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-Election 2012
Romney vows 'new conservative era' if elected president
2012-02-12
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] White House hopeful Mitt Romney
...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field...
 has promised to unite Republicans and defeat President Barack Obama
We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us...
in the "battle for the soul of America" as officials in Maine prepared to unveil the results of party caucuses on Saturday.

Romney and his main rivals for the nomination, former House speaker Newt Gingrich
...former Speaker of the House, author of the Contract with America. Gingrich gave the country welfare reform and a balanced budget and the Publicans a landslide House victory in 1994. On the downside, he has a roving eye and a loose fly, he's opinionated, and he's abrasive despite his ability to work with the other side of the political aisle...
 and religious conservative Rick Santorum
...candidate for president and former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. He was a lawyer before becoming the Representative for suburban Pittsburgh in 1991. He lost his Senate seat in 2006 to Bob Casey, a Democrat machine politician and political dynast. Santorum is a social conservative whose primary attraction is seemingly that he is neither Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich...
, all made the pilgrimage to the Conservative Political Action Conference here to court the Republican base and lay out their plan to oust Obama in November.

"This country we love is in jeopardy," Romney told a CPAC crowd of thousands Friday.

"I am convinced that if we do our job, if we lead with conviction and integrity, that history will record the Obama presidency as the last gasp of liberalism's great failure and a turning point for a new conservative era."

The upcoming November election, he said, "really is a battle for the soul of America."

Romney's bid to be the party's 2012 standard-bearer has been rattled by concern he cannot close the deal with core conservatives, a charge that was highlighted this week when he lost three nominating contests to Santorum.

But former Massachusetts governor Romney sought to put aside once and for all the lingering doubts about his credentials, saying "I was a severely conservative Republican governor" who cut taxes, balanced the budget and slashed costly government programmes.
Posted by:Fred

#31  Mitt can't win. Just like McCain and Dole couldn't win. Republican turnout is already down in the primaries. He's a Schlapschwanz with no base. And if he can't motivate Republicans, how will he motivate independents?
Posted by: Iblis   2012-02-12 20:35  

#30  That's a keeper, John. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara   2012-02-12 18:37  

#29  Newt's wedding vows certainly were not. You know its bad when he has kids from his first wife (who he cheated on with wife #2) trying to discredit the second wife (who he cheated on with wife #3) for criticizing the third wife.
Posted by: OldSpook   2012-02-12 18:33  

#28  This coming from the guy who's flip-flopped so many times, I bet his wife is wondering if the wedding vows were serious.
Posted by: Charles   2012-02-12 18:11  

#27  A guy on TV said the following:

A conservative, a moderate, and a liberal go into a bar. The bartender says: "How you doing Mitt?"
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-02-12 14:28  

#26  
Mittens, Newt, and the Doctor:

Sound good on stage
Appear credible<
Have well thought out plans
Inspire voter confidence
Are all looking for a new line of work.

Oh well, one out of four... not bad I suppose.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-02-12 14:01  

#25  "thinks"

:-(
Posted by: Barbara   2012-02-12 14:00  

#24  "He keeps using that word 'Conservative'... I don't think it means what he thinks it means."

I don't think Romney knows what he think it means, CF. :-(
Posted by: Barbara   2012-02-12 13:52  

#23  Anyway, how many of you who voted for McCain would consider Romney more conservative? I do, not by much, but I think he is. So its an improvement from 08, going from "worse" to "bad" from a conservative/libertarian viewpoint.

Most important is, win or lose, whoever the candidate is, he must NOT hurt the down ticket. The GOP has an opportunity to put some more real conservatives into the Senate (maybe enough to take control), and to keep control of the House.



I wonder how we would now feel looking back at 4 years of the President (Fred) Thompson administration's work?
Posted by: OldSpook   2012-02-12 13:42  

#22  Actually all 3 of the GOP candidate are fans of Big Government depending on what Big Government is doing for their favorite causes. Santorum's voting record reveals a lot of that, and Gingrich & Romney both favor the Individual Mandate. Romney's record in Mass is not that good, and Gingrich's couch trip with Pelosi shows his tendency to weathervane around to very bad ideas.

So its all a matter of which one do you think can beat Obama and still be "fixable" in office in terms of court appointments, veto of pork bills, and rolling back Obama care and all the Czars and bad executive policy Obama has made.

