A Little Unsolicited Campaign Advice For Mitt Romney

A lot of former fred supporters, and possible Romney supporters generally, acknowledge that Romney says mostly the right things. The trouble is, he seems to offer these glibly as crowd-pleasing platitudes, and they're not sure if he actually believes them.

Fred, I think, had a lot of enthusiasm because he didn't just say the right thing, he gave the right reason for believing the right thing (and the right subsidiary reason for believing the right reason). His conservatism, to many, was deeper. He didn't just have the conservative answer, but the underlying conservative assumptions supporting that answer.

If Mitt wants to seal the deal with a lot of conservatives out there, he'll offer a "What I Believe" type internet address, maybe 15 or even 20 minutes long, explaining his thinking. Not just the surface conservative conclusions, but the underlying conservative thinking. Heartfelt and inartful (not so much smiling, few applause lines, generally stodgy and somewhat wonky (at least in broad principles, not techno-wonky) and designed to appeal to conservative political geeks, not a general audience) would be the right tone.

It would also be helpful to address the three most frequent knocks on Romney: He's a flip-flopper on abortion; his health care plan in Massachusetts was socialistic; and he's anti-gun.

And, for me, I'd sure the hell like to hear more about his basic foreign policy. This is an area in which it's hard as hell not to descend into gauzy generalities, but I personally would like some reassurance that Romney isn't just a domestic policy wonk but has thought hard about the war we're in and is ready to make the terrible decisions of war and peace.

PS: Offer a five-year moratorium on any legislation designed to grant amnesty or a "path to citizenship." The five years moratorium would be designed to ensure that border security has been achieved before moving on to any sort of "comprehensive" solution.

The point of this, of course, is to make McCain choke, as he will not offer such a guarantee himself.

So Mitt Romney should offer it.

And so should Giuliani. And so should Huckabee, too.

Let the Maverick prove his Maverick stripes and refuse to take any sort of vow to not introduce his piece of shit bill until the public is actually reassured the feds are serious about enforcing the borders.

PS... Before we go jumping on the McCain Electability Bandwagon, let's reflect on why he's so damned electable, supposedly. Because he attacks us with delight at every turn. As he did during the Amnesty fight.

And... wow: Laura Ingraham tears McCain on not just McCain-Feingold, but in filing an amicus brief attempting to shut up Wisconsin Right to Life.

Neither of these are my big issues but Jesus, Laura gets fiery here and convinces me.

Hm: Seems Kaus already thought of this idea of a moratorium on amnesty, though he proposes it as a guarantee McCain can offer and thus guarantee his nomination.

Hey, I thought of this myself. Only it was two days later. Haven't checked Kaus in weeks.

At any rate, he's wrong, McCain, Mr. Straight Shot, won't make that guarantee. So other candidates should begin doing so.

posted by Ace at 01:59 AM

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