Romney's Ideal Victory

By Chris Suellentrop

Tags: Florida, John McCain, Mitt Romney

Does Mitt Romney have a victory to cling to in Florida? Joshua Trevino, vice president for public policy at San Francisco’s Pacific Research Institute (and one of the founders of the conservative blog RedState), breaks down the numbers on his personal blog.

“Mitt Romney is in a bad way,” Trevino writes. “He blew through $10 million in Iowa and lost; and outspent McCain eight to one in Florida, and lost that too. But for all this, Mitt Romney is not done yet and the reason lies in the breakdown of this evening’s Florida vote.” He continues:

CNN has the exit-poll numbers, and they reveal some surprising things:

• Romney won pro-lifers.
• Romney won the mainstream religious. (Huckabee won the very religious ­ less than one-fifth of the pool.)
• Romney won the Protestants.
• Romney tied Huckabee with Evangelicals.
• Romney won the pro-GWB voters.
• Romney is the primary second choice of Giuliani voters, Thompson voters …. and McCain voters.
• Romney won the immigration hard-liners.
• Romney won the upper-middle class, earning between $100,000 and $200,000 annually.
• Romney won the terrorism-oriented voters.
• Romney won the self-identified conservatives and the self-identified very conservative.
• Romney won the values-oriented voters.
• Romney won the white voters.
• Romney won the tax-cutting voters.

In short, Mitt Romney won the Republican Party’s idea of itself ­ and that, too, is a big deal. If you’re white, Protestant, anti-abortion, go to church on Sundays, think well of the President, want lower taxes, hate terrorists, make a good living, want to do something about immigration, and live in Florida, chances are you voted Romney.

The question before Florida was whether McCain could win a closed Republican race, and now we know he can.

The question now is whether he can win conservatives ­and in Florida, he did not.

Can the American People Beat John McCain?

By JEBEE Kenji SOLIS

Who can beat endorsements by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and all the other liberal mainstream media?

Who can beat someone like John McCain, who is endorsed by “America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani, endorsed by Arnold “Terminator” Schwarzenegger, Joe Lieberman, Crist and Martinez, and almost all of the Democrat or liberal-leaning people in America?

Who can beat him, when Huckabee -- a nuisance candidate who will take votes from Mitt Romney -- refuses to quit the race to ensure a win for McCain?

In the words of Michael Gramm of National Review’s “The Corner”:

“So it is over. Finished. In November, we'll be sending out our most liberal, least trustworthy candidate vs. to take on Hillary Clinton—perhaps not more liberal than Barack Obama, but certainly far less trustworthy.”

“The worst part for the Right is that McCain will have won the nomination while ignoring, insulting and, as of this weekend, shamelessly lying about conservatives and conservatism.

“You think he supported amnesty six months ago? You think he was squishy on tax cuts and judicial nominees before? Wait until he has the power to anger every conservative in America, and feel good about it.

“Every day, he dreams of a world filled with happy Democrats and insulted Republicans. And he is, thanks to Florida, the presidential nominee of the Republican Party.”

I have heard from and received emails from several people -- some Republican, some conservatives -- young and mature people, some adept in politics and some just read the news or watched it. But I am surprised, when they admitted, if McCain will win the nomination, they will vote for Obama. Even my wife is considering voting for Obama if McCain gets nominated.

When the National Review endorsed Governor Romney, they were correct when they declared ""[Giuliani] and Mike Huckabee would pull apart the coalition from opposite ends: Giuliani alienating the social conservatives, and Huckabee the economic (and foreign-policy) conservatives" and McCain, all of the conservatives.

Who can stop him? Who can beat him? Hillary Clinton will and, most importantly and most decisively, Obama will -- on first account because of McCain's age; he is too old to be President. Second are McCain's principles.

I still and hope and believe he can be stopped -- not for Mitt Romney. The Governor is too kind and too decent to engage McCain, or anyone like McCain, in dirty games.

In the long run, it is “We, the People” who can beat McCain. They can stop him from being President, who will take America down the path of recession, war, division and degeneration.

I am not making prophecy here. I am telling the truth. Mitt Romney is the instrument for Americans as their alternative choice: not perfect but a teachable man, a person who worked hard and gained riches (the American Dream!), yet humble enough to consider those who are unfortunate; a leader who leads by words and examples; a father who loves his sons as a loving American father should; a husband devoted to and who loves his wife just like every husband in America should. Mitt Romney is an ordinary American who lives an extraordinary life, and who dreams to share that extraordinary life with his fellow Americans.

Americans are the freest people on Earth. And if you want to see, feel and hear the difference, spend time in Saudi Arabia -- and you’ll wish you’d never left the United States of America.