(not counting Ron Paul, his foreign policy and conspiracy mongering mark him as a loony on anything other than smaller government and parts of economic policy)
Posted by: OldSpook   2012-02-12 13:37  

#21  #16 We need a picture of someone selling the Brooklin Bridge

Three card monty will have to do...
Posted by: badanov   2012-02-12 13:25  

#20  President of what?

I'm thinking the Boston Lions Club. Kiwanis?
Posted by: Anonymoose   2012-02-12 13:20  

#19  I'm with Matt. You got to war with the guy that you have, not what you wish you had. It IS a war. If you think Obama was an arrogant radical socialist before, wait til he doesn't have to worry about re-election. How many Supreme Court justices will he get to appoint? How many Fed judges? If Mittens wins the primary, and it increasingly looks like he will, then I'm pulling the lever for Mittens and pushing him to be more conservative. Make him promise positions that we can hold him to
Posted by: Frank G   2012-02-12 12:44  

#18  he always seemed to be a believer in "Gov't can fix everything"
I think that belief applies to pretty much anyone in government these days. Some (Obama) more than others, but of the remaining candidates only Ron Paul is a 'misfit' (but then he misfits in everything.)
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-02-12 11:36  

#17  Glenmore, given the press that we have here in MA I think that it would have been very obvious if Mitt was seriously corrupt.

But, he is a politician and a wink and a nod to a friend in need or to the friend of a needed ally in the legislature is not beyond belief. By and large though I believe that he was not corrupt.

My biggist problem with Mitt is that he always seemed to be a believer in "Gov't can fix everything", aka big government. Whether that was a result of the politics in this state, bluer than blue, I don't know.

My hope is that if he gets elected he continues to go along to get along and TW's idea of a Tea Party controlled congress holds true.
Posted by: AlanC   2012-02-12 11:29  

#16  We need a picture of someone selling the Brooklin Bridge.
Posted by: Frozen Al   2012-02-12 10:58  

#15  The objective here isn't to re-elect Ronald Reagan -- that's just not on the menu this year. The objective is to un-elect Barack Obama before he does more damage. So all I want to know about any Republican candidate is: Can he beat Obama? And the guy with the highest probability of doing that sure looks like Romney.
Posted by: Matt   2012-02-12 10:54  

#14  Thought experiment, based on the comments above: given what Mitt Romney did/did not accomplish as a Republican governor in a strongly Blue state with liberal Democratic control of both house of the state legislature, how is he likely to act as a Republican president with Tea Party Republicans setting the tone in both houses of Congress? We already know the answer for Mr. Obama...
Posted by: trailing wife   2012-02-12 10:09  

#13  AlanC, if your observation is correct, and he actually wasn't corrupt, that is not a trivial accomplishment.
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-02-12 10:07  

#12  What Crazy Fool said
Posted by: European Conservative   2012-02-12 10:04  

#11  Raj, was here and I'm still here.

It sickens me to think that Mitt is probably the best we can get. You're right, he didn't do much and seemed to have no goal but personal power. That's why he was so much the "go along to get along" stooge he seemed to be.

The one thing I can say positively is that he never seemed to be corrupt.
Posted by: AlanC   2012-02-12 09:43  

#10  He keeps using that word 'Conservative'... I don't think it means what he thinks it means.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2012-02-12 09:22  

#9   I wonder how he pulled that off and got anything done?

I was here; he didn't get that much done.
Posted by: Raj   2012-02-12 09:03  

#8  I was a severely conservative Republican governor

He will have trouble with debating ObamaCare since RomneyCare isn't so different. What does that leave him to debate Obama as a "severely" conservative candidate?

He was a Pub governor in a blue state with a blue legislature. I wonder how he pulled that off and got anything done? Must have been a high wire balancing act.
Posted by: JohnQC   2012-02-12 08:53  

#7  Me-ow, Silentbrick! :-D

Love it.
Posted by: Barbara   2012-02-12 08:51  

#6  The New Hope and Change(tm)?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-02-12 08:18  

#5  A new 'conservative era' with real live conservatives, who will serve conservatively?
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-02-12 05:45  

#4  He's going to have a soul, brain and spine transplant then?

Wow, didn't think that was possible.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division   2012-02-12 05:16  

#3  Accountability is work that all men must demand of "Kings".
Posted by: newc   2012-02-12 04:17  

#2  Can we store this article and re-post it a year after (if) he's elected?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2012-02-12 03:06  

#1  Really? How about my Bucket politician re-regurgitation list is just some outlier to be grasped at AFTER "you" Won? Huh?
Posted by: newc   2012-02-12 01:45  

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