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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2007 > August > 27 > Entry
Romney a conservative, supporter says
We continue with our endorsements of presidential candidates. Today: Mitt Romney, by Nathan Burd. I didn’t know Mr. Burd before the little e-mail exchange below. He’s 29 and a veteran of a bunch of Republican campaigns. He’s running for the Ohio house of representatives in Reynoldsburg and eastern Franklin County and is the founder of Americans for Mitt: http://www.americansformitt.com
Q: What is it that attracts you to Romney and why do you support him?
A: As voters continue to become familiar with Governor Romney, they’ll see that he’s far and away the most accomplished candidate in the field. As governor, Romney has erased a $3 billion budget deficit by reducing waste and cutting taxes. Massachusetts can no longer be called “Taxachusetts” due to Romney’s bold leadership. The principles of fiscal discipline that he has shown in Massachusetts are sorely needed in Washington, D.C.
Romney has also earned praise for applying conservative principles to his landmark plan to provide universal health care coverage to every citizen in Massachusetts.
On education, Romney created the John and Abigail Adams scholarship program that allows high-achieving students to attend state colleges tuition-free for four years. The result of this incentive? Students in Massachusetts rank at the top of nearly academic category.
And on the vital social issues of the day, Romney has been a champion for traditional marriage and for protecting the unborn. By vetoing efforts to expand embryonic stem-cell research and emergency contraception, Romney has made defending human life a top priority. No leader has been as outspoken as Romney on the need to protect traditional marriage. By openly criticizing the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage and by vocally supporting the Federal Marriage Amendment, Romney has been one of the strongest voices for the traditional values movement in America.
Prior to becoming governor, Romney ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. These games were held just months after 9/11 and Romney oversaw the massive security effort to keep the games safe. He has also traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to encourage our troops and to get a first-hand look at the challenges we face. He has spoken clearly on the need to defeat the radical Jihadists who aim to destroy our way of life.
Mitt Romney should be our next president because he’s taken action on all of the major issues of our time and he has the leadership ability to ensure that America remains the world’s economic and military superpower.
Q: A central part of your case is that he’s the best candidate for conservatives. As you know, that’s precisely the matter about which most questions have been raised. In truth, he has always been known as a moderate before. He ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994 as the moderate alternative. There was simply no way a Republican in Massachusetts would run as a conservative. As recently as his governorship, he was known as a moderate. Health care is a case in point. He might apply conservative principles, but he’s still proposing universal care, with a government mandate that a person get coverage. As for gay rights, yes, he opposes gay marriage. But gay rights were a hot issue before that particular issue arose, and he was on the moderate or liberal side. He acknowledges that he was pro-choice until very recently. Tell me the truth: Aren’t you and other conservatives backing him simply because there isn’t any really authentic conservative among the announced major candidates?
A: The idea that Governor Romney isn’t a true conservative is laughable.
Much has been made of the alleged “flip flops”, but the truth is that Romney has only had one major change of opinion: from pro-choice to pro-life. And as lifelong conservative pro-lifer, I can assure you that we want people to convert to our cause. Governor Romney has clearly explained his conversion and, most importantly, he has taken action by vetoing every pro-abortion bill sent to him by the Massachusetts legislature.
Governor Romney has always been against gay marriage. When he ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994, gay marriage wasn’t on the agenda. He spoke of the need to treat gay Americans respectfully then and he speaks of the need to treat gay Americans respectfully now. But Romney agrees with the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that marriage is an institution between one man and one woman.
Conservatives don’t oppose finding new ways to provide health insurance to uninsured individuals. We oppose a single-payer system, a.k.a. Hillary Care, that would put the federal government in control of all health-related decisions. Governor Romney understands that market-based health care reform is the responsible solution to this problem.
As governor, Romney cut taxes and slashed duplicative and wasteful government programs. That is something that is sorely needed in Washington, D.C. today and conservatives recognize that Romney is the man to make it happen.
There are authentic conservatives in this race and Governor Romney is at the top of that list. His record speaks for itself.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: 2008 endorsements, National politics
Comments
By D. Greene
August 27, 2007 4:15 PM | Link to this
Romney said in an earlier debate that he would ‘double Guantanamo.’ Oh, and he’ll ‘stay the course’ as it relates to the Bush Administration’s failed foreign policy. That’s all I really need to know about him. A true conservative is not in favor of pre-emptive war and empire. A true conservative does not feel obligated to make the world ‘safe for democracy’ via the use of deadly force. A true conservative respects the Constitution. George W. Bush and Mitt Romney are cut from the same cloth - and to call either of them truly conservative is to completely destroy the meaning of hte word.