My early pick for the Republican nomination

An Open Letter to Tea Party Voters

        By Jeffrey Moore

I have been trying to logically ferret out any misconceptions I may have about the Republican presidential field before the start of the caucus and voting season. I want to take a look at each one here and try to come to a reasoned decision by voting time. For the fact that all of these candidates have desirable attributes among them, it would be preferable to nominate an amorphous being which possesses the best aspects of each one. Unfortunately I do not have that option. Needless to say, most of these candidates represent the possibility of stepping back from the brink. Each has an element that stands up favorably to the one man wrecking crew named Obama. In contravention to common belief, we have the strongest field of candidates in DECADES. Yes … decades! This is for the fact that they possess an assortment of distributed qualities and the fact that the pendulum has swung so far that the swing is about to go over the top of the swing set. Very strong field. Very strong!

Who can beat Obama? Any one of them! Any one! Obama has been busy the last three years planting powder kegs of self destructing policy bombs. He has blown up the economy, corrupted the justice department, corrupted the energy department, and puffed up the unions and foreign banks with fiat Wall Street cash. This is just the start of the list of complete failures (or radical leftist warrior successes, depending on your point of view).

Many of the lucid out here in fly-over country are wise to the latest shell game. Obama and the shape shifter political class have turned the notion of a contribution to the Social Security fund straight on its head. In the good old days this deduction from wages was an insurance payment but now suddenly, it’s a tax! So Obama and his cronies are allowing Social Security to “wither on the vine” while telling the uninformed that he’s cutting taxes. He can hasten the end of Social Security, a so-called ideal of the leftist disposition, and take credit as a tax cutter as well. It is completely absurd!

This election will be decided by common sense working men and working women. We need a free market leader who understands the meaning of purpose and work. I myself experienced a stint of unemployment. I took the state aid and felt the pull of the addiction to getting money for nothing. It breeds hopelessness. This administration is intent on shifting the mentality toward acceptance of the Nanny state for everyone.

This is what we’re up against. This is what the candidate will be up against. Which candidate can best articulate a different vision and act upon that vision to create positive results? In a future debate against Obama any one of the Republican hopefuls could almost just read the list of disasters, turn deadpan to the camera and say, “Really America? Is this what you truly want?”

Who among these can stir the optimism required to jump-start America? Who can summon the resolve to tell it like it is? America is ready to go back to being America … unobtrusive government, low taxes, freedom of the individual … balanced budgets, sound currency, free markets … the whole ball of wax. We know that there is a bitter pill ahead. Real Americans are ready to take the medicine for the sake of our freedom and our way of life. Sixty-nine percent of us don’t buy the class warfare game. Sixty-nine percent of us are smarter than the media. Sixty-nine percent of us want the eagle of America to soar again. We are the 69%! Among this sixty-nine percent of common sense Americans there are many disaffected Democrats. They look at Obama and ask, “What happened to the ideals of John F. Kennedy or even the happy go lucky Bill Clinton?  Radicalism is not what I signed up for!” Which candidate can yank some of these put-off Democrats from Obama?

Let’s get to it.

Newt Gingrich. I was shocked to see that the Tea Party Patriot forum gave the edge to Newt over Michelle Bachmann. I did not participate in that forum. I almost hope to guess that the forum was infiltrated by the Statists to skew the vote. Whatever was said, I’m sure that Mr. Gingrich presented very articulate arguments. I have enormous respect for Newt as a thinker and as an historian. He talks a great game. He has been saying things that resonate with the American people. He has been calling out the occupy movement. The common sense American knows that throwing millstones around the necks of job creators does not solve economic problems. Newt has plucked a string here.

