Manassas, U.S.A — Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, issued the following statement regarding possible Republican vice presidential candidates:

“There is growing unease among conservatives that the ‘short list’ of vice presidential candidates Mitt Romney has under consideration has too many establishment-type Republicans and few, if any, principled small government constitutional conservatives.

“Conservatives want Governor Romney to win, but there are millions of independent and right-of-center voters who are disillusioned with business-as-usual in Washington.  To attract their votes, Romney needs a running mate who is a small government constitutional conservative, not an establishment insider.

“As the names of establishment Republican personalities like Ohio Senator Rob Portman, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Congressman Paul Ryan, or ‘outside the box’ choices like General David Petraeus (whose political views are largely unknown) have surfaced, the names of small government constitutional conservatives, such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker have faded into the background.”

Viguerie offered concise critiques of the conservative bona fides of Pawlenty, Portman, Rice, Christie, Ryan, and Petraeus in recent articles on ConservativeHQ.com.

Tim Pawlenty: Prairie State Michael Bloomberg. “Far from being a conservative, when it comes to the nanny state versus individual liberty, Tim Pawlenty is more of a Prairie State Michael Bloomberg than a Reagan Republican.”

Has Romney Already Chosen Portman for VP? “He [Portman] may be unknown to many Republicans across the country, but in Washington–where he worked in both Bush administrations–he is the ultimate insider. He’s also the ultimate Bush Republican.”

Rice for VP a Slap in the Face to Conservatives: “Given her association with some of the worst neo-con inspired policies of the Bush era, putting Condoleezza Rice at the top of the VP short list is an insult to the conservatives, Tea Partiers, and independents who are looking for a break with the old establishment Republican Washington that Rice represents.”

Chris Christie: He’s a Brawler; But He is No Conservative “This cycle it is more important than ever that we make sure Republicans nominate a reliable conservative, not just another business-as-usual Republican politician. Chris Christie may be a brawler, but there is no record showing he can be relied upon to put his formidable talents behind many key elements of the conservative agenda.”

Paul Ryan for Vice President? Not So Fast. “Many in the conservative movement admire Ryan’s gumption in proposing a plan to return the federal government to fiscal sanity. The problem is the Ryan plan uses the Washington, DC version of sanity.”

General David Petraeus for VP — Patriot Yes, Conservative? “General Petraeus is a much-admired man who has ably, and sometimes brilliantly, served our country in the best tradition of the American armed forces. However, if Governor Romney is seriously considering David Petraeus for Vice President, he cannot and must not be given a pass on a thorough examination of Petraeus’ commitment to the small government constitutional conservative agenda.”

Image Courtesy of  Gage Skidmore

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From the eleven speakers announced for the Republican Convention, four of them are women: Condoleezza Rice, Susana Martinez, Nikki Halley and Mary Fallin.

Republicans wish to gain women’s sympathy during a time in which they have been accused by the Democrats of waging war against women.

The Democrats have directed hard criticism against the Republicans for trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which Democrats think is a law that offers many benefits and crucial protection for women.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid wrote in a Huffington Post article called “Republicans Renew War on Women” that “thanks to the Affordable Care Act, new insurance plans are already required to cover preventive care like mammograms, colonoscopies, blood pressure checks, prenatal exams and childhood immunizations without cost-sharing. Yet Republicans are so intent on blocking women’s preventive services like contraception coverage from taking effect, they are willing to risk national security.” Democrats want their voters to see the Republicans as the villains on this subject.

Reid continued criticizing the Republicans for blocking the opportunity for women to gain access to contraception methods. Sen. Reid said that the Republicans are only acting for ideological motives and are putting them ahead of scientific reasons.

Mary Fallin is the lastest female politician announced as a speaker for the Tampa Convention, and she is currently the first female Governor of Oklahoma. She is one of the most popular governors in the country, based on a poll made by sonnerpoll.com and released in January; almost 70 percent of the surveyed thought Fallin was doing a good job after just a year in office.

The Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll on the presidential race shows that in key states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Obama has an advantage on female vote over Romney, so Martinez, Rice, Halley and Fallin have a difficult mission trying to gain female voter’s sympathy for the Republicans.

