Free Republic

Southfield, Mich. — As other Republican candidates have stumbled their way toward the presidential primaries, Mitt Romney has put together what would seem to be all the elements of a winning campaign: an effective staff, a robust treasury and smooth, knowledgeable performances both in debates and on the trail. But for months, the threshold of support for the former Massachusetts governor hasn't inched above a quarter of Republican voters in national polls. For many GOP voters in early primary states, hesitation about Romney comes back to one thing: their perception that he has routinely molded his views to suit the...

Just before Mitt Romney left the Massachusetts governor’s office and first ran for president, 11 of his top aides purchased their state-issued computer hard drives, and the Romney administration’s e-mails were all wiped from a server, according to interviews and records obtained by the Globe. Romney administration officials had the remaining computers in the governor’s office replaced just before Governor Deval Patrick staff showed up to take power in January 2007, according to Mark Reilly, Patrick’s chief legal counsel. Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said the governor’s aides did nothing wrong.

For Mitt Romney this is like the good old days at Bain Capital, except this time his takeover involves not another company but the Republican Party. In fact, Romney is seeking a hostile takeover of the conservative movement, methodically moving to take over Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and finally Newt Gingrich. Conservatives might remember what Romney did after he took over companies. You did not want to be a worker in a firm Romney took over. He liked layoffs. I now expect Romney to move fast to the right for a few weeks while...

Anyway, all that is by way of introducing a couple of comments Romney made in an interview with the editorial board the Seacoast Media Group, a Fox subsidiaries that owns small newspapers on the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Romney was asked about the inconsistencies in his positions on certain issues over the years and the poor guy just tried too hard to make the problem go away without explaining it: “I’ve been as consistent as human beings can be,” he said. And then, maybe even worse, "I cannot state every single issue in exactly the same words every...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney discussed his reputation as a flip-flopper at Wednesday night’s CNBC Republican presidential debate, disputing the characterization and calling himself “a man of steadiness and constancy.” Romney was asked to address the “issue of character” after he mentioned the auto bailout, which he has been accused of switching positions on. The Democratic National Committee has been bracketing Romney in Michigan with ads attacking him for flip-flopping on the issue.

Mitt Romney has maintained his one-quarter vote share in the Republican contest against all comers … and against those who stayed home. Whether confronting hypothetical threats from Donald Trump, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin or Chris Christie — or real ones from Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry or Herman Cain — the former Massachusetts governor, with maddening consistency, has gotten a quarter of the primary vote. But the key question for Mitt is whether his glass is one-quarter full or three-quarters empty. No matter what the matchups, he never drops below one-quarter of the vote or rises above it. It...

Was it wise for Mitt Romney to offer any opinion on Herman Cain’s campaign crisis? Romney tells George Stephanopoulos in an interview today that he finds the allegations “serious” and particularly disturbing,” although Romney declines to answer whether they are disqualifying if true. All he says in that regard is that Cain has to address the allegations directly: Mitt Romney today for the first time characterized sexual harassment allegations facing fellow GOP candidate Herman Cain as “particularly disturbing.”“These are serious allegations, George,” said Romney in an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired on ABC News and Yahoo. ”And they’re...

Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney says allegations that rival Herman Cain groped a former employee are "particularly disturbing" and must be addressed. Romney told ABC News/ Yahoo! on Tuesday that he will not judge whether Sharon Bialek's claims against Cain are true. He declined to say whether they are disqualifying. ... Romney .. "These are serious allegations and they're going to have to be addressed."

"This is the biggest single Twitter controversy of the campaign. 48,000 mentions!" That was Mike Allen doing his best "look--a squirrel!" impression on today's Morning Joe. Pressed by Joe Scarborough as to whether Politico had any more details beyond its vague allegation that Herman Cain had made gestures "that were not overtly sexual but that made women uncomfortable," Allen's telling first instinct was to point to the story's popularity on a social networking site. View the video here.

Racial stereotypes are perhaps the most pernicious of all hidden racism, and the data dump released this weekend on Herman Cain plays to the most vile of human impulses. The headline allegation is that Cain engaged in sexual harassment. The rest of the story is that there is nothing to the charge and Cain is the victim of a racial smear.

