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Romney the Centrist Peeks Out (Romney Moves to Left)
NYT ^ | Apr 8 | THOMAS B. EDSALL

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 ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: crony; liberal; romneytruthfile
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To: xzins

He is right, conservatives will not vote for Obama. Problem is, many of us aren’t voting for him either.


21 posted on 04/09/2012 3:05:53 PM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: xzins
It's Mitt-hog day. Mitt sticks his head out and if he sees the primaries are still contested it means six more weeks of "conservatism".
22 posted on 04/09/2012 3:06:48 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (You only have three billion heartbeats in a lifetime.How many does the government claim as its own?)
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To: GeronL

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.


23 posted on 04/09/2012 3:07:54 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: xzins

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.


24 posted on 04/09/2012 3:18:15 PM PDT by Mozilla (Rush: Romney is winning like a liberal...that is cause he is a liberal)
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To: xzins

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.


25 posted on 04/09/2012 3:19:47 PM PDT by Mozilla (Rush: Romney is winning like a liberal...that is cause he is a liberal)
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To: xzins
"And the most vulnerable have been hurt the most — over 30 percent of single moms are struggling in poverty.”

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.

26 posted on 04/09/2012 3:21:42 PM PDT by BfloGuy (The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment.)
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To: BfloGuy

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.


27 posted on 04/09/2012 3:30:05 PM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: altura

“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.


28 posted on 04/09/2012 3:30:24 PM PDT by Cato in PA (1/26/12: Bloody Thursday)
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To: BfloGuy

turns into???


29 posted on 04/09/2012 3:32:21 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Pray Continued Victory for our Troops Still in Afghan!)
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To: cripplecreek

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.


30 posted on 04/09/2012 3:32:47 PM PDT by dforest
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To: KarlInOhio

LOL. Sadly, though, Karl, it’s true.


31 posted on 04/09/2012 3:34:03 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Pray Continued Victory for our Troops Still in Afghan!)
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To: dforest

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.


32 posted on 04/09/2012 3:38:04 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Pray Continued Victory for our Troops Still in Afghan!)
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To: dforest

Romney will lose and he’ll lose big. Simple as that.


33 posted on 04/09/2012 3:43:55 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: dforest
Nothing ever changes, it is always the same. The GOP picks their person and that is who we will get.

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.

34 posted on 04/09/2012 3:44:08 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (I am 33 days away from outliving Phil Hartman)
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To: dforest

“Romney is not as bad as Obama...”

Traitors are worse than garden variety enemies


35 posted on 04/09/2012 3:45:56 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (I wouldnÂ’t vote for Romney for dog catcher if he was in a three way race against Lenin and Marx!)
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To: xzins

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.


36 posted on 04/09/2012 3:46:36 PM PDT by littleharbour
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To: xzins
How is it a move left to point out how Obama's failed demographics he targets politically?

You're grasping at straws against Romney and using the NYT to do it.

37 posted on 04/09/2012 3:47:08 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Newt says, "A nominee that depresses turnout won't beat Barack Obama.")
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To: xzins

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.


38 posted on 04/09/2012 3:47:25 PM PDT by montag813
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To: altura

“We need to concentrate now on supporting RINOmney....”

Ha!!!!


39 posted on 04/09/2012 3:48:10 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (I wouldnÂ’t vote for Romney for dog catcher if he was in a three way race against Lenin and Marx!)
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To: xzins

Zelig lives. Woody Allen celebrates.


40 posted on 04/09/2012 3:54:33 PM PDT by Eleutheria5 (End the occupation. Annex today.)
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