Posted on 11/25/2014 10:25:00 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Past and perhaps future presidential hopeful Mitt Romney came to Chicago last night and, in blunt and sometimes surprisingly candid comments, acted like someone who probably won't run again but is leaving the door open in the apparent hope that his party might call.
In a speech and question-and-answer session with the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, the man who lost to Chicago's Barack Obama in 2012 says he's "not planning" to seek the 2016 nomination—language that politicians frequently use to suggest they haven't decided but are keeping their options open.
The former Massachusetts governor declined to elaborate, under questioning by Crain's Publisher David Snyder, who moderated the event. But he did have some sharp thoughts about other potential contenders.
For example: 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. "She's not running," Romney said with a poker face, drawing a big laugh.
Or Democrat Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state. She's the "prohibitive favorite" for the Democratic nomination and will be in position to hoard her cash for the general election, Mr. Romney said. But she'll also have to accept some responsibility for Obama's foreign policy failures.
Romney was neutral to flattering on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and Govs. Scot Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio.
OBAMA'S IMMIGRATION ORDER
But Romney took a shot at conservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, describing him as a tea party favorite who "made a mistake" in pushing for the 2013 shutdown of the federal government amid a budget standoff. Romney went out of his way to praise New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom Romney aides blasted during the 2012 election after he made nice with Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Romney described Christie as a "strong, forceful, get-the-job-done" type who might run a successful presidency much like Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson did in the 1960s.
Overall, perhaps because he was speaking to an audience of attorneys and other professionals who work with troubled corporations, Romney was quite negative about America's current standing. He said "almost no progress" has been made in recent decades on big issues like rising debt, global warming, cutting the poverty rate and challenges from countries such as China.
But he raised eyebrows when he said that, while immigration reform should be handled by Congress rather than through an executive order, Obama's recent move to suspend the deportation of five million undocumented immigrants "may well work out for him" politically. Romney, of course, got whacked during the 2012 campaign when he suggested 11 million immigrants here illegally would "self-deport" if the country ignored their plight.
I thought Romney's best moment of the event came after the founder of Bain Capital explained some of the virtues of the private-equity business. He would have done himself some good to have done just that two years ago. It would have been good for Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner, too, whose record as an investor came under intense attack without much defense from him about what his life's work was about.
Stericycle is paid to come and pick up the bodies, and to dispose of them in their incineration plants.
Rarely have I seen someone work so hard to avoid the obvious facts.
So, you're not going to explain the moral difference between what Stericcycle does and what the Nazis did.
Not surprising, since there is no explanation that anyone with half a brain would believe.
Yes that is a possibility. Hospitals and medical facilities contract with them to remove medical waste. ALL medical waste. It could be very well true that in hospitals which perform abortions contract with Stericycle.
What I am trying to say is that medical equipment, including medical waste systems have multiple purposes. As a shareholder of GE, it is quite possible that some abortion providers have used equipment manufactured from that company as well. Which makes me as guilty as MR.
What a bunch of BS!
Myth Romney was, is, and always will be pro-abortion.
I am not aware of a single politician in American history, regardless of party, who is more of a disingenuous opportunist than Romney. The man will say anything he thinks his audience at that moment wants to hear.
Romney CLAIMS to have become pro-life, but conveniently this was done when he decided to run for president and was no doubt told that it would be impossible to win the GOP nomination if he was openly pro-abortion.
Talk to someone who was once pro-abortion, but now pro-life and you will understand what it means. For them, becoming pro-life is not a decision, it is a cathartic conversion experience that instills in them a passion to to defend life. They can tell you what happened, they can describe how their eyes were opened. Romney has none of this.
RR, too, was once pro-abortion and later became pro-life.
I am so damn sick of pro-abortion FReepers repeating this LIE.
Ronald Reagan signed the "Therapeutic Abortion Act" because he was lied to. The bill was to only allow abortion in cases of rape, incest or actual risk to the life of the mother (sound familiar?); however, the abortionists immediately interpreted "life of the mother" as being a desire for the sake of convenience. Reagan spent the rest of his life regretting this action (that the California legislature would have overridden anyway had he vetoed it).
