Mitt Romney

[J.Quest]

What do you guys think about Mitt Romney and his chances in '08?

 

[TennTradition]

Well, living here in Boston, I have been a bit saturated by the Romney. He was an OK governor, I guess. He kind of quit being governor here months ago, though, to start his dog and pony show through New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina (and others I guess). That kind of irked me, but I guess it has to be done if you want to be "a contender." I think that he is a master planner who loves to take charge and get things done (ex: Salt Lake Olympics and the Big Dig Tunnel Collapse). I think that he is also certainly a man of conviction. I'm not sure about his foreign policy stances, though...haven't heard much on that front. Ultimately, though, he would have to do a lot to impress me before he would get my vote (if I were to give it to the GOP) over, let's say, McCain (but I've been a McCain fan for quite a while...a little less recently, though)

 

[J.Quest]

To be quite honest, I'd really like to see a Gingrich-Romney ticket. I think this is a ticket that gives the Right the best chance for victory (aside from a Clinton-Obama ticket ) Like you, I'm not sure where Romney is in terms of foreign policy, but we all know Newt's stance. Here are some lines from rightweb in which he outlines some inherent flaws with Bush's war strategy:

During the speech at AEI, Gingrich highlighted Iran as a primary target for a new U.S. intervention, a favorite position of neoconservatives. Describing Iran as “a dictatorship dedicated to Islamic Fascism and … a mortal threat to our survival,” he called for using military force if necessary to change the country's regime: “If we do not stand up against a Holocaust-denying, genocide-proposing, publicly self-defined enemy of the United States, why should we expect anyone else to do so?”
Gingrich maintains that the United States is confronting an existential threat in the war on terror. In a 2006 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Gingrich compared President Abraham Lincoln's preparations for the Civil War to President George W. Bush's efforts to prosecute the war on terror, arguing that where Lincoln succeeded, Bush was failing. Bush's strategies have three flaws, Gingrich opined: “(1) They do not define the scale of the emerging World War III, between the West and the forces of militant Islam, and so they do not outline how difficult the challenge is and how big the effort will have to be. (2) They do not define victory in this larger war as our goal, and so the energy, resources, and intensity needed to win cannot be mobilized. (3) They do not establish clear metrics of achievement and then replace leaders, bureaucrats, and bureaucracies as needed to achieve those goals.”
In a September 14, 2006 Fox News appearance, Gingrich said: “I think we're seeing around the world an emerging Third World War from North Korea to Pakistan to India to Afghanistan to Iraq and Iran to the increasing alliance between Venezuela and Iran to the British terrorists who are getting trained in Pakistan. But I think if we could design powerful enough strategies, as we did in the Cold War to contain the Soviets, we might be able to avoid it actually degenerating into a world war.” Regime change in Iran and North Korea are solutions, Gingrich said, and criticized the Bush administration for its handling of the war on terror: “I don't think that the administration has yet come to grips with how big and complex this is.”
Gingrich's primary claim to fame has been the Republican Party's 1994 “Contract with America” slate of legislative proposals. Promoting the so-called contract, Gingrich used existential language similar to that which he employs today regarding the war on terror. He claimed that the key issue was “whether or not our civilization will survive,” arguing that “what is ultimately at stake … is literally the future of American civilization as it has existed for the last several hundred years.” Such language, wrote the scholar Shadia Drury, is eerily reminiscent of the “sense of crisis” in Western civilization promoted by Leo Strauss, a political philosopher who was an early influence on many neoconservatives like Irving Kristol (see Leo Strauss and the American Right, pp. 21–22).
Gingrich, a historian, has written several books on politics and history. His 2005 Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America expanded his ideas from the previous decade. In it, according to his website, he “lays out the plan for America's greatness, including how to win the war on terror, reestablish God in American public life, reform Social Security, restore patriotism, and make American health care the global standard for excellence and accessibility.”

 

[CSpindizzy]

I think Romney has flipped on issues more times than a grilled cheese at the Waffle House. Is there anything he's stayed consistent on in the past 5 years?

 

[CSpindizzy]

Funny you should bring up the Contract. How is that coming nowadays? Whatever came of the concept of shutting down the Dept of Education? Wasn't it the GOP who not only fluffed it up but gave us No Child Left Behind?

 

[MG1968]

Gingrich was hamstrung by RINO's and incessant ethics attacks by democrats.

the contract with america is dead because there are too many politicians covering their own asses.

 

[J.Quest]

Funny you should bring up the Contract. How is that coming nowadays? Whatever came of the concept of shutting down the Dept of Education? Wasn't it the GOP who not only fluffed it up but gave us No Child Left Behind?

Hey...nice to have you backk:

 

[CSpindizzy]

Thank you....good to be back to gripe about RINO's and others who call themselves conservatives who have screwed up the system even more and then mock Dems for doing what they have for so long.

I need a radio talk show....

 

[GAVol]

I think Romney has flipped on issues more times than a grilled cheese at the Waffle House. Is there anything he's stayed consistent on in the past 5 years?

Exactly . . . He's trying to frame himself as the conservative, but I don't think people are going to buy it.

 

[TennTradition]

Exactly . . . He's trying to frame himself as the conservative, but I don't think people are going to buy it.

I actually think that people will buy it. I think that his abortion stance might be the most fragile, though. We'll see.

 

[GAVol]

I actually think that people will buy it. I think that his abortion stance might be the most fragile, though. We'll see.

Fragile is an understatement. Plus, whether people talk about it or not, the fact that he is Mormon will not help matters in some circles.

 

[MG1968]

Al Gore flipped his position on abortion, and he was a few hanging chads away from the WH.

