Posted on 02/10/2012 12:50:00 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
...Romney’s embrace of insuring the minimum wage increases, currently at $7.25, was surprising for a candidate who insists he is a reliable conservative. It was major mistake on his part for three reasons.
First, from an ideological standpoint, what was he thinking? Has he missed the decades long discussion among conservatives about the disastrous impact of the minimum wage? It has eliminated jobs – hundreds of thousands of them – for young persons on the low rungs of employment. The ill effects have been felt especially by African American youth.
Not only that, but the minimum wage represents a government intrusion in the economy. Free market economists, most notably Thomas Sowell, have been making this point for years.
Any self-identified conservative should be aware of this, even if the media has given it minimal coverage. And Romney’s support for jacking up the minimum wage annually only makes his apostasy worse.
Second, his timing was, to be charitable, politically clumsy. The day before, Romney had been trounced by Rick Santorum in two caucuses and one primary. This was more than an embarrassment. It showed once more that Romney has failed to persuade most conservatives he is indeed one of them. Instead, his message is one conservatives continue to find unconvincing.
.....Is Romney more conservative than he sounds? That’s been the belief of at least some of his defenders, including me. Now I’m not so sure.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Even in 2008 I realized Romney was a Keynesian. He’s not anti-business or anti-rich but he’s more like a corporatist protectionist technocrat who thinks the economy can be managed if only we had the smart guys in charge.
Sort of like the old school Hoover country club Republicans.
Amen.
Somebody get him a teleprompter. He is running already an Obama styled campaign. He needs to stop with this 99% cheap stuff and go 100% Obama. This bunch really really do not hold those coveted 'independent' voters in a very high regard.
He’d be much worse than McCain.
@Every Light In The House (just pick it, it'll open a new screen)
"Has he missed the decades long discussion among conservatives about . . ."Bishop Romney has missed every discussion among conservatives, not just the discussion of the minimum wage. He doesn't hang around with or talk with anyone who is conservative except at election time and even then he only allows the most RINO of RINOs into his little clique for the duration of the campaign.
Why anyone would believe Bishop Romney is a conservative is beyond me. One word, RomneyCare, is sufficient to dispel any BS about the guy having even a single conservative bone in his body. He' plenty big on self-interest, but other than that, he could care less what happens to the economy, average folks, or the Constitution.
He and his LDS pals like to claim they're conservative but they play the angles no matter what they are including getting in on every government scam they can possibly find a way to get in on. That's not being conservative, that's keeping up appearances while playing the game behind the scenes.
Charles Krauthammer correctly stated it was a big stumble. His exchange with Barnes went back and forth with Barnes fuming and stammering that, "people were over analyzing it[!]".
I think Fred Barnes has folded his arms across his chest and is starting to get the picture of how unreliable Mitt is. Interesting that Barnes says that Mitt's defenders "believe him to be more conservative than he sounds." It's now coming to their (at least Fred Barnes' -- so I expect others) attention, that Mitt is NOT more than he sounds and perhaps, just perhaps, even LESS conservative than they'd hoped.
But the "worst" revelation to the establishment is, that the BASE knew this already and they AREN'T coming around.
Fred Barnes is the Beltway boy and even he’s getting tired of having to defend Romney. Poor Ann will have him all to herself.
....”This is the seventh CPAC I have been to. The crowd is the least excited I have seen. On the first day, before the candidates have had a chance to bus in their supporters to stack the deck and straw poll, this is the least excited I’ve seen them. The crowd’s heart is with Santorum. But in their mind they do not think he can win.
Today, Mitt Romney must convince the crowd he is one of them or at least won’t betray them. Rick Santorum must convince them he can beat Barack Obama. Newt Gingrich must convince them he is still viable.
Along the way a funny thing has happened. Romney supporters are starting to be openly critical of him. The business whiz has failed to restructure his own failing organization. His support is a mile wide and an inch deep.”....
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/02/10/the-frontrunner/
Why is this? Has the MSM been totally and unequivocally successful in convincing conservatives that Romney is electable but Santorum or anybody else is not? Independent of Santorum's stammering and stuttering at time in his speeches, his heart is in the right place and so are his morals and principles. We don't need another actor/teleprompter president (no knock on Reagan), but America needs someone who shares our conservative values.
That's a thought that would have her purring and licking herself all over to make sure her fur looks pretty.
“That’s a thought that would have her purring and licking herself all over to make sure her fur looks pretty. “
She really does remind me of a cat too!
Is he more conservative than he sounds? No, it’s the other way around. He is far LESS conservative than he sounds, and this as close as he can get when he’s trying .
Michael Medved was just on Fox.
He believes Mitt’s moderate position will make him more viable in the general election — he opines how primary voters (who had voted in the past for Romney) are staying home and not coming out to vote for him this time round — that the base has moved (right).
I think Medved will stay with Mitt to the bitter end.
Unfortunately Santorum is a pro-union, big-guv, go along to get along pol. He is anti-Tea Party, which makes it pretty sad that he’s now the Great Conservative Hope.
No wonder GOP voter turnout has been low and declining the farther along we get in the process.
I also think the base is getting nervous about who is left and so will not tear into Santorum (as everyone else has been -- vetted) on those points, but Obama will.
I still believe the best one left running is Newt. And he can take it to Obama (as I've been told so often).
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