Who does Romney get his debate advice from? Here’s the top 8 of his advisors:
Be Aggressive – “He’s got to smack the president like [conservative radio host] Laura Ingraham would smack him.” – Bill O’Reilly
Don’t Be Aggressive – “Relax and be prepared…You can be on offense without being offensive.” – Newt Gingrich
Focus On The Economy – “This really is about our economy. When he lays out a plan to fix our tax code to stop the overreach of regulations coming out of Washington, to get our debt problem under control, and to have a national energy policy, let me tell you what, the American people will respond.” – John Boehner
Don’t Focus On The Economy – “In debate, @MittRomney should ask Obama why autobiography states, ‘born in Kenya, raised in Indonesia.'” – Donald Trump
Go Big – “It makes you think how far ahead Romney would be if he were actually running a campaign. His unwillingness to go big, to go for the larger argument, is simply astonishing … Make the case. Go large.” – Charles Krauthammer
Don’t Go Big – “The challenge for Gov. Romney is to relate to people personally and provide some inspiration that their quality of life will improve,” – Linda DiVall, Top GOP Pollster
Keep It Simple – “I think he just has to lay out his plan and his vision … In the end this is going to be about Governor Romney over the next four or five weeks laying that vision out for folks.” – Chris Christie
Totally Change Up His Game – Romney should say, “I’m a nonideological guy running in an ideological age, and I’ve been pretending to be more of an ideologue than I really am. I’m a sophisticated guy running in a populist moment.” – David Brooks
But, oddly enough, both have had a share in creating Government-run health care plans.
Here’s part of an article by Jonathan Cohn called Another Signpost on the Road to the Right:
For a long time, the debate between left and right was about how to design the welfare state, not about whether to have one. Conservatives wanted to scale it down and deliver services through the private sector, rather than government, but they accepted the idea that society had some obligation
to provide certain services and supports.
The consensus was already eroding by the 1990s, when Newt Gingrich famously called for letting Medicare “wither on the vine.” But the consensus still had power as recently as the last decade, when the Bush Administration created Medicare Part D. That program gave seniors prescription drug coverage, as liberals had long advocated, but it offered less generous benefits than liberals wanted and channeled coverage through private insurers rather than government. (It also didn’t pay for itself, but that has frustrated liberals as much as, if not more than, it has conservatives.)
It’s hard to imagine today’s Republicans endorsing anything like Part D.
Cohn describes the position of Michael Leavitt, the former Utah governor and former Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush, who has been put in charge of Romney’s transition team.
The editorial page of the conservative Washington Examiner called Leavitt’s place in the Romney heirarchy a “red flag.”
Read the article and find out WHY.
Michelle Bachmann endorsed Mitty today… the same Michelle Bachmann who, just before she dropped out of the primaries, when asked if Romney could beat Obama, said “No.”
Then there’s Newt’s endorsement who, when asked if Romney was conservative enough, could only say “compared to Obama?”
And Santorum, who kept saying Obama needs to be beaten and was told by a reporter “That sounds like an endorsement for Romney.” Santorum said, “…if you take it that way.”
Why do the people he ran against hate him so much… why the bitterness? The main reason is that Republicans don’t really believe Mitty stands for anything. They think he’s a fake (or as Chris Matthews says “An empty suit trying to look like a conservative.”
Judging by the former Bush employees who he has lined up to work for him across the board, it’s W’s ideas he will most likely be bringing us if elected.
Gee, Another neocon-ish guy.
Let’s take us backward (hey, good slogan for Mitt, as long as Barack is using Forward.)
…according to CNN. It’s expected he will formally endorse Romney on that day as well.
Having come up very low in the five primaries yesterday, Mitt is looking at no more money to survive with and no viable reason to stay in the race (even though he promised not to pull out before the convention.
According to CNN, Gingrich is likely to hold his final campaign event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where he will make the announcement surrounded by his family and supporters.
If you thought you were as important as Newt Gingrich thinks he is, you might be asking for Secret Service Protection since you were a Presidential candidate who was likely to win.
