Daniels & Pawlenty, Weenies & Risk

I have something to say about Mitch Daniels. He is a weenie. After keeping us all guessing for months, here is his reason for not running for President:

Our family constitution gives a veto to the women's caucus, and there is no override provision.

I can certainly understand Mrs. Daniels' reservations; however, it might have been better for her to marry and then divorce and then remarry a butcher or a baker instead of a governor with Presidential aspirations. Governor Mitch obviously thought he might be the right man for the Oval Office. Maybe he came to have doubts about this and this is his way of backing out.

If he really thought that he was the right man for the job, then it was his responsibility to seek it. Yes, he had a responsibility to consider his family, but he also had a responsibility to the Republic. The Republic protects all the families of all of its citizens. That is the kind of responsibility that families, and especially privileged families, should be expected to accommodate. Allowing the "women's caucus" to have a veto at this point means that he is a weenie.

Daniel's withdrawal leaves Tim Pawlenty as the most viable alternative to Mitt Romney. I just now had to enter 'Pawlenty' into my spell check. As suspect that Romney is fatally compromised, Tim has to be taken seriously.

He surely moves into the space that Daniels might have occupied. He is a conservative and a former governor of Minnesota. He can position himself as a plain speaking politician with little baggage. His face ain't nothin' to brag about, but it's genuine and not alarming. He is a fairly moderate conservative.

The best news so far is that Pawlenty has dared to say some daring things. He dared to say that federal subsidies for ethanol need to be "phased out". That may hurt him in Iowa, but it was certainly the truth that needs speaking. He dared to say, in Florida, that Social Security and Medicare are in dire need of reform.

Of course, the problem with saying risky if responsible things is that it's risky. It's pretty clear that Democrat's strategy is to offer nothing whatsoever of their own on the fiscal crisis. The President has no plan to bring the budget under control. Democrats in the Senate have no plans to even offer a budget for this fiscal year. Their only plan is to attack whatever the Republicans offer. That's a sound plan, if the only thing you care about is winning the next election and don't want to think about the fiscal reality.

Pawlenty may yet win if he can show the voters that he is the only one in race who is taking the public interest seriously. That's a tall order, and it remains to be seen if Pawlenty can measure up. Just right now, I don't see anyone else in position to do it.

Comments

[Wayne Fiebick]

John Thune

[larry kurtz]

Pawlenty/Rubio. I'm hurt that you haven't cited ip as the definitive expert on that former governor of a blue state; you cut me to the quick....

[Billl Fleming]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gomer_Pyle_Hospital.jpg

....is it just me, or does Jim Polenta look a little like Gomer Pyle?
Whoops, sorry, I meant Tim Pawlente.

[Billl Fleming]

Pawlenty... Third time's the charm, I guess, huh, Ken?

[larry kurtz]

Thune is truly looking like the weenie (recall George Carlin: "pulling out doesn't sound manly to me, Bill") if not oafish, on this deal.

[Tallinnan Kartta]

I definitely do agree with you about him having responsibility to Republic as well as to his family..

[Anthony Renli]

I would actually say that Mitch Daniels' decision would be the right one...how effective of a candidate or President would he be if his marriage was falling apart due to the campaign and/or Presidency?

As far as Tim Pawlenty - he seems rational, reasonable, moderate in his views, willing to compromise for the greater good...in other words, someone who couldn't win the primaries for either the Republicans or the Democrats.

[Jimi]

If Pawlenty gets the nod.....Obama will be the next President.

[Jimi]

It is much better for Republicans to do nothing and force Democrats to take responsiblity for their policies than it is for Republicans to get the House, the Senate, and the Executive Branch only to have the media manipulate the population again, and have Republicans take responsiblity for Obama's horrible Presidency, and then lose in 2016, giving back the Super Majorities to Democrats so that they can finally finish off Capitalism.

Republicans are not playing the same game as Democrats. Republicans and Conservatives keep wanting to fight tooth and nail till the bitter end to try to save the dieing patient, while the Democrats have already poisioned the victim and aren't telling the doctor exactly which poison they used.

