January 31st, 2012: Mitt’s Negative Attack Strategy? A-OK

There have been rumblings in the media. Mitt Romney is too negative. He has no ideas on the campaign trail. All he is doing is attacking Newt Gingrich. To this I say, well done Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney is doing one thing right now, trying to ensure he is the nominee of the Republican Party. To fault him for that is to fault the process, which some people do but I fault neither.
 

Look at this in the lens of what has happened so far. Mitt gets a virtual tie in Iowa declared a win. He then wins new Hampshire. What does he do? He plays the prevent defense and Newt Gingrich has two amazing debates and takes the reins in South Carolina. Mitt is still the favorite, but he is damaged due to him switching to general election mode too soon. So what does Mitt do, he attacks back at the bully. He is stepping on the throat of Newt Gingrich and making sure he stays down. Newt became “the conservative alternative” and Mitt attacked that man to death. Newt kept saying that he would trounce Mitt when it became a two person race. That is not true. It basically is a two person race and all it did was allow Mitt Romney to go nuclear on Newt without fear of him losing votes himself. Santorum and Paul are still in the race, but they have been deemed “a waste of a vote” and it’s essentially a two person race.
 

Joe Scarborough and many others in the media have been saying Mitt has no substance. Mitt may or may not have the substance in order to be a good President. In any event, he is going to show it now. He is going to do what he needs to do to win the GOP nomination in the cleanest way possible. Right now, that way is attacking Newt Gingrich until he is a dead man.  

January 26th, 2012: Me in High School: 10 Things I loved and loathed

Its now been almost 9 years since I graduated from James Ford Rhodes HS. As chatter builds toward our 10^th anniversary reunion, it got me to thinking about the past some. I wanted to take a break from all the political post of late to reflect on those years here.
 

Loathed: How arrogant I was in general. Most of the things I loathed fall under this category. A few knew of this, and those who did know it hard
 

Loved: FIRST Robotics. If you asked me the day I graduated what was the best thing about HS I would have said Robotics. It has not changed. I had responsibility making sure our robot followed all the rules of the competition on the systems team.
 

Loathed: My attitude toward my teammates on the Math team. In Middle School I was part of what I deemed the “Dream Team” at Whitney Young in 8^th grade where we kicked butt and took 1^st place. In 9^th grade at Rhodes I was with hard working people and we took 3^rd place. They were ecstatic, I was pissed and yelled at them and talked about how we have to work harder to win the following year.

Loved: My Relationship with Ms. Coulis. I often teased for how much stock Ms. Coulis took in me and how she was my favorite. I have no shame in it. It is a great thing when a teacher really invest in a student. Through the work she gave me, she pushed me. It’s a great thing when a teacher looks out for all her students and wants them all to leave with more than they came in with.
 

Loathed: My Relationship with Lisa in terms of class rankings. There are few outside my closest friends growing up who dealt with my arrogance more than Lisa. She came to Rhodes in 10^th grade and told me something to the effect about how she planned on getting straight A’s. My response to her:  You’re not going to be #1 in class, I am. I still have no problem with my goal going into HS on being valedictorian. I have a huge problem with how I tried to knock people down or at least “put them in their place.” Truth be told, she would have been valedictorian if not for the non-honors A’s she received in 9^th grade due to going to a non-honors school.
 

Loved: My Relationship with the Diverse population at Rhodes. I remember noticing an interesting phenomenon at prom. You could predict the color of skin of the people on the dance floor based upon how far they were from the speakers. The white people were furthest away from the speakers and it faded to Hispanics and black people who were the closest to the speakers. How did I notice this? Because while spending most of the time with my good friends who were mostly white, I spent at least a good ½ hour moving through the entire dance floor hanging with a diverse group of people, a white speck among my African-American friends. I always had a good relationship with a diverse group of people at Rhodes.
 

Loathed: My calculator gimmick. People often used to say the only reason I was so smart in Math was due to my calculator. I now think they knew this wasn’t true but just liked getting my goat. Well one day I had it with this a proposed a contest. I put everyone’s name into a hat and pulled one out. The person I pulled was to use my calculator and I would use none and beat their score on a quiz. Its just a classic example of the height of my arrogance.
 

