Gov. Romney responds to Hamden

Heh, should have known Gov. Romney would be on the ball. And he pretty much agrees with me (very kind of him). Applying the Geneva Convention to a bunch of terrorists just doesn't make any sense.

"To apply the Geneva accords is very strange in my view," Romney said during a question-and-answer session with about 150 people attending his speech sponsored by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation at The Commerce Club of Atlanta.

Romney said he hadn't seen the ruling and didn't want to be too specific, but he said he knew the votes broke down between liberal and conservative judges.

"It's hard to understand how a party who's not a nation comes under the Geneva convention," he said.

Romney said he's been to Guantanamo, adding that the prisoners "are treated very well."

*Insert image of a thumbsup here*

And Speaking of the Judiciary

Today the Supreme Court came down with the Hamdan decision. Not only did Justice Stevens declare the Military Tribunals unconstitutional (why do these people have any Constitutional rights whatsoever?), but he declared them to be protected by the Geneva Convention.

The denial of executive authority was expected, but the granting Geneva Convention rights simply came out of left field. Before now even the most committed leftist would back down when pressed on granting terrorists the status of POW and protection under Geneva Convention rules, but it seems Justice Stevens is even more radical than I imagined. Luckily Justice Kennedy didn't fully join in that portion of the decision so we'll likely be hearing from this issue again.

Don't ever let anybody tell you that we have a conservative court.

More from Gov. Romney on Democracy

Governor Mitt Romney made the following statement today regarding the Massachusetts Protection of Marriage Amendment:

“Our elected representatives in the Legislature will soon hold a historic vote. It regards the institution of marriage.

But it will not be a vote for or against same sex marriage.

No, it will be a vote for or against democracy.

The people here today have followed the law, followed the process established in the Constitution, and gathered an astounding 170,000 signatures. Their effort means that the people, the citizens, will be free to choose how marriage is defined in Massachusetts.

This is democracy pure and simple.

Of course, democracy can be squashed. Only one fourth of the legislators must vote for democracy, for this question, this choice, to be given to the people. But it is conceivable that some will try to block a vote by the people by blocking a vote of the legislature.

We here are speaking for democracy and the rule of the law. Whether you agree that marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman or not, surely you can agree that the course of democracy, established by the Constitution, must be followed. Is there anything more fundamental to this Commonwealth and this country than the principle that power is reserved to the people, that government is the servant, not the master?

We ask for one thing: the constitutionally prescribed vote of the Legislature. Let the people speak.”

