I live in South Carolina. For the past week, I have been inundated with robocalls and campaign material from all the GOP hopefuls. I watched and read about the debates, and I listened to what people had to say about the candidates. This is my take on why Mitt Romney failed to energize a sufficient number of voters in my state to win the primary:
- His lackluster defense of venture capitalists: Romney’s success at Bain Capital should have given him a huge strategic advantage in South Carolina, but he played it like an amateur. Rather than take the offense, he played defense and it cost him dearly. Venture capitalists play an important part in the process of growing healthy small businesses and in rehabilitating faltering businesses, large or small. Rather than explaining clearly what venture capitalists actually do and the fact that our nation needs someone with venture capitalist training at the helm right now, Romney allowed his opponents to beat him up with his most significant strength.
- Offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands: I never heard anyone question the legality of Romney’s offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, but he never gave a complete explanation about why he decided to park money there. The Cayman Islands are a notorious hiding place for tax cheats and money launderers. Romney needed to distinguish between himself and others who use Cayman Island accounts for illegal purposes. That was a serious mistake. Romney should have anticipated the problem and moved his money back to onshore accounts long ago.
- Tax records: Romney’s handling of the tax records issue was pathetic, and it shouldn’t have been. He defended his reluctance to release his tax records by saying that Democrats would try to use his success against him. He was right, and knowing that he should have been prepared to defend his success. He wasn’t. He looked as though he had something to hide or that he was ashamed of his success. He should have released his tax records and told the electorate that his goal is to reshape America so that every citizen has an opportunity to be just as successful as he has been. In effect, Romney turned something that could have been used as an offensive weapon into a liability. That won’t work in a GOP primary, and it won’t work in a general election either.
- Rope-a-dope Style of Campaigning: Last but not least, Romney seems to be playing rope-a-dope, à la Muhammad Ali. He entered South Carolina in the catbird seat, and he leaned against the ropes while his challengers, particularly Newt Gingrich, pummeled him. Rope-a-dope may have been a winning strategy for Ali, and it may eventually work for Romney, too, but it opened the door for a dramatic Gingrich win in a state that could easily have gone for Romney. If playing defense doesn’t cost Romney the GOP nomination, it will almost certainly cost him the general election.
What lessons can Romney take from his dreadful second place finish in the South Carolina primary?
- Romney’s not a shoo-in for the GOP nomination, not yet anyway, so he had better play the game to win. That means he needs more offense and less defense.
- Romney had better come up with a reasonable explanation for those Cayman Island accounts. If they bothered voters in South Carolina, you can bet that they will bother voters in other states, too.
- Romney needs to put the tax records issue behind him pronto. Failing to do that will cost him any hope of a presidential victory, and it may even cost him the GOP nomination. If he’s not ashamed of his success, he should act like it.
- Romney must defend capitalism or get out of the way and let someone else do it. Capitalism is under attack. That much is clear. For instance, Occupy Wall Street is little more than an attack on the capitalist underpinnings of our economic system. Crying about being attacked by other GOP hopefuls is a far cry from defending the virtues of a system that is the envy of the world. Romney needs to explain that our nation’s deficit and debt problems are firmly rooted in government attempts to create a European style socialist state and the abandonment of basic capitalist principles. If he can’t do that, he doesn’t deserve to be president.
This SnyderTalk editorial was first published as a blog in American Thinker on January 22, 2012.
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Jeremiah 40: 13-14
Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him, “Are you well aware that Baalis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.
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Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Hosea 4: 6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
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- Caroline Glick: America and the Arab Spring
- Sign outside NYC school misspells it as ‘Shcool’
- The assassination that changed Turkey’s minds over Armenia
- ‘Unprecedented’ EU Sanctions on Iran a Farce
- Has Ex Goldman Sachs Staff turned Democrat Campaigner Infiltrated Occupy?
