Romney defends conservative credentials, says he was the conservative alternative 4 years ago

Washington Post ^ | January 3, 2012

[Cincinatus' Wife]

DES MOINES, Iowa — Looking past Iowa, Mitt Romney defended his conservative credentials Tuesday as he anticipated escalated attacks in New Hampshire and beyond from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.

“Perhaps people forget that I ran for president four years ago, you may recall that along with Mike Huckabee I was the conservative alternative to John McCain,” Romney said on Fox News Channel. He was responding to rival Newt Gingrich, who had accused Romney of lying about his moderate record. Romney said Gingrich, who has fallen in polls in the face of negative attack ads by Romney’s allies, was “apparently angry.”

“I’ve got a record, and it’s a conservative record,” Romney said.

Romney has spent most of the nearly four years since he dropped out of the 2008 race trying to win over a skeptical GOP base. He’s had trouble with the party’s right wing, which so far has jumped from candidate to candidate as it searches for a conservative alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.

Romney said he is anticipating stepped up criticism from the Republican field in the wake of the leadoff Iowa caucuses Tuesday night.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LIBERALS feel betrayed by Mitt?

Can Mitt Romney Ever Flip Back Again? "It would be a mistake, though, to believe that, long after Iowa, once the horse race is over, and if he’s elected, Romney could suddenly flip a switch, clear the air of the toxicity left behind by the Republican field, and return to being a cautious centrist whose most reassuring quality is his lack of principles. His party wouldn’t let him; and, after all, how a candidate runs shapes how a President governs. In politics, once a sellout, always a sellout; once a thug, always a thug."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

....Other than that, hopefully Republicans can dispense with the idea of him running by February......

The MSM is going to have a field day with candidates (and their supporters) running against Romney.

[tumblindice]

“Romney, 2012—Tanned, Rested & De-scented”

[colorcountry]

That's why I get mental whiplash when I listen to the jawbone media.

Maybe your whiplash is actually caused by Mitt's flips. He was never a conservative, only played one on TV. He was perhaps slightly less liberal than McCain, which would make him the more conservative of the two - but that isn't much to crow about.

It's kinda like me saying I'm prettier than Helen Thomas. I am, but that doesn't make me pretty.

[joesbucks]

I agree.

I'm pointing out what El Rushbo and Laura Ingram among others were saying then vs what they are saying now.

Again what substantial conservative issues has Mitt moved to the center on in the last 4 years that knocked a leg of the stool off for these jawbone yackers?

He met the three legged stool test for them then....and has only shifted more to the right since 08. Something ain't right.

[Waryone]

He hasn’t moved to the center. He’s always been on the left. He just tried harder to hide it in 2008. If you don’t know, here goes.

He is not a social conservative by any stretch of the imagination. Social conservatives do not support the pro gay agenda. Romney is pro gay. He is the father of gay marriage in the US, he supported ENDA, he was pro gays in the military and was even booed for that position in the 2008 election. He is the father of Obamacare with his own Romneycare.

We are very familiar with Romney on this website. Four years ago Mitts team of liars were all over this site telling one lie after another in an attempt to convince conservatives that he was one of us. Just like today, he and his mittbot minions failed.

He calls himself a conservative businessman. I believe that may be the truth. He believes in conserving his own money, for his own purposes, but he is not a fiscal conservative because he has no problem spending other people’s money. He has no problem forcing people into accepting govt. mandates such as those in Romneycare. He has no problem raising taxes by calling them fees and collecting more taxpayer money to feed an expanding govt.

We know Romney here and he is not conservative.

[FrankR]

[PieterCasparzen]

IMHO, these primaries will tell the story that Mittens has very little support from the the rightmost 30% of voters.

He’s only got the “we must win” Republicans who have no care which Repub is elected and fear losing more than anything.

Once those folks see other candidates surging past Mittens, he’s gonna start lookin’ silly, IMHO, and they’ll abandon him and jump on a more winning bandwagon.

Might as well forget about Supreme Court decisions if Mittens is elected.

Anyone who wants clear-cut positions on abortion, homoagenda, etc., Mittens would be a nightmare.

Conservatives will have to email their Congresscritters like crazy for the next 5 years to get anything going in the right direction to begin with, probably no matter who is elected.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

America is Calling

[colorado tanker]

I remember supporting Romney after Fred Thompson dropped out as essentially the only alternative to McCain.

I didn't know much about Romneycare at the time. During the Obamacare debate I learned how Romneycare was a precursor. I expected for me to even consider Romney he would have to recant his support and admit Romneycare was a mistake, but he never did.

I don't know how we could trust the guy to repeal Obamacare even if he were elected with Republican majorities in both houses.

[Finny]

Remember too the CONTEXT of the supposed "endorsement" of Romney. It was about ten minutes of monologue, and the subject was NOT Romney, the subject was the dismal field of Republicans. I never heard, nor did I ever see transcripts, of Rush "urging" people to vote for Romney. It's a myth that Rush "backed" Romney. It's TRUE that Levin, at the very end, urged people to vote for Romney over McCain in the primary, but Levin made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that it was a reluctant endorsement, that he thought Romney was the least bad of a piss-poor lot.

