Posted on 11/21/2007 6:06:37 AM PST by Reaganesque
So this is probably the last thing I saw myself doing nine or ten months ago when I first started seriously following the 2008 race and committed to support Sam Brownback. But here I find myself doing it nonetheless. So I suppose a little bit of explanation here is in order.
In the first place, I want to rehash something I said a long time ago (Nov. 27, 2006 to be exact) about a three-way race between Romney, Rudy, and McCain:
More below...
As I said several months ago - in a three-way race between Romney, Giuliani, and McCain, I'd vote for Romney. Apart from Brownback (who can't win, however much I like him), there are no personally committed pro-lifers on the 2008 slate. While a committed pro-lifer would certainly be the most desirable choice, the second choice would be a guy who knows which side his bread is buttered on. So, if faced with a choice between a guy like McCain, who has a pretty good pro-life voting record, but recently joined Christine Todd-Whitman's "We hate the religious right" PAC, his voting record is less important than the fact that he's historically shown a willingness to spit in the eye of social conservatives just for kicks and press accolades. Mitt, on the other hand, can apparently be trusted to pander to the voters he needs, which in this case is us.
That analysis still stands. For a while, the Fred Thompson campaign gave me hope for someone who might be a little more solid on the issue, but looking at the polling right now leads me inescapably to the conclusion that Fred Thompson is toast. He's not polling any higher than third in any state right now, and Romney has even moved into second in the crucial state of Florida. I just don't know that Thompson has what it takes to get back up off the mat right now. And while I feel a lot better about supporting McCain than I did a year ago, I still just can't make myself trust him at all. I made it a special point to get on McCain's conference call last week so that I could hopefully get just that little assurance I needed to sway me into his camp - and in my estimation, he blew the question. Like I said, I could get behind McCain a lot more easily than I could at this point last year, but he still isn't my first choice. As for Huckabee? Well, let's just say that I lived in Arkansas while he was governor, and my state tax burden was higher than my federal tax burden. And also that I worked on Jim Holt's 2004 campaign. I hope that explains why I have never seriously considered voting for him.
So what about Romney? Well, you know what? I'm going to maintain some intellectual honesty about all of this. I think a lot of his positions are staked out based on his estimation of what the voters he needs want. That's not exacctly the most comforting feeling in the world, even if you're in the group he needs at the moment (as us SoCons are). But I have to think at this point that, at least on abortion, he doesn't have another flip left in him, and I think he knows it. So that's good enough for me.
As for the rest, there's a lot to like about Mitt Romney (Crank's excellent and well-researched series on his weaknesses notwithstanding). The guy, I think, did a good-faith job of governing as a conservative in a liberal state. He's shown a real competence at managing organizations - which, let's face it, is a welcome change of pace after the last four years. His personal history is squeaky clean - absolutely no skeletons in the closet. And I think his health plan will be hated enough by both sides of the aisle that we won't see any national healthcare plan passed during his tenure in office, which is a victory in and of itself. In all other areas, I don't seriously doubt that he'll govern as a conservative. I have, in all honesty, a *lot* less doubt about that than I had about Bush in 1999.
You know, I think one of the things about blogs and the internet is that it's made it a lot easier to go back and nitpick what people have said and that doesn't always do us a service. We're not always going to get a guy who's been a doctrinaire conservative from birth, although the internet has made it so that we expect that. And if it appears at times that Romney is a relentless triangulator - well, for Pete's sake, he's a freaking politician. That's what politicians do. And if the end result of their triangulation is that they pretty consistently come down where you are, then I guess it's time to be happy about that.
The bottom line for me right now is that for all my personal naysaying and doubting, I have to admit in the end that Romney has worked the hardest, run the smartest campaign, and outlasted all other Republican comers save Rudy, and we all know how I feel about Rudy. In the end, if I had to choose between seeing Romney and Rudy standing, it wouldn't even be a close call. When I examine the field, I see only one candidate left standing with a reasonable shot of winning the White House who would govern as a conservative, and that candidate is Mitt Romney. So from now on, I'm tossing in with him, for better or worse.
In closing, let me say a few things that I hope some Romney supporters will take to heart. It doesn't really do a lot of good to pretend that Romney is perfect, or that he hasn't made a mistake, or that his positions on certain things haven't changed. That's just insulting to people's intelligence and it turns people off from the candidate. May I humbly suggest that the better way to convince skeptical Republican voters that Romney is someone they could support is to encourage them to ask themselves, "Will he govern as a conservative?" I know that part of the reason it took me so long to come around to this position is that I heard too many people saying the former, and not enough repeatedly asking me the latter.
Romneys real record...
http://exposingtheleft.blogspot.com/2007/09/romney-flip-flops-gaffes-and-other.html
Or is FR no longer valid for you?
Anyways, yes you are right Fred has flopped, so you don;t have to pay attention to him anymore.
You are free to support the seemingly popular slightly less RINO than Rudy (maybe) guy.
Your dedication to conservatism is noted...
