Posted on 02/07/2008 9:01:46 AM PST by Greg F
We are beginning to see signs that Mitt Romney might be preparing to pull out of the Republican race.
Everyone is looking for tea leaves from the campaign, and we'll know more about the governor's state of mind when we hear from him at CPAC today. But in the last 24 hours, I have noticed a dramatic drop-off in the number of emails I have received from Team Romney. This is no small thing. Every reporter will tell you they receive reams of emails from the Romney campaign. But the last one I got was at 1:47 p.m. yesterday, advising me of Romney's campaign schedule in Maryland. Before that, I last received on at 8:37 a.m., advising me of Romney's CPAC speech.
Normally in that time period, I would have received lots of emails telling me, among other things, that John McCain's Straight Talk Express had taken a detour. For example, I would have expected to receive one about McCain's "calm down" remark. But nothing from the Romney camp. I wondered whether the campaign is dialing back its aggressiveness in preparation for a Romney withdrawal. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at corner.nationalreview.com ...
“McCain won for all practical purposes so we have to figure out how to get him to listen to us.”
No one else has ever been able to do that! McCain HATES us, don’t you understand that? He doesn’t get along with anyone!
CAPITOL HILL STAFFERS RATE THEIR BOSSES
McCain got no glory from those who work with him.
“Every election year we survey top aides on both sides of the aisle—administrative assistants, press secretaries, legislative directors, and chiefs of committee staffs—to get their up-close and personal, and anonymous, views. While there may be lots of partisan backbiting among congress members, their staffers seem far more capable of putting politics aside and making honest judgments. It wasn’t unusual for aides in both parties to name one of their own as “spineless” or give the “workhorse” nod to someone across the aisle. “
Worst Follower 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Show Horse 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Hottest Temper 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.) known to snap at staff when the cameras are off
THE McCAIN WAY - ATTACK REPUBLICANS
Defending His Amnesty Bill, “Presidential hopeful John McCain - who has been dogged for years by questions about his volcanic temper - erupted in an angry, profanity-laced tirade at a fellow Republican senator, sources told The Post yesterday. In a heated dispute over immigration-law overhaul, McCain screamed, ‘F— you!’ at Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who had been raising concerns about the legislation. ‘This is chickens—stuff,’ McCain snapped at Cornyn, according to several people in the room off the Senate floor Thursday. ‘You’ve always been against this bill, and you’re just trying to derail it.’” (Charles Hurt, “Raising McCain,” New York Post, 5/19/07)
In 2000, Sen. McCain Ran An Attack Ad Comparing Then-Gov. George W. Bush To Bill Clinton. SEN. MCCAIN: “I guess it was bound to happen. Governor Bush’s campaign is getting desperate, with a negative ad about me. The fact is, I’ll use the surplus money to fix Social Security, cut your taxes and pay down the debt. Governor Bush uses all of the surplus for tax cuts, with not one new penny for Social Security or the debt. His ad twists the truth like Clinton. We’re all pretty tired of that. As president, I’ll be conservative and always tell you the truth. No matter what.” (McCain 2000, Campaign Ad, 2/9/00; www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoXkCprdL4)
Sen. McCain Repeatedly Called Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) nams. “Why can’t McCain win the votes of his own colleagues? To explain, a Republican senator tells this story: at a GOP meeting last fall, McCain erupted out of the blue at the respected Budget Committee chairman, Pete Domenici, saying, ‘Only an a–hole would put together a budget like this.’ Offended, Domenici stood up and gave a dignified, restrained speech about how in all his years in the Senate, through many heated debates, no one had ever called him that. Another senator might have taken the moment to check his temper. But McCain went on: ‘I wouldn’t call you an a–hole unless you really were an a–hole.’ The Republican senator witnessing the scene had considered supporting McCain for president, but changed his mind. ‘I decided,’ the senator told Newsweek, ‘I didn’t want this guy anywhere near a trigger.’” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00)
Sen. McCain Had A Heated Exchange With Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) And Called Him A “F*cking Jerk.” “Senators are not used to having their intelligence or integrity challenged by another senator. ‘Are you calling me stupid?’ Sen. Chuck Grassley once inquired during a debate with McCain over the fate of the Vietnam MIAs, according to a source who was present. ‘No,’ replied McCain, ‘I’m calling you a f—ing jerk!” (Evan Thomas, et al., “Senator Hothead,” Newsweek, 2/21/00)
In 1995, Sen. McCain Had A “Scuffle” With 92-Year-Old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) On The Senate Floor. “In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, ‘Is the senator about through?’ McCain glared at Thurmond, thanked him for his ‘courtesy’ (translation: buzz off), and continued on. McCain later confronted Thurmond on the Senate floor. A scuffle ensued, and the two didn’t part friends.” (Harry Jaffe, “Senator Hothead,” The Washingtonian, 2/97)
Sen. McCain Attacked Christian Leaders And Republicans In A Blistering Speech During The 2000 Campaign. MCCAIN: “Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore. … The political tactics of division and slander are not our values… They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country. Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.” (Sen. John McCain, Remarks, Virginia Beach, VA, 2/28/00)
Celebrating His First Senate Election In 1986, Sen. McCain Screamed At And Harassed A Young Volunteer. “It was election night 1986, John McCain had just been elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time. Even so, he was not in a good mood. McCain was yelling at the top of his lungs and poking the chest of a young volunteer who had set up a lectern that was too tall for the 5-foot-9 politician to be seen to advantage, according to a witness to the outburst. ‘Here this poor guy is thinking he has done a good job, and he gets a new butt ripped because McCain didn’t look good on television,’ Jon Hinz told a reporter Thursday. At the time, Hinz was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. … ‘There were an awful lot of people in the room,’ Hinz recalled. ‘You’d have to stick cotton in your ears not to hear it. He (McCain) was screaming at him, and he was red in the face.’” (Kris Mayes and Charles Kelly, “Stories Surface On Senator’s Demeanor,” The Arizona Republic, 11/5/99)
Sen. McCain “Publicly Abused” Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). “[McCain] noted his propensity for passion but insisted that he doesn’t ‘insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that.’ This is, quite simply, hogwash. McCain often insults people and flies off the handle…. There have been the many times McCain has called reporters ‘liars’ and ‘idiots’ when they have had the audacity to ask him unpleasant, but pertinent, questions. ” (Editorial, “There’s Something About McCain,” The Austin American-Statesman, 1/24/07)
Is it any wonder McCain has few endorsements from his Congressional piers? http://thehill.com/endorsements-2008.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1964284/posts?page=28#28
In my estimation, this nation has missed out on a great opportunity.