What? Newt isn’t that important? Then why does he have the Secret Service?
Let’s ask Business Week:
His think tank went bankrupt. His campaign is $4.3 million in debt. He doesn’t hold a prayer of beating Mitt Romney, something he has all but conceded. And yet since March 6th, the Secret Service has honored his request for protection at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $40,000 a day (or, to translate that into a metric Newt might favor, enough to supply 13,333 people a day with food stamps).
…..
Candidates must meet certain benchmarks earn Secret Service protection. Oddly, though, once protection has been awarded, there is no level of support beneath which it gets revoked. Newt will only stop leeching off taxpayers when Romney becomes the nominee or when he voluntarily gives up his security detail. But the latter option would be an admission that his campaign is hopeless.
It strikes me as odd that Newt campaigns on government overspending and increase of debt. Hell, he also wants to cut lots of budgeting for the poor, so if this can be shown to keep 13,333 hungry folks away from Federally funded food stamps (ah, alliteration), then his potential as a President is obvious.
… but he may have moved so far to the right that his move to center is not believeable. Take it’s position on Immigration and the Dream Act.
From the NY Times:
The Flipper - Flopped
The Romney campaign appears to have begun shifting to the center on immigration, after staking out a position to the right of opponents like former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.
During the primary fight, Mr. Romney said he would veto the existing version of the Dream Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which would grant illegal immigrants brought into the country as children by their parents a pathway to citizenship. He labeled it a magnet for illegal immigration. And he criticized Mr. Perry for granting young illegal immigrants in-state tuition to Texas universities.
On Thursday, campaign aides said Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was not referring to the most draconian portions of Arizona’s immigration law when he said during a debate that Arizona could be a model for the nation. He was referring specifically to the “E-Verify” measure that requires employers to check the legal status of job applicants electronically.
Romney is looking at getting illegal immigrants to voluntarily leave the country, too. He’s a real pal to folks who are both a large work force and a growing voting block.
Here’s why Newt isn’t going to get any farther (from the Newt Gingrich 2012 campaign site):
Appearing before the National Rifle Association annual meeting this afternoon, Newt Gingrich called for a new United Nations treaty that would give the right to bear arms to every person on the planet. This proposed treaty would counter the United Nations Small Arms Treaty currently supported by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
After Gingrich’s speech concluded, NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox came out on stage and said “The Gingrich Treaty…I like that.”
The Daily Beast noted that Newt’s reception from the crowd of 5,000 people was more enthusiastic than Governor Romney’s.
Somewhere along the line, folks are going to imagine a Newt Presidency and see themselves dead in their living rooms. Just think if every man, woman and child worldwide were armed!
Give a thought to what it would do to our legal system (of course, given the current Supreme Court, it might not make any difference.)
Bang bang Maxwell’s silver hammer…etc.
So whose fault is it that Newt isn’t on top of the Republican pack? Fox News?
“I assume it’s because Murdoch at some point said, ‘I want Romney,’ and so ‘fair and balanced’ became ‘Romney.’ And there’s no question that Fox had a lot to do with stopping my campaign because such a high percentage of our base watches Fox.”
Newt’s assumption, of course, is that Fox controls the Republican campaign.
A Fox News representative said Newt was just saying this because he is angling for a post-primary broadcast position at CNN. (Gingrich has already stated that he’ll be attending the White House Correspondent‘s Dinner at the CNN table… how about that?)
- David Horsey in the LA Times.
• Lack of money when compared to Romney.
• Not much of an organization… in some states he didn’t even get on the primary ballot.
• Competition from Newt Gingrich who split some of the far right vote.
• Romney’s habit of saying and doing anything to win – including changing his statements ton agree with Santorum’s conservative from his established centrist position.
Source: Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire:
“You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there. If you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate of the future.”
— Rick Santorum, quoted by NBC News, suggesting Republicans may be better off with President Obama than Mitt Romney.