Use your freedom wisely. Vote for freedom. Vote for Mitt Romney.

Facts Are Stubborn Things

By Shane Hopkins

The game of politics centers around "campaigning." This is just how it is. It's how it's always been. Some take issue with the process of touting your pluses and minimizing your minuses, but it's within the expected rules of the game. However, occasionally someone says something untrue. This can be anything from a genuine mistake to a boldfaced lie, but I suspect that it's usually less diabolical than people tend to play it.

Let me give you a list of some of the issues where Romney has gotten a lot of bad press. Most recently there was a tiff with an AP reporter in which Romney is said to have lied about having lobbyists in his campaign. There is the time Romney said he saw his father march with Martin Luther King Jr. There is the time Romney bragged about the NRA endorsing him (and don't forget his self-characterization as a "lifelong hunter"!). All of these have something in common: Romney was right to bring up his record, a record that supports his candidacy and his positions, but lost the chance to receive his due credit on the issues as the chattering focused more and more on a literal dissection of what he said rather than the substance of why he was saying it.

I could go down a laundry list of the times Romney's been blasted for misspeaking (often being labeled a liar rather than merely having made a mistake), but bickering about the actual words he used and their literal versus figurative definitions, the proper versus common use of words like endorse, and the like, will never arrive at the truth.

The truth is much simpler.

No matter how many lobbyists rub shoulders with Romney, his campaign is simply not dependent on them for cash or expertise in the way the other campaigns are (although both are accepted). Romney's family has long supported the civil rights movement. Romney had demonstrable approval from the NRA (whether officially or not) during his Massachusetts campaign and supports the importance of protecting the second amendment.

Is he guilty of exaggeration? Is he guilty of misstatements? Is he guilty of carelessness? Perhaps yes. But is he guilty of lying? Of outright deception? Of claiming to hold one position when he effectively holds another? No, despite that the media would much rather malign a candidate for his errors than honestly acknowledge that his record and positions have consistently supported the message he was trying to deliver.

This is not spin. This is not apologetics. This is just an assessment of the actual positions Romney holds, and his fallibility as a candidate who makes honest mistakes. The mistakes are honest because they have never changed his message one hundred and eighty degrees.

There is one more layer to this communication thing that demands mention. Romney has been criticized over the last few days by McCain for supposedly supporting a timetable of withdrawal from Iraq. McCain has also attacked him for supposedly supporting amnesty before he opposed it, as well as a big Michigan "bailout". Romney's positions on these issues differ from McCain's not just in substance but in style.

Romney's message is always sophisticated and nuanced, as our Commander in Chief's understanding must be. McCain's message plays to the media with dogmatic oversimplification. It fits him well, because that's how he thinks. So, when Romney has had the courage to make careful distinctions, he has sometimes been attacked for "reversals" or for spinning things.

Again, Romney's message has consistently been for responsible action by the U.S. in Iraq and in regard to illegal immigration, and no out-of-context testimonial by McCain can change that. The economic stimulus in Michigan is not a "bailout", but rather shows McCain's inability to understand the concept of research investment. Romney hardly needs a testimonial to his investment understanding.

At the end of the character assassination and name calling, Romney's key rebuttal to Huckabee's charges of dishonesty in a recent debate ring true: "Facts are stubborn things."

The truth is that in every case Romney has been accused of lying, the message he was intending to convey was based on the bedrock of record and fact.

Why they hate Mitt Romney, by Amy D. Goldstein

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/why_they_hate_mitt_romney.html

January 23, 2008

Why they hate Mitt Romney

By Amy D. Goldstein

Have you noticed how all of the Republican candidates can barely conceal their contempt for Governor Mitt Romney? It goes way beyond the typical good-natured competition that usually is the hallmark of Republican contests. Senator McCain has snarled at Governor Romney in debates and Gov. Huckabee has tried to paint Romney as cold and uncaring, while Sen. Fred Thompson attacked Governor Romney right out of the box. This display of hatred usually is the hallmark of the Democrats.

So, why do the other candidates hate Mitt Romney? Several reasons:

1. He can win. Governor Romney appeals to economic conservatives and could appeal to foreign policy conservatives based upon his understanding of the issues. Most non-partisan foreign policy wonks who have briefed the major candidates tell me that Romney "gets it" better than any other candidate -- even better than those who have held high profile office for decades. Moreover, he is the candidate that the Democrats most fear.

2. Jealousy -- from his hair to his appearance to his family to his money - these are all reasons for deep-seated, if unseemly, jealousy. This green-eyed monster makes its appearance in almost every speech or presentation, in the form of a joke, a jab or a veiled reference.