If winning is the strongest principle one has ... well, my faith is draining more rapidly.
This is just more bs to push the top tier candidates that we don’t want.
BUT MITT’S A CONSERVTIVE!
HE SWEARS IT!
13.4% of Free Republic Members AGREE!
Massachusetts bleeds malignant liberalism. I know, I have worked there. One cannot get elected to a major political office in Massachusetts without the support of an enormous pot of filthy liberals. If Mitt got elected governor in Massachusetts, then he is hiding some serious stuff from conservatives. Game, set match.
From MassResistance:
Conclusion
For over ten years MassResistance has observed Mitt Romney and his actions. On issue after issue, Romney would search for a way to look like he was governing as a conservative, but in every case, the liberals would ultimately be the victors. He would double the money for programs that promoted homosexuality in the schools but then turn around and veto what he himself had allocated, knowing full well his veto would be overturned.
On the marriage issue, he made it look like he was "forced" into recognizing homosexual marriages, but he refused to pursue other options that would have rallied anti-gay marriage forces and perhaps turned this issue around.
He would issue statements critical of obscene pro-homosexual books and about the treatment of David Parker, yet it was the actions of his own agencies that created these controversies to begin with. Nor would he lift a finger to make internal changes to prevent his agencies from promoting the liberal agenda or reprimand any employees possibly engaged, for example, in illegal activities.
To any observer, his seemingly contradictory tactics and strategies looked as though he was preparing a "conservative track record" for his run for higher office. He has issued enough conservative sounding statements and engaged in enough "battles" with liberals (as fake as many of them were), that to an uninformed observer, it may look like he was an embattled conservative triumphing over the forces in liberalism in one of the most liberal states in America.
Both that's the myth his campaign staff wants to perpetrate. Any close observer will tell you that the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual forces never lost any battles under his tenure and that in fact, they grew in power and influence. Romney did nothing to restrain the groups who have launched a jihad on America's Judeo-Christian culture.
On so many occasions, the liberal agenda could have been slowed down or even defeated with the smallest internal regulatory decision or executive order and yet he never used the power he had to do that. He gave up the battlefield to our enemies over and over again.
This is why every conservative in America needs to question his overly hyped conversion to conservatism. How can we trust a man who has done so much damage to causes dear to our hearts who has suddenly become a conservative only after deciding to run for President?
Fourteen years ago the country was duped by a charming, smooth talking "moderate" Democrat named Bill Clinton who used the power of the Presidency to inflict great damage to America's military, to our intelligence agencies, and to our culture. The gap between how Clinton appeared to most Americans and how he really governed was huge. We cannot afford another President like that.
Maybe a pink Rambler? See #68
“Massachusetts bleeds malignant liberalism. I know, I have worked there. One cannot get elected to a major political office in Massachusetts without the support of an enormous pot of filthy liberals. If Mitt got elected governor in Massachusetts, then he is hiding some serious stuff from conservatives. Game, set match.”
I know what MA is made of, I live here. My question is, how did he govern? He governed as a Conservative. Checkmate.
“Whoever the nominee is, we better get ready to unite, or else it’s Billary or B. Hussein for eight years.”
SAY IT AGAIN, BROTHER!!
FR poll? I am taling about the real poll, where Giuliani is ahead.
Mitt is the one whe can stop Rudy. If you want a more solid conservative who can also win, then perhaps Thompson should quit and endorse Mccain who atleast can stop Rudy in the elections.
“The Mitt Romney Deception
From MassResistance:
Conclusion
For over ten years MassResistance has observed Mitt Romney and his actions. On issue after issue, Romney would search for a way to look like he was governing as a conservative, but in every case, the liberals would ultimately be the victors”
This line of thinking is so warped it’s not really worth dissecting. Romney fought tooth and nail aginst an OVERWHELMING liberal legislature and court. The fact is his vetoes were overridden.
“If winning is the strongest principle one has ... well, my faith is draining more rapidly.”
Point taken. But at some point you need to consider voting for the most conservative candidate who actually has a chance of winning.
sig226 Posts the Astronomy Picture of the Day Threads now.
I bet if you freepmailed him you could get on the ping list.
Go read it...for yourself.
Well, how about this one: Romney didn’t do a darn thing about the sanctuary cities in his state while he was gov, even though he had federal law to back him up.
I will have no reservations about supporting Romney if he wins the nomination. However, I think that he has the lowest chances against HER possibly because of his Mormon faith. I am still solidly behind FDT for the nomination.I agree completely. Romney is not my guy but he's infinitely better than Hillary. In the meantime, I'll be working for Fred, who is definitely better than any other Republican other than Hunter (who unfortunately is going nowhere).
“Well, how about this one: Romney didn’t do a darn thing about the sanctuary cities in his state while he was gov, even though he had federal law to back him up.”
Wrong.
He authorized State Troopers to arrest illegal aliens on any vehicle violation or during any other arrest. This was overturned when Duval (D) was elected.
How can you have sides, without a middle?
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