Mitt Romney’s weekend interview in the Wall Street Journal seems to add weight to conservative doubts about his candidacy.

Romney doesn’t seem to get it: the 2012 election is about the size and cost of government.

We already have a “smart” president with ambitious plans who thinks he knows better. That hasn’t worked for our economy, and has damaged trust in our democracy.

Romney says “America doesn’t need a manager,” but his plans reflect what the Journal euphemistically calls “positive technocratic thinking.”

Though Romney may be more “sober” than his rival Newt Gingrich (or, less charitably, more timid than the former Speaker), he evidently shares with Gingrich an enthusiasm for what the federal government could do, if only he were put in control.

Given that Ron Paul’s radical foreign policy is a non-starter, and that several other candidates–however well-meaning–could not manage the mundane task of qualifying for the Virginia ballot, or withstand the media scrutiny of a long campaign, Republicans are feeling new doubts about the current field.

They are all better than Obama; the question is–are they the best Republicans can offer?

As Republicans have wrestled with that question, a few have floated the idea of a “brokered convention,” at which the party’s nominee would be chosen through back-room negotiations and contested ballots instead of the pro forma roll calls of recent decades.

Given Romney’s struggle to provide the clear alternative to Obama that Americans so desperately need, the party should consider whether a brokered convention is feasible as a fallback option.

Here, then, are the top ten Republicans who could be nominated at a brokered convention. Some declined to run earlier, and should reconsider; all would provide a stronger contrast to President Obama than Romney or Gingrich is providing at the moment.

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10. Rep. Eric Cantor

The Whip united the caucus against the disastrous stimulus in 2009. In the debt ceiling debate, he reportedly held out against new taxes in any final agreement. Moreover, he has made clear that his vision for the country’s future is plainly different from Obama’s.

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9. Sen. Jim DeMint

The conservative stalwart has provided key support to Tea Party candidates, and has challenged the compromise politics of the Republican establishment.

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8. Gov. Bobby Jindal

Recently elected in a landslide to a second term, he has fought political corruption and brought competence and leadership to a state long lacking both. Despite a rocky national TV debut in 2009, Jindal is a ruthless and effective campaigner.

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Liberal pundits are panicking over constitutional conservatism. They shouldn’t, because every child—whether the parents are liberal or conservative—will benefit from constitutional conservatism’s ascendency. If America elects a constitutional conservative president and Congress in 2012, we’ll move forward as a freedom-loving nation.

Several outlets on the Left—such as The New Republic—are raising an alarm about this disturbing new term, saying that it’s secret code for “absolutists” and “zealots” on economic issues, overturning Roe v. Wade, and implying that constitutional conservatives are segregationists bent on creating a theocracy.

As two constitutional conservatives who wrote a new book on the issue, Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America, we’ll correct the record on defining constitutional conservatism, how it now dominates Republican politics, and why America needs it so desperately.

Constitutional conservatism is the system of government the Founders gave to this country. They set out a series of principles on the rights of man and the role of government in the Declaration of Independence, including that God creates us equal and gives us rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit (not guarantee) of happiness, that government exists to secure these rights, and that the people either consent to this government or have the right to change it.

After years of trial and error, the country then adopted the Framers’ proposed Constitution to be the Supreme Law of the Land to fulfill the Declaration’s purpose. This Constitution strictly defines the federal government as one of enumerated powers, giving it authority over specific areas of our national life, splitting its powers between three branches that check each other, and leaves the states sovereign on all other matters. They also declared certain individual rights. Knowing that they were fallible human beings, the Framers also included an amendment process so that when the Constitution was found lacking, a complex supermajority could change it (and have, twenty-seven times).

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Recently, Portugal officially requested a $116 billion bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. This makes Portugal the third European nation to seek such a bailout in the past year (Greece got $157 billion; Ireland $122 billion). What most people don’t realize is that the U.S. is the largest contributor to the IMF. Therefore, U.S. taxpayers are paying for Portugal’s bailout which – like the earlier bailouts of Greece and Ireland – was caused by too much government spending and borrowing.

Last year, here at BigGovernment.com I warned how the Obama Administration was making a Greek bailout more likely by agreeing in advance that U.S. taxpayers would help foot the bill. Later, the IMF set up a $356 billion bailout fund for European governments with the consent of the Obama Administration– even though the fund will likely cost U.S. taxpayers between $50-100 billion and possibly more – all without a Congressional vote or consultation.

On April 29, 2010, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and I wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warning of the dangers of U.S. participation in a Greek bailout. “The Obama Administration needs to understand that bailing out Greece will not solve Greece’s problems,” I said at the time. “It will only create a moral hazard that gets America more involved in the gathering storm of European bailouts.” That storm has since consumed Ireland and Portugal and others may be on the way.

