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Column: Republicans insane to think Romney should run again
The Salem News ^ | September 2, 2014 | Jeff Crouere

Posted on 09/03/2014 1:53:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

— Albert Einstein

Unbelievably, the drumbeat has begun for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to run for president a third time. The man who lost twice for president is now being encouraged by many party leaders to give it another try.

Congressman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, recently told MSNBC, “I think he’s proven right on a lot of stuff. I happen to be in the camp that thinks he’s actually going to run, and I think he will be the next president of the United States.”

Chaffetz is not alone; commentator Ann Coulter, Internet titan Matt Drudge and many others are on board the Romney 2016 bandwagon. In addition, Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Romney’s running mate in 2012, told reporters last week that he would “love to see Mitt Romney run for president again.”

Romney is the darling of the establishment wing of the party. He is a moderate from the Northeast who is not known for strong positions on social issues. For example, he has changed his stance on gay marriage and abortion multiple times.

While he is for a secure border and opposed to amnesty, he is the worst possible candidate to address the dangers of socialized medicine. As governor, Romney championed a Massachusetts version of government-operated healthcare. President Barack Obama used Romney’s plan as a model for the disastrous Affordable Care Act that was foisted on the American people.

Even with all of his baggage, Romney was positioned to defeat Obama in the last election. He won the first debate and needed strong performances in the final two outings to seal the deal with the American people.

Instead, he listened to his advisers and played it safe. The result is that Romney missed many opportunities to blast the president on the Benghazi terrorist attack and wound up agreeing with Obama on a number of issues.

In the last election, his comments on the “47 percent” of Americans on government assistance and his remarks about “binders full of women” were manipulated by the media and misinterpreted by voters.

His successful background as a Bain Capital executive was easy fodder for Democrats to attack him as a rich, heartless businessman. Sadly, his leadership position in the Mormon Church was an issue for some evangelical Christian voters who were not comfortable supporting a candidate who did not share their religious faith.

For reasons both fair and unfair, Romney was not a particularly good presidential candidate in two nationwide elections. Despite this track record, insiders in the Republican Party are obviously in love with the idea of another Romney campaign. According to Ryan, he should run because “the third time’s the charm.”

Fortunately, Romney has not taken the bait so far. He has been adamant that he is not running again. Hopefully, he will continue to hold off these misguided requests and spend his time supporting good GOP candidates across the country.

Romney can certainly play a role as a fundraiser. He should be a respected elder statesman but not subject the Republican Party or the country to another presidential campaign.

The bottom line is that Romney cannot win. He does not unite the wings of the Republican Party and is not an effective candidate to reach independent voters.

Like moderate presidential candidates Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole and John McCain, Mitt Romney was unable to win, even after two attempts.

Now, it is time for the Republican Party to start a new chapter and nominate a reliable conservative who can articulate a positive message to the American people. This type of candidate can win in 2016. Clearly, Romney cannot.


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues; Parties; State and Local
KEYWORDS: 2016; coulter; gop; romney; uniparty
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To: RitaOK

Hope you are not addressing that comment to me...I have already stated my position for 2016 and it’s not to compromise on a lightweight. I want a strong conservative leader that can argue that position.

However, we could differ on what compromise is..or even what a Conservative is, or even what is important.

Those are all legitimate arguments.


101 posted on 09/03/2014 6:36:26 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: ansel12
You keep trying to sell him to us, and in reality, you don’t even seem to know anything about him

I did not try to sell him when I was supporting him, so why would I sell him now? You are just full of yourself..

102 posted on 09/03/2014 7:51:48 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: Cold Heat

Let’s just say that you spend an awful lot of time defending him and deflecting criticism of him, and arguing in his behalf.


103 posted on 09/03/2014 8:06:42 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: ansel12

Let’s just say that you have spent a exorbitant amount of time attacking a spent politician who is not running.

I don’t think he is relevant to this upcoming election and I don’t like the idea of continuing to smear him.

I think the entire series of quotes that have spawned all these articles about another Romney run is being done to further damage the Republican party.

I think the various conservative outlets, like drudge, are unaware that they are being used.

To top it all off, I think that the liberals have so badly damaged the republican brand that even with a Obama presidency disaster, we could not win the presidency in 2016.

Fortunately, for me, my participation in politics is coming to a end. In fact I may not be voting in 2016 as I will be traveling, and on the move if everything goes as planned.

Actually my participation pretty much ended when Obama was granted a second term against all odds and I expect the dims to pull it off again in 2016 with the GOP still fractured like a broken egg.

I am just here trying to keep honest people honest. If you tend to reside in a echo chamber, your opinions are never tested and you go on to believe in error that everyone feels as you do, thinks as you do, and believes as you do.

