Posted on 06/15/2014 5:10:43 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Far from being excommunicated by Republicans after his loss to President Obama, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is enjoying a brand resurgence of late, drawing several potential 2016 candidates to his "ideas summit" this weekend in Utah and even earning some 2016 speculation himself.
Meanwhile, some other potential candidates are in Iowa for the state Republican Party's convention there Saturday. And not to be left out, Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., was in California Friday to raise money for the Republican gubernatorial candidate there and participate in a Facebook chat.
It all adds up to a busy weekend for the early 2016 Republican presidential sweepstakes.
In Utah, Romney has billed his summit as an opportunity for a new generation of conservative thinkers and political leaders to strategize about the best path forward for the party and the country. No fewer than six potential 2016 GOP candidates made the trek to the Park City, including Christie, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Gov. Susana Martinez, R-Ohio, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who was Romney's running mate in 2012.
Romney once worried he'd be branded a "loser for life" by his party if he failed to unseat the president, but it hasn't quite worked out that way. Despite the crowd of up-and-comers at his summit, many people there were more abuzz about the possibility that Romney himself could jump into the race in 2016.
Rommey "is the only person that can fill the stage," said MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough at a private dinner on the summit's opening night, according to The Washington Post.
"He would be a giant in a field of midgets," added Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat who's weighing a 2016 bid himself.
Romney has not entertained speculation that he could mount another bid, saying he's only interested in putting his stamp on the party going forward and positioning Republicans to win national elections. "The unavailable is always the most attractive, right?" he said, according to The Associated Press. "That goes in dating as well."
He dinged potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during a campaign-style speech at the summit, pointing to mounting violence in Iraq to argue that the foreign policy Clinton helped engineer as secretary of state has been a "monumental bust."
"Tragically, all we've fought for in Iraq, all that 4,500 American lives were shed to gain, is on the cusp, potentially, of vanishing," Romney said.
The speculation swirling around Romney, who was the establishment choice in 2012, could reflect broader dissatisfaction with the party's slate of potential 2016 candidates.
One establishment favorite, Christie, has been handicapped in recent months by the traffic scandal surrounding the George Washington Bridge. And GOP officials believe former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would be a formidable candidate, but they worry he has not demonstrated the constitution required for a brutal presidential race.
Paul, an insurgent Republican viewed skeptically by the party brass, sharpened his pitch ahead of his speech in Utah, telling Republicans they must expand their support without watering down their message.
"Our base is not big enough to win national elections and we have to reach out to new people, and that means African-Americans, Hispanics, young people, single women," Paul told The Washington Post. "We have to have a message that we don't dilute or make no longer consistent with who we are, but that we take elements that really do appeal to people."
After his appearance at the summit, Paul left Utah for Iowa to speak at the Iowa Republican Party's biennial convention in Des Moines.
Also scheduled to speak to Iowa Republicans Saturday are Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who won the state's first-in-the-nation caucus during the his own 2012 presidential bid.
As they consider their future, Jindal, Paul and Santorum have all burnished their appeal among social conservatives - a voting bloc with particularly strong influence among Iowa Republicans.
Jindal and Santorum will return to Iowa in August along with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, to participate in the Family Leadership Summit, the organizers of that event announced Saturday, according to the Des Moines Register. Other potential but unconfirmed attendees at that gathering of Christian conservatives include Paul, Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Govs. Scott Walker, R-Wis., Mike Pence, R-Ind., and Christie.
Like Paul, Christie has counseled his party to reach out to Democrats and independents.
"If you want a candidate you agree with 100 percent of the time, look in the mirror," he said Friday during a fundraising trip to California to support Neel Kashkari, the Republican gubernatorial candidate there.
"I'm out here to support Neel, to let him know it can happen, but that you have to reach out to everybody," Christie said, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
During his trip, Christie also visited with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who raised money for his re-election bid, and participated in a live chat with Facebook users. In response to a question about congressional gridlock, Christie advised lawmakers to seek common ground to solve problems, the Los Angeles Times reports.
heheheheheheheheh. I like you, you like me, both of us love Mitt Romney. That rhymed!
You need to sober up or take a break for a while.
Where was I? Back here at a newspaper doing my damned best to try and make sure the Dems that ran it didn’t get more of you killed.
And I have a daughter that spent her own time there. A lot of it.
And When you can point out where electing your problems is the way to go, do it. Until then, all YOU are doing is playing ‘internet warrior’ defending a POS liberal.
