America wants solutions, not rhetoric

Pam Price, Henderson

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011 | 2:04 a.m.

The Los Angeles Times’ Doyle McManus pointed out in his column in Monday’s Las Vegas Sun — “And leading the GOP race is ...” — that many conservatives will not support presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. As governor, McManus noted, Romney “gave Massachusetts a state-regulated health insurance plan that looks suspiciously like ‘Obamacare.’ ” In addition, Romney is a supporter of the 2008 (and counting) bailout of the banking system.

I construe Romney’s actions as having encouraged bipartisan common ground. But Romney’s views have put him in the Democrats’ camp and have alienated him from the Republicans’ “win-back-the-White House” hype and hoopla.

My reading of the accounts of speeches made at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference reveals plenty of examples of the Republican “us-versus-Democrats” slanted sarcasm and spin. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann’s anti-Obama hype was that the health care law is “the crown jewel of socialism.” And even Romney, during his speech at the conference, referred to President Barack Obama with the following empty rhetoric: “An uncertain world has been made more dangerous by the lack of clear direction from a weak president.”

I invite others to join me in denouncing all politicians and operatives who engage in prattle and misleading rhetoric. Never-ending ploys, such as making Obama a scapegoat, are irksome and insulting to our intelligence. America is crying for bipartisan solutions, not “take-no-prisoners” warfare among our political parties.