The best thing to do is to force the coming misery upon the American people, while standing out of the way and educating them on how the Anti-American Collectivist policies of the Left over the past 40 years have lead to the defeat of American Exceptionalism. In that process, the Democrat and Republican party's will be forced to change and rebuild America to it's Super Power Status.

The moral of the story is that American's are not going to avoid the pain that is coming and there is no reason for the Ideology that forced it to happend to not take responsiblity for it. It can't be avoided....so lets speed it along so that our kids and Grandkids can still have time to regroup and have an America like we were blessed to have lived in.

The left has been convinced to vote for their own demise, all under the premise that the grass is always greener. Until they understand how they are only usefull idiots of a larger Collectivist movement, they will never be satisfied, and America will die a slow and painful uneccessary death.

[larry kurtz]

Rapture remorse or, like Gordon Howie, are you up to your areolae, too? Consider self-administered Demerol with a Safeway bag over your head. You're a waste of time in the voting pool.

[larry kurtz]

Statehood for Mexico.

[Guard]

Ken, in response to your lecture on Democrats offering no plans, well, they are just doing what the GOP did to them because back then it was the Republicans that were interested in winning and gaining back their power, so, they let the Democrats "hang in the wind." Now, the ever swinging pendelum is beginning its swing back from the right to the center and to the left.
As far as reform goes, first, we cut corporate welfare which means no more bailouts, no more tax cuts to big corporations and the wealthy, cut the Defense Department by cutting down on defense contractors take, then, and ONLY THEN will the American Public accept an attempt to reform spending on domestic programs. Yes, the very programs that we have been paying for with our tax dollars to help us when in need and not corporations. That's pretty much the way the cookie crumbles as most people are not buying into what would be the disastorous Paul Ryan Plan now before the Senate. We are not going to buy into cutting vital programs when we know darn well where that money was wasted in the past in the form of all this corporate welfare.
You can keep trying to spin it your way Ken, but, alas the truth has caught up with the GOP.

[Guard]

After my commentary, here is my solution to our economic woes Ken:

We end all bailouts
We raise corporate income taxes to 35% since they like to be "global," then they pay to be international as they still want our business
We institute a FLAT TAX for everyone else, to include ALL wealthy individuals and small business (NOT CORPORATE ENTITIES -- they still pay a 35% earnings tax).
We END ALL LOBYING from ALL INTERESTS (Business, unions, political action committees)
We AMEND the Constitution to say that one political party can NOT CONTROL both the executive and Congressional Branch (ie, the Party of the Presidency can not control the Congress, meaning they both have to give and take. If one party wants the Presidency and wins it, they must seceed Congressional control to the opposing party.)
The above amendment would end this SUPER MAJORITY CRAP from either side and I would feel a heckuva lot more comfortable knowing that neither side could ever completely control anything in the future.

[larry kurtz]

There you have it, Ken; a poster that makes me look sane(r). Let's draft that referendum that asks Mexicans to dissolve their constitution and petition for Statehood.

¿Cómo es tu español, el guarda?

[Jimi]

Guard,

"We raise corporate income taxes to 35%"

Tax Rates since 2005

$0-$50,000==============15%
$50,000-$75,000=========25%
$75,000-100,000=========34%
$100,000-$335,000=======39%
$335,000-$10,000,000====34%
$10,000,000-$15,000,000=35%
$15,000,000-$18,333,333=38%
$18,333,333 and up======35%

The U.S. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Only Brazil, Uzbekistan, Chad and Argentina have higher corporate tax rates than the U.S.
The effective U.S. corporate tax on new investment was 34.6% in 2010. This was higher than the average OECD rate of 18.6%. If you consider every company the average effective tax rate was 27.7%...almost double of our competition across the world.

"We institute a FLAT TAX for everyone else, to include ALL wealthy individuals and small business"

Wealthy individuals pay the majority of the revenue already, and a flat tax scheme gives them a tax cut. Small Buisness' do not pay tax. The tax is passed on to the consumer and the employees, with higher prices and less employment through higer productivity.

