PrintFebruary 27, 2011
Gov. Daniels walks back comments about Dem fleebaggers
After a considerable amount of blowback over Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels cuddly response to the flee-bagging Indiana Democrat legislator's run-and-hide strategy to avoid facing the consequences of their electoral defeat in the 2010 mid-terms, Daniels appeared on Fox News with Neal Cavuto to apologize for misspeaking.
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air asks the pertinent question:
Does (Daniel"s) vigorous damage-control over the past few days signal that he's running for president after all?
Make no mistake, Daniels operatives are pulling out all the stops in an attempt to get back out in front of the issue of dismantling the unfair advantages labor unions have garnered over the past several decades due to their symbiotic relationship with the Democrat party. The energy behind the walk-back suggests that Mitch is very serious about running for President.
Unfortunately, that energy can sometimes result in misleading information. Republican political operative Aaron Reber's response to my blog reporting Daniel's inappropriate and inadequate response to the fleebaggers suggests that Daniels was misquoted by "a media source." That media source was the Indy Star, Indiana's leading newspaper and an enthusiastic endorser of Daniels' candidacy. They have printed no corrections or retractions and there will be none forthcoming because there was no misquote as Daniel's admits on Cavuto.
I like Mitch Daniels as he has been about as good a governor of Indiana as it is possible to be. His solid record doesn't mean that he gets a free pass and can abandon the playing field to the Democrats in a fit of absent-mindedness. The Democrats are fighting us to a stand-off with a shrinking base and control of only about 20% of the voting population. They do have two things going for them that Republicans don't seem to be able to muster: solidarity and ruthlessness. Politicians are liable to make mistakes and Americans are very forgiving of those who will admit their mistakes. It seems like Daniels is heading in the right direction on this, although his Homer Simpson moment might prove to be the undoing of his candidacy. Tea partiers would like to see a bit more resolve in their leaders now to render further Democrat treachery ineffective.
Ralph Alter is a regular contributor to American Thinker. He blogs at www.rightot.blogspot.com
Aaron Reber responds:
Red Herrings Surround Daniels Response
It would seem that I must disagree with Mr. Alter again. Gov. Daniels' clarification was no "walk back". It was simply the full script of what he actually said. Mr. Alter claims that the Indy Star did not misquote Gov. Daniels. That is a red herring. Yes, technically the Star did not change his words. They just removed the words "the protestors", or any indication he was speaking about "the protestors", from Daniels' statement about the protestors' right to express themselves. Then they made it look as if he was talking about the Democrat legislators led by Minority Leader Bauer. So, yes, Mr. Alter was right, and I was wrong. It was not technically a misquote, but it still sent a false message. You'll have to forgive me if I view that as a distinction without a difference. Also, Daniels' admission on Cavuto's show was not that he said the wrong thing or responded inappropriately. He admitted that he should have left no room for his words to be twisted with the use of pronouns.
Furthermore, Mr. Alter's reference to the IndyStar's endorsement of Daniels is another red herring to make it seem as though the IndyStar is somehow an even keeled voice that would be fair about what it reports on him. I have lived in Indianapolis all of my life, and, as a liberty minded individual, I can tell you that they are just as slanted as the next newspaper. They only try to hide it through endorsing candidates that the week before they had trashed. (They even trashed my State Senator, Mike Delph, within the text of their endorsement of him)
Once again I will say that Daniels' would have been better off responding by strictly condemning Bauer rather than rambling on about the right of the protestors to make their voices heard, and Senator Long should never have tabled the Right To Work Bill. However, to portray this as some sort of cover up of Daniels' mistakes is not only misleading, but it displays an inherent disposition to write a man off rather than patiently await the outcome.
Will Daniels run for president? My sources say it is likely, barring some unforeseen event. Will I support him? That will depend entirely upon how he deals with Bauer, because you can expect all of this and more at the federal level after we take both the Senate and the White House next election cycle. On this much Mr. Alter and I agree, Democrats have recently demonstrated that they care about one thing and one thing only, raw political power, and we will need a man with experience fighting these lawless tactics.
I do, however, take comfort in this situation. With 67% of the public disagreeing with their tactics (according to Rasmussen), we are now watching the Democrat party commit suicide on the national stage.
