News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Opinion

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
January 22, 2012

BRIAN HOWEY: Daniels gives an emphatic endorsement of Lugar

Brian Howey The Tribune-Star

Gov. Mitch Daniels offered up an emphatic endorsement of his mentor — U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar — before about 300 Republicans on Wednesday night, calling him the “most significant public official in the last century in our state, quite possibly the greatest senator ever to serve from our state.”

The remarks came as Lugar is fending off a Tea Party-fueled challenge by Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who has earned kind words from Daniels in the past, even giving him a rare mention in his recent book, “Keeping the Republic.”

In my opinion, Mourdock hasn’t even remotely come close to making a case that Lugar should be replaced. His fundraising has been anemic. His performance in office — which includes a significant decline in meeting attendance — raises questions about his priorities. This past week, Lugar reported $750,000 raised and $4 million cash on hand for his 4th quarter FEC report. It contrasted with Mourdock, who has yet to release his money totals, and countered a statewide Lugar TV buy in the Indianapolis, South Bend, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne and Louisville media markets with a tiny $2,500 cable buy during Monday night’s Republican presidential debate.

So it was fascinating to watch Indiana’s articulator-in-chief — Gov. Daniels — who will give the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address next week, speak of Lugar, who he called his “mentor, exemplar, coach.” The Lugar campaign had a video production crew recording every word; fodder for coming TV ads featuring a governor who had a 65 percent approval rating in a December Public Opinion Strategies poll.

The two men have a long history. Daniels was a young hire under then-Indianapolis Mayor Lugar, managed his 1976 and 1982 Senate campaigns, and became the senator’s first chief of staff.

Daniels left no doubt whom he will support in the May 8 primary.

“Public service practiced by Dick Lugar is truly a noble quality,” Daniels said at the Monon Center rally. “I’ve said before, here we have the entire package: intelligence, a commitment to the public interest of all, not a party, not a segment of society, not a base, the interests of all. His comments tonight I thought underscored so clearly why Dick Lugar is a man of the future. Seeing things that others aren’t able to see, having insights about what is facing this country, and the constructive ways forward that are just invisible to those of us with lesser talents.”

Prior to Daniels remarks, Lugar reminded his supporters that he had pressed President Obama on the Keystone Pipeline, which the president rejected earlier in the day. Lugar said the pipeline would have created 20,000 jobs — including new jobs at 12 Indiana companies — while providing “an independence in our oil supply.”

“People say, again and again, it’s jobs,” Lugar continued. “Don’t you guys get it? Well, we do get it.” Lugar and House Republicans included the pipeline in the payroll tax compromise, forcing Obama to make a decision within 60 days.

Daniels called the timing of his endorsement a “coincidence,” and observed of Lugar, “He’s right now, this evening, on the spear point of the biggest jobs issue. It’s not coincidental that on this date, he has forced the president’s hand. The president has made a colossal mistake. It’s a terrible disservice to tens of thousands of Americans who could have been employed. I believe he’s made a colossal mistake and a miscalculation in the politics of this year.”

“While we’re on the subject of coincidences,” Daniels continued, “it is certainly true that the preoccupation of our fellow citizens … is the restoration of economic opportunity, upward mobility, fortification of the middle class, which is always characterized in America and democracy. The senator reminded us, this is a dangerous world. It won’t leave us alone to solve our economic problems in isolation.” The governor noted that he had just come from the second of four Indiana National Guard funerals due to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Jan. 6.

“There are not a handful of Americans alive who understand the sources of the danger, the things that might be done to protect Americans better than our senator,” Daniels said. “He is a national asset. It’s not just that Indiana cannot afford to relinquish. America can’t afford it either. How often we hear it said these days, ‘Where are the statesmen? Where are those people in a polarized often toxic, highly personal, bitterly partisan world, where are those people who might bring folks together to achieve the kind of big changes this nation needs?’ There aren’t more than a handful of those, either. This is one person who is respected and trusted. He’s an asset that America needs and Indiana should be so proud that (he’s an asset) Indiana continues to provide.”

Daniels concluded by saying, “Yes, I am enthusiastic. You know how much we owe to the past efforts of this man, you know that is not the reason we’re here. It’s how much we have riding on his continued service and how much more of a brighter future we will have when he is secured in another term in the U.S. Senate.”



Brian Howey publishes at www.howeypolitics.com. Contact Howey at bhowey2@gmail.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Opinion
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Front page
AP Video
Boy to Rescuers: 'Do You Have a Plan?' US Airways: Diverted Flight Has 'Landed Safely' Doctors and Devotees Debate Barefoot Running Serial Stabbings Suspect Guilty of Murder Blacks Seek to Find Their Own Missing 8 Hurt in Oklahoma Shooting After NBA Playoff Sheriff: DNA Links Suspect to Missing CA Teen Revived Focus on Regulation After JPMorgan Loss Fired Lingerie Employee Claims Discrimination New Medicine. Can IPads Help Spot Dementia Risk? Raw Video: Private Rocket Blasts Off Gerard Butler: the Good, the Bad and the Cannes Facebook Shares Continue Negative Slide A Few Odd Business Sparks but Europe Gloomy At Least 25 Dead in India Train Collision Chicago Police: 90 Arrested in NATO Protests Ex-Rutgers Student Gets 30 Days in Webcam Case Remains of Veterans Found in Basement Are Buried White House Cautiously Optimistic on Iran Joplin Marches to 'Remember' Tornado Victims
NDN Video
Daisy Sizzles in Sexy Swimwear Officers Use Deadly Force on Mountain Lion in Santa Monica Lea Michele Shows Major Skin 8 Hurt in Oklahoma Shooting After NBA Playoff Why Cee Lo Thinks 'The Voice' is So Popular Burlesque New Orleans Mike Posner Talks Sneakers: Bamboozle 2012 Howard Stern Makes Kid Cry on AGT Neighbor Feud Results in Dog Poop in Mailbox Tiger's Ex-Wife Bares Her Bod VIDEO | Zoo Chimp Charges Children Child locked in washing machine after father put him there Incubus On Working With Odd Future: Bamboozle 2012 'PLL' First Look Clip! Fired for being 'too hot' Ashley Olsen is a Bikini Babe 'Part of Me' Details 'Bumpy' Marriage, Says Katy Music downloader owes nearly $700K in fines Kardashian Sisters Pose in Lingerie Raw Video: Man Saved After Niagara Falls Plunge
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

    March 12, 2010

activity
Real Estate News