Mitt Romney Leads the Way to Winning the War on Terror
By Mary Mostert (02/09/08)
Prior to Super Tuesdays elections, most of the media directed debates and media commentary on the presidential campaigns for 2008 have given little attention to major issues, but have concentrated on trivia, personal attacks and meaningless and largely inaccurate criticism of the religions of the candidates, especially that of Mitt Romney. However, Mitt Romney's
suspension of his campaign yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) seems already to have led to a remarkable change in both the dynamics and the main topics of the 2008 presidential race.
Romney, by removing himself as a candidate, has shown courageous leadership
that is rare and desperately needed if we are to maintain America's freedoms
and economic leadership. His speech was less than five minutes, but he has
opened a dialogue about the major issues facing us in the 21st Century that
American voters need to listen to and ponder before choosing their new
president and congress. Romney told CPAC:
"Soon the face of liberalism in America will have a new name - whether it is
Barack or Hillary the result would be the same - if they were able to win
the presidency. The opponents of American culture would push the throttle,
divising new justifications for judges to depart from the Constitution, and
economic neophytes would lay heavier and heavier burdens on employers and
families, slowing our economy opening the way for foreign competition to
further erode our lead. Even though we face an uphill fight I know many in
this room are fully behind my campaign."
(sustained applause, cheers)
"You are with me all the way to the convention - fight on just like Ronald
Reagan did in 1976."
(applause, cheers )
"But there is an important difference from 1976. Today we are a nation at
war. And Barack and Hilary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq
and the war on terror. They would retreat, declare defeat and the
consequence of that would be devastating - it would mean attacks on America,
launched from safe havens that would make Afghanistan under the Taliban look
like Child's play - about this I have no doubt
"Now I disagree with Sen. McCain on a number of issues, as you know but I
agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq and
finding and executing Osama bin Laden. (cheers)
"And I agree with him on eliminating al Qaeda and terror worldwide. Now if I
fight on in my campaign all the way to the convention (cheers) I want you
know. I've given this a lot of thought - I'd forestall the launch of a
national campaign and, frankly, I'd be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or
Obama to win,"
(Shouts of "No!")
"Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of
aiding a surrender to terror."
(More shouts of "No!")
"This isn't an easy decision. I hate to lose, my family, my friends, you, my
supporters across the country - you've given a great deal to get me to where
I have a shot to becoming president. If this were only about me, I'd go on,
but it's never been only about me. I entered this race because I love
America, and because I love America in this time of war, I feel I have to
now stand aside, for our party and for our country."
(More shouts of "No!")
"You guys are great. I'll continue to stand for conservative principles.
I'll fight along side you for all the things we believe in and one of the
things we believe in is that we cannot allow the next president of the
united stated to retreat in the face of evil extremism." (
applause, cheers)
"It is the common task of each generation and the burden of liberty to
preserve this country, expand its freedoms and renew its spirit so its noble
past is prologue to its glorious future. To this task accepting this burden
we are all dedicated I firmly believe by the providence of the Almighty that
we will succeed beyond our fondest hopes. America must remain as it has
always been, the hope of the earth.
"Thank you so very much. I love you! Thank you!"
Later in the day, John McCain, speaking to the same CPAC audience, seemed to
pick up on Romney's thoughts by promising he would "unite the party" and
that he was "acutely aware" that he could not succeed without "the support
of dedicated conservatives whose convictions, creativity and energy have
been indispensible" to the success of the Republican Party.
He defended President Bush for his "brave decision to increase troop levels
in Iraq to execute a long overdue counterinsurgency that has spared us the
terrible calamity of losing that war" and told the audience he would "win
the war" and would "nominate judges of the character and quality of Justices
Roberts and Alito."
Over 4 million Republicans voted for Romney, compared to the 4.7 million
that voted for McCain. Hours after Mitt Romney suspended his race, the
political pundits were trying to figure out why a candidate such as Romney,
described by Newsweek as a candidate who could "bring core Republican ideals
of strong defense, small government and old-style family values to the White
House" had not been "believable" to many voters.
Newsweek observes, as have many other writers on the subject, that history
may say that "in 2008, . America showed itself to be enthusiastically ready
for a black or female president, (but) it still wasn't ready for a Mormon."
Where will the 4 million voters who voted for Romney now go? Huckabee has
asked for Romney supporters to vote for him, even though he was the
candidate who deliberately fanned voter emotions by making subtle
anti-Mormon remarks about Romney. However, most Romney supporters will
realize that Romney's personal sacrifice in this campaign was prompted by
his concern over what will happen if America abandons its efforts to
confront the 21st century's greatest threat - Islamic jihadism that has
sworn to destroy America and its way of life, particularly its religious
freedom.
The only candidate left in the race who seems to understand the point made
by Mitt Romney in his speech yesterday is John McCain. Mitt has made a
personal sacrifice to preserve the very liberty of those who would deny him
the presidency because they are prejudiced and uninformed about his
religion. Why would he do that? Because he IS a Mormon and Mormons are
taught to forgive those who are ignorant of their faith and pray about major
decisions in their lives. Undoubtedly Romney studied the returns and prayed
about his campaign after Super Tuesday. The personal sacrifice he has made
came from pondering the facts and prayer.
Abandoning Iraq to the jihadists would, as Romney said, lead to "attacks on
America, launched from safe havens that would make Afghanistan under the
Taliban look like Child's play." Where the jihadists succeed, there is NO
religious or personal freedom for anyone - including those who would and
have in the past deny Mormons their right to worship.
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