Go back and listen to or read the ENTIRE segment referred to here, where Rush very carefully said that Romney "embodied" -- "probably embodied," if I remember correctly, the three legs of the stool. Furthermore, Romney was only mentioned in passing, a very small part, of that discusion from Rush. WORDS MEAN THINGS, and Rush tiptoed around anything close to an endorsement, though Romney's suporters flat-out LIED and said otherwise. The only time I've ever heard Rush praise Romney was for his Religion in America speech. Rush has NEVER, that I've heard, praised Romney's politics and on the contrary, during the '08 primaries, he played clips of Romney and followed up with, "Folks, this is not conservatism." He also said after the first primary debate that included Fred Thompson: "Folks, there was only one conservative on the stage last night, and that conservative was Fred Thompson."

Seeing as how Romney was also on that stage, it's pretty clear to me that Rush thinks pretty lowly of Romney's politics.

[joesbucks]

February 08. “I think now, based on the way the campaign has shaken out, that there probably is a candidate on our side who does embody all three legs of the conservative stool, and that’s Romney,”-Rush Limbaugh.

Romney hasn't moved anywhere except to the right. Hard right\? No. So Rush lied then?

[joesbucks]

Ok, so the field was dismal. He said Romney embodies the three legs of conservatism. Rush was playing a game to destroy McCain. But since words mean things, it appears Rush danced with the devil whether he said probably or does embody.

[Blado]

If Romney is a conservative then I’m the frickin Angel Maroni.

[Diogenesis]

WHAT could possibly more conservative than having one's
Team of backstabbers and vipers attack children?

---

Romney for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

---

The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

---

"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

---

"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

---

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

---

---

Romney for Obama in 2009

Chihuahua Romney - the Magic RINO:
"I also think it's important for us to nod to our pRes_ _ent when he's right,"
we are pleased with his plans to "finish the job" in Iraq and Afghanistan
I also applaud our pRes_ _ent
for standing up to the evil auto industry. "

---

Romney for Obama in 2010

"Go Mitt. Go Mitt. Go Mitt"

"Rove is pushing Romney so aggressively
some folks are beginning to wonder what's going on,"
grumbled one veteran Republican strategist."

---

"Rove has made no secret
of his support for Romney as McCain's VP. "

---

Romney for Obama in 2011

“White House Quotes Romney in Defense of Health Care”

---

Mitt Romney Sends Leftover Pizza to Obama Chicago HQ
After spending the day in Chicago fundraising, Mitt Romney
sat down with small business owners at Gino's East,
a pizza joint famous for their deep-dish pizza.
In fact, Romney himself tweeted a photo of a
delivery boy heading out with the loot, writing,
"Great deep dish at @ginoseast.
Sending the extra slices to @barackobama and his Chicago HQ team."

---

Chihuahua Romney - the One and the Only "Magic RINO(TM)":

"Obama was born in the United States"

"Obama Doesn’t Need a Birth Certificate"

"The citizenship test has been passed"

---

Milt Romney in 2007

Romney - the Magic RINO:
"I'm not running as the Republican view
or a continuation of Republican values.
That's not what brings me to the race.
(Romney Video, accessed 9/19/07)

---

"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party
 over to the traitors in the battle just ended.
We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged
 to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support.
Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates
wouldn't make any sense at all.""
--  President Ronald Reagan

"One of the traditional methods of imposing statism
or socialism on people has been by way of medicine..."
President Ronald Reagan

Romney-Imposed Gay Marriage (through Threats against Clerks)
And Romney Death Panels and ObamaCARE/RomneyCARE
Imposed by the carpetbagging, backstabbing “Milt” Willard Romney.

[Waryone]

Romney moved to the right four years ago. He tried his best to convince the world he really was conservative. He failed four years ago. He has tried to avoid moving in any direction this time. He allows the other candidates to make statements about him and gets his minions in the press to attack them.

Rush has always said his job is to entertain as well as inform. Listeners like you must learn to be discerning or else you end up unthinking, just like Obama’s supporters. Remember, even Rush can make a mistake.

[JediJones]

[KeyLargo]

“Romney, 2012—Tanned, Rested & De-scented”

You can remove the scent glands from a skunk but it's still a skunk!

[ArrogantBustard]

Yes, the American Bison is classified in the Family Bovidae ...

[for-q-clinton]

Well I listened to it live 4 years ago and to be honest it had me confused for most of this election cycle until Rush mentioned it again. I thought I must have just dreamt it because no one was talking about it. I even asked about it on FR and no one responded. If it was not an endorsement then I either took the bait and fell for the trick or Rush didn’t do a good job of ‘splaining his position or he was endorsing him (to defeat McCain).

Keep in mind I am NOT a Romney backer he is way to moderate and wishy-washy for me, but it wsa pretty clear to Rush was backing Romney at the last minute. Which was as shocker because he really doesn’t endorse in the primary. For example, who has he endorsed this time? no one.