3. He isn't beholden to interest groups. Governor Romney's wealth frees him from any influence that interest groups could apply to others - especially those who lack funds or who are Washington insiders. He doesn't need them, and that scares the interest groups and their allies. He is not of the game and wants to change it - and his personal wealth allows him to do so. He really can change Washington.

4. His brains - not only is he one of the smartest people ever to seek the presidency (having earned a Harvard MBA and JD simultaneously), but he understands the complexities of the issues that America faces and is able to devise workable solutions. Just look at his proposal for an economic stimulus and compare it to what the other candidates are proposing. Romney clearly can lead this country through economic challenges.

5. His wealth -- again. While he has raised more than any other candidate, Governor Romney doesn't need to raise the money in order to continue. Nevertheless, he understands that successful candidates must have people invested in their candidacy in order to succeed. He has learned the lessons of past wealthy businessmen who make vanity runs for the White House. The other candidates have to constantly raise money in order to continue their campaigns.

6. His experience. The rest of the Republican field has been in politics in one form or another for most of their adult lives. Governor Romney came to public service after having a successful career in which he directly created jobs, saved jobs, invested in new companies and turned around failed businesses. He even fixed both the Olympics and the failing state of Massachusetts. More than any other candidate, Governor Romney's experience is most directly applicable to the average American's situation.

7. He believes that America's best days are ahead of it, and not a memory. Governor Romney is a man of the future, not of the past. He sees America as a beacon of freedom for the entire world, and not a country limping toward its last days. His infectious optimism is informed by his business experience, his love of country and his family values. His can-do spirit is the antidote to defeatism masked as "straight talk" or "reality."

8. His beliefs. When all else fails, Governor Romney's opponents attack his religion in the hopes of sowing fear and loathing. Not only is this unseemly, but it is dangerous. We have seen this type of rhetoric before - in the 1920's and 1930's - from the likes of Henry Ford and Father Caughlin and others who sought to disenfranchise whole segments of the American population. Governor Romney believes in the common American faith of democracy and religious freedom, as he so eloquently stated in his speech "Faith in America." These are the values our Founding Fathers codified in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Why do the Republican candidates hate him? Because they don't have any answers to his
challenges. They seek to undermine him by using personal attacks more worthy of a middle school playground than a presidential contest. This is politics and Washington as usual, and choosing any candidate that employs these tactics will only get us more of the same.

One would hope that Americans could see beyond these base attacks and choose the candidate who is best for the country - Governor Mitt Romney.

Romney vs. Associated Press Reporter

Romney, AP Reporter Spar Over Lobbyists' Role in Campaign

Mitt Romney and AP Reporter Glen Johnson got into a verbal tussle in Columbia, S.C. on Thursday after the reporter began drilling the Republican presidential candidate over his claims that lobbyists do not steer his campaign.

Here's the heated back and forth:

Romney: I don't have lobbyists running my campaign. I don't have lobbyists that are tied to my...

Johnson: That's not true, governor. That is not true. Ron Kaufman is a lobbyist.

Romney: Did you hear what I said? Did you hear what I said, Glen? I said I don't have lobbyists running my campaign, and he's not running my campaign.

Johnson: He's a senior advisor.

Romney: He's an advisor. And the person who runs my campaign is Beth Myers, and I have a whole staff of deputy campaign managers.

Johnson: Is Beth Meyers on the plane with you?

Romney: Beth Myers has been on the plane with me, and Beth Myers is running my campaign, absolutely. Do I know--

Johnson: So Ron's just ... window dressing. He's just a potted plant?

Romney: Ron is a wonderful friend -- an advisor. He's not paid. He's an advisor like many others. But I do not have lobbyists running my campaign. Glen, I appreciate that you think that's funny, but Ron Kaufman is not even in on the senior strategy meetings of our campaign.

Johnson: (inaudible)

Romney: Excuse me, Glen. He is not in on the senior strategy meetings of our campaign.

Johnson: Is he in the debate sessions at all? Any time --

Romney: At any time? Has he ever been at a debate session? Sure. Is that a senior strategy meeting? Is that a senior strategy meeting of our campaign? No. Let me go back and complete the point I was making. My campaign is not based on Washington lobbyists. I haven't been in Washington. I don't have lobbyists at my elbows that are arguing for one industry or another industry. And I do not have favors I have to repay to people who have been in Washington for years nor scores I have to settle. And I'm going to Washington to make things happen. And somebody doesn't put the kind of financial resources that I've put into this campaign and the personal resources I've put into this campaign in order to do favors for lobbyists. I'm going to Washington to help the American people, and that's what this campaign is all about.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehnstrom later scolded Johnson for being argumentative with the candidate and "out of line," and told him to "act professionally."

-- Dispatch from FOX News' Shushannah Walshe.