People mistakenly see Mitt Romney as pure businessman, because he was in business off and on for about 20 years, but he has been running for political office for the last 20 years, and was involved in politics to a degree during the 1980s, he was fundraising as a democrat at the beginings of the 1990s, he was political enough in 1979 to leave the GOP because of Reagan.
He is the son of a Governor, and Presidential candidate father, and a Senate candidate mother. he was with his father when they walked out in protest of Goldwater in 1964.
Mitt has always been political, and passionately anti-conservative, he even spent his own money running ads against Steve Forbes and the flat tax in 1996, he used to spend his money to defeat republican candidates and incumbents to replace them with democrats, Mitt has always known his own personal politics.
And you are decidedly anti-RNC nominee.
I see from your posts on FR, you will be staying busy posting anti-Romney comments.
To me that makes you pro-Obama in the election.
Good to know where you stand.
We always sneer at the concept of a person who “says what's necessary to get elected” without even considering the possibility that a person with serious long-term goals Conservative goals could do the same.
Romney has paid his dues in both arenas — politics and business — and the more I watch him and look at his past record, I am convinced that I am seeing a person who fully understands the old saw that, “politics is the art of the possible”.
His tenacity has to be acknowledged, even by those who deplore him, because without it in all its ruthless glory, he wouldn't be the nominee. I am not pleased at the way he did it, but to throw another cliche out there, “politics ain't beanbag” and he can't fix things until he can get his hands on the controls.
And this is where his selection of Ryan makes the most sense. The businessman side of Romney knows clearly that unless serious repairs are made there, the whole bloody system is going to fall apart. He can do the math.
Ryan is definitely the man to convince the voters about that, and in a way they understand and can agree with.
On the Conservative side, small c Romney has always been a full-fledged Conservative in his personal life. Anti-Mormons, as much as they may dislike the religion, have to admit his life story is a testament to the virtues and values of home, family, charity, good works, patriotism, and professional endeavor.
He may regret some of the deals he made along the way, who doesn't, but I am starting to get the sense that as the magnitude of his task becomes more apparent and the damage done to the nation becomes more frightening, he's made the decision to get back to basics there as well.
Writing all this out, I am still not totally sold, but that is where my gut is taking me right now. And it's not really a bad place.
That doesn't mean he can't be twisted and pressured by conservatives to do what they want sometimes. But the Orwellian world so many so-called conservatives want us to live in, where we ignore what Mitt is and pretend he's something else, is frightening because it would make forming an effective front to engage in such arm-twisting impossible. Every time we say Romney needs to be more conservative, we can't have people telling us, "Oh, shut up, he's already conservative." Everyone's first responsiblity must be to the truth. And in Romney's case, the truth is that you'll be hard-pressed to name any Republican who has a more liberal record than he does.