Loved: Gary standing up for my calculator. Gary is still my best friend and he was during HS. I didn’t get in trouble often but once I did for playing with my calculator in an English class in 9^th grade while the teacher was talking.  This made me want to cry but Gary asked the teacher to give me back my calculator and he would serve detention or whatever was needed. The teacher gave me back my calculator and said I had a really good friend. I knew it then and I know it now.
 

Loathed: My Valedictorian speech. It was too long. I wish it would have been more uplifting and less self serving. I missed a great opportunity to build up the class of 2003.
 

Loved: Meeting my ultimate goal of being Valedictorian. While I feel horrible about how I treated people in many cases and my arrogance, I think having a lofty goal to propel me to a good college after being rejected by Western Reserve Academy and St. Ignatius for High School was a great thing. I ended up going to RIT and loving it there. It would be there I learned I was not the only guy God gifted with a mathematical mind. 

January 23rd, 2012: Debate Preview: Tampa, Florida

This debate tonight should have a lot of fireworks. This is the strategy I expect out of the four candidates.
 

Mitt Romney:
 

This debate is most important to Mitt Romney. It’s gut check time. He can either turn this around and South Carolina just becomes a blip or it can be the undoing of his campaign. He needs to punch a hole in Newt gingrich. All of his fire will be aimed in that direction. With the high amount of foreclosures, expect him to attempt to connect foreclosures with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and the lobbying (or “strategic advice” if you believe Newt). Besides that, Mitt will try to make the argument that Newt is unelectable and that he is. Mitt has a tall order to fill, can he rise up?

Newt Gingrich:
 

For certain, the multitude of these debates has helped Newt Gingrich the most. He has yet to have a bad debate and he has had many splendid moments throughout. His tone has been pitch perfect usually. It was amazing that he was able to take that Nightline story with his 2nd wife and turn that into a positive by attacking the moderator, John King of CNN. It gave him his 2nd standing ovation. Newt has to keep doing what he has been doing. He will be directly attacked more directly by Mitt Romney. He should fend those off well. He needs to continue to make the case that he is the “Regan Conservative” and that Mitt is the “Massachusetts Moderate” and that if you want a conservative, he is the only guy who can win.
 

Rick Santorum:
 

Santorum is in the hardest position of all. Why? Because he has to fight a two front war. He first needs to stress this is not a 2 person race. He has won just as many contest as Mitt and Newt. He needs to show that he is that he is not a ticking time bomb like Newt and that all conservatives can still hitch his wagon and not have to settle for Mitt Romney. He also needs to attack Mitt Romney like newt will. In addition to that, Ron Paul will be attacking Santorum most often.
 

Ron Paul:
 

The Paul campaign feels its has a shot in a war of attrition. They want Santorum and Newt to fall by the wayside and get a 1 on 1 battle vs Mitt. They will get this in VA on Super Tuesday because they are the only two on the ballot. Thus Paul will not attack Mitt at all. He will attack Santorum to keep him down and Newt a little as well. It will mostly be Santorum though because of the natural contrast between the libertarians and the social conservatives.
 

Should be fun tonight. Tune into NBC at 9PM.

January 22nd, 2012: Newt's Revenge

Something strange is happing in the GOP primary race right now. The republican primary voter is not acting rational. There was zero reason for Newt Gingrich to win a single primary. We are talking about a man who has cheated on two women he was married to. He left one who had cancer and another shortly after she was diagnosed with MS.We are talking about a man who was booted out of his own leadership position because of his erratic and flamboyant behavior. Newt is best when he is in a box spewing out ideas. 9 of them are crap, but 1 of them may be good. He ought not to be our nominee for president.
 

