. . . this guy would be the GOP nominee for President. Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana and one-time head of the Office of Management and Budget, both of which, whatever his politics, suggest he has a clue about how the world works.
I’ve liked him for some time, but my opinion of him soared today when I saw some CPAC video in which he named names – talk radio names, FOX News names – in talking about obstacles to getting things done.
Predictably, Mr. Limbaugh of Palm Beach, the most thin skinned of the on air bullies, came right at him today. If Daniels doesn’t back down as others have with depressing regularity, he’ll burnish his credentials even more and prove he has political courage.
But I don’t think he’ll be the candidate. He is tipping his toe in the water, but I hope he pulls it back and waits till 2012, 2016 when a Republican has a chance and I’d just as soon they nominate an adult.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
neither……..
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Moe,
I hate to say this, but you couldn’t be more wrong about Mitch Daniels. His very well written speech deserves a read, rather than watching him deliver it. There are dozens of offensive statements (from a liberal point of view) and only one I could actually support enthusiastically. And if you read it, you will find that he was not putting down Rush or Sean or Laura or Glenn; far from it. He was simply making the point that in order for conservatives to succeed, they need to reach out to those who don’t tune in to political shows. That’s all. I found the speech to be disturbing, to tell you the truth, because it “sounds” so good to the ear. But the well-crafted prose hides a troubling political philosophy, not all that different from what you hear on talk radio. I hope you take the time to read it.
Duane
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Duane (and Sherry) – I didn’t mean to suggest that I could agree with much of what Daniels stands for or does in his government roles – I meant that he is, no matter what else, not among the wingnut faction and he was – in my opinion – not sucking up to them. As I said, I see him as an adult and if we’re going ot lose the white house in 2016 I’d rather see it to someone like him. I think he’s a realist.
Duane – I will read it. Thanks.
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I only saw the clip, and then Rush’s response, which was to claim that Daniels had slammed “you the listener” as not being good enough. I’m inclined to think Daniels did slam Rush, since Rush took it that way. That’s good enough for me, to enjoy it at least. But I doubt I would like much else about Daniels. I’m open to listen though. I just don’t trust many GOPers these days.
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My bad. I forgot to include a link to the transcript of the speech:
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/11/video-mitch-danielss-speech-at-cpac/?print=1
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Ms. Holland,
I am inclined to agree with Mr. Graham . Reading the transcript, it did not appear to be a slam on Limbaugh. I hope you still have good feelings toward Governor Daniels , because as a fiscal hawk, he might undo some of the damage President Obama has done .
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Just like Obama is trying to undo the damage from the world-wide financial collapse that happened under Bush?
(although, until someone, anyone goes to the big house, I will not be happy with my president and his administration)
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Ms. Holland,
” Just like Obama is trying to undo the damage from the world-wide financial collapse that happened under Bush? ”
You forget, Bush had help . Things were just peachy until Pelosi became Speaker of the House . At any rate, what was the unemployment rate when your hero Obama moved into the White House ? 7.7% How high did it go ? 10.1% The only reason it is going down now is because Boehner is restraining Obama from screwing things up even worse .
Now the deficit. Bush’s worst year was 2008’s deficit at $ 455 Billion. Obama’s best year was 2010 at $ 1294 Billion . I know you will blame Bush for 09, but Obama and Pelosi carried out that budget and could have slashed it . At what point does this become Obama’s economy ? At what point do these become the Obama deficits ?
Again, Obama is showing no leadership in reducing deficits . He is letting Republicans do the heavy lifting and take the heat for going after entitlements . He will wait to see how public opinion goes and then jump on the winning side . He is the ultimate political opportunist .
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Alan, unemployment rates in 2008
JAN 08 4.78
MAR 08 5.2
MAY 08 5.5
JULY 08 5.8
SEP 08 6.3
NOV 08 6.75
DEC 08 7.3
JAN 09 7.7
and you of course are correct; damn that Mr. Obama – he stepped into office and didn’t stop the damn slide.
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I think the speech was much better than most talk radio. Let me point out what I think most talk radio doesn’t support that I found worthwhile.
I’ll quote and comment:
the stagnation of the middle class is in fact becoming a problem, on any fair reading of the facts. Our main task is not to see that people of great wealth add to it, but that those without much money have a greater chance to earn some.
I think Rush would call that socialist talk.
We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from contempt for all government. After all, it is a new government we hope to form, a government we will ask our fellow citizens to trust to make huge changes.
Again I don’t think Rush, Sean or Mark Levin would ever be this careful in their rhetoric. I think contempt for all government is a major part of what they sell.
Admittedly I think he suggests that Social Security and Medicare cannot and shouldn’t continue in their current form, and that I know is an anathema to any American liberal. These programs have markedly reduced poverty among the elderly and that’s an accomplishment to be proud of. Still Daniels seems willing to think about issues in a serious way, albeit from a conservative point of view, and he seems several cuts above Talk radio in terms of being adult.
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Bruce – I really like the excerpts you chose because to me they are indicative of exactly what I like about Daniels. And having an actual conservative voice warning against this tribalism that Rush and Sean etc promote all the time (I won’t say Beck anymore cuz he’s so far off the reservation I don’t know what the guy is) is very refreshing.
By the way, I think you would find most liberals believe that
1.) SS is quite fixable and
2.) the health care system overall despertately needs fixing or it’ll strangle us – it’s not just Medicare, it’s all of it. Medicaid, Part D, AND the private sector. It’s all broken. The challenge is finding the political will to not just fix it so it doesn’t drown us financially but fixing it in a way that doesn’t deny care to people. I think you know my personal opinion is that we need ‘Medicare for All’.
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