Newt seems to be fading a bit here for Iowa. That is good. Newt is not the answer. If you doubt me, rent the movie “Casino Jack,” starring Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff. It does a great job of exposing the whole inside the beltway, money, power, and influence game. At one point in the movie, Abramoff looks admiringly at a framed picture of Newt as he puts it in a box. Newt was and still is part of the Abramoffian crowd (to coin a word). In simple terms, Barack Obama and Newt Gingrich are the yin and yang of the big money/big government machine. This is exactly what the Tea Party should be fighting against. Additionally, Just the thought of couch time with Nancy Pelosi makes me want to throw up a little bit in my mouth. His 24/7 stump speech is a litany of founding father and Lincoln quotes. No doubt, there is much to be said of wise words from the past. But those words don’t resonate when Newt uses them as a shield. His confidence in uttering these words makes it easy for the uninformed to believe in Newt as he raps poetic with the words of the forefathers. But I don’t have a sense of his core convictions. Is it OK that Newt was a  cheating husband in the more distant years past … as opposed to Caine. He is merely accused of it and he’s out. Hmmm? Sounds like the media is just trying to destroy each candidate one by one. If Newt gets the nod, we’ll have watch the whole infidelity issue get resurrected. Plus Pelosi would play the hypocrisy card. She has the insider DC dirt on him? Despite the value of Newt’s ability to debate, Obama has the ability to make Newt look like a stodgy old relic from the past. Yawn …  Newt represents a simple switch-up of the big government money game. Sorry Newt. Your out!

Ron Paul. Where to start? I love his position on the Fed. I love his refusal to shut up about the hypocrisy in  government. I love his ability to make Ben Bernanke say that gold is not money. LOL. I agree that the drug war is a sham. I believe we have the crime of the century going on in DC right now. I think he agrees with that. I want to open Fort Knox and force the government to prove that our national treasure is still there. There are a lot of things he is on top of. I shook his hand on the Capitol stairs a couple of years ago. He seems like a nice guy overall. But I can’t pull the lever for this guy. I cannot buy into his turtle shell isolationist mentality. Sure I think we need to bring in our necks a little, perhaps use the military to actually physically protect the borders of the country. But closing bases everywhere? No. We need new leadership in the diplomatic world and I don’t want to put Paul in charge of shaking up the State Department. We have experienced three years of a genuflecting president. We already have one apologist for America in the White House. We don’t need another one. And I won’t buy into blaming America for 911. Sorry Ron Paul. You are gone. Please don’t come back third party either. Who is your VP  … Jesse Ventura? Come on now!

John Huntsman. Former governor became a diplomat in the Obama administration. Guilt by association. No! If it becomes the candidate, will I vote for him? Of course! If it came down to Huntsman, he could pick Yosemite Sam to be his running mate and I would still pull the lever. That’s how bad Obama is!

Rick Santorum. He has a great conservative record and sublime male charisma. If he put on the Clark Kent glasses, he could pull of the role of Superman. His super social conservative rigidity will not go over with women. I just don’t think he can pull the female vote. He has some pork barrel decisions out there … but what former Senator doesn’t. He looks like he has that inner “good guy” core which would blossom over time. A good executive will have to put together a good team. I’m not sure he has the executive ability. Remember, we are looking for a CEO of the United States. I do like him so this is sort of an “oops sorry” no.

Speaking of oops … let’s move to Rick Perry. If he doesn’t get the nomination, we’ll probably see him on Dancing with the Stars. He looks like the former quarterback of a winning football team. Lot’s of natural Reagan-like charisma. Obviously debate is not his strength. Obama would probably eat him up with his mastery of circular logic. Perrry would probably stand there in silent awe wondering how Obama manages to turn a complete lie into the perception of truth. There is a group of Obamamaniacs that will never see the deception nor care to delve into the details. They have been sufficiently misdirected by the brain games of the media morphology. I think Perry would have trouble combating this tactic in a debate. On the plus side for Perry, I don’t think Obama will agree to many debates. Who needs to debate when Obama has a near billion dollar image control/mass media flood of a campaign. If Perry gets in, Obama’s strategy would likely change. More debates would get lined up.

