WASHINGTON, D.C., June 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The race for the GOP nomination to confront President Obama has consisted of plenty of yawns with brief moments of intense excitement. But the political sands are shifting, and much is new in the world of pro-life GOP candidates (and possibles) vying for the highest political office in the land.
See Rick run?
Rick Perry, that is. The past couple weeks have seen more rumor and speculation that the three-term governor from Texas might actually throw his hat in the ring – and that fills a niche among Republicans who are looking for someone presidential and not Mitt Romney. The Hill now reports that US House lawmakers from Texas are hoping he enters the race.
Perry has never lost an election for public office, and has a reputation as a strong campaigner. He has embraced the Tea Party and stands for States as the check against the overreach of the federal government. He’s pro-life, and an unapologetic Christian who sticks to his guns about the right to profess his faith in the public square as an elected official.
What’s more is that Texas is doing very well compared with the rest of the recession-bound United States. What’s not to like when the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas says Texas has created 37 percent of the new jobs in the US since June 2009? The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Henninger says Perry pegs the number even higher at 48 percent. (see WSJ story – subscription required)
The American recession is making money hand over fist for the abortion industry. And it’s harder to choose life, when the mother or the parents feel they can hardly support themselves, let alone a new life. Pro-life advocates should realize that the recession itself fuels the idea in the minds of many abortion-minded women that aborting their children in these dire economic circumstances is just a “good parenting decision” – a major Planned Parenthood talking point.
Perry may make a decision to run anytime after the Texas special legislative session gets finished in late June, or early July.
Will Perry run? He certainly has been raising his profile lately, giving speeches at conservative events such as the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. He looks confident, he looks presidential. GOP voters are hungry for inspiring leadership, and Perry gives a rousing speech. He gives the impression that he has the guts and the guns to take on Mitt Romney.
Unlike …
T-Paw insists bark will have bite – next time!
Oh, Pawl-ease! … Tim Pawlenty needs to stop talking tough, and just show he can play tough with the rest of the fellas. He should take a note from John Wayne “Never apologize. It’s a sign of weakness.”
Pawlenty has now told FOX News that he should not have dropped the opportunity (handed to him three times by the moderator) to take on Romney (the frontrunner) in the debate, for being the godfather of ObamaCare.
He said he didn’t want to attack a fellow GOPer in the debate and keep the focus on Obama – a huge error in judgment because he committed himself to attacking Romney when he talked about “ObamneyCare” on FOX News, on the eve of the debate.
Well, anyway, he admitted to host Neil Cavuto, “I got asked a direct question and I should’ve answered it directly.” But he tells FOX viewers, “I’ve been doing that since and I’ll do it now, and rest assured we will not let that opportunity pass again.”
Well, good to know. We’ll be waiting for Pawlenty to ditch the Minnesota “nice” and follow the example of fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann, who has shown more fight, and the polls reflect that. Bachmann showed GOP watchers of the debate that she could spar with the best of them, and pundits are agreed that the GOP’s Tea Party gal by-and-large beat most of the boys. That’s why Rasmussen puts her at number two, polling behind Romney.
T-Paw, on the other hand, showed he has lots of bark, little bite, and something of a whimper in front of Alpha Male Mitt Romney. Pawlenty ultimately made Romney look like a winner, fumbling an excellent opportunity to tell GOP voters that Romney, the godfather of the hated ObamaCare “individual mandate,” believes in freedom for the private sector so long as it’s not health care, or in Massachusetts.
Mitt emerged from the debate a winner because he took no hits and looked like a confident man in whom Americans could place their confidence. In other words, Mitt looked “presidential.”
And having a “presidential image” ultimately sells voters. Gives them confidence. Ideas can’t keep a campaign afloat and sailing to victory.
But not according to Newt Gingrich …
Oh No! Another “Newtiny”? Gingrich campaign a sinking ship?
Newt Gingrich ‘s campaign for president is becoming increasingly intellectual. The former House Speaker said he wanted to run on a campaign of ideas. Well, ideas may be all he has left to staff his campaign.
Newt has lost two more top staffers, this time in the financial department. Money is the fuel that keeps a campaign’s engine going. It’s hard to connect “ideas” to voters, or even just personally connect with voters without money to spend.
The Daily Caller reveals that Newt’s top fundraisers have quit. Gone. Abandoned ship. Both fundraising director Jody Thomas and fundraising consultant Mary Heitman have now joined the “Newtiny,” which began when 16 other staffers abandoned the campaign en masse two weeks ago.
The DC says anonymous sources in Newt’s campaign say that he is one million dollars in debt and fundraising is poor. The official line in Newt’s campaign is that the team is reorganizing.
Thomas and Heitman’s sudden departure will probably scare more donors, and make them hesitant to support a campaign that appears to be successful as the Titanic’s maiden voyage, thanks in large part to his ill-timed luxury cruise with Callista on the “Seabourne Odyssey.”
On the other hand, had Newt not taken that cruise as the GOP race started to get underway, his campaign might still be afloat … and the media would not have had all these delightful nautical metaphors at hand as they watch the ship go down.
And lastly, we have Rick Santorum …
Huntsman becomes the hunted
So Rick Santorum has a clever ad, spoofing Huntsman’s teaser-trailer ad campaign (featuring Huntsman motor-biking across the desert) that counted down the days to when the former Utah governor would announce his run for president in New York City.
In his spoof, Santorum blasts Huntsman for not having signed the Susan B. Anthony List’s pro-life pledge …”just like Romney”. The motorbiker in Santorum’s ad then wipes out in the desert.
But we really don’t get this one. It seems strange that Santorum would spend money taking shots at Huntsman, a late entry unlikely to end up the front-runner anytime soon.
It’s clever, but likely to backfire. Honestly, it just provides Huntsman an opportunity to display a pro-life record built on actions, not words and pledges. Huntsman says that as a rule, “I don’t sign pledges.”
Unlike Romney, the other Mormon governor in the race, Huntsman actually has a substantial record of pro-life accomplishment as governor of Utah. Romney requires pro-life advocates to make a leap of faith, because he has a shaky “pro-choice to pro-life” conversion story, and not have much of a record behind it.