The Upcoming Debates -- Romney

In the upcoming debates, there are ten questions I would like to be asked of Mitt Romney:

1) You took no salary when you ran the 2002 Winter Olympics, nor when you were the governor of Massachusetts. If elected, would you take your $400,000 Presidential salary?

2) Do you believe that private-equity and hedge fund managers should continue to pay income taxes at the 15% “carried interest” rate?

3) Why do Mormons not permit non-Mormons to enter their temples? Do you agree with this restriction?

4) You have been castigated for not releasing 10 years of your tax returns instead of just the 2 years you have disclosed. Have you, in fact, paid considerable federal taxes during each of those missing 8 years?

5) It has been reported that you have off-shore bank accounts in the Bahamas, or Switzerland, or other locales. If this is or was the case, what was their purpose … and have you disclosed these accounts to the IRS?

6) What specific proposals do you have for reforming the U.S .income tax system?

7) What specific proposals do you have for reforming the U.S. federal entitlement programs?

8) Where would you pare back spending in the discretionary portion of the federal budget … and is the Defense Department one of them?

9) What specific regulatory burdens would you focus on removing in order to get Americans back to work?

10) What would your top foreign policy objectives be in the early years of your administration?

Why I'll Vote for Mitt ...

The RedState blog has a current entry that castigates Mitt Romney as presaging the end to the Conservative movement after he loses to The Barry next year (see: Red State Blog.)  Mitt Romney seems to have legions of detractors within the Republican party: Rush Limbaugh, Erick Erickson (of the RedState blog), Howie Carr, Michael Graham, etc.  There even is a movement called  "Anyone But Mitt".  Most of this distaste arises from serious doubts about his Conservative credentials.  He was for abortions before he was against them; he ushered Romneycare into Massachusetts as a precursor to Obamacare;  etc.  However valid these doubts are, there is one reason, I'll vote for Romney -- he has the best chance of fixing this country's economic malaise.  And I believe that he will assemble around him the kind of people who understand how our economic engine is assembled and what it takes to bring about its overhaul. All else is, for the nonce, unimportant.

Yes, there will be fusillades of opposition TV ads attacking Romney next year (assuming he gets the nomination) about his vacillating on these issues, his Wall Street ties, and many Latter-Day-Saints innuendos.  After all, how will The Barry spend his billion dollar political war chest?  (A friend in the know has even suggested that Romney may have trouble buying TV spots leading up to the election ... since Obama, with all his campaign funds, will have reserved all the premium TV-spot buys.)  But, I have not, nor will I give up on Romney as I think, if he is elected, he will do what it takes to fix things ... like he did with the 2002 Winter Olympics.  Interestingly, David Brooks likes him too for President (see: David Brooks Endorsement) ... perhaps it's, once again, the crease in his pants?  And I also kind of doubt that there will be a Romney bimbo eruption eleven months hence.

By the bye, has anyone noticed the juxtaposition possibilities between Mitt Romney and Stephen Colbert?  Put a pair of rimless glasses on Romney and he could host the Colber(t) Repor(t).