Posted on 04/09/2012 2:18:46 PM PDT by xzins
It was just one line slipped into the middle of a paragraph of Mitt Romney’s speech on April 3 celebrating his primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia: “And the most vulnerable have been hurt the most — over 30 percent of single moms are struggling in poverty.”
Seemingly unremarkable, these 19 words represent one of the many steps Romney will be taking as he treks back to the center in the aftermath of a primary campaign dominated by the hard right. It was only two months ago, after all, that Romney told CNN: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.”
Without drawing attention to his rhetorical shift, Romney, in a speech on March 30 at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., abandoned his attack on President Obama’s “entitlement society,” faulting Obama’s “government-centered society” instead.
There is a powerful rationale behind this shift.
In the primaries, Romney’s target audience was well to the right of the mainstream and deeply hostile to the notion of entitlement programs. In the minds of many conservatives, such programs are direct transfer payments from “hard-working” better-off citizens to the “undeserving poor.” Denouncing Obama’s “entitlement society” played well to angry Republican primary voters.
In the general election, however, voters are less inclined to adopt hostile views of redistributive government programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Ping to the article.
Romney will wage this campaign from the middle to the left. He KNOWS that conservatives will not vote for Obama. With only 20% of the nation being left-wing, the squishy left (otherwise known as middle) are available to the liberal governor of Massachusetts.
Romney is no conservative, never has been, never will be. What he is is a lying, Massachusetts LIBERAL two-bit political whore. FUMR!!
More ‘compassionate’ conservatism. Welcome to mob rule and the pol’s who enable it.
I sure would like to get more input here about the six candidates running under the Constitution party.
With Romney target center to left, this is the right God-given time to found or strengthen a real alternative to the one-party RepubliCrat system.
Don’t be overwhelmed, Jim. You will be attacked as an Obama Enabler, as a traitor to conservatism.
We know reality, though. The author of the $50 abortion, of the same-sex marriage licence, and of big government forced healthcare is NOT a conservative and never will be.
Leave it to the NYT to cherry pick a quote.
He is right though...the people that Obama has pandered to the most have been hurt the worst. Just look at black unemployment. I hope he pounds Obama every day on this.
Stalin would be called a “Centrist” these days
We know reality, though. The author of the $50 abortion, of the same-sex marriage licence, and of big government forced healthcare is NOT a conservative and never will be.
I agree.
I've never claimed he was a conservative, and never will.
DANGER! DANGER! YOUNG WILL ROBINSON!
While Romney is certainly not a conservative, this article is from the New York Times. The idea is to cause trouble.
Romney is not as bad as Obama, but I would not trust him to be a conservative.
People here should know the left will use sites like this to get voters to stay home.
It is a win win for Obama and they know it.
If Romney is the nominee I don’t think I have any more interest in the campaign. I know that is messed up, but I cannot see any reason to be enthusiastic or even a reason to care mildly if its Obama vs Romney.
Obama will beat Romney like an unfaithful muslim wife anyway.
Nobody to blame for that but moderately liberal Mitt and the Grand Old Plantation.
What’s the point?
Romney is gonna get the nomination.
All this defeatist crap will get us nowhere.
We need to concentrate now on supporting Romney and on electing conservatives to the House and Senate.
No. Go to hell and die. In that order.
"In Obamneyland, hell come to you!"
If Romney had any interest at all in Conservative points of view he’d drop out of the campaign NOW!
Whereas, the Obama life raft has a dozen holes in it. The Romney life raft only has a couple holes.
He is right, conservatives will not vote for Obama. Problem is, many of us aren’t voting for him either.
Folks in Virginia lost interest in the campaign when shenanigans at the highest levels left us with no one but a madman and an idiot to vote for.
He’ll find out conservatives will not vote for Romney and it will become clearer as it become harder to defend him and hes stuff to PISS OFF The Tea Party.
He’ll find out conservatives will not vote for Romney and it will become clearer as it becomes harder to defend him and as he does stuff to PISS OFF The Tea Party.
And that's proof he's tacking to the center? I mean, I'm sure he will, but that's a pretty uncontroversial statement. Over 30% of single moms are struggling in poverty.
It's what he would propose to do about it that might or might not indicate a shift to the left. The Romney-hatred is so great here that it will be interesting to see if FR turns into an anti-Republican hotbed when [probably] he wins the nomination.