Though I voted for Duncan Hunter in NH, I now regret that vote.
The more I watched Romney, the more I listened to him, the more I learned about him, the more I realized that he would have made a truly great president.
Now we are left with a choice between HillBama and McCain.
No choice at all, at all.
McCain’s chances of winning are near zero. He’s too old, too sickly, and too treacherous. Even the Left won’t vote for someone who has demonstrated false loyalty to his own party when they can have a True Believer like Hillary or Obama.
I will write-in the top of the ticket, and will vote conservatives for the rest of my ballot.
What a shame.
Mitt needs to stay in there for Principle.
Absolutely. Never the Hitlery.
Although, in some ways she might be easier to defeat. We are always told how popular the Klintoons are, but the truth is a) BillyBoy never got a true majority, and you KNOW the Perot people were mostly the much more open-minded conservatives, and b) while “fanatics” about Clinton exist(ed), the other truth is there is alot of hatred for them, including Democrats.
Yep. At least you and I will not be surprised when he completes the fiasco.
Mr. niteowl77
McCain won’t come back to the base for the Veep ~ he’ll continue to “reach out”. He has nothing but contempt for conservatism.
There is no way in hell that we’d vote for either McCain or the Huckster.
If McCain gets it, it would be a HUGE mistake for McCain to have the Huckster as the VP. The Huckster only scored points with the bigited “Christians” because Mitt is a Mormon. Beyond that the Huckster will sink like a rock. He has NO national appeal. Even less than McCain.
Now it’s all over Fox, CNN, and Drudge.....
He’s being pushed by the Republican elite to fall in line. A few million more dollars out of his pocket has something to do with it as well.
Huckabee will follow quickly.
Now, McCain has to come to US. I will not cave into him.
He’d better wear his kneepads to CPAC.
The RNC and RINO pundits think we’re just going to fall in line so McCain can run Left in the General Election.
If we do, the Conservative Movement is over.
Listening is a 2 way street.... you will never get the ear of someone when you are out there spewing insanely over the top rediculous rhetoric about them.
The “McCain is the same as Hillary” and “McCain is just Jimmy Carter with a war record” are nonsensical, and those that spew them lose any credibility by repeating such crap.
The self described “very conservative” wing is eating its own at this point, and if it isn’t careful will wind up relegated to irrellevance.
The fact that the Romney campaign has not come forward to deny the stream of rumors about their demise is significant. And, let’s face it, it would be counter-productive for Romney to continue.
Huckabee, whose campaign has always been grass-roots oriented, can remain in the mix long enough to pressure McCain to steer to the right a bit more.
Quite frankly, I have no evidence that Romney is anymore conservative than Huckabee. That is my opinion.
We are still getting e-mails from the Virginia team about next week, but they wouldn’t have known about discussions at the national level.
I wish he had waited another week, I would have liked to have voted for him.
On the other hand, if he really wants republicans to win in November, maybe he’s decided that allowing McCain to get 50% of the vote in a few elections would be a good thing to bring the party together.
Or maybe he just is tired of Huckabee saying that Huckabee would win if it wasn’t for Romney. I imagine Huckabee didn’t really want Romney out, because how is he going to get people to vote for him when he has nobody left in the race to attack?
I am not saying that MH will get the nod, I am saying he thinks he will.
I also do not think people did not vote MR because he is LDS but because MH is a baptist.
I see any number of scenarios, not all of them bad. For ex., if Obama wins, as you suggest, he would be such an utterly incompetent inexperienced fool that it could be Carteresque. But it also could be terrificly dangerous.
Hillary WILL try to consolidate power in ways we can't even dream---but she does NOT have Bill's political talents or likeability, and she could easily turn off a generation of voters to the Dems.
McCain, if we suffer an attack, could be the only one to be able to fight a war, although he certainly lacks Bush's vision as to how to win. But he could very well be our Hoover, sentencing us to 40 years in the wilderness.
Does that mean McPain was #2 on each of those categories?
“Show Horse 2. John McCain (R-Ariz.)”
He is DEFINITELY a “show” horse. He loves to look like the good guy and so sweet and charming on TV. While he back-stabs his alleged colleagues.
nice post (on a bad subject)
Anyone who thinks McC will win against Obama is dreaming. Wait till this kind of news gets MSM airplay followed by “and who wants to give this kind of person the nuke launch codes?”
Romney staying in would benefit the party (and the nation) not hurt it. We’re ending up with the “slightly lesser of several evils” choice. Just great.
I’m not asking him to love us. I’m just asking him to make a deal with us. That’s what politicians do for a living. Certainly McCain has shown that he’s not above making a deal with anyone if he thinks it gets him something he wants.
Or you can sit around and just wish that you had some other candidate, and that will do a lot of good.
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