As a Rick Perry supporter, I welcomed last nights pre-Rick debate as a final chance to see if the other candidates merit a closer look. And boy was there a lot to like. Between Gingrich’s common sense and ability to call stupid as it is, and Bachmann’s crystal clear support for life, there sure was a lot to like! I will still be sending rick a check, but it was nice to see that there are 6 good fallbacks (Huntsman and Paul do not qualify).

The part that made me so proud was to see all 6 Republicans in the debate say in no uncertain terms that they would walk away from a debt deal that offers $10 in spending cuts for $1 in tax increases. Kudos and Gulla. I had hoped that the moderators would ask about 100/1, and then 1000/1, and that all 6 hands would remain raised. And I saw something in the news today that perfectly illustrated why NO TAX INCREASES must be non-negotiable.

Obama wants to raise taxes. But, as usual, the liar in chief, is unwilling to honestly propose increases in marginal rates. Instead he wants to raise the postal tax above its current rate of 39 cents per letter. Make no mistake about it, this is a tax increase. And how do they try to get this through? Obama’s post office says it wants to fire 220,000 workers, an obvious attempt to con Congress into raising taxes through the USPS to “save” these “jobs.”

If we give inch inch of ground by raising taxes 1 cent, we send a message to the socialists in Congress and the White House who will see weakness and raise taxes by hook and by crook. So there cannot be any eliminations of tax breaks for homeowners, or letting tax cuts expire. There can be NO compromise.

I know that President Perry would never yield in this fight. And, after last night, I know that President Santorum, President Cain, President Gingrich, President Bachmann, President Pawlenty, and President Romney will do the same.

I apologize for being a little late with this diary. As all of us know, this past weekend was the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birthday. For some time, I have had mixed feelings about this President. While I do consider him among America’s three greatest Presidents (along with Washington and Coolidge), I do worry that reflexive praise for the Gipper has replaced thoughtful analysis. But this weekend was too much. Between disgracefully biased MSNBC and CNN, and faux-balanced, wishy-washy FOX, I couldn’t stand the deliberate smear campaign for another second. So I thought I would offer my own take on the five most mean spirited and deceitful lies about Ronald Reagan that I heard this weekend.

i) Reagan was a pragmatist who raised taxes. George Washington retreated from New York City and Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. So he must have hated America? Nonsense. Reagan made some tactical retreats on taxes during his tenure, but he made no strategic retreats. When he entered office, we had socialistic rates of 70%. By the time he left, we were freed from socialism (until now), with rates under 30%.

ii) Lincoln, not Reagan, was America’s greatest Republican President. Lincoln was an average, perhaps even slightly above average, President. Obviously, his efforts against slavery merit praise. But any lover of freedom must recoil at many of Abe’s actions against the Constitution. Suspending habeas corpus, denying the lawful rights of states to leave a voluntary union? These are surely black marks.

iii) Reagan didn’t end the Cold War, Gorbechev did. What people forget is that Gorbechev didn’t fade from the scene in 1991 when the USSR fell apart. He ran for the Russian Presidency. Remember what happened? He had about as much support as Ron Paul in the 2008 primary season. If Gorbechev won the Cold War, why would he have fallen on his face? He would not have. Reagan singlehandedly won the Cold War.

iv) Reagan traded arms for hostages. Unless of course, Reagan had Alzheimers and could not have known what was going on. That is cognitive dissonance and it shows that anyone making either claim is just out to smear Reagan and not interested in actual facts.

v.) Reagan did not impact the Supreme Court. I concede that Reagan’s first appointment, the politically correct choice of Sandra Day O’Connor , was a rare, very rare, lapse of judgment. But on the second pass, he made among the greatest selections in history, Robert Bork. Who can blame Reagan for the Congress’s hateful and indefensible rejection of such a qualified nominee? It was Congress, not Reagan, who bears the blame for the dreadful Anthony Kennedy. Had Reagan had his way, he would have batted .500, not bad.

We hear so many health care horror stories that are filtered through the liberal media. I thought that I would share mine, well OK, its actually my sister’s.

At the age of 6, my niece was diagnosed with a rare firm of stomach cancer. Stomach cancer is rare in the United States, and very rare for such a young person. Dealing with the insurance companies was tough, some things were covered, and many others were not. My sister’s family eventually lost her coverage, and I doubt that my niece will ever be able to get health insurance. Her family is heavily in debt must rent instead of own a home.

So obviously, I must be advocating for the government to come in and make everything OK? Not at all.

You see, my niece pulled through. It was a close call and treatment options that came along in the past five years probably made the difference. Imagine if we had moved to socialism 20 years ago. Would the drug companies have ever had the incentive to develop that life saving medicine, I doubt it. Losing your home, and living with a financial debt that you will never be able to pay off is bad. Losing your child is worse. That is the choice that we conservatives understand. The more I see of Democrats, the more I realize that liberalism is nothing more than i) resentment towards Christianity, and ii) the inability to think more than one step ahead.