- Muslim Children in America are Being Taught to Hate
- Nuclear Iran is past its point-of-no-return
- Of Horses and Jews
- Top U.S. Catholic Bishop: ‘Administration is on Wrong Side of the Constitution Again’
- Obama Defends Roe v. Wade As Way for ‘Our Daughters’ to Have Same Chance As Sons to ‘Fulfill Their Dreams’
- Lawmakers at March for Life Tell Obama Administration: ‘Abortion is Not an American Value’
- Bachmann, at Pro-Life Rally, Predicts Nov. Elections Will End Abortion
- Boehner: Problem in Washington Is ‘Too Much Spending’—But Since March, There’s No Spending Without GOP Approval
- Gingrich’s Aversion to Shari’a Stems From His Concern About ‘Stealth Jihad’
- David Frum Strikes Back at Andrew Sullivan on Barack Obama
- Takers Taking Over
- For the 25th Time in a Row, Americans Offer Double-Digit Support for Repeal
- George Will: Can Romney the turnaround artist do it again?
- Mona Charen: Just Attack the Media and We’re At Your Feet
- Daniel J. Mitchell: Deconstructing Jonathan Alter’s “Five Myths about Barack Obama” in the Washington Post
- Bob Beauprez: Strange Bedfellows: Big Labor spends $1 million to aid Gingrich
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Top 5 diggtm articles yesterday:
- Santorum Promises To Outlaw Gay Civil Marriage Because It Does Not Reflect ‘God’s Will …
- Is Our Economy Healing?
- Has Ex-Goldman Sachs Staff turned Democrat Campaigner Infiltrated Occupy?
- Federal Workers Owe $1.3 Billion in Taxes
- Campaign to Recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Will Be Wild Card In 2012 Presidential Race
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The Jerusalem Post:
- Iran says sanctions to fail, repeats Hormuz threat
- Israel Recruiting Nations to Combat Iran Smuggling
- Six Israeli Diplomatic Missions Receive Suspicious White Powder
- Arab Spring Sees Rise in Anti-Semitism
- Rocky Road to Unity for Syria Opposition
- Barak to Ashton: More action may be needed to deter Iran
- PM: World has not internalized Holocaust lessons
- Arab League to ask UNSC to back Syria peace plan
- Hamas leader Mashaal to visit Jordan next week
- Beit Shemesh: 3 haredim arrested for attacking woman
- A year on, has Egypt’s revolution stalled?
- Australia to follow EU lead in banning Iranian oil
- Adelsons donate another $5m. to Gingrich
- Erdogan calls French genocide bill ‘racist’
Haaretz:
- Iran: EU oil sanctions will have ‘serious consequences’
- Iran steps up threats to close Strait of Hormuz after EU imposes oil embargo
- EU to push Israel, Palestinians to return to full peace talks
- Hamas leader to make historic visit to Jordan
- Bedouin take control of Egypt holiday resort, demand $660,000 ransom
- Gulf states to quit Arab League mission in Syria
- South Korea looking to buy Israel’s Iron Dome aerial defense system
- EU Foreign Ministers: Israel’s settlement building is ‘particularly’ worrying
Israel Hayom:
- Israel praises Iran sanctions, wants them enacted sooner
- On Iran and disinformation
- EU embargo: good idea, bad timing
- Groundswell of support for Gingrich ahead of Florida vote
- With gas masks running out, half of Israel remains unprotected
- Public buses told to avoid haredi areas as Shabbat nears
- After Iran sanctions, EU turns attention to Mideast peace talks
- Livni steadily losing Kadima support after three years at the top
- Settlers agree to new, possibly unenforceable, Migron deal
- Gantz, PMO play down reports on clash over next IAF chief
- IAF launches retaliatory attacks on several Gaza terror sites
- Justice Ministry to investigate Jerusalem grand mufti
- ‘I have joy now,’ says Palestinian girl locked up for decade
- New Yad Vashem exhibit shows the face of Nazi counterfeit effort
- Electricity cable to link Israel, Cyprus, Greece
- Israel arrests fifth Hamas lawmaker since last week
- ‘Haredim want to serve, but the IDF does not want them’
- Russia signs arms deal with Syria worth more than $500 million
- France passes Armenian genocide bill, facing reprisals from Turkey
- Jewish publisher resigns over column calling for ‘hit’ on Obama
- One in five Germans harbors anti-Semitic feelings, new study shows
Other:
- The Unvarnished Reality of Contemporary U.S.-Israel Relations
- Interior Ministry legalizes two-thirds of illegal residents
- New turn in Dirani affair
- Guardian Report Misses the Real Child Abuse
