"I can safely infer that my vote must be a lot more expensive than yours."
Infer this.
Posted on 07/09/2007 12:59:34 PM PDT by Neville72
If you subtract the 100 or so "guests" former Gov. Mitt Romney brought with him to stuff the ballot box in Florida on Saturday night, Fred Thompson won another straw poll.
As Erick Erickson over at RedState pointed out on Saturday, Romney, struggling in the polls everywhere he isn't spending money on media buys, is reduced to also buying up straw polls to promote his candidacy.
He will have plunked down close to an estimated $5 million to make the Ames Republican Straw Poll in Iowa next month a personal political rally (no other major GOP candidate will be participating), and that includes outbidding by sometimes three times as much his nearest competitor for bus rentals to get his folks into Ames.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
As Erick Erickson over at RedState pointed out on Saturday, Romney, struggling in the polls everywhere he isn't spending money on media buys, is reduced to also buying up straw polls to promote his candidacy.Does this muck-sucking filter feeder called Romney have no shame at all?! The audacity of this guy. It's like he thinks he can cheat his way into the nomination.
Search before posting.The article posted here is from the American Spectator. The article you point to is from the Atlantic Online. Hence: this is not a repost. Look, there is a lot of material out there that condemns the scurrilous antics of Mitt Romney, the Republican answer to John Edwards. Please allow people to post it. Otherwise, the Mittwits win, and we can't have that.
I have a feeling that most of the candidates are doing the same thing.
And you're so ostensibly better.... Don't offer evidence- you just are.
I got no horse in this race yet, but this is getting increasingly bizarre. The attacks on Romney are just weird. Now this article is attacking him for . . . the other candidates not entering the Iowa race. How can that be his fault?
... And you're so ostensibly better ...Better than Romney, yes. But that's not saying much. So is everyone else, except Romney. Romney is the sort of scum who steals elections. Do we need the sort of scum who steals elections stealing the GOP nomination? I think I would take issue with that.
“I have a feeling that most of the candidates are doing the same thing.”
Really? Which candidate has invaded a convention with non-members and stuffed the ballot to hijack a straw poll...just so he can generate fake good news?
Waiting patiently for your answer............
I can’t speak for all campaigns but I know the ones I am in touch with are not doing it except Romney who thinks he can bribe his way to a nomination.
Well, I'm voting for him. I don't care what you say.
I got no horse in this race yet, but this is getting increasingly bizarre.How many times are you going to repeat this line? I can understand why you would not want to state explicitly that your horse is Mitt Romney. I mean, who would want to publicly associate themselves with Mitt Romney!? (Yikes!) But I think it is interesting how whenever honest criticism of this despicable low life is offered in order to enrich our understanding of the coming election, you start shrieking about how unfair this is to the very person who is acting unfairly, Mitt Romney.
“Now this article is attacking him for . . . the other candidates not entering the Iowa race. How can that be his fault?”
Nice disembling. The article attacks Weird Mitt for attempting to buy fake publicity by packing a YR straw poll with bussed-in, bought and paid for 60 and 70 years olds.
It’s pathetic, creepy and Nixonian
Well, I'm voting for him. I don't care what you say.Is he paying you too? How nice for you. I suppose if the price was right I would vote for Romney too. But since it would take more than Romney's net worth to buy my vote, I can safely infer that my vote must be a lot more expensive than yours.
So who do you like? Hillary? Or do you just dislike Mormons, on GP?Is Hillary a Republican candidate in your world? What colour is the sky in your world? Oh, and I love how you suddenly play the victim card. I don't like Romney; ergo: I hate Mormons. Romney's Mormonism is the only thing that remotely humanizes the man. But it is not enough for me to ever vote for him.
"I can safely infer that my vote must be a lot more expensive than yours."
You made me choke on my sandwich!
Romney is bright and articulate, but few know who he is, and some of them do not agree with his positions.
He has to win an early primary or he will be toast.
You're not even good at calling Romney bad names. You're awful at it.Yes. I know. I leave the name calling and dishonesty to Romney and his grotesquely inarticulate partisans. What they lack in intellect and integrity they make for in lies and rage.
He has to win an early primary or he will be toast.He's doing his best to steal that early win.
Or a Canuck?US Citizen living in Canuckistan. I vote in Pennsylvania.
That’s some serious RDS* you have.
*Romney Derangement Syndrome.
“He has to win an early primary or he will be toast”
He’s already toast or he wouldn’t have to buy straw polls.
Romney’s entire campaign calculus rested on him being in the race with a pro-abort, gun-grabbing RINO and a despised John McQueeg as his ONLY major opponents.
Once an authentic conservative entered the race(Thompson), Willard’s calculus crumbled.
While Romney is organizing and campaigning with his energy the others are making excuses for why they are losing. Even pre-emptive excuses for why they will lose the coming Iowa straw poll. In the real primaries too I bet they will have a bunch of excuses of why Mitt is winning.. like its not fair his organization got its supporters out to the polls.
Its not fair that Mitt is better financed and has a much larger organization.
*Romney Derangement Syndrome.The only clinically verified case is Romney himself, who, I agree, is deranged, almost nearly as deranged as anyone would consider him as their candidate in a state or national election. I make exceptions for those on this thread who are in Romney's employ or who have received other consideration for their service or services on Romney's behalf: this at least constitutes a rational choice if you set aside the whole "buying an election" issue.
Romney’s entire campaign calculus rested on him being in the race with a pro-abort, gun-grabbing RINO and a despised John McQueeg as his ONLY major opponents.Interesting analysis. I concur.
Full disclosure: If the primary were held today I'd vote for Fred, Romney second, but I found you so odd and hateful I had to reply.
