Tomorrow, in the South Carolina GOP Presidential Preference
primary, I will be voting for Rick Santorum.
Here’s why.
I need to start out by saying that I haven’t been totally
thrilled with any of the four remaining candidates. All of them have obvious weaknesses of
character and/or policy which will make their race against Obama less of a lock
than it ought to be. The Republican Party
needs a leader of the Reagan type, who, like him in 1980, would win 40+ states
and carry a mandate with him to Washington.
But since we have four remaining candidates from whom to choose, and
since any of them will be an improvement over the current president, I must
choose from among them.
Rick Santorum, on the whole, represents my views the most
consistently. He has been consistently
and passionately pro-life, and wrote the bill that ended partial birth
abortion. On social issues, he and I are
of one voice. He is also a firm believer
in the Second Amendment (The NRA rates him A+).
He opposed TARP, voted against McCain-Feingold and Frank-Dodd, and
receives low ratings from both the ACLU and the AFL-CIO. While I am concerned about the trouncing he
took in the 2006 Pennsylvania Senate race (and, for that matter, the trouncing
he may get here in SC tomorrow, if the polls are valid), he is more
demonstrably opposed to Obama than either Romney or Gingrich. His biggest liability in my eyes is that he
does not come across as a leader.
Newt Gingrich, at the moment, would be my second
choice. I agree with him on most
issues—but he occasionally throws one out there that makes me scratch my
head. His personal character history is
a serious problem and, even if he has sincerely repented and stays on the right
track, will be a detriment in the race.
(Obama, for all his flaws, has no hint of marital infidelity.) I am also concerned that his ego may become a
liability.
Mitt Romney seems to be a conservative now, but my gut just
doesn’t like the fact that he wasn’t while he was the governor of
Massachusetts. I think he can be a great
executive, and if he is the GOP nominee, I will vote for him in November. But for now, I’m going with the most consistent
conservative.
Ron Paul is problematic.
His voting record is often meritorious and often puzzling. The ACLU rates him pretty favorably—that's a
problem. His vicious and untrue attack
ads concerning Santorum (being shown ad
nauseam this week on SC TV stations) trouble me. His foreign policy ideas are dangerous to the
future of our country.
Please educate yourself on the candidates and then take the
opportunity to vote.
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