A Few Thoughts About Mitt Romney

Chuck, we disagree ideologically on many issues. But I totally agree with your evaluation of Mitt Romney.

All too often, the Republican Party selects as its nominee the candidate that is perceived as being the most deserving of the nomination (a reward for service) rather than who would be the best person for the job. And that is the case this year. So Sen. McCain will be the Republican nominee. Mike Huckabee may remain in the race a few more weeks. But the math just isn't there! He would have to win 90% of the remaining delegates in order to win the nomination. That is not going to happen.

I am not pleased with Sen. McCain being our nominee. But when I consider the alternative -- waving the white flag on the War on Terrorism, socialized universal health care, the re-distribution of wealth, appointment of activist judges -- I will enthusiastically cast my vote for Sen. McCain in November.

The Commander Guy

I did not know 'bigdog' was former President Clinton's nickname. Luckily they are just nicknames. Why with us being humans and pretending to be some type of ferocious dog I'm glad there are different breeds of dogs. I stated earlier that I am a sheep dog, Clinton must be a wiener dog or a ShiTzu. Pronounce it how you want. lol

Maybe we should start a blog and have people suggest what dog their candidate would be? That would be interesting.

May you find peace with your choices.

Although I was unaware of Gov. Romney's successes in the world of high finance, I did know of his reputation as a Repub governor in highly Dem Massachusetts: he seemed to govern effectively by compromising with others and by attempting to reach a consenus everyone could live with. In other words, he seemed to be on that endangered species list of "moderate Republicans."

But when he declared his intention to run for the Repub presidential nomination, he began to alter his previously-stated positions so quickly in an all-too-patently-obvious attempt to attract the conservative elements of his party. These attempts at "clarifying his position" just looked like pandering for votes, especially when he tried to explain them away as epiphanies--the one about gay civil unions was particularly ludicrous. To make matters worse, he attacked other candidates for positions he himself supposedly once held--a hallmark of a doomed, desperate candidate.

Since he could never fully articulate what he stood for without causing extreme cognitive dissonance, as well as utter incredulity, in voters' minds, he became the architect of his own misfortune. His lack of charisma with voters--appearing too much of a blow-dried automaton--combined with his inauthenticity created a public persona of a calculating schemer who would say anything to get votes.

The cherry on top of the Governor's sundae turned out to be a manufactured issue which was supposedly set aside almost fifty years ago--his religion. Prejudice, I'm sorry to say, is still alive and well in the US.

Dan @ Feb 8, 2008 12:33:47 AM

Good Post Dan.

Keep up the good work.

Bigdog

WRT the religion issue: I agree with you that sincere beliefs must be respected. I've even been respectful of the secular humanist / moral relavist religion of folks (s/he knows who I am talking about) that post on this Board.

So on behalf of any Huck fan that has said any disrepectful thing about another person's religion I offer my Appologies. I am with you here. Sometime folks talk before they think.

But with that being said the tone of your message idicates some hostility to Humble Huck. It can't be because of the Compassion he's shown to children can it? I mean Compassion is something Huck's got. He's not gonna appologize for it.

With Willard out of the race we are down to two. Give the Huck a chance.

BTW you do know that "bigdog" is William Jefferson Clinton's nickname don't you?

The Commander Guy,

Any person running for the highest office in the land who chooses to denigrate someone else's religion makes me pause to consider that person's respect for the 1st amendment which allows him to say such disparaging comments.

To me, that makes him a wolf trying to lead the ignorant or uninformed sheep concerning something that has no place in a presidential election. Unless of course, requiring a religion litmus test for political office is something else Huckabee wants to institute? I doubt he wants that. So what was behind the motivation for that comments about Mitt? Someone with pure convictions wouldn't disrespect another's believes.

I think Mr. Huckabee has some good ideas and stands firm for very conservative social issues. But that is where my support ends. He is woefully inadaquate when it comes to fiscal conservatism, budget conservatism, and his foreign policy conservatism is lacking as well. Do I need to remind you of his huge switch on illegals? Maybe he had a revelation and has repented of his ways and record as Governor of Arkansas. Or was it politically convenient to switch and repentence had nothing to do with it. Who knows? So if his convictions are to be a liberal with respect to money, military, and securing the border, until it's convenient, then follow him. I will not. His vision of where he wants America is not where I want to go. It is not Reagan conservatism. It is mostly liberal.