- Press TV: Iranian Propaganda Station Off Air Where it Belongs
- Jewish Day Schools in Decline
- The Middle East’s New Cyber War
- EU Adds Iran’s Bank Tejarat to Sanctions List
- U.S. Sanctions Iran’s 3rd Largest Bank
- Britain, U.S. and France Send Warships through Strait of Hormuz
- U.S.: New UN Security Council No More Favorable to Palestinians
- Iran’s Oil Shock
- List Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as Terrorists
- Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran Struggle over Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Program
- Construction Boom in Gaza
- Iran Sanctions Good for Business in Oman
- Russia to Sell Warplanes to Syria
- Syria’s Russian Jet Order
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What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Business:
- IMF Says Reducing Greek Debt Alone Not Enough to Revive Economy
- BofA: Investment Bankers Face 25% Pay Cut
- Europe Progressing in Debt Crisis, Investors and Economists Say
- $5 here, $37 there: Americans’ indulgences add up
- Louisiana Jobless Rate Fell To 6.8% In December
- Crude falls below $99 a barrel
- Treasuries Fall as Market Readies for Central Bank Decision
- Report: Pay czar bent to pressure from banks, Treasury; failed to curb excessive pay at banks
- California Home Foreclosure Notices Fell 12% in Fourth Quarter
- Natural gas price rebounds from 10-year low
World:
- Can Europe’s Oil Embargo Force Iran to Back Down on its Nuclear Program?
- Turkey slams France over Armenian genocide bill
- Egypt’s Wounded Revolutionaries Regroup to Defy Army a Year After Uprising
- Syria Rejects New Arab League Plan
- Obama Administration Pledges to Keep Abusers Off U.N. Human Rights Council
- EU Raises Stakes With Iran Oil Embargo
- IMF Head Christine Lagarde: Exclusive Interview
- Arab League turns to UN as Gulf observers quit Syria
- Egypt’s military says it has partially lifted emergency law
- Turkey’s Erdogan lambasts France on genocide law
- At least 19 killed in spate of attacks in Iraq
- Anger, chaos but no revolt after Libya violence
- Garzon trial grips Spain
- France Rules Out Hasty Afghan Withdrawal
- Kenya Sets Up Legal Team to Help Respond to ICC
- US Ambassador to Yemen: Saleh’s Absence Positive
- Before sentencing, Marine says he never intended to kill Iraqi civilians
- Romanians demand elections as prime minister Emil Boc urges unity
- With reelection prospects dimming, Sarkozy warns his career is ‘at the end’
- Putin harnesses Russian nationalism to boost presidential bid
- Polish activists protest treaty deemed threat to Internet freedom
United States:
- Romney strikes back at Gingrich in Florida debate
- Romney calls Gingrich an ‘influence peddler’ in Fla. debate
- Romney, Gingrich get testy in Florida
- Mitt Romney paid $3 million in federal taxes in 2010
- Under Obama, Price of Gas Has Jumped 83 Percent, Ground Beef 24 Percent, Bacon 22 Percent
- Educate Yourself on Islam, CAIR Tells Santorum
- Poll: Americans ‘Broadly Dissatisfied’ in This Election Year
- Nothing ‘Anti-Muslim’ About Gingrich’s Comments on Shari’a, Says Anti-Islamist Muslim…
- Newt’s Dangerous Gambit
- Newt’s Beet Down
- Did Gingrich tell the truth about backing Goldwater?
- What happens when a Great Debater loses a lesser debate?
- Delta Reroutes Some Flights on Solar Flare
- Newt Gingrich: The Lobbyist Who Wasn’t
- Obama to contrast tax inequality in State of the Union
- Presidential Recordings Shed Light on Final Kennedy Days
- Romneys donated 16% of income to LDS church, charity
- Senate Republicans Won’t Sue Over Obama Recess Appointments -Aide
- FBI arrests Connecticut cops accused of racial profiling
- Arizona proposes elective Bible course for high schools
- NJ gov says he’d veto gay marriage bill
- Buffett secretary to attend State of the Union
- Santorum says Obama speech will just be “flowery rhetoric”
- Obama Claiming Credit for Energy Gains Angers Industry
Opinions:
- Thomas Sowell: South Carolina Message
- John Ransom: Obama is that Damn Hoover President
- Larry Kudlow: One on One with Ron Paul
- John Hawkins: 15 Questions The Mainstream Media Would Ask Barack Obama If He Were A Republican
- Michael Reagan: They Pick and Choose Which Ox to Gore
- Cal Thomas: It’s Complicated
- Dennis Prager: Evangelicals and Romney: Should Theology Matter?