Each of the women selected for the Republican National Convention have something special to offer and have made history in their positions. Susana Martinez is the first female Hispanic Governor of New Mexico and of the Country; Condoleezza Rice was the first African-American women that became Secretary of State, Nikki Haley is South Carolina first female Governor and Mary Fallin is Oklahoma first female Governor. This will hopefully prove to the female voters that the Republicans have women in important positions and that they support them.

Image Courtesy of  Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

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Who Mitt Romney’s running mate will be is still uncertain. Expectation levels are high because the elections are only a few months away. Republicans around the country know that this decision will be crucial in their aspirations of returning to the White House.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has a serious chance of becoming Mitt Romney’s running mate. He would certainly help the Republican Party in their aspirations of regaining the Hispanic voter’s support, which currently favors the Democrats. Rubio served in the House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and was elected as a Senator in 2010. Senator Rubio’s political skills, which include a fluent Spanish and high popularity among  Hispanics, would definitely help Mitt Romney to win states with high Hispanic population like Florida, New Mexico and Arizona. 

Ana Navarro, a Politico columnist, referred to Senator Rubio as the anti-Palin. She explained that the population of Alaska during Sarah Palin time as a governor was of 700,000, on the other hand, Senator Rubio represents a state of more than 19 million people, Florida is also a state with a variety of cultures in which practically every U.S. demographic group is represented.

Condoleezza Rice is another name that has appeared as a possible candidate for the vice-presidency. The Former Secretary of State will surely be able to help Romney in foreign issues.  But Condoleezza Rice’s deep involvement in George W. Bush government might not help her because of the bad public image that Bush government has in these days. Also, the fact that Rice is not married doesn’t make her an ideal candidate to the most conservative base of the Republican Party.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman also has great possibilities. He is the Senator of Ohio, one of the swing states that could determine this election. He was elected in 2010; he won with a margin of 57 to 39 percent, winning 82 of Ohio’s 88 counties. His campaign focused on common-sense conservative ideas to help create jobs and get the deficit under control. He helped Romney in the victory against Santorum in the Ohio primaries and the public opinion sees him as a safe pick.

Republican strategist Mark Weaver said that Senator Portman’s organization level in Ohio is very deep and he also “has so many people that are committed to helping him that would all come the way of Mitt Romney.  And in a close state like Ohio, the difference of having someone like Portman on the ticket could be the win.”

Another possible vice-presidential candidate is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal; he recently referred to President Obama as “the most liberal, most incompetent President in the White House since Jimmy Carter.”  Governor Jindal also responded to President Obama’s declaration that the private sector was doing fine by saying: “The private sector is not doing well when 23 million Americans are unemployed and underemployed in this great country. This president, the private sector is so foreign to him he might need a passport to actually go visit and he might need a translator to help him talk to folks in the private sector.”

Governor Jindal supported Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican primaries; he started supporting Mitt Romney until Rick Santorum dropped on April 10. This particular aspect could be taken into account by Romney and does not benefit Jindal at all, because it is clear that Governor Jindal preferred Governor Perry as the Republican candidate, but still Bobby Jindal would have his chances because he is considered one of the rising stars of the Republican Party.

These were just some of the names of possible vice-presidential candidates. There are many more, like New Jersey Governor Chris Christie or the former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Who knows if there might be a surprise in Romney’s nomination, like there was in the 2008 election when John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate?

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Washington, U.S.A. - As the first anniversary of bin Laden’s death approaches, Robert Weiner, a former Clinton White House spokesman and former communications director for the House Government Operations Committee, and Senior Analyst at Robert Weiner Associates Richard Mann, prove wrong the statements by Mitt Romney, Carl Rove, and other critics that “any president” would have given the order that launched the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year.

They contrast Bush’s 2001 outsourcing a raid on Bin Laden’s 2001 Tora Bora location to the Afghanis who failed — on purpose or through ineptness — to Obama’s U.S. solo action in Abbottabad, Pakistan that succeeded when Obama did not reveal or leak the strategy.

Weiner and Mann document their claim with information from a 2009 Senate Foreign Relations Committee Report, “Tora Bora Revisited: How we Failed to Get Bin Laden.”