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In the wake of undercover evidence revealing Planned Parenthood’s abusive and illegal activity, the America’s biggest abortion business unrolled a massive PR campaign to defend its $363-million-a-year taxpayer subsidies. The campaign included TV, print, radio and online ad buys, a big pink bus rolling
across the country, and numerous appearances and opinion pieces by Planned Parenthood spokespersons and supporters (including this gem by PP vice-president of communications Stuart Schear.

Planned Parenthood has been insisting that they provide invaluable health services to “millions” of America women.

Just a few weeks ago, on national television, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said thisabout Rep. Mike Pence’s amendment to defund Planned Parenthood:

“If this bill ever becomes law, millions of women in this country are gonna lose their health care access–not to abortion services–to basic family planning, you
know, mammograms.”

Yet this is blatantly false.

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In the wake of the passage of a continuing resolution (C.R.) by the House and the Senate, that will keep the federal government running for another three weeks, Republican leaders and fiscally conservative members of Congress appear to be not getting along.

A group of 54 House Republicans voted against this latest C.R., which cut $6 billion in spending, up from the six members who voted against the first resolution two weeks ago. House Republicans like Michele Bachmann (MI), Mike Pence (IN), and Jeff Flake (AZ), and Senate Republicans like Jim DeMint (SC), Rand Paul (KY), and Marco Rubio (FL) voted against the stopgap measure.

These fiscal conservatives, supported by the Tea Party, have been critical of the Republican leadership’s decision not to use the C.R. spending plan as leverage against the Democrats and the White House on the defunding issues, such as the over $105 billion in continuing Obamacare spending, and funding for Planned Parenthood. Conservative critics of Speaker John Boehner (OH) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA) say that failure of the leadership to act now with deep cuts will lead Republicans on the path to becoming the minority once again. In addition, conservatives worry that if Republican leaders are happy with “chump change” spending cuts, as they “compromise” with the Democrats, they will be likely to cave in when discussions begin about the debt ceiling within a couple of weeks.

Further, those voting against the C.R. are focused on the importance of seizing the day, or capitalizing on the emotional energy coming from the Tea Party now. Congressman Pence stated, “By giving liberals in the Senate another three weeks of negotiations, we will only delay a confrontation that must come.”

In the Senate, Marco Rubio articulated his frustration with the political games in Washington in an interview with conservative talk host, Mark Levin. Rubio has remained steadfast in his belief that Washington politicians from both parties need to change their behavior. Clearly, holding the federal government together two weeks at a time is not what he had in mind when he ran for the Senate.

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Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) voted for the two-week continuing resolution this week even though his amendment to defund Planned Parenthood was dropped from the bill in a compromise with Senate Democrats. But now he’s put his foot down: It’s time to end taxpayer funding for abortions and defund Obamacare as well.

“The time to put our fiscal house in order is now,” Pence said this morning on the House floor. “No more delays. No more kicking the cans. Let’s have the debate. Let’s hash it out. Let’s defund Obamacare. Let’s defund Planned Parenthood.”

Only six House Republicans voted against the two-week spending plan, which President Obama signed into law yesterday. Two of them were Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Steve King (R-Iowa), who cast their votes against the measure because it did not defund Obamacare or Planned Parenthood.

But if Pence joins the fight in the next round, he could bring a substantial following with him. As former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee and member of Republican leadership last year, he has the influence to persuade other members of Congress.

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From Politico:

The House just approved Rep. Mike Pence’s amendment to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood, checking off a hot-button social issue even as it set up a bigger showdown over defunding the health care law.

The vote was 240-185 with 11 Democrats voting for the amendment, and seven Republicans voting against. One member voted present. A group of Republicans on the floor applauded when the vote hit 218.

That amendment managed to suck up three hours of often emotional debate time Thursday night, which is a big part of the reason the health care law defunding votes got pushed into today.

Pence, of Indiana, touched off a vicious back-and-forth Thursday night in which Republicans insisted the organization is too aggressive about performing abortions and several Democrats charged that the GOP was waging a “war on women.”

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I felt the same as cartoonist Michael Ramirez (and likely many of you) when congress made a spectacle of themselves with their SOTU prom:

I’ve spoken to several legislators who played up to the PR gimmick of reaching across the aisle and choosing “dates.” I’ve watched them giggle about it on the morning talk shows and Tweet each other.

“It’s symbolic,” said Democrats. You know what else is “symbolic?” Bringing the popular health control repeal bill to the senate floor for a vote. So spare me the ridiculously fake bipartisanship.

