Mitt vs. Newt

Son of a Politician!

Now, Romney goes negative on Gingrich, calling him (horrors!) a politician! This from the son of a prominent Governor of Michigan and presidential candidate in 1968. Mitt Romney himself has been Governor of Massachusetts, a candidate for the Senate from Massachusetts in a serious challenge to Ted Kennedy that got a lot of national attention, and a guy who has been running for president himself for at least four years, and really, much longer than that. Gingrich, to his credit and our relief, has at least been out of politics the last ten years. (He, ahem, sort of had to because of ethical issues and because his reputation had been trashed for his breaches of "family values" as he was going after President Clinton for his).

I really wish I could like Romney. He is the best of the Republican field (with the exception of Huntsman). But he seems so desperate to be president he will say things and take positions that are against his better self. I would love to see the old Romney successful. I really liked him as the moderately progressive governor of Massachusetts. I really liked the legacy of his dad who truly was an old-style progressive Republican and perhaps, the last of the Republicans who promoted civil rights for African-Americans.

Is Newt More "Utah Compact" Than Romney?

The most interesting outcome of the last Republican debate, well, besides the Cain/"Blitz" exchange, was the dispute between the newt and Mitt on immigration. The newt evidenced a slight sense of compassion in an attempt to remain consistent with his Reagan-era immigration-reform record. The newt injected "humane" sentiments back into the immigration debate much to the consternation of some of the other candidates and the Republican base as well.

Lest we forget, the Utah Compact is a broad-based approach to influence the tone of the discussion about immigration in the State of Utah. It calls for humane treatment of our fellow human beings as we recognize some general principles that illegal immigration is a national problem of the civil law - not local, criminal law enforcement, and that families are important along with a free society and free markets. I signed it. Have you?

What About Mountain Meadows?!

That's how I first heard about it, shouted at me when I was just a kid heading to Primary. With our suburban Seattle ward spread out for miles - in fact, the eastern boundary in those days was the crest of the Cascade Mountains - we had a mothers' car pool to gather us up every Tuesday after school to take us to church for Primary some miles away. One of the kids we sometimes picked up was a girl my age who blurted out those words on one occasion, I'm not even sure it was on a Primary trip, but I was with one of the Primary moms. This girl lived in terrible conditions that I guess we were not supposed to talk about because no one ever did. Her mom was very active in the church and silently strong, yet always appeared a little bedraggled with her hair out of place. The dad was not active, in fact the whisper was that he drank and it was doubtful he worked much if at all. Their house was not the typical suburban tract home like the rest of us came from. It was hard to see it other than as a shack, and the yard was full of junk.

A Mormon Helps End The Cold War

One more mild Mormon I have known came to mind as I rewatched one of my all-time favorite movies, "The Яussians are Coming! The Яussians are Coming!" This was the first film for child actor Johnny Whitaker (credited as "Johnnie" Whitaker). I knew him as a missionary heading for Portugal when I taught in the MTC (the LDS Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah). He was a very nice Elder and an example of the rare successful survivor of childhood stardom. He had his troubles later as an adult, and he still came out a survivor now counseling those with substance abuse problems.

Johnny Whitaker circa 1966

Thanks!

I am grateful (and continually surprised) by any and all who care to read what I have to say.

I am grateful I am not running for president (and I bet you all are too.)

I am grateful for a good family, a wife who amazingly loves me, and kids who are better than both of us (even if they get most of that from their mom). And, of course, the grandkids including the one on his way and hopefully many more to come.

LIVE Blogging Republicans on Foreign Things (CNN National Security Debate)

Banned to the bedroom. I was all ready once the visiting teachers left to go down and blog from the family room but my wife said I should stay here because she really didn't want to watch those guys. And she's a registered Republican!

There are some like Senator Marco (Sort-of-a-son-of-refugees) Rubio who say that this debate season has not been a good idea for the Republican nomination and maybe the party as a whole. What about the idea that the Republicans have not been good for debates? I mean, good grief!

Government Is the Problem?

So say the Reaganites, the Anarchists, the Culture Warriors, the Old South, the Ayn Randian Utopians, the Newtonian Amphibians, a lot of taxpayers (especially the wealthiest or wanna-be-ers), etc., etc., etc.

The funny thing is that it is an easy self-fulfilling political philosophy because if you do get a little authority in government, as one supposes, you can prove your thesis by acting incompetently. The last administration is pretty much the prime example. ("Heck of a job, Brownie" and "Mission accomplished" come to mind lest we forget.)

Now, even our current President is buying in at least to the point that he says "Congress is the problem." We'll see how that flies. I still think that he may be trying to restore some of the balance and responsibility to the constitutionally designated branch of government for the budget, taxes, and debt (Article I - the Legislative Branch, people). And of course, those are the people's representatives to the extent they're not bought up by all the corporate people.