Romney: Bush blew it on stimulus

Politico ^ | February 27, 2009 | Ben Smith

[yongin]

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney blamed President George W. Bush for the Republican Party’s slow start in advancing clear alternatives to the stimulus package, and said the party needs a more unified voice if it is to stand up to the Democrats.

“I wish the president would have laid [a stimulus package] out before he left office, so that in September, October, November, December, there would have been a stimulus plan,” Romney said in an interview with POLITICO, adding that the GOP has yet to come up with unified policy proposals or a clear, positive voice.

“What’s challenging about being in the minority is we don’t have a spokesperson for our position who lays out a plan,” Romney said Friday.

Romney – who has himself re-emerged as a key national leader for his party — denied he has anyone in particular in mind to be that spokesman.

“I’m happy to have a role, [and will] aggressively seek the opportunity to have my viewpoint known,” he said.

But the former one-term governor and presidential candidate, a man of independent means and boundless energy, has undeniably thrown himself into the vacuum atop the Republican Party. One of a handful of Republicans who – people close to him say — can be expected to consider a bid for president, he has the particular advantage of focus.

Other possible presidential candidates are wrestling with home state budget deficits, President Barack Obama’s popularity, and their own local political options. Romney is, he says, on the national stage full time, writing a book of policy and ideas, and spending the balance of his days campaigning and fundraising for congressional Republicans.

The Republican Party has a tradition of returning to defeated primary candidates, from Ronald Reagan to John McCain, and Romney is putting himself in a strong position to continue it.

“If there are people thinking about 2012, It’s like, go get a life,” Romney told POLITICO in an interview in a Washington hotel before his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, a key stop for ambitious GOP leaders.

Romney, former aides say, imagined campaigning in 2007 and 2008 as “America’s CEO.” But the dictates of Republican primary politics forced him on to the defensive, and into a thicket of social and religious questions where he spent the bulk of his campaign defending the moderate stances he had taken as a Senate candidate and governor in his liberal home state.

But now economic issues drown out all others, and Romney is back on familiar and comfortable ground for a professional turn-around artist who made his name in the private sector and with the Salt Lake City Olympics.

In the interview, Romney offered the mainstream Republican critique of President Barack Obama: At the urging of congressional Democrats, Romney said, he’s spending too much.

“At a time of economic crisis, you don’t start laying out an agenda of things we’d like but can’t afford,” Romney said, accusing Obama of having “abdicated the leadership” of the country to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Obama, he said, is pushing the country to “a point where we borrow so much” that fears of deflation and recession turn into “a collapse of a very different kind” – a run on the dollar, and hyperinflation.

Now, he says, with other critical policy battles rapidly approaching, Republicans can’t afford to repeat the mistake they made with the stimulus.

“It’s important that we come out with our plan first and that we say, ‘Here is the Republican healthcare plan, here is the Republican education plan, here is the Republican energy plan.”

Romney even appeared to chide radio host Rush Limbaugh, whose stated hope that Obama fails has become a major Democratic talking point, in his CPAC address Friday.

“In the last eight years, we saw how a president’s political adversaries could be consumed by anger, and even hatred,” Romney said. “We want our country to succeed, no matter who’s in power.”

Romney didn’t shy away from crowd-pleasing shots at Obama in his CPAC speech, blasting promises of expanding education and national service.

“It all sounds very appealing, until you realize that these plans mean universal government. That model has never worked anywhere in the world,” he said.

But the core of Romney’s case to his party is its need for a positive economic message, and a credible messenger.

“We must be the alternative course,” he told CPAC. “We can’t be that if all we say is no. Our plans must be clear, compelling, and first to the table. Our plans must have at least one common thread—they must make America stronger. Better education strengthens our kids; better healthcare strengthens our citizens; and bringing our budget into balance strengthens our economy and preserves our future.”

Romney also appears to be focusing in his personal life, scaling back property holdings that might make fodder for campaign attacks.

Politics, he said, has nothing to do with that decision.

“I’ve got four houses. They’re all large. I’ve got no kids at home. Very simply that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he said. “We’re just trying to downsize to the scale of our life.”

He hasn’t made the planned move to a condo yet, however.

“Having something on the market and selling it are two different things right now,” he said. “I might be in the house in Boston for several more years.”

[GOP_Lady]

Thank you, Mr. Romney.

[Kackikat]

Romney blew it on the astronomical bankrupting Healthcare in Massachusetts...democrat in conservative clothes.