I didn’t ask about your girl tough guy. I asked about you. YOU got Obama re-elected. On behalf of those of us going forward for you-—thanks.
Pure enough?
A man who spent hundreds of millions to overcome his life of abortion support and promotion, who after winning the GOP nomination came out again as pro-abortion and against the GOP pro-life platform and who then ran pro-choice ads in Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and then lost those three states?
Well tough guy. I tried to up twice and they refused twice on a medical. So would you rather I sat home or did what I could to help?
And you are still defending and HELPING screw the country you fought to defend. Why? Why do you insist on backing the very kinds of, some of the very people that got so many killed?
your liberal Republicans stand there and do nothing while Obama loses Iraq and you want more of them?
I will continue to actively work to politically destroy liberal republicans, in either the primary or the general election.
The GOP needs to put up a conservative candidate, or we'll wind up with 8 years of Hillary. And that will be the liberal GOP's fault.
By conservative, I would settle for someone that matches the republican party platform. Romney didn't.
/johnny
Thanks in advance for Hillary, newsman. And yes, I’m on my 5th deployment. Romney wouldn’t have sold us out. And don’t give me this “cyst on my ass” excuse. The Army takes everyone.
Well they didn’t. Explain that.
And if you want a lib don’t be shocked when your tough talk impresses me not at all.
LOL, I talked to recruiters three different times but they said I was too old.
I guess my two honorables will have to suffice for me not voting pro-abortion and pro-gay military, and Boy Scout leaders, all Mitt Romney’s positions.
Maybe Norm is Catholic, Obama won their vote both times.
Obama
I won’t do Mitt again.
Nope. former. Left long ago. I’m more of a ‘Church of me and God without the middleman” kinda guy ;)
Maybe if Mitt had decided to actually campaign people would have come out to vote for him. If he can’t even bother to make an attempt to win the election, why would you put the blame on anyone else for his lack of effort and the subsequent results.
The only people Mitt will campaign against are conservatives. Marxists, communists, socialists and liberals like Obama are his friends. He would not dare campaign against them.
"The answer is self-deportation, which is people decide they can do better by going home because they can't find work here because they don't have legal documentation to allow them to work here," he said. "And so we're not going to round people up."After he lost, just recently, he came out strongly for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
The former governor explained: "The way that we have in this society is to say, look, people who have come here legally would, under my plan, be given a transition period and the opportunity during that transition period to work here, but when that transition period was over, they would no longer have the documentation to allow them to work in this country. At that point, they can decide whether to remain or whether to return home and to apply for legal residency in the United States, get in line with everybody else. And I know people think but that's not fair to those that have come here illegally."
You voted for it, bethelgrad, so would you be here owning it? Or would you be here whining, "Don't blame me! I voted against [Hillary/Democrat Nighmare du Jour]!"
It's out of your control and it's out of my control. Americans want and need something to vote for. Just because you don't care what you vote for as long as it's "against" Obama, doesn't mean the rest of us are that blind.
If Americans reject Obama, why wouldn't they reject Romney? A lot would just as soon stay home. Voting "against" is for ninnies. It always fails, it always pulls left, but there's always a carrot at the end of the stick held far off to your right, so you don't notice your leftward gait.
People like you got Clinton elected twice because Bush and Dole didn’t match your level of conservatism.
I voted for Dole and Bush in both of those. But loving American patriots got Clinton elected twice on a plurality. Most Americans wanted a different guy. It made Clinton weak. He ended up being impeached. That's a fact.
Conservatism ADVANCED under Clinton, because he was over-run. If Bush or Dole had won, what would have kept the Republican party from veering left?
Is that about it? That's why you're a Republican? Because of a skinny Democrat fraud? Purely cosmetic reasons, then?
What's the main philosophical difference between Republican and Democrat, would you say? In a nutshell?
What this comes down to I think, isn’t so much that these people actually believe the things they say, it’s that they don’t want their feet held to the fire for the things they SAID about the severe conservative last time. They are so invested in the hell they spewed at conservatives during the last election, they would certainly lose face by admitting it.
So like they try bulling their way through it and shouting down/attacking and otherwise attempting to shame people into backing down because as we all say in 12, it worked against a lot of people.
All the GFY comments, the pictures of Yosemitie Sam on a dragon (still can’t figure out the ‘logic’ of that one), the ‘you support Obama” comments etc. are the same things by the same crew we saw last time.
TLDR version: They situational ethicists refusing to admit they were wrong. The proof of Romney’s record and words is/are there for all to read. Denying it is meaningless. He is what he is.
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