Why I'm Voting For Romney

Well, I've done a complete 180-degree turn. Originally, I was leaning strongly towards McCain, as I outlined here. I've now decided to vote for Romney. Here's why.

My thought process for voting for McCain went something like this: I read a debate in which I really liked his answers, an online quiz had McCain as one of my top picks, and I found someone else I knew who felt, like me, surprised that they were leaning towards McCain. I figured I wasn't completely crazy and McCain was the one left after I discounted the other candidates. I got to the point where I was liking the things McCain was saying, so I didn't give as much weight to the issues I disagree with him on.

1. I realize that his stance on embryonic stem cell is not something I can endorse if there is another candidate that I agree with. My two big issue this election is government spending / the economy and national security. I also have a requirement that the candidate hold beliefs that will help the pro-life movement and will keep us in Iraq to finish the job. Personally, I believe that embryonic stem cell research is a waste of money and killing embryos for research is the same as killing babies for research. By supporting McCain, I'd be going against my big issue and one of my requirements.

2. McCain's stance on the environment is that we shouldn't drill in ANWR. This will hurt both our national security (dependence on foreign oil) and our economy (having the government spend money on alternative energy). To be fair, Romney also supports spending government money on alternative energy, but he is in favor of drilling in ANWR.

3. McCain's endorsements by Schwarzenegger and Giuliani gives him the support he needs to be a moderate president and push his more moderate agenda as opposed to his conservative positions.

4. The one McCain supporter I personally know is now pretty sure that s/he won't be voting for McCain either.

5. There are some conservatives who, given the choice of McCain or any Democratic candidate would either vote third party or stay home. We need the conservatives to beat whatever Democrat gets the nomination, especially Obama.

6. McCain has basically two choices for VP: Huckabee or Lieberman. I was having trouble feeling completely settled in my choice for McCain. I would have trouble voting for a McCain / Lieberman ticket. Even more conservatives would stay home or vote third party. Huckabee, while liked by social conservatives, is frowned upon by fiscal conservatives. Voting for a McCain / Huckabee ticket would be setting up a future Huckabee presidency. Consequently, we still lose a good chunk of the conservative vote.

7. A vote for anybody other than Romney at this point, gives McCain the nomination. That leaves me with a choice of Romney or McCain.

8. I've mentioned before that I don't trust Romney. I still don't trust him. I think he will do what is politically expedient. The difference is that if he gets the nomination and is elected, it will be because of conservatives. To quote Clear and Present Danger(?), "He wants what every first-term president wants, a second term." Romney will know that he was put in the White House by conservatives and that to get a second term, he will need to keep the support of the conservatives. Otherwise, there will be a number of candidates waiting in the wings to go against him. After four years of "being a conservative", my guess is that he would want to keep his legacy and not go down as "the president that completely duped the Republican party in his second term." As I said, I still don't trust him, but I think his political expediency will be to our favor.

9. I finally took a look at Romney's positions (or looked at them after it had been a while.) Many of the positions I like by McCain are held by Romney. Romney also wants to bring decency back to America (a noble position, though I don't know how much the president can directly do about that). Given #7, it's a good chance that he'll follow these positions as closely as any other politician does.

I still think that McCain will do a decent job if elected president. If he gets the Republican nomination, I see myself voting for him in the general election, unless he starts leaning further left or picks Lieberman as his running mate. That being said, I will be voting for Romney given that I believe he will embrace the conservative platforms, even if only for political expediency.

Why I Should Vote For McCain

For about a month and a half now, I have been considering voting for McCain. Saying that sounds so completely foreign to me, that I have spent this time trying to both find reasons not to vote for McCain and reasons to vote for one of the other candidates. CRChair has both asked why he should vote for Huckabee and stated why he won't be voting for McCain. Here is my logic for why I should vote for McCain.

First, let's start with the field of candidates:

Rudy Giuliani - His decidedly pro-abortion stance and liberal views has knocked him out as a candidate in my mind.

Mitt Romney - I just don't trust him. He reminds me too much of Kerry. He'd probably do a great job if he would pick a side and stick to his guns, but I can't vote for him without knowing who he is.

Ron Paul - He has many online supporters and I'll probably be blasted for this, but he's crazy. When I hear his ideas, I think, "That would have been great information to have when we were making the wrong decision." Getting us back to the gold standard just won't work without a complete upheaval and revaluing of things. Personally, I don't want my house value to drop just so we can get back on a gold standard.

Alan Keyes - With less visibility than Duncan Hunter or Tom Tancredo, Keyes may be the only person who seriously thinks he's running... and even he may not think that. Besides, he's already lost to Obama once. Going up against Clinton would be even worse.

Fred Thompson - I like Fred Thompson. He's one of my top three picks. Unfortunately, he's rumored to be leaving the race. Even if he doesn't, he's not running like he wants to be president. Clinton would chew him up in the general election. I'd like to see him make a strong run or even be the VP on the ticket, but I don't see it as a winning ticket.

Mike Huckabee - He's a second of my top three picks. He's got support, especially among religious conservatives. Unfortunately, while he's socially conservative, he's fiscally liberal. Huckabee would be like having four or eight more years of GWB, but with less foreign policy experience than GWB currently has. I feel like I voted for the social conservative and got duped the first time GWB ran, so I'm hesitant to vote for the same thing again. I do like the idea of not having an income tax, but a national sales tax promotes saving, not spending. I don't know if our economy could handle less spending.

John McCain - That leaves John McCain. I hate to vote for someone because they're the last one left. After all, he could just be the last one I looked at and be worse than the other candidates.

First, I'll answer Matt's points.

