WE NEED A CONSERVATIVE NOT MITT ROMNEY - THE SUNDAY COMMENTARY

Another Republican straw poll and another win for the ever present RINO Mitt Romney. Now I know that straw polls are somewhat fixed since the winner is the candidate who has the most people available to vote for them when the poll is taken but give me a break, I am tired of all the media and commentary discussing a Mitt Romney run and pundits saying he is the front runner for the 2012 Republican nomination.

We don't need nor want Mitt Romney, period! We need a real conservative not someone who says he is for the sake of garnering the conservative vote. We have already had one RINO run for President recently and the result was Barack Obama. Do we really want another one in 2012 to see the imbecilic Obama reelected because Republicans chose the wrong candidate again and shied away from a true conservative which is what this country needs and wants?

I almost cringe whenever I see Romney in interview after interview espousing how conservative he is when his record as Governor of Massachusetts is FAR from stellar from a conservative point of view. He may have been a decent business man and did a good job running the winter Olympics but neither make this RINO a good choice for President and do not give him the credentials which meet true conservative standards for the 2012 election cycle. Plus the guy has already LOST one nomination and in a head to head CANNOT beat Barack Obama.

For those who are so willing to jump on the Mitt Romney band wagon let me remind you what this RINO did when he had the opportunity to govern in an executive position which many believe gives him the experience to be President. He failed on almost all accounts as a conservative and his record in the Massachusetts Governors mansion as with any State Chief Executive who moves to the Oval Office will follow suit.

The crowning achievement during the Romney years in Massachusetts was his push and passage of health care reform which has been tagged Romneycare after the passage of Obamacare on the national level. Since Obamacare was passed in 2009, Romney has been extremely quiet about his state government health care bill which is a complete reversal from his braggadocios prideful rantings about it BEFORE Obamacare was passed and its unpopularity became very obvious. Since then Romney has distanced himself from his own debacle by avoiding direct answers when asked about his state nightmare.

Romneycare is the state version of Obamacare though not a total government take over it is complete with a mandate to purchase health care that penalizes citizens with escalating taxation and the loss of any personal income tax exemptions if some form of health care is not purchased. The, "call," for state health care also patterned the lie perpetrated on the national level by greatly overstating the number of people without health care in Massachusetts. In actuality when the numbers were truly scrutinized they like the national numbers did not match the scare hype as a nominal 6% of the states citizens were uninsured. Even after Romeycare was initiated the real number only dropped by 2% as most chose even with the penalties to not participate in the program.

Romneycare also assessed an annual, "fair," fee to business not exceeding $295 dollars per employee for every business in the state with more than ten employees who did not voluntarily contribute to the state health care fund. In other words a business tax from the man who claims to be pro - business and cries foul over government taxation of small business. This assessment or voluntary contribution is in addition to business costs for employee health care already provided by the business.

Romney and Ted Kennedy were bitter opponents in 1994 during the Senate race when many thought Kennedy was very vulnerable in light of the conservative surge with the Contract with America. Romney lost and he and Kennedy still remained cool to one another. After Romney jumped on the health care band wagon as Governor embracing Kennedy's dream he and Romney became good friends as Kennedy endorsed Romenycare since it met with his standards of government sponsored health care. Since its passage it has cost the state millions and placed an extreme financial burden on Massachusetts.

Romney also calls himself a fiscal conservative who does not believe in tax increases. But again his record as Governor proves otherwise. Romney inherited a $3 billion dollar deficit upon entering office and though he did not penalize Massachusetts citizens to pay for this deficit by direct taxation he did increase fees across the board on licenses etc. which directly affected nearly every citizen. Additionally he hit the citizens pocket books by increasing the gasoline tax to attack the deficit. He did cut spending but his first move was to increase fees and the gas tax rather than first enacting drastic spending cuts to combat the state deficit.

Romney also raised taxes on business to combat the state deficit. Although he called it closing tax loopholes, state business considered the measures tax increases and as such expressed their anger toward their so called pro - business Governor. He also increased the Capital Gains Tax as an additional revenue source and implemented a state tax on all Internet services. The so called anti tax Governor also signed legislation increasing all commercial property taxes in the state which was another financial attack against business.

Now that his record is behind him and many are not scrutinizing it as he makes his move toward 2012 Mitt Romney is trying to show himself as a fiscal conservative who is against any tax increases, continually talking a good game as a pro business candidate and complaining about the affects of Obamacare on our Nation. Yet as Governor of Massachusetts he was far from the conservative mantra that he is now claiming implementing taxation through fees and gasoline, attacking business by increasing business costs through government intervention and the author of the states universal health care bill.

The bottom line is this. Romney is not a conservative he is at best a moderate who has shown that as a Chief Executive his governing policy will be more liberal than conservative. He may try and talk a good game about being conservative but his record shows otherwise and that record will, if elected, follow him to The White House and the same RINO policy will follow suit. We do not need nor want another of his type as the Republican choice against Barack Obama in 2012. The country has shown by the result of the 2010 election a starvation for conservative leadership and Mitt Romney has not nor ever will fit that bill.

Ken Taylor