« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Dear John Boehner, Let Mitch Daniels Speak

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 4th, 2009 at 01:42 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

UPDATE: By the way, if you agree, call John Boehner today at (202) 225-4000 and suggest Mitch Daniels give the Republican Response.

——————————

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, Barack Obama will address a joint session of Congress to pitch his his healthcare plan to the American people using the ultimate bully pulpit, some free press, and Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden standing behind him clapping, though not smiling due to their botox injections.

The GOP will air a response that at least some of the networks are going to cover.

I would encourage the GOP to put together an impromptu town hall forum with the Republican doctors in congress answering questions.

In lieu of that and because there problem is not much time to get it done, the GOP should let Gov. Mitch Daniels give the response to the President.

Gov. Daniels runs one of the few states running a budget surplus right now.

He has the fiscal knowledge and real world experience to explain, in laymen’s terms, the impact of Obamacare.

In 1993, Gov. Campbell of South Carolina gave the response to Bill Clinton’s healthcare speech.

A Governor should give this response because it will be at the state level that the greatest impact is felt. Don’t believe me? Why, Governor Mitch Daniels explains why here.

The Republican Leadership should choose to highlight its fiscally responsible Governors who have turned around their states. They did it with Bobby Jindal. They should now do it with Mitch Daniels.

Tags: , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • redtillimdead

    I would say go for Jindal because he has experience with this too, but after February….
    So, I was hoping Mitch Daniels would get it, as he is quickly becoming my favorite for 2012.

  • Mayhem

    Highly recommended.

  • GregInFla

    Which would be wrong, of course. More voters in Indiana voted against Obama than voted for him.

  • Cheryl

    I’d love to hear him, his WSJ editorial was excellent today.

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth
  • RedBeard

    …he has this weird ideas that the budget should be balanced, freebies aren’t free,government doesn’t create wealth, and taxpayers shouldn’t be taking it in the shorts for wacky social experiments and unjustified entitlements.

    What a mean guy, huh?

    Indiana is my native state, and I still spend a lot of time there. I met Mitch in a local saloon one night during his campaign for governor, and he impressed me as a guy willing to understand who he works for. He spent perhaps an hour in there, going from table to table, doing far more listening than talking.

  • Spartan4Life

    He was calm, cool, and collected while explaining not only why we can’t afford Obamacare but why governments at both the state and federal level are on an unsustainable arc because politicians have overpromised what they are going to do for folks.

    I second this motion.

  • Dan McLaughlin

    If not a Governor: please, please, please, Paul Ryan.

  • Mayhem

    Just out of curiosity… how did Obama win the State, then?

    BTW, Indiana will not go for Obama again. Mark it down. 2008 was an aberration that won’t be repeated in 2012 (especially if Mitch Daniels name is somewhere on the ticket…)

  • Mayhem

    But independents are very warm to him here (leadership tends to do that). Add that to his strong base support among Republicans and you get the 70+ approval ratings that he has now.

  • RedBeard
  • Ausonius

    who could give the response?

    Outside of Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham?

    Michelle Bachmann? What is her stage presence like?

    Condi Rice! :) (NO, maybe not!)

  • Aaron Gardner

    Glenn Beck. You know it would be EPIC. ;^)

  • stixxxnstones

    I’d prefer Paul Ryan. Here’s why, just off the top of my head:

    1.) Paul Ryan is possibly the most articulate congressman I’ve seen on this issue — I haven’t seen anyone else tie Chris Matthews in a rhetorical knot, period.
    2.) Budget committee, Ways And Means committee. Health Subcommittee, for cryin’ out loud. The guy is a wonk’s wonk. He knows this issue better than Obama can possibly hope to understand it.
    3.) He’s young and telegenic. After a presidential candidate who was an elementary-school classmate of Moses, and a high-school classmate of Socrates, we need a face without wrinkles. No hate for the old and wise, but…you have show horses, and you have work horses. We’re a television-driven political realm, let’s put our Kennedy foot forward :D
    4.) I agree with the strategy of highlighting fiscally responsible governors, and Mitch Daniels is the best of that group. However, Ryan is a Republican in a blue state. A northern state. Plus, Ryan came up with Bill Bennett and Jack Kemp, not Karl Rove and George Bush. He takes the fight to the enemy in a way that Mitch Daniels doesn’t.