Age: Yes, McCain is the oldest candidate, but then, so was Reagan when he ran. People are living longer and McCain will be younger than when Reagan left office. That being said, age isn't really that important. Health is. If McCain is healthy enough to be president for one term, then age shouldn't be a factor. After all, President Harrison died of pneumonia shortly after taking office. None of us are guaranteed life, that is why we have measures set up to take over the office if the president should fall sick or die.

Immigration: Yes, McCain has been soft on immigration, but he also realizes that we need to fix the problem of illegal immigration by securing our borders before we start kicking people out. Otherwise, we'll just have to kick them out again and again.

Fiscal Responsibility: This is actually one of the reasons I am voting for McCain. He is against pork spending and realizes that we need to be good stewards of our money. Yes, he did vote against the tax cuts, but that was because we needed to cut spending. Cutting spending means that someone is upset about not getting as much federal money. Tax cuts resonate well with constituents. McCain wanted to make sure that spending was cut rather than furthering the national debt and knew that without a tax cut, spending wouldn't be cut.

Pro-Life: Yet another reason that I am voting for McCain. The National Right To Life PAC has up a PDF with the candidates views here, but the do not appear to fully quote McCain. While McCain is OK with stem cell research on existing lines and in cases of in-vitro fertilization, he is not OK with creating new stem-cell lines. Would I like him to be against all stem cell research? Yes. Personally, I haven't seen evidence of neonatal stem cell research taking off. The advances seem to be in adult stem cell research. That being said, McCain does make the point "I would remind you that these stem cells are either going to be discarded or perpetually frozen. We need to do what we can to relieve human suffering. It's a tough issue. I support federal funding." I have an easier time agreeing with babies that will be discarded. I, admittedly, have a hard time agreeing with purposefully destroying babies that are in a frozen state. I'd much rather see them used for couples that desperately want to have a baby, can't, but would be willing to carry another's baby from their in-vitro attempt. You can see McCain's voting record and his National Right To Life report card.

McCain-Feingold: I agree with McCain that political votes should not be bought. Having contribution limits is one way to do this. The other part of the bill, the part that limits free speech is the bigger issue in my mind. This part should be overturned by the courts.

The McCain Surprise: McCain is a maverick, but he's a maverick that sticks to his guns. If we realize what it is we're voting for, I don't think there will be too many surprises. He also has a lifetime conservative rating of 83% from The American Conservative Union. In comparison, Fred Thompson has an 86% rating.

Is McCain a perfect candidate? Absolutely not. As I stated above, McCain-Feingold, while good intentioned, should not have passed as it restricts free speech. I'd like to see McCain not only be anti-abortion, but also be anti-stem cell research. I don't agree with him on his views on the environment.

I do think that he will vote conservatively when it comes to abortion and I do think he will help rein in the federal budget, which will in turn help cut taxes and bring about a turn in the economy. I also think he can win. He won conservative South Carolina. Rasmussen Reports gives him an over 50% chance of becoming the Republican nominee. At the end of December, they had him beating Clinton 49% to 43% (Google cache).

What worries me about McCain? First and foremost, in the past McCain has not been known as being the friend of the conservative. Why am I leaning towards McCain? What am I missing? Second, I fear that he will choose Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. Lieberman is more liberal than McCain which would trouble me. Hopefully McCain will choose a more conservative running mate who has the heart of the evangelical voters... perhaps a McCain-Huckabee ticket? This would bring in the evangelical voters while giving Huckabee the foreign policy experience he would need to make a run for president following McCain.

Will I vote for McCain? As far as I can tell, I think I should. He appears to fit my views more than the other candidates and he has a chance to win. That being said, why should I vote for your candidate instead?

Giuliani Endorsed By Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson has officially endorsed Rudy Giuliani. While this doesn't change my vote (not a huge fan of Pat Robertson), I suspect it will for some. I'm actually surprised that Pat Robertson has endorsed him. On the other hand, Rudy Giuliani could take some heat because of Robertson's past comments.

I hate to say "I told you so", but...

...the Republican party is finally starting to confront the Elephant in the Room for the Rudy Guiliani campaign. His pro-abortion past is catching up with him, as some Evangelical leaders are threatening to go Third Party.

For months, Christian conservatives have been escalating their warnings about the risk that nominating Mr. Giuliani could splinter the party. Dr. Dobson wrote a column declaring that he would waste his vote before casting it for either Mr. Giuliani or a Democrat who supports abortion rights like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Richard Land, the top public policy official of the Southern Baptist Convention, has said that nominating a Republican candidate who supports abortion rights would make white evangelical votes “a jump ball” between the Republicans and Democrats, with other issues taking the fore.

You may recall I said that I could not vote for the Mayor, despite my respect for him, from Day 1. I doubt that I am among the more extreme members of the anti-abortion wing.

Turning Point: Guiliani Embacing His Pro-Choice Roots

After his wishy-washy attempt to play both sides of the abortion debate, Rudolph Guiliani is preparing to fully come out as a Pro-Choice Republican. This is likely a turning point for the Hero of 9/11, as finally the Republican base has to come to grips with the fact that his views are at odds with the vast majority of the G.O.P. Either the base - after considerable sturm and drang - will decide Guiliani's other qualities make up for this one failing, or they will decide that this is a deal-breaker for any Presidential candidate.

I have been listening to an audiobook on American history. In it, the Republican Party became great by refusing to budge on one great moral issue - Slavery. My own opinion is that if the Republican Party gives in on this other great moral issue, it is the beginning of the end of the party. At the same time, I recognize that the refusal to budge by both sides on Slavery is largely what lead to the Civil War.