http://article.nationalreview.com/426286/the-anti-obama/mona-charen?page=1

Unfortunately, outside of us RINO’s, I would be pretty much alone in that hope. Why this is so says a lot about conservatives and Republicans today.”

Baloney. RedState likes him. A lot of beltway conservatives are warm to him. I like him. The only question is whether he has the ‘charisma’ juice to take it to the Presidential level.

I’m with you Rick on being pragmatic, but your end game must be your side’s goals. Being bipartisan for bipartisan’s sake is not going to win you elections. BTW, I think Daniels is great. Tax increases suck, but he is probably thinking about deeper cuts in the future after he shows that raising taxes doesn’t cut it. Heck, Reagan even raised taxes so it isn’t the death-knell for good conservatives.

I do feel honored to have received an “ed.” rant though.

Here is a little more food for thought: Once upon a time there was a governor who had a great reputation for working with the other side. He was pragmatic. He was so pragmatic that he even came up with a nice RINO term of “compassionate conservatism”. Once he got to DC, he would be able to repeat that pragmatism and get stuff done. His name was George W. Bush and it worked out like a dream. The Dems in Washington were mature and worked with him on a litany of issues like Social Security reform, the war on terror, etc. He left as one of the greatest presidents ever.

Rick has the same false hope that American socialists do: This time it will work!!!!

How about another California governor who was a pragmatist, who worked with Democrats, who got a lot done, and who ran for president and served two terms that redefined America?

I don’t give a crap about Arnold. He’s no conservative and never was. The problem you have is that you are incapable of envisioning a conservative working with the other side. That doesn’t make them a RINO or even a moderate. It makes them responsible. Look at Mitch Daniels. The guy got 60% of the vote in one of the most conservative states in the union during a Democratic year. He is conservative, popular, and works with Democrats because he knows that serving the people is a higher ambition than simply gaining power.

ed.

TM Lutas brings up a fantastic point about how Gov. Daniels is dealing with Gary. On a national scale, city, county and even state bankruptcies will be occurring over the next few years. Even if Obama gets re-elected in ‘12, he will have to hew to a more conservative toolkit for dealing with them because of their sheer number and cost. If what Gov. Daniels is successfully implementing can be replicated along locally realistic lines by other governors, it will be a powerful example for much of the nation to follow.

You might not be as alone on the blogosphere as you think. Over at RedState (yes, RedState, the home of the “movement conservatives” who you think would dismiss someone like Daniels out of hand), Leon Wolf had a front-page post up on Monday about Daniels, which struck a remarkably similar tone to your post here. His last line summed it up best, when he said, “But for those of you who are tired of “exciting and sexy” and would prefer simply for the government to be run well, Daniels is certainly worth a second look.”

If Daniels decides to run, don’t be surprised if many of the movement conservatives gravitate towards him, as a conservative who can actually govern effectively.

I think that Daniels, Huntsman, and Ryan are the future of the party. A close examination of Daniels’ record might cause some of those movement conservatives to pause. He signed a very liberal gay and transgender executive order that placed them under state civil rights laws. ANd he has kept Indiana evangelicals at arms length for most of his administration.

Not saying that those are deal breakers but it may upset some on the religious right.

ed.

Gov. Daniels is going to have a great deal of support in the GOP outside of the RINO grouping. The reality of Gov Daniels is that he has an actual solution to liberal urban concentrations. He’s tax limited them.

Under his leadership, Indiana has acquired property tax caps, 1% assessed residential, 2% commercial, 3% industrial if I remember correctly. It’s getting written into the Indiana Constitution this year. Cities have to live within their means and have no ability to pass crushing property taxes anymore to finance spendthrift policies. This overwhelmingly affects big cities and poorly run cities, i.e. the left wing power base.

Because of this policy, Gary, IN is likely going to go bankrupt. Their budget’s got to get cut 40%. They’re going to have to get off a cash basis accounting system, and implement dozens of other reforms. My opinion is that they’re not going to make it, not with a debt load of 80% of their new tax base and a poor credit rating. It’s going to be a huge blow to the local left when Gary’s lifeline runs out in 2012 and they have to seek some sort of extraordinary adjustment.

I expect Gov. Daniels to end up pulling the plug on the city and allowing constituent components to apply for municipal charters in their own right. Miller, for instance, is likely going to be quite happy to be free of some of the dead weight in the rest of the city.

I think you’re selling Gov. Daniels short. I think that conservatives who want results are likely to have a strong voice going into 2012 and many of them may well back Daniels.

We moved east to conservative Porter County Indiana from the Chicago suburbs eighteen years ago specifically to escape Illinois democrat corruption, high taxes and to raise my family in a safe exurban environment with a sound school system. I personally know many other ex-Illinoians who moved here for the same reason.

In the industrial democrat and union thug controlled Northwestern Lake County with a decades old history of democrat corruption they hate Mitch. You will often see “Ditch Mitch” bumper stickers there. Daniels has cut off Lake County from state funding increases until they cut spending 26% or enact a county income tax of 4.5% to offset their $367 million dollar debt.

While he may express “a friendly and unifying tone” Mitch plays real hardball to ensure that Indiana stays in the political red and economic black. At a local Lake County high school last year Mitch told them this: “You are entitled to all the lousy, crummy, graft-ridden government you want and are willing to pay for.”

Mitch can work with democrats, true. With the exception of Lake County, Indiana state democrats are generally fiscally and socially responsible politicians who are easy to reason with, not Nancy Pelosi style socialist zombie pick pockets.

I also don’t buy the MSM argument, there are news networks for both sides so their information gets shown, part of the problem is both sides slant their views on the material so its hard to get a balanced view from anyone.