John Kerry flip flopped more times than a freshly caught crappie. he got the second highest amount of popular votes in history.

of course, flip flopping might only be acceptable to Democrats.

 

[TennTradition]

Fragile is an understatement. Plus, whether people talk about it or not, the fact that he is Mormon will not help matters in some circles.

I think that the fact that he is a Mormon may hurt for other reasons...but not really the "is he a true conservative" aspect. I think that as a devout Mormon, he can stand pretty strong on most of the conservative's issues. I just don't like how he has been shaping himself for a presidential run.

 

[CSpindizzy]

Honestly how can he stand strong on conservative issues? He was governor of the most liberal state in the nation. Go back and watch Mitt's debate with Kennedy when he ran for Senate. It was only a few years ago and he was fighting tooth and nail to be more to the left than Kennedy. To be further to the left of Kennedy you need to be buried in the Kremlin.

I find it amusing that the new talking points for Romney supporters is comparing his flopping to Reagan. Yeah Reagan might have flopped on a few issues over a decade, Mitt has completely flipped on just about every single issue he's ever campaigned on. And this is within the past few years. On abortion he said a close family friend died from a back alley abortion and he swore up and down he'd never remove the right to abortion. Now you'd think he was a Catholic kissing the Pope's ring. He was against tax cuts and now that's his biggest issue. He and Giuliani were very close on many other issues. But suddenly in some Extreme Makeover - The White House Edition he's now the conservative's conservative.

 

[CSpindizzy]

Within a decade Mitt flopped on the following:

Used to fully support gun control and the Brady Bill
Used to support RU-486
Used to support gay Scouts and Scoutmasters
Used to say no religion or prayer in schools
Used to extremely support right to choose in all cases

Now he is promoting a state government healthcare system in Massachusetts. HillaryCare-lite?

He has contributed to several Democratic House campaigns before. Most of his contributors are lawyers and lobbyists.

Now there are those who still insist like Reagan, Romney has converted. But again there is a difference between the two. Romney has suddenly converted not only on many more issues than Reagan but on issues he swore up and down were embedded beliefs from personal experiences. Now if you saw a murder of a family member and took a stance on crime or say the death penalty, it would take a lot more than a Presidential election excuse to suddenly forget the death of a close person that solidified a core belief. It seems strange that only after thinking about running for President that Romney would have such a conversion. If seeking higher office and personal gain causes him to forget core beliefs, what does that say for his character. If he sells his own family and own deeply held beliefs out, what else would he sell out? And at what price?

 

[CSpindizzy]

The conservative magazine Human Events in 2005 ranked Romney as the number 8 top RINO within the GOP. But yet the love fest continues with many other GOP and conservative pundits. Anyone tell me what's in the Kool Aid Mitt's serving?

 

[J.Quest]

The conservative magazine Human Events in 2005 ranked Romney as the number 8 top RINO within the GOP. But yet the love fest continues with many other GOP and conservative pundits. Anyone tell me what's in the Kool Aid Mitt's serving?

I guess I'm just going down the path of "will someone other than Mccain please stand up".

Romney = flip flop
Guilliani = Lib in Conservative clothing
McCain = strange history and hard to figure on immigration

I think Newt should run (but I have my doubts)...sure he has issues, but he is very intelligent, well-spoken, and knows his shite.

 

[CSpindizzy]

Mitt and Rudy are very far to the left for the GOP but somehow they are darlings. Rudy has 9/11 but what does Mitt have?

Newt is very knowledgeable but is no different than Gore. He will lose people in the details. He is a scholar of minutae. He can school you up and down on subjects but in this day of sound bites and buzz words, will America fall asleep listening to Newt? What of his own clouded personal life?

I think it's interesting that the driving force behind the GOP, the religious conservatives, are all squirming trying to figure out which Rockefeller Republican or Republican with loose morals or both to actually back. Seeing Ralph Reed being chummy with Rudy speaks volumes in itself.

 

[allvol123]

Newt is very knowledgeable but is no different than Gore. He will lose people in the details. He is a scholar of minutae. He can school you up and down on subjects but in this day of sound bites and buzz words, will America fall asleep listening to Newt? What of his own clouded personal life?

I don't find Newt near as boring as Gore.

Also, at this point in time, I am willing to ignore someone's personal indiscretions, to a point, if I feel they are strong enough to get the job done.

 

[CSpindizzy]

Listen to his speeches and witness him on the campaign trail. I've done many of both here in GA. He is a policy wonk. Even many of his supporters here in GA will admit he loses people in the details.

Newt is a very polarizing person. I'm not sure someone who has made as many controversial statements and positions as he has can get the job of President done. While I like many of his positions, I have doubts on his ability to get a consensus together to accomplish something without setting off every group known to man.

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

looks like he shot himself in the foot...

NEWS - POLITICAL - Comcast.net

 

[WA_Vol]

I don't think any candidate who has been married 3 times will do well in the bible belt and get the Republican nomination. That should eliminate Guiliani and Gingrich.

IMO the only Republican candidate who has a prayer of beating the Democrats in an election is Fred Thompson.

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

Anybody but Bush will beat Hillary due to her high negative opinion rating, and he cannot run again. Of course, it's no lock that HRC will even get the D nomination.

 

[CSpindizzy]

I love the new story of Romney and his "lifelong hunter" image of actually only hunting twice in his life....one as a kid in Idaho and last year on a quail farm in south GA that is nothing but a fundraising plantation. It also seems that he suddenly decided to join the NRA last year as a 'lifetime' member. It seems in the past two years Romney just converted on every issue across the board. Against Kennedy in his Senate run he tried to be more pro-Brady Bill than Kennedy.

I literally think this man has sold his soul and principles to win this office.

 

[VolunteerHillbilly]

I did not think communists believed in souls???