I asked this question of Rep. Mike Pence (honestly, my motivation was to later softly ridicule his answer if he bought into the faux-unity hype) and received a refreshing answer, a little more than six minutes in.

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There’s been a lot of chatter about Mike Pence and a potential Presidential bid by him. From National Review to the Washington Examiner, to George Will to others at the Washington Post, even to Erick Erickson’s post on RedState, people are wondering will he or won’t he. Supposedly he’s making his decision this weekend about whether he will run for President or Governor of Indiana.

I think he should run. While not denigrating the other potential GOP candidates for President in 2012, ask yourself: do any of them really excite you? That should clear out half the field right there, if not three fourths. Then ask yourself who has held true to his or her principles under fire, time and time again? I’m not saying standing up and proclaiming this or that: words mean nothing to me. It’s what you actually do, and Mike Pence’s voting record has shown from No Child Left Behind to Medicare Part D to TARP to the stimulus bill, even taking a stand against the recent tax compromise, he has talked and walked the walk.

Then ask who you think has the ability to excite the base and not alienate independents? Keep asking yourself questions along these lines, and throw in the fact that Mike Pence is a very good communicator of the ideas we hold dear, and you start to realize a Mike Pence for President bid could really take off.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Dan McLaughlin to discuss why the 2012 presidential race won’t be a repeat of 1996, and tonight’s State of the Union.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Why 2012 Is Not 1996
Too Moderately Moderate
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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Scott Conroy, a reporter for Real Clear Politics, to talk about Sarah Palin’s early groundwork in Iowa, then by John C. Goodman, President and CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis, to discuss the vote to repeal Obamacare.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Palin Putting Out Presidential Feelers in Iowa
Sarah from Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar
John C. Goodman’s Health Policy Blog
The Repeal Vote
MDs fear healthcare reform: Thomson Reuters survey
26 states join Obama health care lawsuit in Florida
Ben: House Votes to Repeal Obamacare
Republican Health Reform Repeal Vote Is Just First Step
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On Thursday, in Detroit, a federal district judge named George Caram Steeh ruled Obamacare constitutional. On Friday, Mike Pence, a Republican Congressman from Indiana, expressed his confidence that the Supreme Court will declare key sections of the bill unconstitutional.

I believe that Pence is right – and for three reasons: one principled, one personal, and one practical and political. The first is easy to grasp.

At stake, Pence asserts, is “whether or not the Constitution of the United States permits the government to order the American people to purchase goods or services, whether they want them or need them or not.” With this description of what is at issue, Judge Steeh, who was appointed to the court by William Jefferson Clinton, is in wholehearted agreement. As he puts it in his ruling,

The decision whether to purchase insurance or to attempt to pay for health care out of pocket, is plainly economic. These decisions, viewed in the aggregate, have clear and direct impacts on health care providers, taxpayers, and the insured population who ultimately pay for the care provided to those who go without insurance.

It is his view that – since our “decisions” to buy or not buy insurance have an impact on the market – the federal government can make these decisions for us.

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Congressman Mike Pence spoke at Hillsdale College Monday night at the invitation of the Young Republicans. I attended the dinner held in his honor before the talk, briefly chatted with him, and listened with care and interest to his talk – which had as its subject “the Presidency and the Constitution.”

Pence, who has represented Indiana’s ninth district in Congress since 2001, attended Hanover College not far from Madison, Indiana – where my grandfather once owned a dry goods store. There, I knew, he had studied with my friend G. M. Curtis. On that ground alone, I figured that he might be worth hearing.

Pence is exceptionally articulate. Before entering Congress, he had done a six-year-long stint as a talk-radio host. In Congress, he emerged quickly as a conservative leader. To his great credit, he voted against two initiatives pressed by George W. Bush – No Child Left Behind and the prescription drug benefit – and, in 2005, he was unanimously elected the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Group.

In 2006, Pence ran against John Boehner for the post of minority leader in the House, calling for the Republican Party to return to its “small-government ideology,” and he lost. Two years later, however, in a move suggestive of Pence’s stature and of Boehner’s wiliness, the new minority leader recruited his onetime rival to head the House Republican Conference Group. For this office, Pence ran unopposed.

Pence’s lecture Monday night was impressive.

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I am not personally acquainted with John Boehner, though I laid eyes on him once. I do not really know Eric Cantor either – though we met in passing in April, 2009 when I was in DC promoting my book Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift. And I have never met Paul Ryan or Mike Pence.

Moreover, I am strongly inclined to fear that they will betray us in the aftermath of November. The Republicans in Congress do have a track record, after all. If the Democrats have a propensity for adding new social programs, their opponents have a no less powerful aptitude for voting to pay for them. It was not for nothing that Bob Dole was once derided as “the tax-collector of the welfare state.”

