Our Man Mitch
The banner headline on the Drudge Report at this hour:
Who? Ricochet's own Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, that's who.
From the report in the Des Moines Register to which the Drudge Report links:
“We must be the vanguard of recovery, but we cannot do it alone,” Daniels told about 500 attending a banquet at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.
“We have learned in Indiana, big change requires big majorities,” the second-term governor and former Bush administration budget director said. “We will need people who never tune in to Rush or Glenn or Laura or Sean. Who surf past C-SPAN to get to SportsCenter. Who, if they’d ever heard of CPAC, would assume it was a cruise ship accessory.”
The speech was a breakthrough moment for Daniels, who has hinted more in recent months that he is entertaining a 2012 campaign.
A breakthrough moment? Not for those of us who have been following Gov. Daniels here on Ricochet, of course, but I see what they mean.
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Nov '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
Mitch Daniels was a favorite of mine until I heard him say he could support a VAT tax. I could be confused on this, and I hope I am. But if I have it right he’s not a conservative. If we ever get a VAT you can kiss limited government goodbye forever. All one need do is look to what it did for Europe and the UK.
Edited on Feb 12, 2011 at 12:15pmJun '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
I have a hard time believing that the politicians, like Daniels, that don't care much about the "social issues," will care deeply about anything. On what basis do they care about the budget? Presidents should hire plenty of myopic budget wonks, but they shouldn't be myopic budget wonks.
Oct '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
TeeJaw, if I remember right he supported a VAT to replace (or drastically lower) the income tax.
Re: Our Man Mitch
Whoa! TeeJaw, Mitch was speaking at a think tank, talking theoretically. What he said was that a consumption tax in place of other taxes would be ideal. (Every economist I know says the same.) There's nothing unconservative about that thought, I don't think.
And, Star of the North, Mitch does care about the social issues--his pro-life record as governor is utterly solid. What he has said is that the budget has to take priority right now, because it can and must be solved, whereas social issues will require a long struggle to change the culture. Now you may agree or not--I myself wish he'd framed the issue differently, and Ricochet's Bill McGurn whacked Mitch good and hard in his Wall Street Journal column last Tuesday. But Mitch's record is what it is--and it's stoutly pro-life.
May '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
My sentiment, exactly. He should have just pointed out that no other issue will be a major concern if our economy collapses from debt and excessive regulation, and left it at that.
Jan '11
Re: Our Man Mitch
One thing that potentially mitigates against Mr Daniels - he doesn't look different than the stereotype of the Republican Party, so to speak. Have we entered an era where "novelty candidates" are all the rage? (hate that term, but can't think of a more appropriate one)
Dec '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
I just read the speech. It is what we need. He, maybe, maybe not; it, YES! If Gov. Daniels can be the one who does what he said in the speech then I'm all in. If he's blowing smoke up my pucker, no thanks.
Nov '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
A consumption tax is not the same as a VAT if I understand. A consumption tax would be like a national sales tax, a tax on retail sales. A VAT is tax at every stage of production. While a consumption tax is out in the open and everyone who pays it sees just what it is costing them, a VAT is largely a hidden tax. That is why politicians love it.
A consumption tax to replace the income tax might sound great in theory, but you must know what would happen. We would end up both a consumption tax and an income tax. The theory is nice to talk about, but reality kills it and reality is not optional.
If Daniels seriously thinks a VAT could possibly be a good idea under any circumstances, then he is not a serious man, in my view.
Edited on Feb 12, 2011 at 1:05pmJan '11
Re: Our Man Mitch
It seems that our choices to date are either hacks (Newt, Huckabee, Romney), those who would make good Cabinet members or too young/inexperienced.
Jun '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
I'm glad to hear it, but he made a poor first impression on me. I'm going through Catholic RCIA right now, so maybe I'm just especially sensitive to the troubles in America's moral sphere. It's in as much trouble as our budget is, and the consequences of ignoring spiritual health are worse than going broke. At least I think so.
Sep '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
Mitch was awesome in his speech. Delivered with a candor I did not know he had. My big takeaway was that the debt is a red menace that will not negotiate with us. All the social programs Democrats want to protect are what they are destroying but doing nothing. Mitch won't win the beauty contest with Obama, but you know BO will not look forward to debating Mitch.
You can see about 4 minutes of the speech on youtube.
The audio is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vJ9mcwQ_oI&feature=related
Oct '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
Daniels' less than enthusiastic support for right-to-work legislation in Indiana gives me pause. He did repeal an executive order that had given unions the exclusive right to represent public employees, but it is difficult to understand his underlying principles. The impression I have is that he is a budget cutter (good) but there are no bed rock principles involved. This is the same ailment inflicting Pawlenty.
