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Health & Fitness

Mitt Romney Fumbles the Ball ... Again

Candidate Romney brings international embarrassment to the nation at a time of crisis.

In the hours following the dastardly Libyan attack which killed U.S.
Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney demonstrated his lack of
intelligence and savvy through launching an embarrassing broadside
against President Obama, whom he alleges used the aftermath of the
slaughter to apologize to our enemies and to curry favor with
terrorists.

Even if Romney's charges were true, which they are not, for him to use
this hour of national shock, outrage, pain, and mourning to score
cheap political points was beneath contempt. Were any intellectuals,
any informed and even-handed voters convinced that Romney acted
honorably and appropriately, that his remarks were those of a
statesman? It is instructive to note that even members of Romney's
party declined to endorse his comments and distanced themselves from them.

I would like to be able to vote for a competent, honorable Republican
for president, an individual who is able to think on his or her feet,
and who is able to grasp the gravity of their words before they exit
the candidate's mouth. Mitt Romney is not that person.

Whether it is attacking the president in a moment of international
crisis, reigniting the "birther" issue through an unfunny "joke,"
insulting the British regarding their management of the Olympics, or
being caught flat-footed when asked at a debate about releasing recent
tax returns, Governor Romney has demonstrated himself to be a bumbler, a non-serious candidate for such a critical office.

A qualified, top-notch Republican presidential candidate should be
able to win this year's election easily. This is a time of extended economic
malaise for which President Obama must bear great responsibility after
almost four years of stewardship. After all, it is he who told us that
if he is not able to bring the economy back to life within four years,
that his time in the White House should be a "one-term proposition."
Now he tells us that yes, we need to do better, and that he is the man to
get the job done, to accomplish in a second term what he was not able to do in his first. Why should the American people believe that
his failed solutions of 2009 through 2012 will suddenly bear fruit in
the years to come?

I did not and could not ever vote for a candidate like Mr. Obama, who
espouses a vast and unaffordable entitlement society, and who has no
conception of the limits of government and its provision of cradle to
grave care. Sadly, I cannot in good conscience cast a ballot for the
Republican either, given that the GOP candidate is not competent to be
the leader of the free world.

I will cast a vote of conscience for Libertarian Party candidate and
former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. I will sleep better for it
over the next four years.

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