- Debra J. Saunders: Calculating Newt Gingrich
- Bill Murchison: In Search of a Bulldog
- Political Calculations: A Tool for Average Investors to Detect Public Company Accounting Fraud
- Michael F. Cannon: ‘The White House Is Resorting to Unsubstantiated Happy Talk’ on ObamaCare
- Jeff Carter: What To Do About The Great American Divide
- Mike Shedlock: Obama Wants Another $100 Billion Bailout for Fannie, Freddie
- Kyle Olson: Juan Williams Skewers Chicago Teachers Union in New Film
- Marita Noon: Typical Obama: Kill Keystone, Create Campaign Commercial about Energy
- George Friedman: Cooling Rhetoric on Iran
- Armstrong Williams: Romney and Bain Capital
- Tad DeHaven: State Dependency on the Federal Government
- Ed Koch: The Flatter Tax
- Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: American laws for American courts: Preserving the Constitution means rejecting Shariah
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- Stocker’s Earmarks
- The Icelandic Saga Continues
- Who would have guessed it?
- What Causes El Niño / La Niña? IPCC Doesn’t Know, But Builds Models and Makes Projections Anyway
- Sense and Sensitivity II – the sequel
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/
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- Romney’s tax returns shed light on wealth
- Dueling versions of the un-Obama
- Gingrich’s firm paid $25,000 a month by Freddie, according to contract
- Romney, Gingrich clash in debate
- Ex-CIA officer charged in alleged leaks
- Supreme Court rules search warrants are needed to track suspects via GPS
- Blasts, attacks kill 14 in Baghdad
- In Pakistan, coup looms but does not strike
- Sen. Rand Paul declines TSA pat-down
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- EU adopts oil embargo against Iran
- EU will be responsible for consequences of Iran oil embargo: Foreign Ministry
- Ex-oil minister downplays EU oil embargo against Iran
- Envoy criticizes UN delay in condemning killing of Iranian scientists
- Tehran-China ties are strategic: security official
- Ahmadinejad says Iran will respond to any aggression accordingly
- Israel has laid trap for Azerbaijan: Iranian MP
- West says is open to talks with Iran
- Iranian economy favorable despite sanctions: World Bank
- Korea to lose $7.2b from U.S.-led sanctions on Iran
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If You Voted for Obama in 2008 to Prove You’re Not a Racist, You Need to Vote for Someone Else in 2012 to Prove You’re Not an Idiot explains why voters in the United States need to elect someone besides Barack Obama to lead them. Whoever is elected President of the United States in 2012 will have to contend with the monumental problems that Obama’s misguided policies have caused both at home and abroad. One thing is certain, though. It should not be Barack Obama. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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http://www.americanthinker.com/
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- NY Times censors violence by Palestinian demonstrators in West Bank
- Mideast coverage by mainstream media takes cue from Dr. Pangloss and Charlie Brown
- Brace Yourself for the Anti-Mormon Slime Machine
- Newt Gingrich Is Shameless
- Fidelity: Should It Matter?
- He’s No Damn Good
- Obama’s Social Justice Capitalism
- A Generation Losing Hope: The Shattering of the American Dream
- The unofficial end of global warming?
- The old grey mare
- The statute of limitations has run out on political correctness
- Newt’s Apollo 13 Candidacy
- Higher Education Needs a Complete Overhaul
- Gingrich up 5 in PPP poll
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- Boston Bruins Goaltender Tim Thomas Snubs Obama White House
- Soros-Manufactured Chaos in Israel
- Fighting for the Truth About Little Rock and Fort Hood
- Call for ‘Cuban Spring’ Electrifies Florida Debate
- The Unlearned Lessons of Daniel Pearl’s Murder
- The Venezuelan Missile Crisis
- Muslim Brotherhood and Obama: Partners In Taqiyya
- Understanding the Islam in Muslim Jew-Hatred, Part II
- Schools of Education: The Academic Slums
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http://www.weeklystandard.com/
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- Gingrich Aide: Newt’s Work for Freddie Mac as Legitimate as Mitt’s Work for Bain
- Team Newt: Gingrich-Romney Race Is Just Like Rubio-Crist
- A Good (and Lucky) Night for Romney
- Romney Releases Tax Returns
- The Rich Really Are Different
- Debate Winner: Mitch Daniels
- Fred Thompson Endorses Newt Gingrich
- Groundswell of Support for Mitch!