In the real primaries too I bet they will have a bunch of excuses of why Mitt is winning.. like its not fair his organization got its supporters out to the polls.Yikes. What a nightmare. Why is it that the worst human beings can build the most effective organizations? How is that our once proud party can be so easily routed from within by a complete non-conservative?
-----"This organizational finesse of course is how straw polls are won and should serve as a warning to the Thompson team as they head from testing to running. Romney’s organization is running on all cylinders and has learned the basics of running an event, corralling its supporters and tabulating a win. Enthusiasm without organization does not win elections."
Thompson vs Romney duel
__________
-----"At The St. Peterburg Times blog The Buzz, they're noting some complaints from supporters of Fred Thompson about Mitt Romney's showing in a straw poll of Young Republicans over the weekend. Romney collected 46% of the 366 votes cast. Thompson was second, at 28%. Rudy Giuliani came in third, with 10%."
-----"What's the problem? The Buzz says that fans of Thompson "complained that some Romney supporters were voting even though they weren't Young Republican members. It seems Thompson's folks lost sight of the fact that the straw poll is absolutely meaningless -- it's just for fun."
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/07/romney-wins-amo.html
_____________
Maybe they need to either lighten up a little or get a better plan?
Full disclosure: If the primary were held today I'd vote for Fred, Romney second, but I found you so odd and hateful I had to reply.What a strange thing to say. Allow me to illustrate by using examples: I'd vote Libertarian first, socialist second. I'd convert to Southern Baptist first, Islam second. I'd fight for freedom first, I'd sell out my principles and my political commmunity second. I'll help that old woman across the street first, I'll push her into oncoming traffic second. Do you see where I am going with this? Your first and your second are not points in a continuous scale, a question of degree; they are diametrically opposed!
Mitt and his people are smart and savvy -- capable of keeping up with the Clintons.Capable of surpassing them I would say: they are just as dishonest and, as events have proven, just as willing to use technical means to achieve political ends.
Thank G_d I’m in Canada.
I disagree.
Romney closed a 3 billion dollar deficit without a tax hike and turned around the Winter Olympics - it turned a profit. Not to mention his work at Bain Capital. Mitt Romney is one heck of a capitalist and fiscal conservative.
Fred tops him, for me right now, because Fred's more of an absolutist on the second ammendment.
I have to add I am sure that it is only the sourpuss Fred supporters — and not Fred himself — who are complaining. Fred is wise enough to know he didn’t bring the same game Mitt brought and that it was all in fun. Fred doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would stoop so low and whine like some of the YR’s in Florida.
That is not his best angle. Frightening.
That's right. Fred is cool. Unlike some of these crybabies.
They cry like liberals.
Mitt Romney is one heck of a capitalist and fiscal conservative.If only he were one heck of a human being. What about the years and years of claiming to not raise taxes even as he raised mandatory fees and "closed loopholes" to secure revenue?
They cry like liberals.That's better than voting liberal, or supporting a liberal like, say, Romney. (I don't support Fred, BTW. I don't know who I support. I only know that I don't support Romney.)
Exactly. Some of Fred’s FReeper support is not doing him any favors.
I am surprised you like Toynbee!
Guy, I am not a Romney supporter. I am a nobody supporter until deeper in the campaign. Duncan Hunter is the only other guy who has as solid a grasp of the complexities and projects anything like Romney’s executive ability, as can be seen from legislation he and his staff writes. None of the others are doing anything other than chanting slogans.
A campaign requires a comprehensive platform. What are Fred Thompson’s positions on how NASA’s budget should be spent? Should it be unmanned research or manned? What are Fred Thompson’s positions on funding for the National Park Service?
It is not too bothersome if a website doesn’t have a position on some 2nd tier issues, but the campaign MUST have a staff profile to address those issues and a plan and schedule for producing white papers addressing them. I see no evidence of such an organization in several of these candidates, but I do in Hunter and Romney — and probably McCain too. There is NO evidence Guilliani has a plan or schedule for position papers on 2nd tier issues.
Without such a thing, the candidates are shallow.
In general, this is not going to fly. You have to show some organizational ability. That is part of the trial by fire that is the primaries. I do recognize that Thompson is trying, in response to advice no doubt, to try to run an unconventional campaign because in this cycle with its greatly accelerated schedule he is very late arriving and he faces a reality that a large number of conventional funding sources have already been committed to others. In the age of the internet it may be possible to be unconventional.
But.
He does not get tested in the trial by fire until he enters the race and endures the conventional stresses that define the election process.
We’ll see.
And we know that NO people over 40 voted for Fred Thompson, because nobody over 40 SUPPORTS Fred Thompson?
Fred Thompson supporters heard all day (according to the reports) that people over 40 who attended dinner would be allowed to vote — and not ONE of them got the idea that they should call up a couple of old people and have them come and vote for Fred?
If I were at such a meeting, and heard this, and wanted to get more people to support my candidate, I would have been running a phone tree to get people out to dinner.
Oh well, I guess that’s what an organization does for you.
I thought we had agreed to stop the name calling.
“muck-sucking filter feeder called Romney”
That is really uncalled for.
It’s his fault because he is doing so well in Iowa, his message really reaches the republicans there, that all the other candidates knew they would LOSE, and so rather than suffer a humiliating defeat, they all pulled out.
Romney could have done the same, or reneged on his promises for the event. But instead he is sticking with it, spending the money that the locals expect to have lavished on their state to earn their votes, and he will be rewarded.
And the rest of the candidates can take the mantle of “Robin Hood the Chicken” (from Monty Python and the Holy Grail), and hope that when they are asked their favorite color, they don’t get it wrong.
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