Have you ever been set up for a blind date by people who claimed to care about you and were sure that they knew what was best for you?

When you asked them what this individual looked like, they said:

Oh, they’ve got a great personality.

Then, you probably asked:

Okay.  So, what’s their personality like?

Scrambling for an answer, your friend or family member responded:

Hey, don’t worry about it.  You’ll get along fine.  After all, beggars can’t be choosers.

The Republican Elite, aided and abetted by the Main Stream Media, is attempting to set Americans up with a blind date.

His name is Mitch Daniels.

If you are like I used to be, until recently, you had a vague idea of who Mitch Daniels was, but that’s about it.

Allow me to introduce you.

Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. was elected as the 49th Governor of the State of Indiana in 2004, in his first bid for any elected office.

Governor Daniels came from a successful career in business and government, holding numerous top management positions in both the private and public sectors. His work as CEO of the Hudson Institute and President of Eli Lilly and Company’s North American Pharmaceutical Operations taught him the business skills he brought to state government. He also has served as Chief of Staff to Senator Richard Lugar, Senior Advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush.

Daniels’ first legislative success created the public-private Indiana Economic Development Corporation to replace a failing state bureaucracy in the mission of attracting new jobs. In each of its first four years of existence, the agency broke all previous records for new jobs in the state, and was associated with more than $18 billion of new investment. In 2008, Site Selection magazine and CNBC both named Indiana as the Most Improved State for Business in the country, and the state is now near the top of every national ranking of business attractiveness.

On his first day in office, Governor Daniels created the first Office of Management and Budget to look for efficiencies and cost savings across state government. In 2005, he led the state to its first balanced budget in eight years and, without a tax increase, transformed the $600 million deficit he inherited into an annual surplus of $370 million within a year.

Sounds pretty good, huh?  Just like the description of a blind date.

Also, if you’re like me, you never really paid any attention to the diminutive (5’4″) Daniels, until he uttered this now-famous gaffe, as related  and followed up on by John McCormack at  weeklystandard.com on June 8, 2010:

Mitch Daniels told THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s Andy Ferguson that the next president “would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,” until economic issues are resolved.

This morning, at the Heritage Foundation, I asked Daniels if that meant the next president shouldn’t push issues like stopping taxpayer funding of abortion in Obamacare or reinstating the Mexico City Policy banning federal funds to overseas groups that perform abortions. Daniels replied that we face a “genuine national emergency” regarding the budget and that “maybe these things could be set aside for a while. But this doesn’t mean anybody abandons their position at all. Everybody just stands down for a little while, while we try to save the republic.”

To clarify whether Daniels simply wants to de-emphasize these issues or actually not act on them, I asked if, as president, he would issue an executive order to reinstate Reagan’s “Mexico City Policy” his first week in office. (Obama revoked the policy during his first week in office.) Daniels replied, “I don’t know.“

Then, in an interview with nationalreview.com’s Michael Barone, posted October 11, 2010, Daniels came out in favor cutting our National Defense Budget:

As OMB director, Daniels was on the National Security Council, and as governor he’s visited Indiana troops around the world. He says, “It’s important to support the commander in chief” on Afghanistan. But he’s open to cuts in defense spending beyond those Defense Secretary Robert Gates has imposed. “No question that the system is rigged to overspend,” he says, “like health care. No question that defense dollars could be spent better.”

Finally, on October 15, 2010, politico.com reported the following:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels opened the door Thursday to supporting both a value added tax [VAT] and a tariff on imported oil, bold proposals that could cause trouble for him with conservatives as he flirts with a long-shot bid for the presidency.

As we get closer to the 2012 Presidential Elections, and the GOP Elite and Main Stream Media get more desperate to maintain the status quo, Mitch Daniels is being singled out as their candidate of choice.

Just this week, while Mitt Romney doused himself with the gasoline known as Romneycare and lit a match, Daniels informed America that he was considering a Presidential run, but, first,  he had to get his wife’s permission.

Also, this week, Daniels picked up an endorsement from Speaker of the House, Cryin’ John Boehner.  Governors Chris Christie and Scott Walker  also quietly snuck upon the bandwagon,  privately pledging to lend their support, should Daniels decide to run.

Just as one evaluates accepting a blind date, so should one evaluate a potential presidential candidate.

Speaking for myself, the measurement of a presidential candidate  will always be the three-legged stool of Reagan Conservatism:  Fiscal Conservatism, Social Conservatism, and National Defense.

As exemplified by the three quotes in today’s post, Mitch Daniels doesn’t have a leg to stand on.