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.
Welcome to freerepublic, you almost sound like a retread.
What was in post 199 that drew that frivolous, and hostile avoidance? Does a simple question about Romney and an explanation to clear up your ignorance about Reagan call for that?
You refuse to respond to post 87, and you refuse to respond to history on Reagan and Romney after repeatedly using him in your liberal arguments.
If you are a nooby that refuses to respond to posts and engage with the conservatives here, then why sign up and post?
Get the person that you support nominated to the head of the Republican ticket and that person has my vote. It’s really easy to understand.
Since you just signed up, and are an instant and heavy poster yet refuse to respond to conservative posters, you really do look like a retread, a rather liberal one.
Please, for your own sanity, have the administrator delete my account. If it makes you happy it will make me happy. I vote for Romney or the nominated person at the top of the Republican ticket.
Why won’t you just respond to posts like post 87 which was relevant to your Romney promoting and a direct question addressed to you, or 60 and 73 which are related to your ignorance of Reagan and specifically addressed your comparing Romney to Reagan?
Why instead keep lashing out with snarky posts?
When a guy who has only been here 3 weeks is already raging at people avoiding some posters, and appearing to already have some personal hostility to others, he sure looks like a retread.
admin, this person seems to have a huge isse with me and in particular the fact that I will not engage in a debate that we both already know the outcome. Therefore, please remove my account because I did not come here for this. Thanks and good luck.
A poster’s opinions are relevant-—the sign up date isn’t.
.
Post 87 has nothing to do with debate, and I’m not here to debate, and FR isn’t a debate site
The way you promote Romney and use Reagan, while avoiding our responses to your posts, indicates that you are here to sell something, something that we don’t want.
In this case his sign up date is relevant, and it reinforces the suspicion that he is a retread.
The authentic quote is supposed to be.
National Review will support the rightward most viable candidate.
“At National Review today, theres an interesting piece of history from Neal Freeman, who was present at the creation of the Buckley Rule by William F. himself at an NR meeting in 1964, when the magazine decided to editorially endorse Barry Goldwater over Nelson Rockefeller (who, believe it or not, had support on the magazines board). According to Freeman, the exact formulation of the Buckley Rule was: National Review will support the rightwardmost viable candidate. But Buckley had a somewhat different way of interpreting viable than does Rove:
We all knew what viable meant in Bills lexicon. It meant somebody who saw the world as we did. Somebody who would bring credit to our cause. Somebody who, win or lose, would conservatize the Republican party and the country. It meant somebody like Barry Goldwater.”
It can be. I've been posting for only three years, but when I see someone pushing the queer agenda or something similar, I hover over the name, and most of the time the signup date will be 2013 or 2014.
“So just who do you think he would have been a Good president for? “
“good” is a relative and subjective term. Romney would have been a much better president than BO, but there are those here who are hung up on his religion, and will make all sorts of excuses as to why they didn’t support his candidacy, resulting in the current mess we have. well you got your wish and Romney didn’t win, and now America must suffer the consequences. However, i must agree that Romney would be a huge mistake if we hope to defeat Hillary in 2016.
‘The way you promote Romney and use Reagan, while avoiding our responses to your posts, indicates that you are here to sell something, something that we dont want.’
Are you speaking for all Freepers? have they elected you to be the judge, jury and executioner for this site? if someone holds a differing opinion than you about Romney, but will support whomever is the GOP 2016 nominee, who are you to suggest that they don’t belong here? will we be asked to genuflect to you in future posts?
Which liberal are you trying to push for 2016?
Or are you just trying to soften us up for any liberal that emerges?
!!! LOL!! Yep. I think you got ol’ Wave nailed! {^)
AMEN.
What you say is absolutely true.
When the Republican party nominates for president of America -- a Republican -- who acts in lockstep with the Democrat agenda in expanding government control and power over every aspect of our lives ---
Is it realistic to think the Republican party would kick Romney out on his ear the same way the Democrat party would kick out Ted Cruz if he switched parties and attempted to bring a much-limited government agenda to the Democrat party?
Or is it more realistic to acknowledge that it's time for limited government conservatism to go Second Party? Voting for Republicans to carry that banner is a crap shoot so shaky that if you vote for Romney, you're in fact actually voting to HARM limited government conservatism! Oh, wait -- you won't be voting for that, you'll be voting against Hillary, or whoever the next nightmare is. Yeah, that's why I have to vote for a liberal -- to stop a worse one!
The sooner conservatives understand that voting "against" is total poppycock, the sooner we'll start making progress turning things right.
Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!! You gave me Obama because you didn't vote my way for a liberal, waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
No wonder the Republican party has been such a loser in terms of enacting conservative government over the past 30 years.
Well, yeah, that ...
But he'd be better than Obama! or Hillary! *ducking*
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