[Diogenesis]

When tested, ie. when Romney was actually Governor (a period in time when he should be EXAMINED)
Myth Romney did poorly. Romney got a "C" rating from CATO. And that was BEFORE
Romney's Socialized medicine and coverup of the BIGdig kicked in. So the RomneyBOTs try to "spin history".
Note that Romney also betrayed President Bush as Governor
(and as TeamROMNEY would do later in Election2008 to Gov. Palin, and then the GOP),
because Romney was also against the conservative tax cuts (note this also again proves the RomneyBOTs wrong. No surprise there)

Here are the facts from CATO.

"As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.
* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.
* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.
* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.
"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal."
[Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004.]

Romney = Economic Loser always requiring a Federal Bailout

[InterceptPoint]

What is he thinking? Does he want a faster road to Socialism or a slower road? I suggest we don’t build that road at all.

[silverleaf]

Mr Romney, your 15 minutes of fame called- they are past.

[Danae]

I was gonna say Pot meet Kettle but then Romney didn’t exactly pipe up at the time either.

I am hoping for 34 states to assert their 10th amendment rights so we can get this fight on, and pull a referendum on the FED. Wouldn’t that be just GRAND??

Oh that would be AWESOME.

[Captain Kirk]

What gall! Only in October, Romney CAMPAIGNED for Bush’s failed billionaire bailout for the banks while many brave House Republicans, most notably Ron Paul, voted against it. And now that the bailout has blown up in the GOP’s face, Romney is the first rat to jump from the sinking ship.

[GOP_Lady]

I don’t think that’s what Mr. Romney is saying here.

Read it again.

[SoCalPol]

I think he is letting us know he would make a good Sec. of Treas. or FED Chairman.

His last try out running for Pres. was a non start.
He could not get the crowds or the votes. Would be same
in 2012.

[SandRat]

Thank you, Mr. Romney.. now go away and SHUT-UP!

[GOP_Lady]

My state is trying to force me out of their health care system. In other words, they’re taking my health care away. I don’t want to hear about MA right now. Hope your state doesn’t do that to you.

[BarnacleCenturion]

Mitt Romney backs GOP Stimulus Detractors with PAC Money
LA Times ^ | February 24, 2009 | Staff

 

[what's up]

I don't like Romney much and I don't agree with his statment here about the bailout but he's not necessarily jumping ship on the whole thing.

He's not saying he was against the bailout; I believe he's saying Bush should have described what should be done with the 350B that he hadn't spent when he left office.

[Diogenesis]

Romney should get the Cabinet Position for Halloween Fake Badges.

Team Romney aide’s bogus badges: Sources detail ‘illegal’ security tactic

" Boston Herald - Friday, July 20, 2007
In an apparent violation of the law, a controverisal aide to ex-Gov. Mitt Romney
created phony law enforcement badges that he and other staffers used on the campaign trail
to strong-arm reporters, avoid paying tolls and trick security guards
into giving them immediate access to campaign venues, sources told the Herald.
“They (the aides) knew the badges were fake and probably illegal,”
said a presidential campaign source who asked for anonymity
because the story could damage the individual’s career.
Two additional sources confirmed that the badges - described as bright silver plates with a state seal attached -
were first created and used by Garrity while Romney was still governor."

---

Team Romney aide takes leave after accusations

"BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- An ever-present aide to Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney
took a leave of absence Friday after he became the subject of investigations
in two states for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer. ...

Jay Garrity, who serves as director of operations and is
constantly at the side of the former Massachusetts governor,
is accused of .... identifying himself as "Trooper Garrity" of the Massachusetts State Police..

Meanwhile, Garrity also has been accused of telling a New York Times reporter ....
that he had run the license plate of the reporter's rental car...
New Hampshire law prohibits citizens from accessing the state's license plate database. "

---

Romney Staff Involved In 2 Investigations

"A Romney campaign aide is also under investigation by police in Massachusetts for allegedly impersonating a state trooper..."

[svcw]

Romney said. “We want our country to succeed, no matter who’s in power.”

Why do these people not get what Rush said.

[King Moonracer]

As they said early in 2008, and may be even worse in 2011, Romney just reminds people of the CEO that laid them off. I’d add “smarmy” to “CEO” if I was running a campaign against him.

[Prole]

"Governor Mitt Romney blamed President George W. Bush"

President Reagan told us to never speak ill of fellow Republicans. Granted that President Bush made mistakes in his terms of office, but who is Romney to attack him? That's what the Obamatrons, communists and other registered democrats do: Attack President Bush, even after he left office.

Why join their ranks, Mr. Romney? You make us look bad for so doing. Did President Reagan attack President Nixon? NO.

Palin 2012.

[BarnacleCenturion]

I think you are confusing the bank bailout with the stimulus plan.

[svcw]

Why is the state involved in your health care?