The Dean Wing of the Republican Party (Mitt Romney)

RealClearPolitics ^ | October 16, 2007 | Debra Saunders

[2ndDivisionVet]

It's pretty clear that Mitt Romney made a big mistake over the weekend when he told voters that he speaks for "the Republican wing of the Republican Party." Romney handed rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain the opportunity to remind GOP primary voters about the Old Romney, who was pro-abortion rights and courted gay voters when he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, then successfully for governor of Massachusetts. That's the Romney, who while debating Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994, proclaimed: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush."

Of course the Romney sound bite backfired -- it borrowed a page from the failed strategy of Howard "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" Dean.

Team Romney does not concede that it erred. The full Romney quote shows that Romney was not impugning other GOP hopefuls or claiming that he was the only real Republican.

Romney spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said of Romney's shift against abortion rights and gay rights, "He saw the light." The Reagan-Bush quote? "Our campaign is focused on the future," she responded.

What will the future of the Republican Party hold? There is a schism between Romney and the other frontrunners -- Giuliani, McCain and Fred Thompson. Romney is the only one to sign the Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to raise taxes, a longtime staple of GOP platforms.

"Gov. Romney is committed to keeping taxes low and cutting government spending," Pompei explained.

Giuliani spokesman Jarrod Agen said that the former New York mayor "doesn't sign pledges. You just have to look at his record. His record in New York is cutting taxes."

[redgirlinabluestate]

Contrary to this silly hit piece, more and more influential people are stepping up to support Mitt:

.....a top official at the conservative, fundamentalist Bob Jones University is throwing his political support to Mormon presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

Robert R. Taylor, dean of the university's college of arts and sciences, said he believes the former Massachusetts governor is the only Republican candidate who both stands a chance of winning the White House and will reliably implement the anti-abortion, antigay marriage, pro-gun agenda of Christian conservatives.

"The fact that I'm seen as a Religious Right person would hopefully get others to step out for him," Taylor said in an interview in Greenville, S.C., the university's hometown.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13250.html (Romney gets some help from Bob Jones University)

[redgirlinabluestate]

More great news for Romney from the same article:

Taylor’s endorsement, which he said he plans to announce in the near future, marks a stunning move for such a high-placed academic at Bob Jones University…. Taylor acknowledged that endorsing a Mormon for president risked alienating the university’s conservative donors and alumni. But, he said, “we’re not electing a pastor — we’re electing a president.”

It gets back to a point I argued last week: slowly but surely, the religious right is coalescing around Romney. At the start of the year, this seemed highly unlikely — Christian conservatives simply wouldn’t be able to get over their theological differences with the former Massachusetts governor.

But the circumstances have changed. Rudy Giuliani is a threat the religious right movement, Fred Thompson is too weak, John McCain is too untrustworthy, and Mike Huckabee and Sam Brownback aren’t competitive enough. Romney offers evangelicals a competitive candidate who, at least now, says everything they want to hear about abortion and gays

[Spiff]

Your statements are mischaracterizations of his positions and some are outright lies

Right back at ya!

This was posted last week and you might want to consider the advice for yourself: “You and Spiff and some of the others need to start concentrating on promoting your own candidate

You first.

[daylilly]

Consider the source.

I didn’t mischaracterize Mitt so there is nothing to fling in my face.

Fred08

[daylilly]

“But the main thing that has always bothered me about Romney is he’s a Republican that somehow managed to get elected governor of Massachusetts. That just never computed.”

I agree with this. I’ve never understood why he wanted to be governor of Massachusetts. So he could do what? Maybe he didn’t have a problem working with all those democrats. It is like putting yourself deliberately into a position where you will be constantly pressured and tempted to do something wrong. Unless, he didn’t think the democrats were wrong. There can’t be good reasons to want to be a governor of a left wing state unless you are left wing too.