The propensity to git-er-done usually results in reaching-across-the aisle on matters not deemed important.
Oct '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
TeeJaw : A consumption tax is not the same as a VAT if I understand. A consumption tax would be like a national sales tax, a tax on retail sales. A VAT is tax at every stage of production. While a consumption tax is out in the open and everyone who pays it sees just what it is costing them, a VAT is largely a hidden tax. That is why politicians love it.
<snip>
If Daniels seriously thinks a VAT could possibly be a good idea under any circumstances, then he is not a serious man, in my view. · Feb 12 at 1:03pm
Look, we don't need more of this burn-the-nation-down tax populism. A VAT could replace the income tax, or the corporate income tax, or capital gains, etc. These are all possibilities, and should be discussed.
Right now we do have a consumption tax, the corporate income tax (talk about hidden taxation!). This bleeds into exports. In most nations, they border-adjust their VAT so exports are not taxed.
Oct '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
etoiledunord
I'm glad to hear it, but he made a poor first impression on me. I'm going through Catholic RCIA right now, so maybe I'm just especially sensitive to the troubles in America's moral sphere. It's in as much trouble as our budget is, and the consequences of ignoring spiritual health are worse than going broke. At least I think so. · Feb 12 at 1:30p
m
That's debatable. If Congress goes down the hyperinflation road it'll be much worse; hyperinflation can decimate social morality and cohesion.
Dec '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
Did I miss the segment where he discussed the very pressing foreign policy issues that the next President will have to face? Or are those part of what we can set aside and deal with only after our fiscal house is in order?
This address seems to be a bit blinkered, as if Daniels believes that America can only deal with one great challenge at a time. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury.
Oct '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
As I read some of the comments on Peter’s post, I am a little disappointed. Isn’t it too early to write off candidates who have not announced yet? Perhaps incorrectly, I also detect some single issue voters whose choices will not attract the independent voters we need to defeat President Obama. Shouldn’t we wait until the campaign starts, support the candidate of our choice in our state’s primary, and then enthusiastically support the eventual Republican winner in the campaign against President Obama. My primary objective is to ensure that Obama is not re-elected president in 2012. I will support a less than perfect candidate who can do that. Unfortunately, we don’t have another Ronald Reagan waiting in the wings.
Jan '11
Re: Our Man Mitch
Stuart Creque:
Did I miss the segment where he discussed the very pressing foreign policy issues that the next President will have to face? Or are those part of what we can set aside and deal with only after our fiscal house is in order?
This address seems to be a bit blinkered, as if Daniels believes that America can only deal with one great challenge at a time. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. · Feb 12 at 2:20pm
Adding to my earlier post, maybe we can go with a Frankenstein approach to our problem. For Foreign Relations let's go with The 'Stache ©. His CPAC address can be found here.
Nov '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
Joseph Eagar
TeeJaw : A consumption tax is not the same as a VAT if I understand. A consumption tax would be like a national sales tax, a tax on retail sales. A VAT is tax at every stage of production. While a consumption tax is out in the open and everyone who pays it sees just what it is costing them, a VAT is largely a hidden tax. That is why politicians love it.
<snip>
If Daniels seriously thinks a VAT could possibly be a good idea under any circumstances, then he is not a serious man, in my view. · Feb 12 at 1:03pm
Look, we don't need more of this burn-the-nation-down tax populism. A VAT could replace the income tax, or the corporate income tax, or capital gains, etc. These are all possibilities, and should be discussed.
· Feb 12 at 1:53pm
We are discussing it aren’t we? Tax populism, or whatever you want to call objections to a VAT, won’t burn the nation down. But a VAT will.
Sep '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
I have been a Daniels fan since I read the piece about him in the Weekly Standard some months ago. But what is this I hear about him not wanting to sign the law in Indiana to make it a right to work state? Is he soft on unions? We do not need that.
He has worked budget miracles in Indiana. I like his down to earth demeanor. If he is nominated, there will be a rancor in the media over his wife. She left him a few years back, remarried, divorced, and is now back with the Governor. I don't think it matters, but I can see the press making it a huge issue. But it does kind of makes him an anti-Clinton kind of candidate. A governor who stayed true to his wife even when she up and left him. Hmmm.
Nov '10
Re: Our Man Mitch
I think this whole "truce" thing is seriously overplayed. The whole reason the Dems are in trouble is because the people have the impression that they've ignored the economy in order to cram their pet project (health care) through while they could. All Daniels is saying is that we don't want gay marriage or abortion to be our Obamacare.