There are republicans and there are conservatives. The two are becoming closer and closer to being mutually exclusive. I am a conservative, but have not been a republican in almost 4 years. TARP was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Iraq was tough to defend, but I tried, but once TARP was shoved up our rears, I could no longer defend Bush or the GOP. BTW, Romney supported TARP... as did Obama. Supporting Romney does nothing for our cause. I’d rather support a conservative 3rd party candidate and lose.
“All this defeatist crap will get us nowhere.”
The real “defeatist crap” is lapping up whatever country club liberal the establishment tosses us year after year. We buy in to the Republican talking points, close our eyes, hold our noses, and pull the lever like good little lemmings. It defeats conservatism.
The real “defeatist crap” is listening to the GOP talking heads proclaim that we need to change the Republican party from within...and believing it. How many times have we heard this? How well has it paid off? How well will it EVER pay off when the Rockefeller wing holds all the power? It defeats us from doing what we should have done a long time ago and telling them to get bent.
It’s time for a third party. We obviously aren’t going to change the Republican party from within, and the establishment hacks are getting worse and worse. Romney is worse than McCain. The PA GOP is trying to push Steve Welch, who donated to Pat Toomey’s Democrat opponent and voted for Barack Obama.
turns into???
Look, we all knew when Romney backed out for McLame, he was promised the nomination. Who didn’t know this would happen a year ago? Really, who didn’t know? We would have had to have one charasmatic guy who could gain the support of everyone. That person did not happen.
All this other stuff, like primaries, are for the people down ticket.
Nothing ever changes, it is always the same. The GOP picks their person and that is who we will get. Thinking otherwise is amusement.
LOL. Sadly, though, Karl, it’s true.
I will not stay home. I’ll not vote for Romney and I’ll not vote for Obama. I expect another choice to be available to us conservatives.
Romney will lose and he’ll lose big. Simple as that.
Sadly, I think you are 100% correct. The only time the GOP didn't get their man was in 1980 when Reagan was able to surprise everybody and beat out Bush. But that only delayed it for eight years. Ever since, the GOP has been extra careful to ensure only their hand-picked moderate prevails in the nomination process.
“Romney is not as bad as Obama...”
Traitors are worse than garden variety enemies
New York Times mischief? It was Romney’s own senior advisor who mentioned the Etch-a-Sketch. Those who are straining to portray Romney as a conservative refuse to accept the reality of Romney’s record and his current campaign. Those Romney supporters who are not already in his pocket are engaged in the most blinkered form of wishful thinking.
You're grasping at straws against Romney and using the NYT to do it.
I don’t get how this is Romney “lurching to the left” to talk about single moms in poverty. It is smart politics - divide the Obama coalition.
“We need to concentrate now on supporting RINOmney....”
Ha!!!!
Zelig lives. Woody Allen celebrates.
+1000
NFW.
I will never vote for ORomney. He is a socialist turd that is actively trying to tarnish the conservative movement by claiming to be one.
I’ll vote 3rd party for Pres. Don’t blame me if Zero gets re-elected...blame the GOP idiots that crammed this liberal loser down the throat of the base.
--------------------------
| Mitt will change his policies at any given moment depending on who is listening. Just too fake, plastic and untrustworthy. The GOP is now giving the election to Obama and the Entertainer, Rush Limbaugh, helped. The Republican party is dead if he's the best Republicans could hope to get.
Romney's the Dems' dream come true.
|
Fine, all you people should meet somewhere and pat each other on the back for your excellence and purity.
There is no imaginery third party candidate you could find who would satisfy you.
I don’t have the words to express my contempt for you and your ilk and, yes, I will blame you all if Obama is elected again.
It's vitally important to keep this degenerate fraud and military service avoiding coward out of the WH.
It's not too late to get an independent conservative candidate into the race, Perot announced on February 20 and set up his first phone bank on March 12.
We can get a candidate on the ballot in all 50 states by 5/30.
Somebody needs to step forward, I don't care who the hell it is as long as its not the Coward from Kolob.
Very classy.
But don’t you have to die first.
Before the hell, I mean.
You people have passed idiocy and gone to insanity.
Sorry I know you.
Fire up the Etch-A-Sketch!
Willard has never been a Republican either.
Excuse me, but talking about Ross Perot only reminds me that we got 8 years of Clinton, in part because he split the vote.
Good point.
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