- Gallup: Romney 29, Gingrich 28
- Gallup: Gingrich and Romney Are Faring Equally Well Versus Obama
- Weapon of Choice
- Egypt’s Great Liberal Nope
- Watts Defends Gingrich’s Freddie Work
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- Slouching towards Brussels
- The politics may change in the Balkans, but not the europhilia
- Gingrich’s South Carolina victory was a clinic in “expressive voting”. But what was expressed?
- Pressing those good ol’ buttons
- Poll: Can Newt Gingrich win the Republican nomination?
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- Wealthy Romney ‘pays 13.9% tax’
- Gulf states leave Syria mission
- Rushdie India video address cancelled
- High-profile Spain judge on trial
- Turkey: French Armenia bill ‘racist’
- Car bombs rock Baghdad Shia areas
- UK forces ‘could be sent to Gulf’
- Gunmen kill 15 in the Philippines
- China blasts Tibet clash ‘hype’
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- U.S. Senator Detained by Transportation Security Administration
- Charles Dickens, Capitalist
- True Religious Freedom Means Freedom for All
- U.S. Employment Woes Continue Despite Small Recent Improvements
- We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Evidence
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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/
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- Putin Says Nationalism a Danger to the State
- Medvedev Skips 4th Rights Panel Meeting
- FSB Weighs In on Spy Rock
- Grocery Magnate Plans U.S. Supermarkets
- Electricity, Oil Prices Frozen Until After Elections
- Putin Remains Sochi’s ‘Captain’ Despite Protests
- Report: Russia to Send Syria Jets
- Kazakh Party Raided
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http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/
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- AL asks Assad to leave, weighing more on Syria
- Egypt’s Islamic party leader elected speaker of lower house
- Negotiations solution to Iranian nuclear deadlock
- IAEA confirms to sent team to Iran
- Pakistan passes resolution for Musharraf’s high treason trial
- Lagarde highlights bigger firewall to combat crisis
- Afghan gov’t overruns Taliban bastion in Ghazni
- French Senate passes Armenian “genocide” bill
- Mongolian president rejects cabinet nominations
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- A Thousand Days of Failure
- Where the “Counter-Obama” View of the Middle East is Right and Where It’s Wrong
- An Unmemorable Debate, Barely Won by Mitt Romney
- Barack Obama Is the Food Stamp President
- Pissing Away the War on Terror
- In Praise of Worry
- How Sparkly Nail Polish Doomed the Green Bay Packers
- Why Romney Lost, Part III: The Mood of the Country
- When Calls for ‘Transparency’ Go Too Far
- The 2012 Election Circus — The Acts, The Players, The Hype
- Paul’s Privilege Against Detention
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com/
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- The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to ‘sell out’
- Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
- 6 Careers to Watch in 2012
- Who Should Have Access to Student Records?
- Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
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http://www.nationalreview.com/
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- Homs ‘looking like a city at war’
- Romney vs Gingrich: Debate highlights
- One-minute World News
- China ‘a textbook golden age’
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Yahweh to Jeremiah—Jeremiah 16: 21
“Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.”
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http://www.commentarymagazine.com/
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- Debate Roundup: Romney Strikes Back as Gingrich Plays Defense
- Gingrich, Reagan and “Ressentiment”
- Lying About the Stimulus
- Liberals Join the Topple Assad Argument
- Note to GOP: Pick Your Poison
- Rand Paul and the TSA Firestorm
- Obama’s Favorite Foreign Leader
- No Fluke: Rasmussen Shows Gingrich Surging in Florida
- Jeb Bush Non-Endorsement May Be What Romney Needs
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback.
God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”
Exodus 3: 15
