Daniels Opts Out
By Ken Falkenstein | Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 | Politics
In a severe and disappointing blow to the Republicans’ chances of defeating Barack Obama in 2012, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced today that he will not enter the race for president.
Here is Daniels’ announcement as e-mailed to his supporters this morning:
“The counsel and encouragement I received from important citizens like you caused me to think very deeply about becoming a national candidate. In the end, I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one, but that, the interests and wishes of my family, is the most important consideration of all. If I have disappointed you, I will always be sorry…If you feel that this was a non-courageous or unpatriotic decision, I understand and will not attempt to persuade you otherwise. I only hope that you will accept my sincerity in the judgment I reached.”
“Many thanks for your help and input during this period of reflection. Please stay in touch if you see ways in which an obscure Midwestern governor might make a constructive contribution to the rebuilding of our economy and our Republic.”
This leave Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney as the only viable candidates in the race for the Republican nomination.
Paging Bob McDonnell – Your country is holding on line 1….
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About the author
Ken Falkenstein has been a staffer in the United States Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates. He has managed political campaigns. He was a military intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army in West Germany during the Cold War. He is currently a civil litigation attorney with Poole Mahoney, P.C. in Virginia Beach. But his concern for his kids' future is what most informs his writing.
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15 Responses to "Daniels Opts Out"
“Severe”? Let’s not get carried away, Ken. Daniels has charisma of a turnip…albeit a financially brilliant one. He’ll make a fine VP, Secretary of Treasury, or Fed Chairman. AAll is not lost. Besides, there’s a lot of time left on the clock for either your top-tier or dark horse to emerge as “viable”.
Now would be a great time to review this post.
http://bearingdrift.com/2011/03/03/chris-christie-and-why-he-wont-run-against-obama/
Some assert that Daniels’ apparent disinterest in the recent Indiana Supreme Court ruling that there is no right to resist an UNLAWFUL entry into one’s home by the police disqualifies him for high office. I tend to agree.
In Indiana, the police can now come to your home anytime they want, without a warrant and without even asserting any cause, push you aside and enter.
pdf warning: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/05121101shd.pdf
“The English common-law right to resist unlawful police action existed for over three hundred years, and some scholars trace its origin to the Magna Carta in 1215.”
“In sum, we hold that Indiana the right to reasonably resist an unlawful police entry into a home is no longer recognized under Indiana law.”
To my knowledge, thus far Daniels has been silent.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free.
Rick Perry or Jeb Bush should get in the race now.
A good man – a lousy candidate in the making. Never understood the fascination. Maybe the stitches were the omen he was looking for.
Jeb Bush?? Heaven help us. Rick Perry is ok but Texas governor would be the wrong platform this cycle. The Repubs just need to win the states that GW Bush won. Pawlenty or Romney should be able to do that. Christie is the only one worth waiting for.
BK,
I remember the post. Maybe I’m Chicken Little but I don’t think the re-election of Obama would be the same as the re-election of Clinton etc. One more vote on the Supreme Court and he can invalidate Bob McDonnell, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal etc and create a 51% majority of deadbeats. Look at what he’s trying to do with the internet, the NLRB etc etc while he’s running for reelection. This election must be fought all out.
I wish that those that are supporting/pushing Christie to run would actually look at his record beyond his loud voice against the Teachers Unions. Christie is very lite on illegal immigration, he supported the ground zero mosque, he appointed a Muslim judge to the bench in NJ, interestingly before the radical muslims that wanted to bomb the NJ military base comes to trial. Christie supports Green Energy, and has redirected tax payer dollars from the unions to his wind farm project. Christie took donations from Muslims in his campaign. About the only thing good about Christie is that he is using his loud voice against the unions.
Christie knows dang well that if he had to go through a vetting process, by the conservatives, he would be lucky to get minor support for a presidential election. The only thing Christie brings to the table is his loud booming voice, but, only for the union issue. Christie is as sly as a fox and knows that he is probably going to do the best he can where he currently is, the Gov. of NJ. You really didn’t believe that NJ would elect a conservative did you?
Ken, you’re forgetting Gingrich.
Is he not a viable candidate?
He was all over the place on talkTV this morning.
“[H]e appointed a Muslim judge to the bench in NJ. . . . Christie supports Green Energy . . . Christie took donations from Muslims in his campaign.”
This is some sort of terrible spoof making fun of Republicans, right? No one actually thinks these are bad things?
valentinus said: “One more vote on the Supreme Court and he can invalidate Bob McDonnell, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal etc and create a 51% majority of deadbeats.”
We already have a 51%+ majority of deadbeats when you count government employees. Most government employees work in pathetic make-work regulatory and social services jobs. The regulatory jobs merely make it impossible for small business to function (which is as they were intended by big business, of course) and the existence of the social service jobs is based on an economic ability to support them that is the result of a 30 year Fed-induced credit bubble that has now popped. They exist as a paradigm in the minds of several generations of Americans, a paradigm that must be broken. We can’t afford them, we never could, really, but now, rather than admit it outright and shed them, we are going to enter a long period of slow reductions. We can’t afford these jobs any more than we can afford to pay (other) people to produce nothing and only consume.
The regulatory state is the enemy of the productive economy. You must admit that as fact.
Look at a chart of the ten year Treasury. The 30-year credit bubble, the sustainer of the false economy, the fuel that made it all possible, is over. The rules just changed. Why do you think Greenscam retired from the Fed when he did? It’s over.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/DGS10
The correct way to view government employees is that they are not taxpayers. Because every dollar they are paid is a tax dollar, the mere fact that they have to give some of them back does not make them taxpayers. They, just like welfare recipients, are tax consumers.
We have too many tax consumers and not enough producers. Wealth is not produced by tax consumers. Wealth is produced by…production. We forgot that as a nation, and now we must relearn it.
The question on everyone’s minds should be: how do we foster the productive economy here in Virginia, and in America? The original Virginian and American answer, 200 years ago, was respect for individual liberty and private property, thus unleashing the creative and productive human spirit.
What the hell happened?
A “severe and disappointing blow”? Certainly not, on both counts. Why would we want another RINO candidate? Daniels was the primary candidate the Obama administration was touting as being the one they were most afraid of. Now why would anybody in their right mind believe they would go out of their way to “help” us pick a candidate that could beat Obama?
This is great news for Tim Pawlenty. With Romney blowing his health care speech and Newt’s campaign blowing up on the launching pad, Pawlenty is looking more and more like the 2012 default GOP candidate.
Along with Pawlenty, there’s ex-governor Jon Huntsman. He’s a media pick and a terrific retail politician (so is his wife). Gingrich is a big joke (in DC) and as SV notes, the Mitt will have a tough time selling his Romney-care to the republican base. Extremely doubtful we’ll see any new entries after Labor Day – running for prez is too expensive.
Watch where the Bush bundlers money goes.
I’m not a Herman Cain adherent but recent polls show he is running relatively strong considering he has never been on the national stage. He has serious dark horse potential.
http://www.bet.com/news/politics/2011/05/27/herman-cain-polls.html.html
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