This reference to Romney as the “Etch A Sketch candidate” is showing up everywhere today… on public radio as I drove to my morning meeting, in my search for political cartoons for Sunday, on all the TV news shows today.
Here’s my favorite political cartoonist, Mike Luckovich’s view of the Etch A Sketch attack (and a pretty accurate view of the results):
So let’s be clear. The Repiglicants get closer and closer to nominating Romney, but clearly he is a candidate they wish was not there.
I wonder what toy you would compare Santorum to?
We all know, as the Repiglicants have told us over and over, that the gas prices are going up because oil in the middle east costs more and Obama refuses to increase oil production here in the good ole USA.
What? That’s not true? You think Obama has actually allowed more oil drilling here than previous (read Repiglicant) administrations?
Well, here’s the facts:
Hmmm. Perhaps he’s keeping it all for himself.
So the rumor is that Newt has picked Rick Perry to be his VP partner… Wouldn’t that make a swell team?
If there is any chance that a brokered convention, like the one the Repiglicuns are getting closer and closer to having, this could be the nominated package. You can bet the Democrats are saying “Good luck, guys.”
A Newt staffer said this, though:
“Gov. Perry thinks Newt Gingrich is the strongest conservative to debate and defeat President Obama and truly overhaul Washington. The speculation is humbling but premature.”
So far, Rick has not done TV commercials with the Romney-esque attack features. Then comes this ad called Rombo:
Now we’ll see what Willard comes back with. Oh these Repubs!
From Public Policy Polling:
rICK sANTORUM (BEHIND HIM IS HIS MULTI-MILLIONAIRE FUNDING SOURCE, FOSTER FRIESS)
Part of the reason for Santorum’s surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney’s favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That’s a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/28).
Santorum is now completely dominating with several key segments of the electorate, especially the most right leaning parts of the party. With those describing themselves as ‘very conservative,’ he’s now winning a majority of voters at 53% to 20% for Gingrich and 15% for Romney. Santorum gets a majority with Tea Party voters as well at 51% to 24% for Gingrich and 12% for Romney. And with Evangelicals he falls just short of a majority with 45% to 21% for Gingrich and 18% for Romney.
Not sure what Romney’s going to do now… look for really bottom feeding TV ads attacking Rick and lots of money spent by Mitt. This should be fun.
“Nobody in the conservative base hates Rick. Newt is hated by many and Mitt by some. Mr. Santorum is liked. He has real indignation about what’s happened to America, and he brings passion to his ideas about reform. He’s got little money, little organization — there’s no broad assumption he can pull it off. And by the time the Romney campaign is done dismantling him, he may have some people who hate him. But this will only underscore the Romney campaign’s reputation for destroying, not creating. And nobody loves a Death Star.”
After Santorum won all three primaries/caucuses yesterday and Mitt came in really far behind, Donald Trump, who had claimed credit for Mitt’s Nevada win, told CNN he was puzzled:
“Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It’s unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh ‘okay’ I just lost by the biggest margin in history and now I’m going to run for president. Tell me, how does that work? … That’s like me saying I just failed a test. Now I’m going to apply for admission to the Wharton School of Finance. Okay? He just failed a test…. And now he’s going to run for president. So, I don’t get Rick Santorum. I don’t get that whole thing.”
Looks like The Donald’s political expertise is somewhat questionable. Do you think Mitt won Nevada for some other reason than Trump’s endorsement?
As usual, Mitt will do ANYTHING whether he believes in it or not. Thanks, Moe.
The Mormon Church has always opposed gambling in every form, including government-sponsored lotteries.
Mormon prophets and leaders have counseled the members over time, to avoid gambling of any type. Doing so, leads one away from righteousness and into the hands of Satan. The Mormon belief is that it is an addictive behavior and leads only to destructive habits and practices. It undermines the value of work and motivates one to think that they can get something for nothing. In time, the gambler will deny themselves, as well as their family the basic needs of life. They will oft times steal from others to finance their addiction, which in turn leads to stealing, robbery, etc.
From here.
“The Truth is the New Lie.”