Weiner and Mann say, “When placed in a similar situation with parallel choices, George W. Bush, Obama’s predecessor, failed to succeed because he made the opposite decision. In December 2001, Bush had the chance to capture Bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, was faced with the choice of doing it ourselves or involving a foreign government, and asked the Afghanis to do it. Whether by ineptness or intent, the Afghani troops allowed bin Laden to escape.”

Weiner and Mann show how Obama’s approach was totally different: “When Obama was questioned as why he did not inform the Pakistanis in advance about Abbottabad, he said, ‘I didn’t tell most people here in the White House. I didn’t tell my own family. It was that important for us to maintain operational security.’

When asked during the 2006 presidential campaign debates what he would do with ‘actionable intelligence’, he said he would have the United States ‘act unilaterally’ rather than in consort with foreign intelligence if necessary to capture bin Laden. That’s precisely what he did, as the President restated at a White House news conference.”

Weiner and Mann cite the 2009 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report: “The Committee says its review ‘removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora.” The Committee Chair expressed the “hope that we can learn from the mistakes of the past.” “Obama did,” say Weiner and Mann.

“Obama recognized that bin Laden’s compound could not exist without local and likely some kind of government cooperation.

“During the years after the Tora Bora debacle, the Bush administration went even further in the opposite direction from Obama’s later actions. Bush closed the CIA’s unit on bin Laden. In contrast, Obama reprioritized the search for bin Laden. Bush said, ‘I truly am not that concerned about him. I am deeply concerned about Iraq. I really don’t spend that much time on him, to be honest with you.’ Likewise, Governor Romney said he ‘would not move heaven and earth’ to get bin Laden.

“The notion recently raised by Carl Rove, Condoleezza Rice, and Dick Cheney that Bush deserves a share of the credit for Obama’s bin Laden operation is ridiculous and should be recognized as sour grapes.

“Obama’s team had as key players Vice President Joe Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a former Senate Armed Services Committee member, and their emphasis on using intelligence and special operations over a large military footprint ultimately proved successful. Despite 100,000 troops and another 100,000 contractors, the Taliban actually grew stronger.

It was the surgical raid by a small team that defeated the man behind the 9/11 attacks. “It is time to ask the Republicans and other critics if they have any real alternative that would have succeeded as Obama did in taking down Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki, or Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi or for that matter, on domestic policy, where Obama reversed the Bush bleeding of 750,000 jobs per month, rescued the auto industry and the nation’s financial institutions, and put the country back to 26 straight months of increased jobs and GDP.”

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Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s book was released this week with promises of “heads exploding” in Washington.  I am not sure that any heads will explode, but I will bet that his book sells pretty well.

One of the heads that Cheney might have thought would explode belongs to former top diplomat inside the Bush administration, Colin Powell. Powell appeared CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday and accused Cheney of taking “cheap shots.”

Cheney writes in his book, “In My Time” that Powell tried to undermine Bush by criticizing administration policy to people outside the government. Powell denies these accusations stating that he routinely gave his opinion and his best advice on issues to the president.

Although Powell stated he has always planned to resign after Bush’s first term, Cheney suggested in his book that Powell somehow was forced to resign. Powell also suggested Cheney is almost condescending in his remarks about Powell’s successor, Condoleezza Rice.

Powell also discussed Cheney’s prediction of head’s exploding. “That’s quite a visual,” Powell said of the former vice president’s choice of words. “[It's] the kind of headline I would expect to come out of a gossip columnist or the kind of headline you might see one of the super market tabloids write.

It’s not the kind of headline I would have expected to come from one of the vice presidents of the United States of America.” He added, “I think Dick overshot the runway.”

Other revelations from Cheney’s book include his secret resignation letter and his lack of regret over waterboarding. Cheney reported that he kept a signed resignation letter in a lock box. “I did it because I was concerned that — for a couple of reasons,” Cheney explains in an interview with NBC’s Jamie Gangel. “One was my own health situation.

The possibility that I might have a heart attack or a stroke that would be incapacitating. And, there is no mechanism for getting rid of a vice-president who can’t function.”

Cheney says he has “no regrets” about his support for waterboarding terror suspects, and that he would “strongly support using it again if we had a high value detainee and that was the only way we could get him to talk.” Cheney feels he is not betraying former President George W. Bush’s trust by revealing their private conversations.

Image Courtesy of  Gage Skidmore

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