I don’t like the whole forced vaccination program the he favored and I don’t like the wink and a nod immigration stance taken by Perry. We all know that there was drug company influence there on the vaccination issue. And I know that this whole anchor baby thing is a mess. That's a bit of a quandary. At least he acknowledged that he made mistakes. Perry is my dark horse. I say this only for the fact that he has charisma, leadership capabilities, and executive experience. These are all things that Obama lack. Perry uses the word “we” a lot. That is refreshing after having listened to Obama utter the word “I” more times than I care to remember. Sure some say Obama has charisma but, to me, it is pure theatrics performed by a chameleon of a man. Something about Perry gives off the air of a wooden patina. I think he shows some self-consciousness under the glare of the hot media lights. Again, there is nothing wrong with that. That too is somewhat refreshing compared to the reptilian coolness of Obama. He probably won’t get my vote … but I could be swayed. He could rally in the South. I am in Ohio, a lot may be shaken out by the time I get to vote.

My final conclusion is that common sense middle class working men and women will decide this race. This is a “purse strings” race and a “get government off my back” race.

This takes it down to Bachmann and Romney. Whoah! Romney? What?! Romney was the squishy moderate governor of Massachusetts. He put state run healthcare into the state. It served as the model for Obamacare. Romney is an anathema to the Tea Party. Bachmann managed to get about forty thousand people to gather on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington DC to demonstrate against the government takeover of healthcare. I know. I made the bus trip to be there. A vote for Romney is Tea Party heresy, right?

But we have not answered the question. Would more middle class men and women go for Bachmann, or for Romney?

Bachmann’s executive experience may not stack up to Romney’s, but she is a self-made woman who raised a whole bunch of foster kids. She has solid private sector experience. She does belong to the law and litigation class. She was a government lawyer. That is a bit of a downer for me. On the plus side, she is articulate and can state the argument clearly. She stacks up nicely against this president because Obama has proven that barriers can be broken. She could continue the trend. Every person preceding her has managed to rack up 15 trillion in debt … and they were all men. Why not turn it over to a budget minded female. She could resonate with the large swath of independent minded women. Smashing through the gender barrier in a year when many Americans are aware of the 2012 phenomenon is a lovely noetic theme. This year does represent a re-birth of sorts.

So the question is, can she draw the middle class female vote? Are there some feminine dynamics there that will cause discord among that voting group? The media would try to give her the Palin treatment. That’s for sure. They have already started. Bachmann is supposedly a complete moron because she wished Elvis Presley happy birthday on the anniversary of his death. This alone disqualifies her, right? It’s so silly. I believe that most people are wise to the media and a backlash would occur. I think she could, in time, win over independent women. I have no doubt that she could pull the middle class male vote. At the risk of sounding sexist, she is not at all unpleasant to the eyes. It all depends on her ability to take Obama to task for what he has done. Of course the hardcore feminists, gays, leftists, and statists in general, hate her guts. The media will try to start up a cat fight between Bachmann and the American woman. Obama would play the gender card and the media will let him get away with it. Bachmann would not. She could capitalize on Obama’s Achilles heel … the strong woman. Let’s face it folks, Michelle Obama runs that show. I would like to watch Bachmann go toe to toe with him.

Here is my one concern. As the stagecoach of America heads toward the cliff, a Bachmann presidency would have the effect of throwing a stick into the spokes of the wagon wheel. I have no doubts about her vision, but I do have my doubts that she could generate the right team and follow through with the implementation of reform. I’m not sure she could do this while maintaining civil order. I do believe she has core conviction. After all, the name of her book is “Core of Conviction.” I will surely read it before I make my final decision. I believe Bachmann, Santorum, and Perry are most aligned with Tea Party values. Those three are the purest in the race. Unfortunately a Bachmann candidacy will be turned into a sideshow. I can see the negative ads now, “A woman that doesn’t stand up for women. Let’s stay with Obama the champion of all.” … or some such nonsense. As I mentioned, the gender card will be played and allowed to flourish. I think Obama could destroy her just based on the billion dollar campaign he would run against her. What America needs is a turn around guy.

