Mitt Romney, as McCain’s VP? The country’s two biggest flip-flopping liars on the same ticket? It appears they really are hell-bent on following Bush’s lead.
Romney tops McCain veep list
Surprising many Republican insiders, Mitt Romney is at the top of the vice-presidential prospect list for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). But lack of personal chemistry could derail the pick.
“Romney as favorite” is the hot buzz in Republican circles, and top party advisers said the case is compelling.
Campaign insiders say McCain plans to name his running mate very shortly after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) does, as part of what one campaign planner called a “bounce-mitigation strategy.”
The Democratic convention is in late August, a week ahead of the Republicans convention. That means McCain can size up the opposing ticket before locking in his own.
Fitting. He left the race, threw his support behind McCain, and now there’s talk he may re-enter the race:
Breaking News: Mitt Romney to rejoin GOP race?
Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney’s five sons, says it’s “possible” his father may rejoin the race for the White House, as a vice presidential candidate or as the Republican Party’s standard-bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.
This is really turning out to be one hell of an election cycle, folks! Not one presidential contender, republican or democrat, worth holding the position, if you ask me. (Sorry if that offends)
Was just reading an article on the MSNBC site, “Romney attacks Huckabee on immigration“, and am still feeling a bit nauseous from being subjected to all the s-curve, flip-flopping, gut-wrenching hypocrisy permeating nearly every paragraph.
For example, Mitt is about to fire up a new television ad in Iowa in an attempt to deflate Huckabee’s recent gains in the polls:
The advertisement starts by saying both men are “good family men” who oppose abortion. But then it says that Mr. Huckabee, as governor of Arkansas, supported in’state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants and taxpayer-financed scholarships for illegal immigrants.
Excuse me? Mitt can say this in light of his past stand on the abortion issue?
This one speaks for itself:
On Monday, The Associated Press, in a review of Mr. Huckabee’s record on acts of clemency, found that he had granted 1,033 pardons and commutations in his 10 years as governor. [snip] Those who benefited included the guitarist Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, for a traffic offense; David Hale, a Whitewater government witness; and prisoners who critics say had a personal connection to Mr. Huckabee.
And, of course, dead-head Fred has to rise to the occasion:
Mr. Thompson accused Mr. Huckabee of changing his views to appeal to voters. “It raises issues when politicians change their view on a dime to appeal to a particular group of people right before an election,” Mr. Thompson said.
Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Down and dirty mud’slinging hypocrisy, for a job that should require someone of the highest morals and ethics. Someone above reproach.
I’m going out of town for a few days, but wanted to dash off a quick post based on my comment to Buck’s post today on Romney’s speech. Buck rightly noted that Christian fundamentalists aren’t liable to be won over by it. However, the AP story and video excerpts give the misleading impression that Romney is a champion of the separation of church and state, when he’s anything but.
You can read the text of Romney’s speech here, or if you prefer, read and listen to it at NPR here. Crooks and Liars has the video, and John Amato’s post also features several superb links well worth checking out.
One of them, to People for the American Way, links the video and transcript of JFK’s speech on his Catholicism. I’d also recommend Digby’s post yesterday on JFK’s speech.
TS at Instaputz notes Jonah Goldberg and Kathryn Jean Lopez‘ reaction to the speech, and certainly “It’s a sad day indeed when Ramesh Ponnuru is the voice of reason.” However, contrary to Goldberg and Ponnuru’s take, the failure to mention agnostics and atheists was not an “oversight.” This speech was extremely calculated, and agnostics and atheists were referred to, albeit obliquely. It’s just that Romney was attacking them.
Romney had two aims here, allaying fears of the general public by invoking the separation of church and state (as the AP account runs with) and pandering to the religious right. But he overtly and implicitly attacks non-believers throughout the speech, as someone who was actually defending the separation of church and state would not do. As Steve Benen notes, it’s “the anti-JFK speech.” Check out Romney’s speech and compare it to Kennedy’s. Kennedy speaks about the separation of church and state as well as bigotry. In sharp contrast, Romney says (after his initial blather about the evils of Communism and how “Radical violent Islam seeks to destroy us”) that: (more…)
How long has it been since a republican took this particular stand? Unfortunately for Mitt, he just lost any hope of garnering votes from the fundie crowd. (Not that they ever accepted him as a viable contender anyways.)
