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Romney Lets His Conservative Mask Slip
Say Anything Blog ^ | 2009-04-04

Posted on 04/04/2009 11:47:07 AM PDT by rabscuttle385

For a while now I’ve been saying that Romney is no conservative, and anyone holding him up as the hope for the conservative movement against Obama in 2012 is fooling themselves. During his campaign for the Republican nomination in 2007/2008 Romney held himself up as a rock-ribbed conservative. The reality is that he’s a power-hungry politician. He was one of the first political leaders in America to institute what amounts to a nationalized health care system in Massachusetts, and his various positions on abortion have changed so often in timing so convenient for his political career as to leave one with the notion that Romney (not unlike Obama) will try to be whatever you want him to be.

And, now Romney is in non-campaign mode, his conservative mask is slipping even more as Soren Dayton at The Next Right points out. In an interview with The Hill, Romney criticizes conservatives for talking about deregulation too much:

In an interview with The Hill, Romney said, "We as Republicans misspeak when we say we don't like regulation. We like modern, up-to-date dynamic regulation that is regularly reviewed, streamlined, modernized and effective."

He comes out in favor of government-run economic stimulus:

Similarly, Romney is among the many Republicans who support a stimulus plan, but not in the form Congress passed in February.

"The best stimulus with the highest multiplier effect is one which gives money back to people rather than having government spend more, and so I think they got it wrong. It's too much weighted toward spending, too little weighted toward tax reductions," Romney said.

And he’s wobbly on illegal immigration:

Romney believes that one way to attract more minorities to the GOP is to pass immigration reform before the next election, saying the issue becomes demagogued by both parties on the campaign trail.

"We have a natural affinity with Hispanic-American voters, Asian-American voters," he said.

Speaking in his Ritz-Carlton room with a pair of blue jeans on the dresser, Romney declined to criticize immigration hard-liners like former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who backed Romney after he dropped his own presidential bid. Romney argued that all 2008 GOP candidates — including Tancredo — strongly favor legal immigration.

I think a lot of people like Romney because he’s a) got a lot of money and serious political support and b) has the looks and the smoothness that can give even Obama a run for his money.

But I ask: What good is winning elections if the people conservatives back to win them don’t end up governing like conservatives?

I was no McCain supporter in 2008, and I think I’d support Romney even less than I’d support McCain. Romney may at times come off as significantly better than McCain on many issues from the conservative perspective, but his opinions and stances seem so cynically calculated all the time that I’m left with the feeling that while I didn’t like what McCain had to say, I could usually count on the fact that he was at least telling the truth.


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: 2012gopprimary; aliens; amnesty; biggovernmentromney; deregulation; economy; emptysuitromney; fakeconservatives; illegals; immigration; justsaynotomitt; kneepadrepublicans; mcromney; mittromney; mythromney; nomorerinos; nomoreromney; porkulus; pretenders; rino; rinoalert; rinoinfestation; rinoparty; rinoromney; romney; romneytruthfile; slickwillard; stimulus; vichy; vichyrinos; willard
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1 posted on 04/04/2009 11:47:08 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
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To: big'ol_freeper; mountainbunny; DirtyHarryY2K; rabscuttle385

The Mitt Romney Truth File.

FR Keywords: romneytruthfile, slickwillard, mcromney

Please tag all relevant threads with the aforementioned keywords.

This can be a very high-volume ping list at times.

To join the ping list:
FReepmail rabscuttle385 with the subject line add  romneytruthfile.
(Stop getting pings by sending the subject line drop romneytruthfile.)
 
Republican Commissar’s Warning: By joining this ping list, you may be subjected to the delusional rants and ramblings of Romneybots, of "moderate" Republicans, of pragmatic conservatives resigned to voting for the lesser of two Democrats, and of countless GOP shills who simply want to meet a new overlord.


2 posted on 04/04/2009 11:48:03 AM PDT by rabscuttle385 ("If this be treason, then make the most of it!" —Patrick Henry)
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To: rabscuttle385

It isn’t just Romney. The Republican Party wears a Conservative mask.


3 posted on 04/04/2009 11:49:00 AM PDT by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
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To: Man50D

Im hoping for a non RINO to emerge in the next three years such as Ryan, Sanford, Pawlenty etc. to lead conservatives to a presidential victory in 2012.


4 posted on 04/04/2009 11:52:06 AM PDT by Ev Reeman
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To: Man50D

Here here.You sir are correrct.


5 posted on 04/04/2009 11:52:28 AM PDT by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how.)
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To: rabscuttle385

Waitin’ for the Slick Willard shortbus/kneepad/zombie brigades to bitch and moan...


6 posted on 04/04/2009 11:52:57 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: rabscuttle385
Romney?

No thanks.