Additionally, you introduced the word "Hate" here. Those were not my words. I do not hate Mr. Huckabee. I'd caution you to not put words in other people's mouth or thoughts. It brings about the spirit of contention. Americans need to contend respectfully.

Best wishes with your man Mike. But for me and my house, we will not be voting for Mr. Huckabee.

Now that Romney is out of the race, conservative voters must support Mike Huckabee and give him a fighting chance against McCain!

James Danley @ Feb 7, 2008 8:05:19 PM

Solid Post Man.

Mitt has the convictions of a cardboard box. Make that an EMPTY cardboard box.

Huck is your man if you want convictions! He's got enough of them and then some extra to share. He's even got enough to lend some to Willard Romney.

And Bigdog, why so much Hate for the Huck?

I would love to know what the problem is with the media and Mormons? Usually if someone is fearful of something, it is because they don't understand it or know very little to nothing about it. Why is it that Mr. Romney is the only canidate with a media nick name? Since when do hard working business men deserve this kind of treatment? We need to understand his beliefs and trust that whom ever is elected will truly use their heads and hearts when making decisions that effect our nation.
We need someone with business smarts and good morals to help this country before we all can no longer afford to live here without some kind of government assistance or credit cards that we work our entire lives to pay off. WAKE UP AMERICA!! Learn about the canadites and look at their track records in office. This should help you make decisions about who you want running your country and making laws you have to follow. If you don't like something about a canidate, contact their office and find out the truth of where they stand or why they made a decision. They all have websites with contact info. Take advantage of our freedoms and make your voice heard!!

The maneuver that gave Mike Huckabee the win in the West Virginia caucuses WAS NOT A DIRTY TRICK. The Republican Party rules required that the winner had to win a simple majority (50% +1) of the 1,100 delegates. Although Mitt Romney had the majority of the votes on the first ballot, he fell well short of the required number of votes. Sen. McCain knew he couldn't garner the votes necessary to win, but that his votes combined with Mike Huckabee's votes would exceed the necessary votes. So Sen. McCain asked his supporters to vote for Mike Huckabee.

This is no different than the rules for BOTH the Democratic and Republican national conventions. In order to win the nomination, the winner must have at least 50% +1 of the delegates. If there is no winner on the first ballot, then most of the delegates are free to vote however they want (some states require their delegates to remain committed through the second ballot). Candidates frequently hammer out deals and then asked their delegates to honor the deals. They are not required to do so. There hasn't been a brokered convention since the 1952 Democratic convention. The last brokered Republican convention was in 1948.

Jodi, you wrote: "Romney's biggest mistake was not running as a moderate." Sorry, but you are incorrect. Mitt Romney would have suffered the same fate as Rudy Giuliani had he (Romney) ran as a moderate. In 1994 Mitt Romney ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate seat in Massachusetts. Running as a conservative Romney actually lead Kennedy 43% to 42% with just two months before the election. Then Romney shifted to towards the center. Within one month Kennedy surged back into the lead 50% to 32%. Kennedy won the election with 58% of the vote. Had Mitt Romney not shifted to the center he might have held on to win the election.

This time around, Mitt Romney's problem was failing to convince the Republicans that he was conservative enough. His "overnight" conversion, to many, seemed insincere and only politically motivated.

Jodi,

And as a supporter of Huckabee, you really think Huckabee's positions are in line with his record? Get real! Tuition for illegals, now illegals need to leave the country before coming back in. Others; too numerous to mention. Mr. Huckabee is Mr. Pandering to the max. After winning Iowa, he sounded like an entirely different candidate when faced with campaigning in non-southern states. Sounds like you are projecting your own insecurtities of your candidate onto others. Mitt flipped on aborion but never flopped. We just lost the person best groomed to right the ship. McCain's legacy will be that he is a war hero. I'm not sure what Huckabee's legacy will be. Perhaps it will revolve around a question questioning someone else's belief system? The question heard 'round the world. Probably not something Jesus would expect from an ordainded minister. But hey, there are many wolves in sheep's clothing.

