Mitt Romney for President

I wanted to vote for Giuliani for President, but that option no longer exists. My first inclination is to follow Rudy's advice and vote for John McCain in tomorrow's NY primary election.

I voted for John McCain in the 2000 Republican primary. Eight years later, its clear that both this country and the world would have been infinitely better off if McCain had won.

Bush did some things right, but, now, in 2008, there's no sense denying it--the man's not intelligent. He was not up to the job in a hundred different ways-- he sat idly by as the Republican Congress spent like no Democrat Congress would have dared to, he never proposed an effective strategy on dealing with illegal immigration, it was under his watch that the Iraq occupation was botched.

McCain would have jumped down the throat of the Republican Senator who proposed the "Bridge to Nowhere", and he would have similarly flayed the many Republicans who larded up the budget with earmarks and other thefts. He probably would have done a much better job in Afghanistan and in Iraq-if he would have gone into Iraq at all. But what of illegal immigration?

I think that illegal immigration is one of the most serious problems that Bay Ridge --New York--all of America now faces. Only national security is more important. The economy is a distant third. Its not the economy, stupid!!

The problems brought on by illegal immigration impact every other problem that we face--schools, health care, taxation, social security, national security, overcrowding in major cities, all are made more difficult to deal with by massive, and uncontrolled illegal immigration.

McCain forged an immigration agreement with Senator Kennedy in 2005. Which went nowhere, as it was widely, and correctly seen as "amnesty". Illegals now in the US would have had a clear path to citizenship. Pay a little money, wait a while, you're in, sign on the dotted line. I don't believe that McCain has ever retreated from this position. Yes, he wants to "secure the borders". But even now, in February 2008, his website does not use the words illegal immigration. How the hell are you going to solve the problem if you cannot bring yourself to call it by its name?

Mitt Romney has said clearly and unambigously that he wants to end the tide of illegal immigration. Romney, like Giuliani, has a record of extreme competence in an executive position.

So, sorry Rudy. Sometime before 7am, I will be at P.S. 102, casting a vote for Mitt Romney.

I will always respect John McCain. But Mitt Romney for President!

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A good piece by the NY Times on neighborhood reaction to the sad death of John Rossi of Lowens

One gentle correction: they say that Lowen's had been at 69th and Third since 1953. Actually, in 1953, they opened at Third Avenue near 68th St. It was years later that they moved one block south to 69th Street ( Bay Ridge Avenue ).
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Now reading: 1491, by Charles C. Mann. Very good. More on this later.