Romney: No Religious Test for President
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney, confronting voters’ skepticism about his Mormon faith, declared Thursday that as president he would “serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause,” and said calls for him to explain and justify his religious beliefs go against the profound wishes of the nation’s founders.
At the same time, he decried those who would remove from public life “any acknowledgment of God,” and he said that “during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places.”
[...]
“There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church’s distinctive doctrines,” Romney said. “To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president, he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.”
For months now, Democratic Party staffers have been tracking the Republican presidential front runners as they travel across the country, compiling a video library of candid moments as they campaign. With FlipperTV, Americans can now watch and download this video, and use the footage as they wish, putting raw material into the hands of the American people to hold these candidates accountable for their comments and actions.
You read the title and your mouth fell open, right?
Ok, probably not. But the following just might. I did not know there were pro-choice republican groups out there. Color me pleasantly surprised!
WASHINGTON - A Republican group that backs abortion rights will start an ad campaign this weekend in Iowa and New Hampshire portraying Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper and drawing attention to a questionnaire he filled out in 2002 endorsing legal abortions.
The ads by the Republican Majority for Choice suggest Romney’s current anti-abortion stance is politically motivated. The group will spend more than $100,000 to air a 30’second television spot in Iowa and New Hampshire and run full page ads Sunday in the Des Moines Register, the Concord Monitor and the New Hampshire Union Leader.
“He’s an opportunist,” Jennifer Blei Stockman, national co-chair of Republican Majority for Choice, said in an interview. “It’s important for voters to know who they are voting for.”
I think to beat Hillary you got to be different than Hillary. … You have to be pro-life, and you have to be anti-illegal immigration, and you have to be pro-family and you have to have high ethical standards in the history of your administration. You have to stand up and say you are different. I just don’t think we can win the White House and defeat Hillary Clinton by acting like Hillary Clinton.
Mitt went on to add later that, if elected, he would have former president Bill Clinton imprisoned, call for a total repeal of the 13th and 19th amendments, legislate a mandatory guns-for’school-children program and, for shits and giggles, a proposal to change the theme of our July 4th holiday to that of a national piss-on-the-bill-of-rights day.
Factoring in for mass stupidity, Mitt’s a shoe-in for prez!
If these voters have these values, you can keep them!
Romney narrowly wins A-values voters- straw poll
Mitt Romney
Despite efforts to woo religious conservatives, Giuliani finishes distant 8th
WASHINGTON - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney narrowly won a Republican presidential straw poll of Christian conservatives on Saturday, while Rudy Giuliani persuaded few to look past his support of abortion rights.
The poll at a summit of self’styled values voters was largely symbolic but highlighted the continuing failure of ardent anti-abortion social conservatives to rally behind a single Republican candidate in the 2008 White House race.
Romney took 27.6 percent of almost 6,000 votes cast, just ahead of Mike Huckabee, the folksy former governor of Arkansas, who gained 27.1 percent at the conference organized by the Family Research Council.
Maverick Texas Congressman Ron Paul was third with almost 15 percent while former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got under 10 percent, a major disappointment for his campaign.
Giuliani was eighth with 107 votes — under 2 percent.
DURHAM, N.H. - Republican presidential contenders voiced support for the Iraq war Wednesday night despite a warning from anti-war candidate Ron Paul that they risk dragging the party down to defeat in 2008.
“Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor,” shot back former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, “and that is more important to the Republican Party.”
Huckabee was in the majority, Paul very much in the minority on a University of New Hampshire debate stage when it came to the war. The politically unpopular conflict has emerged as the dominant issue of the 2008 race for the White House.
The issue flared near the end of a 90-minute encounter in which all eight men on stage welcomed former Sen. Fred Thompson to the race with barbed humor and pointed advice.
“This is a nomination you have to earn,” said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. “Nobody’s going to give it to you. Nobody’s going to grant it to you.”
“Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor,” shot back former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, “and that is more important to the Republican Party.”
