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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: 2ndDivisionVet
[Romney] ... should be a respected elder statesman ...

Not in the Republican party, he shouldn't. That he IS means the Republican party has left me.

81 posted on 09/03/2014 4:32:35 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: ansel12
Gee we have to play this game with you guys forever?

Not a game...

It's supposed to be discussion.

I'll repeat it again, in case you did not read it the first time.

I never believed, nor will I ever believe that Romney, as you put it, "is a consummate liar'.

I went through that entire election cycle reading the attack pieces on him, and of those with some degree of evidence, the conclusions drawn could be slanted anyway you wanted to slant them. I thought they did their best to diffuse some of it, but it was relentless, and frankly, quite hateful. (especially the Mormon stuff)

But he did not take it personal.

Why you feel the need to rehash it all here, and to me in particular, is something I expected when I posted on this thread.

Your opinion is quite clear, and I would only ask that you treat mine in the same way.

I view Romney as run as a failed attempt, politically.

I do not view Romney as quintessential evil and a bad person.

I try very hard to separate politics from personal. If I reacted personally to everyone that disagrees with me or gets personal, I would be wanting to kill most everyone I have ever met, because personally, I find most everyone to have grievous faults. (including you) So I don't go there.

Romney has failed on two attempts to be elected president.

For that reason, and that reason alone, it is politically not expedient to run him again, no matter how you might feel about him. Politically, or personally.

82 posted on 09/03/2014 4:32:40 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

He has a big “L” on his forehead - just like Adlai Stevenson and Harold Stassen years ago.


83 posted on 09/03/2014 4:34:07 PM PDT by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: skeeter
Sadder still is there are many right here who will happily support Romney again.

Saddest is that there are many right here who will reluctantly support Romney again if he gets the GOP nomination through its gamed and heavily northeastern-moderate-favored primaries.

As I would have done in 2012 if I hadn't been old enough by then to have finally figured out that my voting that way for three decades prior is WHY I was looking at Romney as the nominee.

84 posted on 09/03/2014 4:35:56 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: Objective Scrutator
It’s not like our votes even matter ...

For vast numbers of us, they certainly don't matter in the Republican primaries.

85 posted on 09/03/2014 4:37:50 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: Cold Heat

After 8 years of this nonsense from you guys, and us continually having to go back and start all over with you romneybots, it is clearly a game to you.

Care to challenge me on any of the things that I pointed out that he lied about, do want to see the list continue to grow, and will you acknowledge that those are the lies of a compulsive liar, not a dispute about some political hedging?

I’m not giving opinions, you are, I am supplying facts.

So far you have ignored the facts and continue to merely try to sell the man and defend him.


86 posted on 09/03/2014 4:43:46 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: EandH Dad
If I can’t vote for someone I will vote against someone else but I will not stay home and pout like a baby because my perfect candidate didn’t make the finals.

You may intend to vote against the D, but if you vote for a Democrat-Lite Republican, you will only be acting to move the Republican party left.

Intentions at the voting booth are very different from the act of voting.

I've been voting against the Ds JUST LIKE YOU for nearly 40 years, EandH Dad. I've been diligently voting AGAINST leftists and the Republican party has diligently and ridiculously been turning left. How can I keep getting more of what I've been voting AGAINST?

Wake up, STOP accusing others of being like babies because they've figured out what you have yet to grasp, and BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT YOU ARE VOTING FOR. Stop buying into the unicorn fantasy of voting "against."

87 posted on 09/03/2014 4:46:49 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: lowbridge

Also, Nixon lost to JFK in 1960, but was able to come back eight years later.


88 posted on 09/03/2014 4:50:13 PM PDT by eclecticEel ("The petty man forsakes what lies within his power and longs for what lies with Heaven." - Xunzi)
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To: MeganC

LOL! {^)


89 posted on 09/03/2014 4:51:16 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: Bubba_Leroy; BlackElk; JRandomFreeper; EandH Dad; RitaOK; Kevmo; CommerceComet; All
Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Of the mirror, Bubba. Because YOU are the one voting to turn the Republican party left. You stupidly think you're voting "against" leftism in the very act of voting FOR it. Hullllo?

What if you WIN? Will you be accountable for the Republican administration spearheading nationalized health care, amnesty, on-demand abortion, full-on required recognition and honor paid to "marriage" between two homosexuals, the global warming agenda, activist judges (obviously you are ignorant of Romney's actual record in judicial appointments), gun control, and all of the other leftist positions Romney HAS TAKEN on issues of major import?

Will you be here being accountable for it?

I won't! I will be HOLDING YOU accountable.

