...and that my friends is almost enough, on its own, to assure that I will not vote for Romney in the NY presidential primary. Note I said almost enough. Romney's liberal stance on health care and some other things has me shying away from him also. Santorum is looking better and better as each day passes yet I do not know enough about him yet to say he is the man who will get my vote but it is possible he will get it. I would like to know more about his stance on illegal aliens and securing our borders as well as some more about his stance on the 2nd Amendment. I am fairly sure that he is a staunch supporter of securing the borders and getting rid of illegals as in by removing them from the country (not giving them a blessing and allowing them to stay as legals). I am also fairly certain he has a good record on his support or the 2nd Amendment but it appears that many have their doubts about him. The NRA reportedly has given him an A rating, their highest. Gun owner's of America though has reportedly given him a B-. Still better than I would think is any ranking that Romney has received what with his support of the Assault Weapons ban. Yet, even though he has received a good and an excellent rating from two pro-gun organizations, it seems many Americans have their doubts about his support for the 2nd Amendment, see this article: Santorum May Need A Photo-Op Reload On Gun-Rights Issue (http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/01/06/144788580/santorum-may-need-a-photo-op-reload-on-gun-issue).
I know, hard core gun owners are often one issue voters, I used to be for a time. I have relented though because I realized that there are just way too many very important issues on which to base my giving my vote to a presidential candidate. Yet, I must admit, I give a lot of importance to a candidate's stance on the 2nd Amendment. To me, it remains the most important issue of all but others are close behind, such as: American Foreign Policy, Military Issues, the Economy, Employment/Unemployment, Immigration, Securing Our Borders, Made in the USA and so forth. Those though, are the most important to me right now, not necessarily in the order in which I listed them. I am going to have to start to do some serious investigation on where Santorum stands on those issues. I know where Romney stands on enough of them to make me feel wary of him. To me, Romney seems like a RINO and he has seemed that way to me since he ran in the primaries the last time around, when he ran against the likes of John McCain. McCain is probably the biggest hypocrite republican and RINO I have ever seen. So, when he sent me an email today, endorsing Romney for president, I almost decided right then and there to say "No way Romney will get my vote in the primary". Like I said though, I have to do some research on Santorum.
As for the others still in the running, I cannot see giving any of them my vote. Gingrich might get it if he were the only one left running against Paul and or Huntsman. I cannot see myself ever voting for either of them. Huntsman is an Obama wanna be from what I can tell and Paul is just too far out in his Libertarian beliefs. I even tend toward agreeing with many of the libertarian ideals, probably more so than I agree with Republican or Conservative ideals but still will not vote for Paul because I believe him a wacko. In fact, I believe many Libertarian ideals are truly conservative in nature and see Conservative/Republican party ideals as corrupted from what they truly should be but another post for that. As for Perry, I liked him but he is a boob as seen in the debates. I also cannot stand his stance on illegal aliens and Immigration. Nice record on guns but that is not enough. Did I leave out anyone who is still in the running, I think not. Bachman is out, too bad as her stance was good on most things and I believe you do not need a lot of experience or schooling to become president. You certainly need intelligence and smarts and she may have been lacking there a bit but her ideals were great. Too bad Cain dropped out, he seemed to have most everything that is until the sexual misconduct allegations came out. At least there were no men saying he had groped them!
So I am going to start researching Santorum. If I like him, I may start donating to him. I cannot afford much this year because I am on a very limited income only receiving about 57 percent of what I should be receiving in my pension, and that may last for about another 7 months. I also expect to have a lot of doctor's bills too. Yet, I will donate something, maybe a hundred bucks or couple, that is if he seems like the right man for the job over the others who are still in the primaries. I hope so, I hope that he is worthy of my vote, I hope he is truly more conservative than any of the other candidates, I hoe he is not a RINO, I hope that he has few if any skeletons in the closet and I hope that if the bones start rattling once the Demoncrats start to attack him (which will be inevitable if he does well, even a 2nd place and maybe a 3rd place well, in New Hampshire and then in SC.) Right now, he is not expected to get more than about 15% of the vote in NH, with Romney in the 40's, but I am hoping he can pull it up into the 20s before that primary on January 10th. If he can somehow do that, maybe even just pull up a few more points, there is a chance he will be our next president. Again though, as I said, before I vote for him, or anyone, I need to do some more research.
All the best,
Glenn B
