Idahoans for John Cox

The Hunger for Leadership February 19, 2007

As America celebrates, Washington’s birthday, polls find Americans increasingly unsatisfied with the Presidential candidates promoted by the mainstream press. According to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, 49% of Americans and 53% of Republicans aren’t satified with their current choices for President.

It’s this disastifaction that drove John Cox to enter this campaign. If you’re tired of politics as usual, than we ask your help in taking back the Republican Party. We’re proud to present this five point petition:

We, the undersigned, call for a return of our beloved Republican Party to the people, and away from the reign of career politicians who have:

1. Spent our nation into a mountain of debt, in a vain attempt to out-spend the Democrats or to appear “compassionate” in the face of media pressure,
2. Failed to address our urgent immigration control crisis as our nation’s wages are lowered by those who break the law,
3. Continued to wallow in a corrupt and failed system of taxation, using the sale of tax loopholes to gain campaign contributions
4. Valued celebrity over statesmanship and style over substantive changes that would have actually made our lives better
5. Voted to vastly increase the size and reach of government with Medicare Part D and No Child Left Behind, abandoning conservative, free market principles.

We stand together and call for fundamental tax reform, real immigration control that respects our laws, more competition, and a return to statesmanship in our political system.

Click here to sign.

Welcome to the Open Field January 15, 2007

Media experts and party aficionados tend to limit the choices Republicans have to two Candidates. We’re told repeatedly who’s in and who’s out despite the fact that nothing’s happened and it’s all guess work.

One of America’s foremost political experts had a column on the race. Michael Barone doesn’t see any certainties, just a bunch of question marks. You can read Barone’s whole analysis here, he writes:

Thirteen months from now, we are likely to know who will be the nominees of our two major parties. The current leaders in the polls are in opposition to or in tension with their parties’ bases in important respects. Rudolph Giuliani is way out of line with cultural conservatives on issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control. John McCain has been at odds with Republican partisans on issues like campaign reform, detainees’ rights and tax cuts. Hillary Rodham Clinton has been out of line with the antiwar left on Iraq and other national security issues. Barack Obama — if he is to be included on the list — speaks in a tone far less angry and partisan than the enraged Democratic left.

There is no guarantee that any of these candidates will be nominated. Many Washington insiders think that Mitt Romney, now mostly unknown, and John Edwards, not yet known in depth, will emerge as strong contenders. Both fit more closely the profile of their parties’ bases — but both have records on issues that are inconveniently out of line with them. And dark horses could turn out to be strong horses. Who was giving serious consideration to Howard Dean at this point in the 2003-04 cycle?

Still, the likelihood is that the Republicans will nominate a candidate significantly different from George W. Bush and that the Democrats will nominate a candidate whose stands and style will differ significantly from that of Al Gore and John Kerry…I think we’re entering a period of open-field politics, in which both parties will be defined less by their past leaders than by their new nominees.

Some Conservatives tell me ‘now is not the time’ for a Conservative candidate. If not now, when? This is our chance, this is our time.  The American people are looking to choose a direction. The question is whether we’ll seize the day or miss our moment. 

Regardless, let us hear no more  of John Cox can’t win. There are no can’t. There’s only, “Let’s see what happens.” Welcome to the Open Field.

Hat Tip: Wizbang Politics

Choose or Be Chosen For January 8, 2007

Talking to someone tonight about the campaign, I was told two year presidential campaigns were crazy. He said he wouldn’t make up his mind as to whom he would support for at least a year. Doubtless many people feel the same way.

Let me give you an honest and frank admission. He’s right. Presidential campaigns last far too long. In 1976, Ronald Reagan didn’t win his first primary until May. Bill Clinton didn’t announce for President until the November before the nomination fight. Campaigns take far too long.

However, the Cox campaign didn’t create this mad cycle. We didn’t write the rules of the game, we’ve only realized how we must play to have a chance of winning.

I witnessed the Republican Campaigns of 1996 and 2000 and noticed the difference between the establishment campaigns and Conservative movement candidates that faltered. Establishment candidates realized  the time to organize was not a year before the Presidential election, nor the Summer before the primary. They hit the road and went to Iowa and New Hampshire repeatedly. They built contacts and established an organization.

Conservative candidates, however, waited far later to get in the game and found themselves playing catch up from the beginning. In our current system, this is suicidal as front loaded primaries require the presence of massive organizations to carry early primary success on to final victory.

As much as I love Mr. Cox’s beliefs, he would not have won my enthusiastic support were it not for his willingness to engage a crazy reality with sanity and common sense. His decision to step into early primary states has allowed him to get his name out, and begin building a grassroots volunteer base capable of achieving victory.

Of course, many people would rather ignore the race. We Republicans had a heartbreaking and miserable election and few want to jump right into the midst of another election. They’d rather delay their choice.

Meanwhile, their choices are being made for them. Recently released news stories show that far from ignoring the upcoming Presidential campaign, establishment candidates are busying themselves making preparations. In recently linked plans, Rudy Giuliani has the goal of raising $100 million. Governor Mitt Romney does too, and today he held a large fundraiser towards that end. The political establishment is busy anointing its candidates, pouring millions into their coffers, while Conservative Republicans remain on the sidelines thinking they can afford to wait.

Despite the fact that no voter has spoken, the media has declared the republican presidential primary a three way contest between Senator McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Governor Romney. National Review went further and called the race between McCain and Romney.

Here’s the question. Will you make your own decision on who to back in 2008? Or will others make it for you?

Looking across the field of 2008 presidential contenders, we have a swath of candidates who present records that are inconsistent, insincere, or show a wrong understanding of liberty. But Conservatives do have a choice in 2008.

If you believe we shouldn’t reward law breaking or approve amnesty for illegal aliens, John Cox is your man

If you believe government should spend within its means and that we need more freedom and less government, John Cox is your man.

If you think we ought to do something to avert a coming demographic crisis in Social Security, John Cox is your man.

If you believe that the rights of the unborn are sacred and should be preserved and that the traditional family is vital to society, John Cox is your man. If you’re tired of Washington politics as usual and career politicians, John Cox is your man.John Cox has been up front from day one  that he’s running for President. It’s time for Conservatives to stand up as well and back someone who supports our values lest our own procrastination deny us this opportunity. I urge you to consider volunteering. We need County Coordinators in all 44 Idaho Counties, and all across America we’re looking for leaders to serve as State, Regional, and County Chairmen. The Cox Campaign is not looking for political professionals, but grassroots activists from sea to shining sea who will join this effort to elect a conservative statesman.

Secondly, I ask you to consider making a small contribution to support this effort. Mr. Cox has provided seed money, but this is our campaign. We’ll only win it if we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is. If enough people will stand up, we can make a phenomenal difference.

Most of us don’t have a spare $2,100 lying around that we can give to a campaign, but what about $20? If a person committed to give $20 a month, over the course of a year, they’d have contributed $240. Get 100,000 people to do that and you have $24 million dollars raised in a single year. In a country of 300 million, we can do it, and I’m asking for your help.

In 2008, Conservatives have a candidate, and how well he does is in your hands.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Random Yak, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth,basil’s blog, Conservative Cat, Jo’s Cafe, Rightwing Guy, The HILL Chronicles, third world county, Wake Up America, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, stikNstein… has no mercy, Pirate’s Cove, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Planck’s Constant, Renaissance Blogger, Dumb Ox News, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.