90 posted on 09/03/2014 5:01:23 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: ansel12

Did all that years ago or tried to, it was pointless.....no sense in rehashing it. They are all conclusions, mostly wrong in terms of their meanings.

Did you ever ask yourself how these facts and conclusions came to be spread on conservative and republican websites?

Are you going to accept the same sort of information in the same way when it involves the man or woman that you find politically attractive, for whatever reason?

Are you asking yourself today, how all these articles about a Romney run are generated for your delight?

That failed run was over 6 years ago yet your still beating the bushes, looking for someone to fight with. The GOP is so fragmented that like humpty dumpty, it may never heal, and there is nothing to replace it.

In my view, it’s entirely possible that the party will never see another president. In fact I expect that to be the case. At least and until the situation is so bad, that some sort of a knee jerk societal reaction takes place and a dog catcher would win handily.

Like Vietnam, it took some time to get over the realization that we had lost the war.

In this case the loss is against the left, who have out maneuvered, out punched and out lasted the rest of us. The voting public has determined that they can access the treasury and it’s easy to do.

That reality is not going to change without a great deal of pain.

So you just keep on firing salvos at a Republican in the same way Nixon was savaged, and rest on the knowledge that somehow you made a difference..


91 posted on 09/03/2014 5:04:53 PM PDT by Cold Heat (Have you reached your breaking point yet? If not now....then when?)
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To: Bubba_Leroy
My intention is to do whatever I can to get a conservative nominated, but if we get stuck with another RINO, then hold my nose and vote for the lesser of the two evils in the general election. A lot of Freepers disagree and refuse to ever vote for another RINO because they understand they will be accountable for what they voted FOR if it wins.

There. Fixed it for you.

Hello? Voting "against" is intent. When in hell are you ever accountable for what you voted "against"? It's total BS. Voting is an ACTION of endorsing a specific thing. Voting "against" is an illusion of the mind.

92 posted on 09/03/2014 5:07:38 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: Cold Heat

LOL, FR built a massive file on Romney, and you want to know how conservatives got out the information on him?

No one who is a conservative will ever have the lies and liberalism of Romney, don’t you get it, he is unique, a true conservative hating liberal that won the nomination of the GOP.

You keep trying to sell him to us, and in reality, you don’t even seem to know anything about him, even the 2012 version, did you support him coming out against the GOP pro-life platform and returning to being pro-abortion, after he won the nomination?


93 posted on 09/03/2014 5:12:50 PM PDT by ansel12 (LEGAL immigrants, 30 million 1980-2012, continues to remake the nation's electorate for democrats)
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To: Mastador1

And why does anyone think second time around the conservatives would come out to vote?


94 posted on 09/03/2014 5:13:06 PM PDT by Ninaq (Nina)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"The man who lost twice for president is now being encouraged by many party leaders to give it another try."

Seems to me, a lot of Freepers want Mittens to run for a third time, too.

I can remember when merely apologizing for Mitt would draw the zot around here - let alone, actively promoting that liberal turncoat.

95 posted on 09/03/2014 5:21:56 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: lowbridge
I dont want romney, but....

Careful, your but is showing.

96 posted on 09/03/2014 5:23:19 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Bubba_Leroy; Cold Heat
My intention is to do whatever I can to get a conservative nominated, but if we get stuck with another RINO, then hold my nose and vote for the lesser of the two evils in the general election. A lot of Freepers disagree and refuse to ever vote for another RINO.

And the GOP-E thanks you for your support in manipulating the process and you to vote for someone who does not share many, if any, of your dearest held principles.

BTW, Romney, with his support of Abortion and Gay Rights and Global Warming and Gun Control and Taxing anything that moves cannot even be called a RINO.
97 posted on 09/03/2014 5:28:14 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: SoConPubbie
Yep. Voting "against" is strictly an abstract summation of intent. A vote is only ever an act of ENDORSING something.

The GOPe expects Republicans to vote "against" leftists and in the very act of doing so, vote FOR leftism. Maybe that's why they call it "the stupid party."

98 posted on 09/03/2014 5:35:45 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: Bubba_Leroy; Cold Heat; All
... then hold my nose and vote for ....

In real life, when your nose tells you something stinks, it's protecting you and you ignore it at your peril.

Same in the voting booth, FRiends.

99 posted on 09/03/2014 5:53:36 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: Bubba_Leroy; Cold Heat

What you propose to do in the event of an all but certain RINO nomination, is in no way RESISTANCE of any form. It is rather a sign you are the type who will board the train thinking it is a better choice of destination.

We know how that turned out.


100 posted on 09/03/2014 6:12:28 PM PDT by RitaOK ( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming.)
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