Video

Perfect

"Is there anything more fundamental to the commonwealth and this country than the principle that the power is reserved for the people, that government is the servant, not the master?"

~~~Gov. Romney

That is exactly right and exactly why an out of control judiciary is the enemy of democracy. Gov. Romney has never been as clear and correct on this issue as the above statement.

Once again, I must mention that I have no problem with gay marriage and would vote in favor of it had I a vote. But I demand that the decision remain with the people of this nation and not an unelected branch of government not even invested with that power.

Veto Override

Well, as with any pork project, it turns out that some people consider much of the $225 million Gov. Romney vetoed to be absolutely essential. Democrats plan to reinstate the spending and probably have the votes to do it.

‘‘A perfect example is the installation of a traffic light at Route 44 and Plymouth Mobile Estates in Plymouth,’’ Murray said. ‘‘With a fatality at the intersection, this is a major public safety concern that must be addressed.’’

Former Plymouth Selectman Eugene Lane’s wife, Dolores, was killed in an accident at the intersection in 1997.

I'm sorry to hear about Mrs. Lane's tragedy and confess that I'm not 100% clear on who is in charge of what when it comes to road construction...but isn't a traffic light a local issue?

The 700 Club

Gov. Romney sat down for an interview with the 700 Club yesterday. Naturally the Mormon Issue™ was a big factor on this one. He also talked about his near-fatal car accident.

It sounds like it was a short segment, but we shouldn't underestimate the power of Pat Robertson and company. They may not be as powerful as they used to be, but they're still a strong force within the Republican Party.

I'll try to find a transcript of the interview.

Edit ElectRomneyin2008 found the video.

Smaller Question of the Day

When do you think campaign season will officially start? By that I mean when will the general public and not just us political junkies start taking sides. Last cycle it really began after Howard Dean's disasterous appearance on Meet the Press in March 2003 (which was so nutty it vaulted him to the top of that field).

Right now we're just talking about inroads: building a network, gaining endorsements, picking up a little buzz. I do wonder if President Bush's lameduck status will move the race forward, or maybe even push it back a little. As a secondary consideration, Sen. Clinton is the most likely Democratric candidate and we all know that a Republican scuffle will recieve less coverage than a Democrat one.

Big question of the day...should I see Superman?

Granted the movie cannot possibly give me as much amusement as the almost decade long production (remember Nicholas Cage and Ashton Kutcher as the Man of Steel?) and one wonders how they possibly managed to mess up that costume, but it is Bryan Singer. X2 was a wonderful juggling of a huge cast into a movie more cohesive than it had any right to be. But, after getting burned with the allegedly "real" Batman last year in which they repeated Tim Burton's mistake of having Batman kill I'm dubious.

BTW, I find it amusing that there are still commercials running that state the movie will open on Friday.

New Blog

Well, I'm in a constructive mood tonight (or maybe I'm just avoiding working on my novel) so I decided to do something more for Gov. Romney. Introducing FloridiansForRomney.blogspot.com.

*wait patiently for the one audience memeber to stop sarcastically applauding*

If you're from Florida and would like to help me out, then by all means write me. If you're from another state, then your assignment is to start your own blog. Get them while the getting's good.

Thanks and curses to Jeff Fuller for the idea :P

Serves me right for losing the faith

Of course just as soon as I mention that one of Gov. Romney's ideas won't amount to much, Wizbang posts an article detailing how it has worked in Alabama.

It took some effort, but they managed to find some things they didn't like about it. They begrudgingly acknowledge that about 200 illegal aliens have been caught by the troopers, including more than a few who were seeking legitimate drivers' licenses with forged or "borrowed" identification papers. In another case, 13 of 15 people in a van pulled over for a traffic violation turned out to be "undocumented."

Hat Tip ElectRomneyin2008

CBN News on Gov. Romney's Brush With Death and More

Click Me

Mitt Romney's life story is one that was almost never told. The title of this story could very well have been "Dead Man Walking."

In Paris 1968, 21-year-old Romney was on a Mormon missionary trip when his car was hit head on, knocking him unconscious.

"The police that arrived on the scene had to get us out with the Jaws of Life, and in my case, they took my passport and wrote ‘il est mort’ – ‘he is dead,’" Romney said.

When the news back home reported him dead, his father, the governor of Michigan at the time, didn’t believe it. He called the French police to confirm, but learned that the reports had been wrong. His son was alive.

And so it goes with Mitt Romney. Turning around that near-death experience is a theme that has followed him through much of his life. Just when it appears all is lost, he's able to find an answer.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

That seems to be the consensus amongst the open borders crowd in response to Gov. Romney's proposal to allow state troopers to arrest illegal immigrants.

Granted Gov. Romney's proposal is mainly window dressing that won't amount to much either way (good to know that he's been pulled in the right direction on the issue though), but it's pretty telling when a faction of the country is so dedicated to ignoring a problem that they recoil at the idea of law enforcement officers.......enforcing the law.

The Veto Pen

What's this? An Executive vetoing wasteful spending? My, I'd almost forgotten how beautiful that could be.

Of course Gov. Romney has the option of the line-item veto. Here's hoping that Congress will find a Constitutional way to empower the presidency with this critical tool. However, I do believe its use should be limited to spending bills.

Something to Look Out For

The Supreme Court will be ending its session soon. If there's going to be a vacancy this year, it will probably happen within the next week or so.

What you can do

My blogging hero ;) Jeff Fuller has a list of things you can do to help Gov. Romney become the next president. Remember, every little counts at this point.

It's a good listing of things to do for just about any grassroots movement.

Well I'm back

Sorry about the lack of updating recently folks (if I happen to have any folks left). The dreaded Real Life got to me for awhile. What's that mean? Well, I took 2 weeks of vacation from work and didn't think about politics for awhile.

In good news, the state of the GOP is in much better shape today than when I left you. The grassroots have prevailed in the battle against opening the floodgates to illegal immigration. Al-Zarqawi is dead and Democrats picked that week to start making a bigger deal about running away. Fitzmas was cancelled. Sen. Clinton has been kicked around nicely. Overall, June has been the first net plus month for Republicans since Justice Alito was confirmed.

Unfortunately, Gov. Romney has been somewhat lost for these good weeks. Granted a flood can't hit his state every week to keep the national spotlight on him (I apologize in advance to any hypersentitive soul who takes offense), but he needs to keep his profile up if he wants to continue making inroads. Not that he's been slacking (making trips to several states), he's just not as high profile as he needs to be.

Once again, apologies for the tardiness, I promise to be more vigilant in the future.