Friday, February 01, 2008

Why I'm Voting For Romney

Well, I've done a complete 180-degree turn. Originally, I was leaning strongly towards McCain, as I outlined here. I've now decided to vote for Romney. Here's why.

My thought process for voting for McCain went something like this: I read a debate in which I really liked his answers, an online quiz had McCain as one of my top picks, and I found someone else I knew who felt, like me, surprised that they were leaning towards McCain. I figured I wasn't completely crazy and McCain was the one left after I discounted the other candidates. I got to the point where I was liking the things McCain was saying, so I didn't give as much weight to the issues I disagree with him on.

1. I realize that his stance on embryonic stem cell is not something I can endorse if there is another candidate that I agree with. My two big issue this election is government spending / the economy and national security. I also have a requirement that the candidate hold beliefs that will help the pro-life movement and will keep us in Iraq to finish the job. Personally, I believe that embryonic stem cell research is a waste of money and killing embryos for research is the same as killing babies for research. By supporting McCain, I'd be going against my big issue and one of my requirements.

2. McCain's stance on the environment is that we shouldn't drill in ANWR. This will hurt both our national security (dependence on foreign oil) and our economy (having the government spend money on alternative energy). To be fair, Romney also supports spending government money on alternative energy, but he is in favor of drilling in ANWR.

3. McCain's endorsements by Schwarzenegger and Giuliani gives him the support he needs to be a moderate president and push his more moderate agenda as opposed to his conservative positions.

4. The one McCain supporter I personally know is now pretty sure that s/he won't be voting for McCain either.

5. There are some conservatives who, given the choice of McCain or any Democratic candidate would either vote third party or stay home. We need the conservatives to beat whatever Democrat gets the nomination, especially Obama.

6. McCain has basically two choices for VP: Huckabee or Lieberman. I was having trouble feeling completely settled in my choice for McCain. I would have trouble voting for a McCain / Lieberman ticket. Even more conservatives would stay home or vote third party. Huckabee, while liked by social conservatives, is frowned upon by fiscal conservatives. Voting for a McCain / Huckabee ticket would be setting up a future Huckabee presidency. Consequently, we still lose a good chunk of the conservative vote.

7. A vote for anybody other than Romney at this point, gives McCain the nomination. That leaves me with a choice of Romney or McCain.

8. I've mentioned before that I don't trust Romney. I still don't trust him. I think he will do what is politically expedient. The difference is that if he gets the nomination and is elected, it will be because of conservatives. To quote Clear and Present Danger(?), "He wants what every first-term president wants, a second term." Romney will know that he was put in the White House by conservatives and that to get a second term, he will need to keep the support of the conservatives. Otherwise, there will be a number of candidates waiting in the wings to go against him. After four years of "being a conservative", my guess is that he would want to keep his legacy and not go down as "the president that completely duped the Republican party in his second term." As I said, I still don't trust him, but I think his political expediency will be to our favor.

9. I finally took a look at Romney's positions (or looked at them after it had been a while.) Many of the positions I like by McCain are held by Romney. Romney also wants to bring decency back to America (a noble position, though I don't know how much the president can directly do about that). Given #7, it's a good chance that he'll follow these positions as closely as any other politician does.

I still think that McCain will do a decent job if elected president. If he gets the Republican nomination, I see myself voting for him in the general election, unless he starts leaning further left or picks Lieberman as his running mate. That being said, I will be voting for Romney given that I believe he will embrace the conservative platforms, even if only for political expediency.

14 comments:

Nomad said...

Shall I assume we'll have a "Why I'm voting for Huckabee" on Monday? I figure you need to fill out the trilogy! ;-)

"Nick" said...

Funny... I agree, except I don't find Romney to be as politically expedient or untrustworthy as you do. Some is stuff I've read by and about people who know and work for him, some is reading his positions (and what has changed and stayed constant on, and why) and some is hearing what he says when he talks. He strikes me as being very smooth, but I don't think he is disingenuous.

And I agree. I don't think McCain is the horrid person some conservatives are making him out to be.

Anonymous said...

Florida Governor Charlie Christ would be the VP nominee should the party be so foolish to nominate McCain. Florida is a swing state, and McCain would owe his political future to the Governor.

CRCHAIR said...

Glad to have Quizwedge on the Romney bandwagon. If McCain ever did pick Lieberman I would definitely vote 3rd party. I think Lieberman is a good man, but I couldn't support a moderate/liberal ticket.

Anonymous said...

I like not drilling in anwar. If we don't drill in anwar, we will run low on oil, pushing up the price, and the economy will switch to some other source of energy. Drilling in the Alaska Wilderness would be a small bandage on a much bigger problem.

Anonymous said...

PS. Imagine Lieberman as a sec. of state. I would love to see how the middle east would handle negotiating with a Jew. (Although they did pretty well with Albright and Rice even though they see women as inferior.)

Anonymous said...

McCain or Romney: Stick or Shingle

quizwedge said...

Nomad: I know you're at least mostly joking, but I don't see Huckabee as getting a primary vote from me, unless Romney for some reason dropped out. Even then, I'm still not sure in a McCain-Huckabee race. I like the idea of not paying income tax, but I think he's too much like GWB with no foreign policy experience.

Bowhunter: Drilling in ANWR isn't a final solution to the problem, but it'd certainly be a temporary help and I think we should utilize what we have, even if we just drill in ANWR to build up strategic reserves.

Nick: I hope you're right about Romney's expediency. I'm not sure that you are, but if you are, then it's just an extra reason to vote for him.

Nomad said...

Why I *MIGHT* vote for Huckabee. So far, as of 10:34 AM, no robocalls from his campaign. >:-(

"Nick" said...

Funny, i haven't gotten ANY calls...

quizwedge said...

Nomad, except that a vote for Huckabee would be a vote for McCain. That and the reason you're not getting Huckabee calls is that he doesn't have the money to make them. :)

"Nick" said...

And Huckabee knows he has no chance in CT...

Nomad said...

Wedge, I am sick to death of the "a vote for X is a vote for Y argument." I realize that you're being partially flippant, but really it is the ultimate specious argument. If voters can't vote their conscience, then why bother voting at all?

Sigh, can you tell I am almost ready to go Third Party some days?

quizwedge said...

I understand voting your conscience. Voting my conscience vs voting for the best guy that has a chance is something I struggle with.