(Click on picture to link to the Campaign Website)
.....A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM ARTUR DAVIS
Dear Fellow Virginian,
When considering the upcoming elections, I suspect many independents and conservative Democrats have mixed feelings: admiration for Barack Obama the man but a sad disappointment in the leader President Obama has turned out to be.
I'm Artur Davis, a former Member of Congress and a resident of Virginia for two years now, and I have a particular understanding of what these independent minded voters are wrestling with: like many of you, I supported Barack Obama in 2008 and played an active role in his campaign. This year, I'm supporting Governor Mitt Romney.
I was honored to be asked to speak at the Republican National Convention this summer. In my speech, I discussed the path that has led me and so many other Americans to make a different choice this time. I spoke specifically to those of us who used to be Democrats but who candidly don't recognize our old party, and know we can do better than its failed, tired ideas. I also talked about just what has happened to all the hope we embraced so eagerly four years ago.
If I may, I ask that you listen to what I said; hopefully it will help you make your choice for the next four years. You can hear a short version of my speech by clicking on the video link on the left, or you can hear the entire speech by clicking the video link on the right.
I believe Barack Obama meant well, but his best efforts have not given America the country we deserve. Middle class incomes are shrinking dramatically; the pace of job creation is the weakest in a generation. The burden on the middle class is heart-breaking: rising health insurance costs caused partly by Obamacare; soaring gas prices; record numbers of homes in foreclosure. This record just isn't good enough, and three debates make it clear our president has no agenda other than to raise our taxes and spend more of our money.
When you cast your ballot, I hope you'll join me in voting for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, for George Allen for Senate, and for the other members of the Republican team.
Lastly, please forward this email to any of your friends or relatives who may be helped by what I have to say. Thank you for your time, and please listen to the speech.
Sincerely,
Artur Davis
What I Learned at Bain Capital
My business experience taught me how to help companies grow—and what to do when trouble arises. When you see a problem, run toward it before the problem gets worse.
Mitt Romney, Wall Street Journal, August 24, 2012, page A11
The back-to-school season is here, and as parents take their children to shop for school supplies, I suspect that many of them will be visiting a Staples store. I'm very familiar with those stores because Staples is one of many businesses we helped create and expand at Bain Capital, a firm that my colleagues and I built. The firm succeeded by growing and fixing companies.
The Silent Second-Term Agenda
Despite the Democrats' shellacking in 2010, the president moved left. Re-election in November will reinforce his view that he was correct to do so.
Kimberly Strassel, Wall Street Journal, August 24, 2012, page A9
President Obama has a reputation for talking, but not necessarily for saying much. He has achieved new levels of vagueness this election season. Beyond repeating that he's in favor of making the "rich" pay for more government "investment," he hasn't offered a single new idea for a second term. This is deliberate.
How Ryan Recasts the Race
With his big ideas, the GOP's vice presidential candidate makes the incumbent president seem smaller.
Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2012, page A13
After naming Paul Ryan as his running mate this month, Mitt Romney gave better speeches, especially when Rep. Ryan was at his side. Gov. Romney's poll numbers ticked up in Ohio and Virginia, both swing states. His online fundraising shot up like a geyser (68% of it coming from new donors). The Romney Facebook page added 510,000 friends in five days.
A Voter ID Victory
Pennsylvania's new law passes a legal test, as it should on the merits.
Wall Stree Journal, August 16,2012, page A10
Chalk up another one for voter ID laws and representative politics. On Wednesday, a Pennsylvania judge refused to block a new Keystone State ID law from going into effect, handing a defeat to the ACLU and Attorney General Eric Holder's campaign to demonize such laws as racist.
What's Really in the Ryan Budget
Good fiscal policy requires the private sector to grow faster than the government. That is the crucial goal of the House Republican budget.
Daniel J. Mitchell, Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2012, page A11
Thanks to several years of fiscal restraint during the 1990s, the burden of federal spending dropped to 18.2% of gross domestic product by the time Bill Clinton left office. The federal budget today consumes more than 24% of economic output, a one-third increase since 2001 in the share of the U.S. economy allocated by politics rather than market forces. That makes the Republican House budget, which would reverse this trend, extremely important for the economic health of the country.
The Postmodern President
The challenge is finding anything his campaign says that is true.
Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2012, on page A10
President Obama spent his formative years in academia, so he's no doubt familiar with postmodernism, the literary theory that rejects objective reality and insists instead that everything is a matter of interpretation and relative "truth." At any rate he's running the first postmodern Presidential campaign, now organized almost exclusively around allegations about his opponent that bear no relation to the observable universe.
Governor Romney's Olympic Achievements
Ken Cuccinelli, from The Cuccinelli Compass, August 07, 2012
Dear Fellow Virginians,
I thought it appropriate to reflect on the accomplishment that put Mitt Romney on the national (and international) stage: the turnaround of the 2002 Winter Olympics.