I think that this nonsense about a potential Romney run is a political hack job run by our beloved democrat operators to the detriment of the GOP. They will use it as they have other similar political tradecraft to keep you or someone else stirred up and slinging crap at the wall till something sticks or you flail yourself out.

The goal is to stifle donations to the GOP for the coming election and it works every time..It’s way too devious to be a trial balloon and it’s not coming from the normal sources or in the usual way that something like this would be tested.

““Somebody else has a better chance than I do,” Romney said in the radio interview. “And that’s what we believe, and that’s why I’m not running. And you know, circumstances can change, but I’m just not going to let my head go there. I remember that great line from Dumb and Dumber.”

(Hewitt interview)

Have a nice day..ansel


104 posted on 09/03/2014 9:14:32 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: Cold Heat
Let’s just say that you have spent a exorbitant amount of time attacking a spent politician who is not running.
I don’t think he is relevant to this upcoming election and I don’t like the idea of continuing to smear him.

Bingo, conservatives are attacking him in your eyes, and you don't like your man, the King of rinos, and the man who gave us Obama in 2012, and arguably in 2008, and who is currently hurting conservatism and is going to take it into 2016, being "smeared".

LOL, what a romneybot salesman.

You don't challenge anyone, you haven't challenged any of my facts about Mitt Romney.

You guys are as dishonest as your man himself.

105 posted on 09/03/2014 9:26:42 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: ansel12

“You don’t challenge anyone, you haven’t challenged any of my facts about Mitt Romney.”

Why the hell should I?

**It would not lead to anything positive or even relevant.

**You would not accept it in any case.

**Those of us who voted for him, tried all that years ago and it led to a purge at FR..

As I said, it’s not relevant and it does not matter. but I will say that given the same circumstances and the same choices, I would do it all over again. As would you, so what’s the point?


106 posted on 09/03/2014 9:40:46 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Is Romney our time’s Adlai Stevenson?


107 posted on 09/03/2014 9:47:54 PM PDT by Jabba the Nutt (You can have a free country or government schools. Choose one.)
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To: Cold Heat

You mean how the hell can you, if you could, you would, but you know that the sources, the quotes, and the videos are irrefutable, and have probably seen them countless times.

After all this time, you know that you are a phony and a con man trying to keep Romney alive and credible.

You are as dishonest and unscrupulous as he is.

You may be the ultimate romneybot.


108 posted on 09/03/2014 9:49:56 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: Jabba the Nutt
Is Romney our time’s Adlai Stevenson?

LOL....no...I don't see a comparison...

Stevenson, while elected governor of Illinois, lost in a landslide twice to Eisenhower and then again to Kennedy.

His strengths were in his rhetorical skills. He gave some speeches that were admired by both party's...but as a campaigner for national elections, he came off as weak. Too weak to take that sort of risk at the time, for the then totally different democrat party, or the republicans..

109 posted on 09/03/2014 9:58:47 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: ansel12

Well you just hold onto that thought there buddy, and a good day to ya...


110 posted on 09/03/2014 10:00:04 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: Cold Heat

It’s an obvious fact, something you tried to deny earlier, but your passion for Romney is rather extraordinary.


111 posted on 09/03/2014 10:05:13 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: ansel12

“You mean how the hell can you, if you could, you would, but you know that the sources, the quotes, and the videos are irrefutable, and have probably seen them countless times.”

Sure...I’ve seen most of them,, but after a few of them it became clear as to what they were.

As I said at least twice and now for the third time, I don’t dispute that Romney as a politician, said a lot of things to the constituencies while in Massachusetts running for Governor, and in two failed efforts for National office to the 5 or is it 6 now, constituencies for the Republican party nomination, and then the added constituencies for national election.

Any prick with a computer can point out the variances to the multiple constituencies. That is what happens when you try to please everyone as a National candidate and will also be seen while moving from a primary win to the big game.

But for some reason, it was more of a problem when Romney did it.

Gee wiz golly willikerrrs !

Was it because he was a Mormon.......maybe...couldawoulda be.........

nawwww........that would be silly......sarc

Conservatives could not be that vain, could they...?

Then maybe they are not really conservatives..Maybe they are just a-holes.

**all sarcasm ......certainly***


112 posted on 09/03/2014 10:15:26 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Severely insane....
113 posted on 09/03/2014 10:18:08 PM PDT by WeatherGuy
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To: WeatherGuy

Yes it would be politically insane, if it were true....


114 posted on 09/03/2014 10:23:56 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: WeatherGuy
Severely insane....

LOL! Very good! {^)

115 posted on 09/03/2014 10:40:17 PM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Question? Has any failed presidential candidate of either party EVER comeback to win a presidential election? I’m trying hard to remember one in my lifetime.

Romney definitely would be a statistical anomaly if he were to run and be be elected.