"The above amendment would end this SUPER MAJORITY CRAP from either side and I would feel a heckuva lot more comfortable knowing that neither side could ever completely control anything in the future."

That's fine if ObamaCare is repealed first, otherwise there is no chance of repealing it.

The "Absolute" Super Majority has only been reached four times [1934, 1962, 1974, 2008] in American History, and always by Democrats. It would be nice if the Republicans could have at least one in our history.

In 1934-Democratic Super Majority curses the U.S. with the New Deal
In 1962-Democratic Super Majorty curses the U.S. with the Great Society
In 1974-Democratic Super Majority curses the U.S. with Stagflation, Hostage and an Oil Crisis
In 2008-Democratic Super Majority curses the U.S. with ObamaCare and anit-Capitalism Financial Reform.

[larry kurtz]

South Dakota is cursed with a super-majority, looks like a chemical toilet, and has a governor groveling before the President for money to hide 50 years of deferred maintenance on infrastructure.

Pawlenty will be your nominee because: "“The sad and tragic reality is that this is what happens when politics and simple slogans become the prime concern rather than quality long-term budgeting,” Carlson said of the $5.1 billion deficit Minnesota faced after Pawlenty left office in January."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55530.html#ixzz1NPRpxTa3

Red state collapse is what happens when South Dakota's Grand Old Patronage has a super-majority.

[duggersd]

Guard, making a law or amendment outlawing one party having control of Congress and the executive branch is very undemocratic. As for corporate taxes, I know you are going to howl on this, but corporations do not pay taxes. Corporations either pass the taxes on to the consumer, pay less in dividends, go overseas, or hire fewer people. A case in point; some Democrats recently suggested that a tax break oil companies get that is not unlike other tax breaks other companies in other industries get should be eliminated. Never mind that it would not decrease the price of gasoline. Never mind that it would force the US to purchase more oil from other countries. Never mind that it would likely have a decrease in the number of jobs. Never mind that oil companies already pay a huge amount of money in taxes (that are not really paid by the oil companies). Never mind that the government taxes in about 50 cents on every gallon of gas that gets pumped while the oil companies get about 6 cents. The reason to drop the tax break is to make it "more fair".
Your point about not allowing lobbying is probably a violation of the First Amendment. But then I am sure you don't really care about THAT.

[larry kurtz]

Hey Zeus: I agree with Barnes! Ethanol and big oil subsidies should end and fuel taxes should go up except that which is sold on the rez. The President knows all this crap and will use his second term to keep his campaign promises. Daugaargh is pleading with the Corps to mitigate past and current South Dakota Republican failures as this is being typed.

[William]

Gentlemen, I need to introduce you to Mr Herman Cain.

[Mark Anderson]

I liked Governor Pawlenty's comment on medicare, pure bravery. Paul Ryan must be feeling the tire tracks across his back. As for Governor Daniels comment on the "womens caucus", you believe it! It's just short of "I would like to spend more time with my family".

[Jimi]

"Paul Ryan must be feeling the tire tracks across his back."

Why? The issue is about Math not Politics! The only reason any politician would claim that we should not touch MediCare or S.S. is because they want to maintain power....the problem is they will be reformed reguardless...it's just simple math....and they don't want to be the ones to tell the American Poeple the truth.

If you under 55 right now and expecting to get S.S. and Medicare without drastic changes made to it....your an idiot!

[Guard]

Mr. Kurtz,

Talk is that Denny will be a one-term Governor and I wonder if there is any truth to that? I guess we will find out come 2014.

[larry kurtz]

Extra-marital dalliances are par for the course in politics; nobody cares about that stuff. The only way he'd go down is have someone to his right run against him in the primary. Unlikely, I guess, not impossible.

You should know that I don't come here to make friends, and since I hold little regard for the South Dakota Democratic Party, a miracle would have to occur for their hapless lot to raise a competent candidate.

[duggersd]

At least, Larry, you are successful at one thing, not making friends.