Try reading Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation and see what Ronald Reagan really though about abortion:
I have often said we need to join in prayer to bring protection to the unborn. Prayer and action are needed to uphold the sanctity of human life. I believe it will not be possible to accomplish our work, the work of saving lives, “without being a soul of prayer.” The famous British Member of Parliament, William Wilberforce, prayed with his small group of influential friends, the “Clapham Sect,” for decades to see an end to slavery in the British empire. Wilberforce led that struggle in Parliament, unflaggingly, because he believed in the sanctity of human life. He saw the fulfillment of his impossible dream when Parliament outlawed slavery just before his death.Let his faith and perseverance be our guide. We will never recognize the true value of our own lives until we affirm the value in the life of others, a value of which Malcolm Muggeridge says: “… however low it flickers or fiercely burns, it is still a Divine flame which no man dare presume to put out, be his motives ever so humane and enlightened.”
Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. My Administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land, and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.
These are not the words of a man who is trying to score points with a group of voters, Reagan wasn't reacting to polling data, he submitted this treatise UNSOLICITED because of his personal convictions and because it was the right thing to do.
President Reagan knew that thousands of innocent babies were being murdered each day, he knew that the American Holocaust was an evil stain on our Republic and he heard the voice of millions of unborn children crying out in horror. Abortion wasn't a political issue for President, it was simply a matter of right and wrong.
It’s not “a possibility.” It’s an absolute certainty. Pro-life people have watched Stericycle trucks come in and out of the abortuaries for many years. Get real.
Yes. And light bulbs manufactured at GE are also used at the abortion clinics. As a shareholder of GE, does that make me complicit as well?
“Medical equipment” is a total red herring. Who cares about it? Only you, apparently.
The point is that Stericycle is in the business of physically disposing of the broken bodies of millions of murdered children, and that Mitt Romney profited from that “business model” to the tune of at least $75 million dollars that we know of.
Mitt also supports homosexual marriage, gun bans, and illegal immigration.
That there are people who insist on continuing to support him is unbelievable.
There is NOTHING in his history that says anything other than “Liberal loser, just with an ‘R’ affiliation”.
I seriously doubt you're that stupid. So, I must conclude that you're just being blatantly, obviously dishonest.
What a load of crap!
Stericyle is in the business of disposing of medical waste and they sell this service DIRECTLY to hospitals and medical practices. Because abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the United States (there are as many abortions performed as there are C-sections), it is axiomatic that a significant percentage of medical "waste" is actually murdered babies. So yes, Stericycle knows this and is complicit in this.
General Electric on the other hand sells their light bulbs to retail and wholesale establishments who in turn sell them to consumers. They don't know who the end user is and light bulbs are a staple product, not a highly specialized service like medical waste disposal.
Yep.
Wonder where the barking “Romney is conservative” packs are this time?
I would expect them to have appeared in mass by now.
bump
I didn’t know this about Mitt Romney, I didn’t know I could like him less and then I did.
In the old days, abortuaries would just throw their murdered victims in trash cans or burn them in barrels or even chop them up and put them in garbage disposers. Now, they have to comply with state and federal regulations.
Getting service from a company like Stericycle is not the same as calling up and ordering a pizza. A representative is going to evaluate your business, determine the amount and type of waste, come up with an estimate and the business owner will sign a contract.
The Stericycle representative knows EXACTLY what they are disposing of from any given business, they have to know because the law requires it. This means that, yes, they do know about the murdered babies and yes, they do have the option of refusing to do business with abortuaries.
In the last election cycle there was an active effort by Republicans, including “pro-life” industry leaders, to cover the Romney/Stericycle story up. And that conspiracy of silence worked, very, very well.
I’m not surprised that there are those who are still participating in that cover up. It’s one of the most scandalous things ever perpetrated, and it will be very damaging to the GOP establishment if it ever sinks into the skulls of the base that they nominated an abortion profiteer for president.
Well, the time devoted to this thread is not wasted then.
I recall hearing about Stericycle, but not the details.
Great post. The only thing I would add to it is the fact that venture capitalists like Romney also don’t spend tens of millions of dollars purchasing companies without knowing EXACTLY what the business of that company entails.
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