Romney: Republican Party

Mitt Romney Dept: In fact, the problem is not Romney but the new Republican party. Given the direction in which it has moved and the pressures from its most extreme yet most powerful elements, any nominee would face the same challenge: Can you be a serious candidate for the general election while not outraging the Republican base?, according to The Star. It is obvious that, with a deficit at 8 per cent of gross domestic product, any solution to our budgetary problems has to involve both spending cuts and tax increases. Ronald Reagan agreed to tax increases when the deficit hit 4 per cent of GDP; George H.W. Bush did so when the deficit was 3 per cent of GDP. But today s Republican party is organized around the proposition that, no matter the circumstances, there must never be a tax increase of any kind. The Simpson-Bowles proposal calls for $1 of tax increases for every $3 of spending cuts. But every Republican presidential candidate including Romney pledged during the primaries that he or she would not accept $10 of spending cuts if that meant a dollar of tax increases and as Barack Obama has surged in the polls, Republicans have been quick to identify the problem: Mitt Romney. Peggy Noonan eloquently voiced what many conservatives believe when she said that Romney s campaign has been a rolling calamity. Others have been equally critical of his candidacy. And yet, shouldn t it puzzle us that Romney is so incompetent also from Noonan , given his deserved reputation for, well, competence? He founded one of this country s most successful financial firms, turned around the flailing Salt Lake City Olympics and was a successful governor. How did he get so clumsy so fast? Fox News anchor Brit Hume got specific in his critique, saying this month that Romney s got the presidential bearing down. . . . What he hasn t done is dwell at length on the economic policies that he would put in place. Why won t Romney, an intelligent man, fluent in economics, explain his economic policy? Because any sensible answer would cause a firestorm in his party. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.