Think about this. Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, yet the vast majority of the members have not endorsed him for president. Worse, many have given an anti-endorsement based off his leadership style. Listen to what Coburn said on Newt’s leadership:
 

 

Newt has a useful place in the party. That role is not being our nominee. Newt Gingrich approval rating is so low that it will take either an epic blunder by Obama or a total economic collapse in order to get him elected. People are angry and they are using Newt as their vessel. The people of South Carolina just voted with their angry hearts. I understand that, but now is not the time. I don’t love Mitt Romney either. I am still supporting Rick Santorum, but the truth it’s hard to see how he has a path to the nomination now.  Santorum ought to be the conservative alternative, for whatever reason, he is not. Thus, we need to go with Mitt Romney. Newt has just as many flaws as Mitt, if not more so in terms of conservative bona fides.  Plus he has TONS of baggage. Compare the beautiful Obama family to the Gingrich relationships. Look at the Fannie Mae/ Freddy Mac stuff.
 

Newt did some great things in the 1990s. Still, there is a good reason he left the public eye. The bible says that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). In politics, time covers a multitude of sins. Despite the time that has passed and the love of the GOP base, Newt has more than his multitude of sins. We can cover them up, but they will resurface. Mitt has some as well, but it may be low enough that the American people will elect him. I don’t think the same is true of Newt Gingrich.

January 15th, 2012: Nic Shayko Endorsement: Rick Santorum

With Jon Huntsman dropping out of the race, it was easy for me to make an endorsement of Rick Santorum. Of all the candidates in the race, I line up most in terms of issues with Rick Santorum. Santorum has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting in regards to the pro-life movement. Specifically, he was one of the leaders in banning the sickening partial birth abortion under the Clinton administration.
 

Santorum was a Senator for 12 years and a representative in the US House before that. He was a senator in a blue swing state and he stood for his values and won.  He is the rare person who does not shake on his foundational values yet still knows how to compromise.  He helped pass welfare reform.
 

Some complain that Rick Santorum is a “Big Gov’t conservative” It’s hogwash. Rick Santorum believes in a smaller gov’t. And the gov’t he does believe in he believes ought to be as efficient as possible. I know the term “compassionate conservative” has a negative stigma to it, but I like it, favor it and think its fits Santorum well.
 

Santorum is for a strong defense. He believes in conservative fiscal policy. Most important to me, he is a solid social conservative. I saw a list of 10 reasons to be against Rick Santorum by a conservative and I agreed with like 8 of them. Santorum proved he can win when he has time and put the work in Iowa. Now if we conservatives rally behind him we may be able to stop from having to settle with a mediocre candidate twice in a row. Why go for Mitt when you can win with Rick Santorum.

January 4th, 2012: A virtual Tie in Iowa, what Now?

What we have in Iowa is a virtual tie between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. As I write this Rick Santorum leads by 34 votes, which is basically nothing. Still, what Iowa did was really bring into focus a clear Mitt Romney alternative. Newt, Bachmann and Perry end up being flops. Huntsman has to have his day in New Hampshire, and it’s not looking good for him but hey, we still have a week left.

So New Hampshire turns into gut check time for Mitt Romney, he needs to have a significant min there. He should and there will be little news there. It will be interesting to see what Paul gets there as he had a good showing in Iowa but Paul has his devoted kooks and they kinda just sit out there. So Rick Santorum will now be vetted as the Mitt Romney alternative.
 

Where it all matters is South Carolina, as it usually does. Mitt should be coming off a solid win in New Hampshire. Newt Gingrinch is personally going to be attacking Mitt Romney as he has an ax to grind. He is upset at Mitt as his super-PAC used millions in order to take him ot. He is going to go down in a blaze of glory. Meanwhile, Santorum will be trying to ramp up at a rapid pace in order to win South Carolina. He has to do well enough that it becomes a clear two person race between him and Mitt. If it is he has a shot in Florida and beyond. If not Mitt will take Florida and will grind out a victory and the only question will be how long it takes Mitt to earn it.
 

I endorsed Huntsman, but I am very much a Rick Santorum fan. As Huntsman’s chances go down, I am rooting more and more for Rick Santorum to take out Mitt.