OK. Now we have Romney. He is known for being a turn around guy. He turned the money losing Salt Lake City winter Olympics into a profitable venture. He has a knack for turning losers into winners. Right now America is like a failing business. Romney has the leadership qualities to put together the right team to get the train back on the rails. Yes, the horses are in full gallop, racing toward the edge of the canyon. I believe that Romney has the ability to turn the horses without over turning the stagecoach. A Romney presidency has more promise if the electorate ushers in a Republican majority in the Senate. There is no doubt about that. This possibility makes the VP pick more crucial. Since the VP is president of the Senate, a firebrand reform minded individual will be required. Romney will have to put an Obamacare repeal advocate in as VP. Seven Democrats have already decided not to seek re-election for the Senate. There is a distinct possibility that the VP will oversee a Senate with a new powerless bundle of negativity known as Harry Reid. If the legislature puts forth a bill to repeal Obamacare, I have no doubt that Romney would sign it. A giant thumbscrew would be released off of business. The climate of a revived America would almost instantly be felt. So long as patriotic government servants push toward a smaller Federal government mentality and restraint on their own powers (term limits), the republic may be saved. The thought of anti establishment conservatives in the legislature makes a Romney presidency more palatable to me.

As for his own healthcare fiasco in Massachusetts: I think Romney realizes he was acting as a Governor and not an actuary. He gave the people what they demanded. He did it, even though it was not based on sound economic principles. I think at this moment, he can point to it and say, “look, it’s losing money and providing diminishing services. I screwed up! It is obviously not wise to expand it to a national level.” Americans will be willing to forgive the guy if he is sincere. One positive is that, as governor, he bent to the will of the electorate. Misguided as their ideas may have been, he gave them what they demanded. I think it’s fair to say that the national electorate will also make demands. One of those will be that Obamacare is scrapped and thrown onto the trash heap of other horrible discarded ideas. Another criticism of Romney is that he is too gentile. Obama implements socialistic policies, yet Romney he refuses to attach any personal responsibility to the man who is implementing them. He refuses to publicly question Obama’s intentions. I think Romney feels that it is below him to roll in the dirt with an incubating dictator. There is another thing that Romney has in his corner to address that problem. His name is Chris Christie. Romney can stay the nice guy while Christie tells it like it is to the American people. Having Christie in his corner is an enormous advantage for Romney.

As for a VP pick? Based on what I just said, a Romney/Christie ticket would be very strong. Bachmann could also fit the bill. Much like Palin, she could shore up the conservative base. Plus she would serve as Prsesident of the Senate. She could lead the charge to repeal Obamacare. But the media would have a field day with this pairing. It could just replay its strategy from 2008. I think Rubio would be a strong choice. That is until the media suddenly discovers that they have an interest in eligibility issues. Paul Ryan or Alan West would also be strong choices. Romney would have options for sure.

So it appears that I might have to bite the healthcare bullet and go for Romney. This is probably the last conclusion you think you would hear from a self-proclaimed Tea Party guy. I must say, I have shocked myself. Six months ago, I would have said “No Way!”

Here is one final analogy. Sixty nine percent of the populace of this great nation is collectively like a giant Gulliver. Statist, leftist, and radical Liliputians have tied us down. We landed on the beach in the early twentieth century and the miniature ropes against freedom have been slung over us ever since. Obama and cronies have just finished tying down the last finger. We are about to sit up and rip the ropes right out of the sand. We need a “Team America” president.

As I sift this all down, it appears that Romney is the clear team leader, a person that will apply a strategic business plan for America. I see in him the ability to put together a solid cohesive team. This is what we need more than anything else right now. There is one more thing Romney has going for him. He has at least ten times the net worth of his nearest competitor. That is big when going against Obama this year. Obama has the advantage of incumbency. He can hold back his millions for an astonishing propaganda blitz next fall. Let's face it folks, an underfunded campaign is going to be tough against Obama's fat campaign wallet.

Whichever candidate can incorporate the collection of no nonsense solutions into his or her message and embrace the quality ideas of their early opponents will be the victor. I am hoping for a tight race in Iowa and going forward so that the overall message is honed and clear. Trust me, if the message is clear then money becomes less of an issue. Obama propaganda overload might be able to be used against him. It could be a valuable weapon to an underfunded but highly defined candidate.


Oh shoot, I just became undecided again!

Oh heck, I may just vote for Superman!