Outgoing Colorado governor Bill Owens, recently interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, describes the qualities exhibited by potential presidential contender, Mitt Romney. An excerpt:
BO: I have been talking to the leading Republican candidates, and I like Mitt Romney. I think when your earlier caller was asking about somebody who has real substance, and I realize that some of us who are conservatives, there have been some questions. But I think that Mitt Romney’s a conservative, and I think he can win. But I also like John McCain. I’m not being political here. I’m not one of these anti-McCain people. I want a winner, and somebody that’s going to be with me 80% of the time, both of them would be, and I’m for Romney, but not against McCain.
HH: Now I saw…you know, you worked with Romney at the Governor’s Association, both the Republican and the national. Explain to people what you see in his candidacy?
BO: Well, I think he’s one of the brightest people I’ve ever seen in public office. He’s a businessman, he’s a manager. He understands markets, he understands the private sector. He is a conservative, he wants to cut taxes. You know, he’s a Republican who was elected in Massachusetts, which has about 12% of its voters who are Republican. He was able to win that election, and we saw what he did at the Olympics. His foreign policy experience isn’t substantial, but I know he’s a conservative on foreign policy in the sense of understanding the role of America in the world…
The primary season will definately be interesting now that Mitt’s in the race…
Read the full interview
Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarters has a great article about how a minimum wage increase this year by Dems will actually hurt the poor and cause inflation. An excerpt:
…They’re distorting a market for a short-term political benefit that will do nothing to raise the standard of living for the people they supposedly want to help. Arbitrarily raising the prices of services and goods in a marketplace causes inflation, not an increase in real value. They’re forcing consumers of labor to pay more for the same service, from which they will get no increased benefit — and that means that they will have to pass the costs along to the consumers of their goods and services, all through the distribution chain.
Whose money is getting given away? Yours and mine, and all 479,000 minimum-wage workers, that’s who. i can absorb the incremental loss of buying power, but the people at the bottom rungs cannot. If they’re lucky, all that will happen is that their buying power will remain the same as it was after a short period of adjustment. More likely, some of their jobs will get eliminated as businesses have to support the cost increase in some other fashion than price hikes.
Captain Ed is awesomely correct in his assessment of possible results driven by a minimum wage increase. It’s an all too familiar example of why government needs to get out of the economy and how Americans need to get informed about their government.
Related: Say “No!” To Dems’ Agenda
A funny story from the beltway:
Chanting “de-escalate, investigate, troops home now,” the protesters disrupted a briefing aimed at outlining priority goals when Democrats take over the House and Senate on Thursday.
-Snip-
“We didn’t put you in power to work with the people that have been murdering hundreds of thousands of people since they have been in power,” Sheehan said. “We put you in power to be opposition to them finally and we’re the ones who put them in power.”
I find it hilarious when leftists start eating their own. Let’s hope this continues.
When I heard the Democrats had taken control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, I immediately lost my appetite. I couldn’t eat my breakfast and the headache I had earlier got worse. Now that Democrats have their “mandate” from the American public, not only will my appetite suffer, but so will my wallet.
Democrats propose the following:
A boost to the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage would be the first since 1997. Democratic leaders have proposed raising it in stages to $7.25 an hour.
The attempt to raise the minimum wage to help the poor is an absurd idea at best. Not only does this increase the amount of dollars employers must pay out to workers, but it takes away natural incentives to hire new employees, increases supply costs, and decreases capital to invest back into business. Price increases will then trickle through the market, triggering inflation and increased unemployment. Sooner or later, the market will hit equilibrium and the same problems Democrats tried to solve with a minimum wage increase will show its ugly head again. This isn’t a conservative scare tactic, it’s simple economics.
…Democrats eager to keep their promises to pass several pieces of legislation in the first 100 hours of business, including…stem cell research funding.
While I don’t see an inherent problem funding stem cell research, Democrats insist the stem cells of study should be embryonic in nature. There are other sources of stem cells besides dead fetuses, including bone marrow and umbilical cord blood. Democrats thus far have not shown they have the capacity to understand that killing a fetus is the same as killing a human life. It’s murder, plain and simple.
Nearly seven of 10 adults, 69 percent, favor the government taking steps to make it easier for people to buy prescription drugs from other countries, where some medicines cost significantly less than in the U.S.
Like many in the United States, I too wish prescription drugs cost less. However, a large cause for outrageous costs is too much government involvement. Instead of promoting market-based and private approaches to medical care, government bureaucrats tie the American public down with needless regulation and paperwork. The movement in Washington is not to give healthcare back to the people, but to strap the people with higher taxes to pay for universal coverage. Just look at John Edwards’ campaign. Anyway, healthcare is NOT a right and according to the U.S. Constitution, purely a state issue.
The Democratic Party agenda has been said to be centrist; its early attempts at legislation will be bills that most of the American public can support. While it may be true that many Americans can see a good side to Democrats’ agenda, the real truth is that their policies will leave nothing but a gap in real Congressional leadership and a hole in your pocketbook.
Much of today’s Christian commentary has to do with declining moral and social values, the traditional family, and the teachings of Christ. As a believer, I agree with most of commentator’s conclusions. Unfortunately, within the Christian community, there are nutjobs like Pat Robertson who open their mouths way too much and give good Christians a bad name. Fox News reports:
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted Tuesday a horrific terrorist act on the United States that will result in “mass killing” late in 2007.
“I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to be nuclear,” he said during his news-and-talk television show “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network. “The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.”
Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.
Who really needs a left-wing media to make Christians look crazy? Mr. Robertson does a great job all by himself.