– a line from the Canadian TV Series Slings & Arrows.
What is Truth? What is a Lie? We have been listening to Mitt and Newt go after each other, accusing each other of lying with statements that are obviously true. The assumption is that the voters will believe anything they say.
The upsetting thing is that so many of them will.
“If his predecessor cursed Obama by handing him a depression and two wars, the Good Lord has blessed him with the weakest field of opponents in memory. I stand by my early assessment: when I look at the economy, I think Obama can’t win, but when I look at the Republicans, I think he can’t lose. The economy is starting to get better; the Republicans aren’t. The president has moved to the populist center, smoothly co-opting the legitimate grievances of the Occupy Wall Street movement and ensuring that he wouldn’t face a primary challenge from the left. ‘Barack’ means blessing in Swahili. Perhaps ‘Obama’ means luckier than a dog with two tongues.”
… and it looks like Romney will carry 
Florida, mainly by overspending Newt and his other opponents by a total of 12 million bucks. Money can buy anything.
Signe Wilkinson in The Courier-Journal:
One of these days, Newt, POW….
– and –
Chan Lowe in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
Are his hopes up in the air?
– and –
David Horsey in the L. A. Times:
He’ll treat us like family…
– and –
Lee Judge in the Kansas City Star:
But he’s open to review…NOT.
While he makes the budget balanced as President, Newt Gingrich has now promised to put a US base on the moon… by the end of his second term!
The two problems with this are 1.) the cost would blow us even deeper into debt, and 2.) we have to elect Newt for Two Terms!
Now we know he was angling for the NASA vote on the “Space Coast”, but doesn’t Newtie realize that the whole nation is watching (and laughing)?
Let me remind you of Newt’s basic life expression:
So let’s hope that the country wouldn’t get sick under a President Gingrich… he would probably leave it for Canada. :)
After Newt’s win in South Carolina, he seems to be having a surge in Florida. I just saw an InsiderAdvantage poll of of 557 registered Republican voters and Gingrich leads Romney by 8 points:
- Gingrich: 34 percent
- Romney: 26 percent
- Ron Paul: 13 percent
- Rick Santorum: 11 percent
- Other: 2 percent
- No opinion: 14 percent
“Gingrich has been closing the gap nationally, according to the Gallup tracking poll. Florida is a reflection that Republicans nationally are moving toward Gingrich.”
- Matt Towery, chief pollster for InsiderAdvantage
This will be interesting to watch, unless, like me, you don’t want to miss the new episode of House.
Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina Primary and this morning he exploited his win over all the network Sunday morning news shows. His ego glowed like a radium ion.
So Santorum has Iowa (we guess), Romney has New Hampshire, and Newt now has South Carolina. Now there is no REAL leader and we’re looking toward Florida to see what happens next.
I doubt that Ron Paul is going to quit yet. Wouldn’t it be funny if he took Florida?
There’s also the potential, now, for a brokered Republican Convention… this means that a wholly new candidate could be brought in by the Party and made nominee (Chris Christie, maybe?)
So now we have one candidate that often switches positions solely to get the vote (Mitt), one that makes Democrats look sane (Newt) and one who puts religion and ant-gay hysteria on top of governing the country (Santorum.)
As to which one of these Obama would prefer to tun against…who knows? Any one of them has great benefits for the Democrats. I’d prefer Santorum, but that is the least likely.
Romney Inverts His Image
…about releasing his tax returns. He said he would “maybe” when the question came up, as everyone expected it would, about Mitt‘s tax returns and how his father, Michigan governor George Romney, had released 12 years of returns.
That “maybe” got him booed by Republicans who weren’t ready to wait.
As Andrew Sullivan said:
“Romney then completely flounders in response to John King’s brilliant citation of George Romney’s position on the matter. And that word — ‘maybe’ — in answer to a direct and simple question is devastating.It not only makes him look shifty; it makes him look as if he doesn’t respect his own father’s honorable example.”
So what if Newt, despite his open marriage past, gets the South Carolina vote?
The Democrats will be thrilled.
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