Like a man about to embark on a second marriage, I am nonetheless inclined to let hope triumph over experience and to entertain the possibility that this time it might be different. When a Democratic pundit such as The Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus charges that the Republican opposition to Obama is “irresponsible,” it really does give one hope.

The event that caused Marcus to rise up in high dudgeon was a speech that John Boehner delivered in Cleveland on Tuesday, in which he attacked the latest “stimulus” bill, called for President Obama to submit to Congress “an agressive spending reduction package,” warned against allowing tax increases to take effect that would fall heavily on small businesses, pressed for an immediate repeal of the healthcare bill provision requiring businesses to issue a 1099 every time that they spent $600 or more, and called for the President to fire Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers. Twelve times, Marcus lamented, Boehner used the phrase “job-killing” – “as in ‘job-killing tax hikes,’ ‘job-killing bills,’ ‘job-killing agenda,’ ‘job-killing federal regulations.’” This is, she charged, “bumper-sticker politics, not a real economic plan.”

Boehner’s speech was shocking, indeed. It might lead one to think that we are in the middle of an election campaign and that the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives is intent on distilling for the voters what the party that controls both houses of Congress and the Presidency has most egregiously done wrong. It might be taken to suggest that he intends to offer voters a choice, not an echo; and though Boehner’s speech was not a plan, it does suggest that he has one.

Ruth Marcus is thoughtful and often worth reading, but when it comes to economics she is completely out of her depth.

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Winston Churchill – the statesman who defined champagne as “bottled sunshine” – often suffered bouts of deep depression.  He called that frequent companion his “black dog.”   After their drubbing in 2008 and Obama’s legislative tsunami – pausing, not ending in the enactment of the healthcare reform bill – some Republicans appear ready to settle in for a long political winter with Churchill’s black dog curled up at their feet.

Former presidential speechwriter David Frum, apparently eager to hug the black dog, wrote that the passage of Obamacare is the Republicans’ Waterloo, and that while they may retake the House or Senate this November, that wouldn’t matter because “This healthcare bill is forever.”

Frum merely gives voice to the thinking of the Old Republican Establishment.  They are comfortable in the minority, smiling – as former House Minority Leader Bob Michel used to – at the inability to direct national policy, adept at getting re-elected without the burden of leadership.

Frum’s reference to Waterloo is almost apt.  But the enactment of Obamacare isn’t the Republicans’ Waterloo.  If Frum knew his military history, he’d see it not as Waterloo, but as Marengo: a defeat that turned what could have been a devastating defeat into a crushing victory for Napoleon in June 1800.

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Yesterday was my son’s 9th birthday and for his present, the government jacked his future. As he sat in the floor and happily opened his gifts, Bart Stupak appeared on television and revealed that he’d sold his soul. The joy was sucked from the room, but my son didn’t notice – thank God for innocence. The faces of the adults in the room fell as Stupak held his presser, as Pelosi gained another YES vote for health control.

The scene was an eerie replay for me; eight-and-a-half years ago that same boy sat in his bouncy seat while cooing and kicking his legs as his father and I watched the twin towers crumble to dust on live television. The feeling was the same.

A lot of people ask why I and others do what we do.

The scene I just described is my answer.

Last night the Democrat party died as it drove a spear through the torso of the Constitution and passed legislation that the majority of Americans overwhelmingly opposed. Nancy Pelosi sauntered into the capitol surrounded by fellow socialists, carrying the gavel used in 1965 to pass the now-bankrupt Medicare.

All summer long Americans filled town halls, emailed, called, and faxed their lawmakers, and they were forsaken. They were called Nazis, racists, homophobes; they were threatened, beaten, and called stupid because they disagreed with the minority who feels that the government should run our lives. Our lawmakers unofficially stopped representing us last spring.

Last night, our legislators officially broke the contract with America that is the Constitution. Last night, they ceased to represent us. Last night, a new party was born; the malignant tumor that is the progressive caucus consumed the Democrat party from within and gave birth to the mainstream Socialist Party.

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Yesterday, the Conservative Political Action Conference featured some of the best known conservative elected officials. Among the elected officials, Rep. Steve King and Rep. Mike Pence gave some of the most memorable and passionate speeches.

With approximately 10,000 registered attendee’s, this is by far the largest conservative conference in the nations capitol.

Today, the final day of the conference will feature additional speakers, including Andrew Breitbart, Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck.

Washington News Observer has been covering this conference, several highlight reels are below.

The second clip features Rep. Ron Paul, Attorney General John Ashcroft and newly elected Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell.

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