Is it just me, and because I don't like Rove, or did "the Architect" sound like he was really reaching with his attacks on Herman Cain on Hannity's show just now?

It might have been Mitt Romney’s most revealing moment in all the Republican debates. Badgered by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was continually interrupting him, Romney appealed to CNN moderator Anderson Cooper to reassert the rules of the debate: “Anderson?” That one-word plaint could stand for all of Romney’s straight-arrowness. It is a virtue and a curse. “Scandal” and “Romney” are two words you expect never to have to see in a sentence together. He’s every bit as upstanding as you would expect from a former Mormon bishop, a father of five and grandfather of 16. Romney is a familiar...

OKLAHOMA CITY – So, how excited were the good, conservative folks at the Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame Museum when Republican Mitt Romney arrived there Friday morning for a fundraising event? They weren't really. There was polite applause and a "Wow, it's the GOP presidential frontrunner - in the buckle of the Red State Bible Belt! Gee whiz!" reaction. Yeah, there was some "enthusiasm, but it was more subdued than you would have guessed.This reporter came in expecting throngs. Perhaps a lot of them were "busy" or didn't have the spare $20.12 for a ticket. Regardless, Mitt Romney was...

As Ed Morrissey explained earlier this morning, the “bombshell” dropped by the Los Angeles Times today — that Romneycare provided health care to illegal immigrants who would not otherwise have had access to it — is less a bombshell than the LAT (or Romney’s competitors) would have us believe. Federal law requires emergency health care for illegal immigrants, but emergency care is inordinately expensive. If Romneycare provides illegals with access to cheaper clinical care, then, presumably, fewer taxpayer dollars go to health care for illegal immigrants in Massachusetts now than they did before Romneycare passed. But no GOP-er wants to...

As Ed Morrissey explained earlier this morning, the “bombshell” dropped by the Los Angeles Times today — that Romneycare provided health care to illegal immigrants who would not otherwise have had access to it — is less a bombshell than the LAT (or Romney’s competitors) would have us believe. Federal law requires emergency health care for illegal immigrants, but emergency care is inordinately expensive. If Romneycare provides illegals with access to cheaper clinical care, then, presumably, fewer taxpayer dollars go to health care for illegal immigrants in Massachusetts now than they did before Romneycare passed. But no GOP-er wants to...

Mitt Romney is always quick to lambast other Republicans for being career politicians, as if this is his first rodeo and he is a political newcomer. However, the truth is he’s been in politics for over seventeen years, many of which have been spent appealing to liberals and moderates and fighting to keep from being identified with Ronald Reagan. Yet the more one goes back and listens to the things Romney’s been saying during his nearly two decades of public service, the more one has to wonder why he thought someone would link him to Reagan in the first place....

In a new web site, in a controversial ad that was launched and then quickly pulled from sight, and in Tuesday’s now infamous debate touching episode, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is handling rival Rick Perry as if the Texas governor’s poll numbers were not at a paltry single-digit. With mounting evidence, he is, in short, treating Perry like Perry has Herman Cain’s numbers. [snip] If Romney can fatally weaken Perry now, it would allow him to dominate in the early primaries. Strategically, a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses would be followed by an anticipated victory in the New...

This YouTube shows the episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c37VcgHUFVk Romney gets very frustrated and reaches out and grabs Perry on national TV. This willingness on his part to engage in physical contact during a verbal disagreement is really troubling. Shortly afterwards he begins to belittle Perry, he begins to lecture, he whines about the rules, he gets very red-faced, and he totally loses his cool. I'm sure I don't want this man with his finger on the button. He can't seem to handle stress. He obviously got physical. It's a matter of record.

Funny 17 second humor bit on the back and forth between Romney and Perry. :)

Notwithstanding the fact that not a single ballot has been cast in any of the Republican primaries, there seems to be a concerted effort by the liberal media to bestow the GOP nomination upon former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. According to the Detroit Free Press, "Mitt Romney's steady-as-she-goes campaign for the presidential nomination is beginning to look inevitable." The Washington Post tells us that Romney "is suddenly attracting new support from major donors and elected officials… as people across the GOP grow more accepting of the presidential contender as the party's standard-bearer." Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times declares,...