    I love Mitch Daniels, even though I don’t think he’s nuts enough to run for President. And if he is…well, I’d vote for the guy :D

  • Rod_Patrick

    Hoosiers.

    But I’m afraid of the possible retaliation from the left and MSM if the Good Governor takes the center stage of countering Obama’s speech.

    There are also so many things to attack against the state budget of Indiana. I don’t want my state and my Governor to be palinized by Obama’s political machinery.

  • Dan McLaughlin

    Erick has a point that we should have a Governor, but Daniels, smart as he is, is dry as dust. Have you seen the schedule of town halls Ryan has done? I think at one point last week he did something like 11 town halls in 3 days. He’s surpassed even Jindal, I think, as our best spokesman on this issue. He’s a rock star.

  • scarlos

    with 3rd parties getting about .7% of the vote, which was deciding

  • scarlos

    so that says something about his personal presence

  • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

    the democrats will steal it. Republicans have to win by a convincing majority.

  • smagar

    I fear we’re starting to micromanage GOP political activity here.

    If Boehner doesn’t go along with our “suggestion”, what should our response be? A punitive one?

    IMO, as much as possible, you should let the people charged with doing the job, do the job. If you don’t like how they’re doing things, do what they did—do the heavy lifting necessary to get elected for office.

    (Perhaps I’m a little too sensitive on this issue—but I’m still stunned at how quickly Redstate generated a white-hotTwo Minute Hate on John Cornyn when he chose to support Charlie Crist.)

  • dsmurf

    that I have a little hope in my country after Paulson started the Keynesian stimulus palooza.

    Good to know that there are states with some change as well.

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

    First of all, it’s not John Boehner who’s in charge, he’s just the leader for the Republican senator – and they work for us. Or to shift metaphors slightly, we’re the shareholders, and we’re giving advice to our company’s management

    It’s sending a message that the grass roots are watching them and paying attention, and also suggesting what we’re looking for. If we press them on enough issues, they will start getting the message.

    But the most important priority is to educate them that with Obama in town and Democratic control of the legislature, they can’t go on with business as usual. It’st certainly not business as usual for us.

    And I haven’t heard anything punitive threatened on this issue – as opposed to taking punitive action on the NRSC for their interference in the primary process.

  • LibertarianHawk

    ….he didn’t really “come up…with Karl Rove and George Bush.” He was Sen. Lugar’s top guy for a number of years prior to launching a successful career in the private sector (at Eli Lilly).

    While a lot of conservatives might bristle at hearing that he was Lugar’s guy, I think it’s worth assessing his record as governor of Indiana. I think he’s been downright terrific. For my money, he’s probably the ablest governor in the nation.

    Republicans should look hard at Mitch Daniels, IMO. There’s a whole lot there to like.

  • LibertarianHawk

    Mmmm, maybe. But 1) I actually don’t think he’s that dry. And 2) After four years of all-flash Barack Obama, voters may well be in the mood for somebody who is less rock star, more competent leader and manager.

    We voted for flashy and incompetent. If voters tend to “correct what they perceive were their mistakes”, then perhaps Daniels fits the bill perfectly.

    I love Rep. Ryan. But he’s probably not going to be in a position to run for and win the presidency in 2012. Daniels may be, if he changes his mind about future office.

    And it’s time the GOP start coalescing behind some defined person who can emerge as the standard-bearer. That’s the problem with having Rep. Ryan do this. He almost certainly isn’t going to be that standard-bearer.

    So why waste such a high-profile opportunity like this on him?

  • Cheryl

    (not senate).