116 posted on 09/03/2014 10:51:10 PM PDT by Texicanus (Texas, it's a whole 'nother country.)
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To: Texicanus
Richard Nixon's presidential defeat in 1960 and gubernatorial defeat in 1962 gave him the reputation of a loser. He spent six years shaking it before he could win the 1968 Republican presidential nomination. During that time, he joined a prestigious law firm in New York City, became financially well off, and argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Nixon played a marginal role in presidential politics in 1964, introducing his party's nominee at the GOP convention in San Francisco's Cow Palace: "He is the man who earned and proudly carries the title of Mr. Conservative. He is the man who, by the action of this convention, is now Mr. Republican. And he is the man who, after the greatest campaign in history, will be Mr. President—Barry Goldwater." Nixon campaigned for Goldwater and other Republicans that fall, earning the gratitude of conservatives, who together with their standard-bearer went down to defeat in the largest landslide in post-war history.

Would not be the first, but it's not going to happen in 2016.

117 posted on 09/03/2014 10:57:46 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: Cold Heat

***As I said at least twice and now for the third time, I don’t dispute that Romney as a politician, said a lot of things to the constituencies while in Massachusetts running for Governor***

You really are a dishonest romneybot, trying to pretend that Romney hasn’t been liberal and even a democrat supporter all of his life instead of just when he decided to run in Massachusetts instead of Utah.

Romney is a hardcore, lifelong, liberal, that is why he chose Massachusetts to run in instead of Utah, which he considered, it is also why Reagan was enough to drive him from the GOP, and why Romney became a supporter of, a fund raiser for, and a voter for, democrats, it is why he ran to the LEFT of Ted Kennedy on the homosexual agenda and gays in the military and gay scout leaders and was more passionate than Ted on abortion, it is why he was pro-abortion since at least 1963 and fund raised for Planned Parenthood (which he lied about until a photo surfaced), and was so passionate in his pro-abortion arguments.

Romney isn’t just dishonest, he is a pathological liar, his history is full of being caught in massive embarrassments and major lies once a photo, or video, or audio tape emerges, he lies when he doesn’t need to and some lies, such as Reagan was”adamantly pro-choice” he will spread for years, he has lied about who and where he was when his religion accepted blacks to equality, he lies about his draft evading, he used to lie about he and his father having marched with Martin Luther King, he lied extensively about his illegal aliens, he lied about the conversation that he claimed converted him to life just in time to run for president, it is compulsive with him.


118 posted on 09/03/2014 11:11:11 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: Cold Heat; All

Thanks, I should have remembered Nixon. I remember Goldwater and the conservatives getting wiped out in the 1964 election. I was very young at that time and did not understand much about politics and its consequences. But after the Carter administration, I had a political awakening and have been conservative ever since. I am hoping the younger people will have a similar experience and the conservative base will expand to include more of the younger generation.

I honestly don’t believe Romney can turn the low-info voters and the conservatives this time around. I’m looking for “any candidate” that can limit the size and extent of government intrusion into our lives, one that is unafraid to stand up and defend America and its constitution as written. Someone a lot more conservative than what the GOP is floating at this time.

It would be nice to see some new candidates and not one from the past political dynasties.


119 posted on 09/03/2014 11:33:52 PM PDT by Texicanus (Texas, it's a whole 'nother country.)
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To: ansel12
You really are a dishonest romneybot, trying to pretend that Romney hasn’t been liberal

I never said at any time...ever, that Romney is a conservative in the global sense of the word. Since all you want to do is discuss Romney, I'll tell you what I had assessed.

Romney is a social liberal/ sometime moderate and a fiscally moderate conservative. He has the same sort of political pedigree that the vast majority of republicans have and some of wall street and much of the activist investor class, which is where he came from. .

In that respect he is little different then most of the nominees we have had in the last 20 years plus or minus. Bush was more socially conservative but fiscally more moderate. McCain and Romney, as well as Bob Dole, Daddy Bush were pretty much on the same political plain as is the republican party as a whole. So Romney, while not conservative, was also not a liberal in the true sense of the word.

Having said that.....I need to go to the major issues facing America during the election that he lost.

I ask you, were the major issues social........or fiscal? Were they largely domestic only, or did foreign policy need attention.

If you answer that question honestly, you would see why I voted for him. But you won't do that.

I also felt that Romney may not have had the ability, as Bush did not, to reign in the republican congress who are constantly trying to out do the democrats on social spending. So on that count, I gave him a question mark.

Reality dictates that we will never know how Romney would have governed. Elections only show what the candidate is willing to say to satisfy constituencies and gain the most votes, but they always change once elected with the exception of most campaign promises. So I don't know and neither do you,.... how he would have governed.

But I do know that he would have at the very least, stopped the Marxist Obama second term trajectory which is hard left.

120 posted on 09/03/2014 11:48:23 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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