7 posted on 04/04/2009 11:52:59 AM PDT by Jagdgewehr (One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard. One faithful harp shall praise thee.)
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To: rabscuttle385
No more RINOs, please. Just young Conservative blood, such as Palin and Jindal.
8 posted on 04/04/2009 11:56:48 AM PDT by Rocko (Mymindisaragingtorrentfloodedwithrivuletsofthoughtcascadingintoawaterfallofcreativealternatives)
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To: rabscuttle385

While reading up on Mormon traditional beliefs, I found that Mormons believe in a form of religiously-influenced socialist system. It seemed to me that they believe socialism is good if the foundations in the socialist system are also good.

This I think is why ideologically Romney sided with Obama when he took over GM.

I’m not a Mormon, and I don’t agree with them. That Massachusetts health care system Romney set up for them failed miserably.


9 posted on 04/04/2009 11:57:41 AM PDT by prismsinc (A.K.A. "The Terminator"!)
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To: rabscuttle385
Romney may have run the worst GOP primary campaign in the history of GOP campaigns. He may not be a conservative. And he may be an equity sector leveraged buy-out artist responsible for shipping skilled jobs overseas in exchange for retail jobs here. But he's got great hair, damn it. He's got great hair.
10 posted on 04/04/2009 12:00:27 PM PDT by dotan ("when the poor get power they'll be sh*ts like everyone else"---Saul Alinsky)
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To: rabscuttle385

He comes out in favor of government-run economic stimulus:

“The best stimulus with the highest multiplier effect is one which gives money back to people rather than having government spend more, and so I think they got it wrong. It’s too much weighted toward spending, too little weighted toward tax reductions,”


Sheesh, what a liberal! Tax reductions!?!?!? The nerve of him! /sarcasm


11 posted on 04/04/2009 12:04:43 PM PDT by bw17
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To: dotan

And according to his intimate groupies, his collar matches the cuffs.


12 posted on 04/04/2009 12:07:17 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: rabscuttle385
I was no McCain supporter in 2008, and I think I’d support Romney even less than I’d support McCain.

It is that kind of "holier than thou" attitude that gave us Obama.

We threw every republican who wasn't perfect out until we ended up with McCain. McCain (gang of fourteen, immigration, etc.),is a great guy but he can't win an election.

13 posted on 04/04/2009 12:09:54 PM PDT by oldbrowser (We have elected the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" to be POTUS.)
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To: rabscuttle385
I have no brief for Romney right now but I do stand up for intellectual honesty. Read the quotations ascribed to Romney and read the reactions. It is as if the author jumped through the looking glass.

It's cheap and easy to call Romney a rino but for God's sake let's maintain standards on these threads so that conservatism commands respect rather than a snicker. This blogger is utterly pathetic. He certainly has lived up to his name.


14 posted on 04/04/2009 12:11:30 PM PDT by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat attack!" Bull Halsey)
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To: rabscuttle385

What in those quotations implies that Romney is not a conservative? I’m baffled.

There have been some other recent slips, but I don’t seen any in the article above.


15 posted on 04/04/2009 12:15:15 PM PDT by angkor
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To: bw17; rabscuttle385

>>>>> “The best stimulus with the highest multiplier effect is one which gives money back to people” <<<<<

How is that a “government run economic stimulus?”

To dumb Romney’s statement down to the lowest possible common denominator, he said:

“I want tax cuts.”


16 posted on 04/04/2009 12:18:56 PM PDT by angkor
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To: oldbrowser

>>>>>> is a great guy but he can’t win an election. <<<<<<

Really? I have finally and forever rejected the GOP due to McQueeg’s candidacy.

And he’s not a “great guy.”

In 2007 he tried to give 20 million criminal illegal aliens of unknown background and identity, new United States residency, identification, and legitimacy. And much worse.

That’s not “great.”

By the way, this week he’d been dissing “all God’s children” because they didn’t vote for him in 2008.

Truly a man of principle. /sarc


17 posted on 04/04/2009 12:25:09 PM PDT by angkor
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To: angkor

Conservatives do not believe in Stimulus, nor government regulations on the market-they merely want to the government to uphold contracts, and enforce property rights..

He’s a keynsian, IMO, deep down..


18 posted on 04/04/2009 12:27:07 PM PDT by JSDude1 (Obama yo 'mama', Uncle Sam yo 'baby daddy'!; (The new cry of the Obama generation)!)
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To: rabscuttle385

Author hit that one right on the nail head. I, for one, knew all along that this guy is a phony and an extreme danger to the conservative movement.


19 posted on 04/04/2009 12:31:53 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("From hell's heart I stab at thee... I spit my last breath at thee." ~ Khan Noonien Singh)
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To: rabscuttle385

I’m not big on Romney, but this article is pretty weak.


20 posted on 04/04/2009 12:43:30 PM PDT by GLDNGUN
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