is or ever was a conservative, but it seems as if his actions since being elected to the Senate have been inexcusable. President Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for Senate, and as Senator Mitt Romney has chosen to bite the hand that helped him get elected.

Add This To Your Current List Of Really Bad Ideas

On Friday, The Boston Globe reported that there was a move to draft Michael Dukakis (former Massachusetts Governor) to run for President in 2016. First of all, Michael Dukakis is 81 years old. I thought the Republicans were the party of old white males.

The article reports:

Max Smith, who describes himself as a Democratic activist from Boston, said this is no joke, that there are political donors from Boston and New Hampshire who want to help fund the effort.

“The [State Department] e-mail revelations are going to rock the Hillary Clinton campaign. We need somebody with stability,” said Smith, who is part of the Draft Dukakis campaign.

But the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee told the Globe that another potential Dukakis versus Bush matchup is not in the cards.

“I am absolutely not a candidate for the presidency,” said Dukakis, who is 81. “Kitty and I are supporting Hillary.”

It sounds like Governor Dukakis is more in line with the mainstream Democratic party than the people who are supporting him. His decision not to run is a very intelligent decision. It’s probably the only political thing he has ever done that I wholeheartedly agree with.

When I first saw this article, I checked the source because I didn’t believe it. I still really can’t imagine what a disaster his candidacy would be. I remember him well as the Governor of Massachusetts.

Exiting With Class

Associated Press is reporting today that Mitt Romney will not be running for President in 2016.

You can follow the link above to the article.

As someone who lived in Massachusetts during the time that Mitt Romney was governor, I have a great deal of respect for him. The picture that was painted of him during the 1012 campaign as a rich, uncaring person was inaccurate. He is rich, but the stories I heard during his time as governor of Massachusetts showed him to be a caring, compassionate person. He is also a very smart man who understands how to turn failing enterprises around. As much as we will need that skill in 2016, I would much rather see Mitt Romney as a cabinet member influencing economic policy than as President. The quality that we will need in our next President is the ability to say no to the Washington establishment. We need a strong person who will face the criticism that will come with the efforts to shrink our every expanding government. Mitt Romney is smart enough for the job, but he is too nice.

Big Government Protecting Itself

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has quietly transferred 500 of his managers into the state public employee union. Governor Patrick will be leaving office after the upcoming election and the governorship is expected to be turned over to the Republicans. This move prevents the Republicans from downsizing the Massachusetts bureaucracy. Placing the managers in the state public employee union will also qualify them for a series of 3 percent raises and insulate them from firing when the next governor takes over.

The article reports:

While smaller clusters of management positions have been converted into union positions in the past, this is the largest sweep into the union in at least two decades, according to administration and union officials.

Rolling the managers into the 22,000-member union will effectively protect them from any house-cleaning that might occur when the next governor takes office in January — a particular likelihood if Republican Charlie Baker were to take over after eight years of Democratic leadership.

Union employees generally have to be removed “for cause,” while managers serve at will.

Obviously, this move will make downsizing the Massachusetts state government more difficult for the new governor. It will also increase the cost of state government, although Patrick administration officials have stated that the cost to the state would be “less than $500,000.” When did we reach the point where $500,000 was not significant?

Governor Romney’s Economic Plan

Governor Romney has released his plan for turning around the economy. Yesterday John HInderaker at Power Line released his initial evaluation of the plan. The article at Power Line posted a graph comparing the Obama ‘recovery’ to recoveries from past recessions. This is the chart:

That chart makes it pretty clear that we have a problem.

The article also includes a chart on the number of new of government regulations:

The uncertainty caused by the increase in government regulations is one reason companies are reluctant to hire new employees at this time. One of the tenets of Governor Romney’s economic plan is to undo the excessive regulations put into place by the Obama administration.

At this point I would like to insert a few thoughts about the Republican Primary race. I live in Massachusetts, and I feel that Governor Romney did a good job as governor of the state. Those who criticize the Governor for passing healthcare in this state do not understand the political composition of the state. Massachusetts is a one-party state that occasionally elects a Republican governor. The Democrats hold overwhelming majorities in the state legislature and pretty much do what they want (to the point where the last few leaders of the legislature have been sent to jail). Governor Romney could not have stopped healthcare in Massachusetts–he could only attempt to make it less awful, which he did. That said, I will be voting for Governor Perry in the Republican Primary. I like Mitt Romney, but I like Governor Perry better. Either one will be a very good candidate to run against Barack Obama.

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