Forgive me for not turning the other cheek but when there are wolves around the sheep, you've got to have the sheep dogs to run off the wolves.

More dogs needed!!

Romney is a class act. His exit = America's loss.

As a Mormon, I wanted to support Mitt Romney. I could not. It was not his flip to conservative positions that troubled me. It was the liberal positions on social issues that he took while campaigning in Massachusetts previously. Those were clearly not in keeping with Latter Day Saint values. I also felt he had little national security experience.

I believe there has been much anti-Mormon sentiment in the media. I believe it indeed the reason Mitt was constantly labeled the Mormon candidate.

I also believe there is great religious bigotry among evangelicals -- despite the fact that Latter-Day Saints have long been a prime partner with them on social issues.

Mitt Romney lost in part because he was so obviously disliked by his competitors. the public picked up on that. I believe McCain and Huckabee have indeed been jealous of his financial success. He was heralded for succeeding on a career path that never ever appealed to either of them.

I have and will continue to support McCain. I'd like to see Romney on the ticket.

I do not want to see Huckabee as VP. He is much less a conservative on the issues than McCain. His views are so outside the mainstream in so many ways one simply cannot take him seriously. I especially resent his obvious personal anti-Mormon bigotry. His main claim to fame appears to be that he was The Non-Mormon candidate.

I support McCain because of national security concerns. He will see Iraq through but he will not make a similar mistake. And though his approach to immigration has been anathema to many of the racial bigots in our party and in talk radio, his approach is the only practical, fair-minded Christian way to go.

George Bush won barely because of Hispanic support in critical states. If the GOP loses the White House in November, it will be because the bigots of our party have driven Hispanics over to the opposition.

Mitt is the most accomplished man to run for President that I have ever seen. He has been a successful father, student, businessman, politician and spouse. Mitt is not done, and we shall see much more of him in the future. Watch for him in 2012 after the Dems dominate McCain in this election.

Romney was the best qualfied of all the candidates if the objetive is to put the country on a sound financial path. Right now we are on a course that will sooner or later end in a disaster at least the equal of the Great Depression. And he would not surrender in the war on terrorism.

Jake, I normally enjoy your blog, and your reporting tends to be well-grounded, but you seem to be off your game today.

First off, liberals can't be blamed for sinking Romney's campaign because of religious bias. Liberals would not have been voting for any Republicans in any of the primaries thus far. You may be referring to polls, but as I recall, the number of liberals who had a problem with a Mormon president was much smaller than the number of conservatives who did - and more to the point, the number of evangelicals who did.

Romney tanked because, although he appeared competent and intelligent, he also came across as negative, arrogant and mean-spirited. I would argue that many Republican primary voters - whether they would admit so to a pollster or not - feel the same way about the climate of division and antagonism in politics today. When he attacked McCain for working with Democrats in the Senate in order to get something done, the message was that bipartisanship is no longer in Romney's vocabulary.

George W. Bush won as many votes as he did partly because he at least paid lip-service to reaching out to those you disagree with. Phrases like "uniter, not a divider," and "compassionate conservative," played much better with both the party base and the general electorate than Romney's invective against illegal immigrants and Democrats in general. This fact was not lost on McCain or Huckabee, and I believe much of Huckabee's success in particular stems from his ability to sound quite positive, even when he is speaking to core conservative values.

We do have a third candidate on the conservative side.

Was/Is there any candidate that did/does not have a serious problem with some part of the 'base'?

Or maybe the 'base' isn't really the 'base' anymore?

I love that Mitt's biggest problem was supposedly the fact that he is a Mormon (even to "left-liberals!"), when he just finished a speech declaring that if the Democrats win the election the US will be "surrendering to terror" and that we will all die.

Maybe Romney's problem was that the ignorant, proto-fascist base of the GOP simply wasn't large enough for him to pander to. His constant flip-flopping didn't exactly help, either.

Really sad that Huckabee came along and mucked up things. Don't get me wrong. I like Huckabee. But his entering the race has really screwed the race up. He never had a chance and now McCain has it locked up.

Personally I would have loved a Romney/Huckabee ticket. Hopefully it'll be a McCain/Romney ticket.