Mitch Daniels – Supposed Moderate – Announces He Will Not Run

Mitch Daniels, the current Republican Governor of Indiana, announced Sunday morning he will not run for President in 2012. The 62 year-old Presbyterian is best-known for his 2010 statement that the next U.S. president “would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues,” and said, “We’re just going to have to get along for a little while.” Daniels told supporters Sunday, both in an email and in a small conference call, that he would not seek the 2012 GOP nomination for the nation’s highest office for family reasons. “I find myself caught between two duties,” Daniels wrote. “I love my country; I love my family more.”

Daniels, whom many supported, and many derided, for his widely quoted comment on calling a truce on social issues, was perceived as a moderate who would bring the Republican party back into the mainstream, and was heralded as a common-sense alternative to Mitt Romney.

But Daniels, who was George W Bush’s economic adviser, is anything but a moderate. He is anti-abortion, except in cases of rape or incest, pro-tax cuts, against same-sex marriage and against civil unions. On gun control, Daniels favors no background checks, no licenses, and supports concealed carry.

In short, Daniels was the radical right wing’s wet dream sleeper agent. Campaign on the GOP’s fallen and forgotten promise of job creation, budget-balancing, and once in, just as the Republicans at every level — city, state, and federal — have done this year, focus on nothing but radical, backward social change.

Let’s never forget that the GOP have introduced over 600 anti-abortion bills this year alone. Six hundred.

So, Daniels’ decision to not run only paves the way for those we already have on record (and, yes, Newt, on YouTube,) as stating how they will eviscerate Medicare, scuttle unions, and make abortion all but impossible to obtain.

Radical right-wing extremists were pushing Daniels to run. One, Red State founder and CNN pundit Erick Erickson, on May 16, announced, “According to my sources, Mitch Daniels will announce he is running for President.”

For those Democrats and Independents who saw Daniels bringing a touch of common sense to the GOP debate, be glad he’s out — he was no middle of the road moderate.