Posted on 02/14/2008 2:47:40 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos and John Berman Report: Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., today endorsed his former Republican rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The endorsement took place this afternoon at Romney for President headquarters in Boston.
Romney asked his delegates to throw their support to McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent," Romney said, standing with McCain for the announcement at his now-defunct campaign's headquarters in Boston. "As a party, we come together."
Accepting Romney's endorsement, McCain said despite a "hard campaign" now "we move forward together for the good of our party and the nation."
Once bitter rivals locked in an acrimonious Republican nomination fight, Romney abandoned his 2008 bid following a poor showing in the Super Tuesday contests this month. Romney had won the support of many in the conservative wing of the party, but failed to overtake McCain in either delegates or the number of state wins.
The former governor made his decision to endorse today in the interest of helping McCain gain the 1,191 delegates he needs to secure the party nomination and unite the party for the general election against the Democrats in November.
Romney campaign manager Beth Myers notified McCain campaign manager Rick Davis in a telephone call today of Romney's decision, and they immediately made arrangements for an announcement in Boston this afternoon since McCain was campaigning in Rhode Island today.
After McCain's townhall meeting near Providence this afternoon, the campaign is flying to Boston for the endorsement.
Romney and McCain will meet today before they both announce the formal endorsement at a press conference.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/republican_delegate_count.html
Well thats your opinion. I agree he spent a lot of money but he didn’t buy my vote. And he didn’t win just pockets - he won support all over the country. But I understand some people like you just don’t like him and will just trash him. Whatever.
The ONLY thing that will rouse enough of the conservative base to vote for McCain would be Romney as VEEP. McCain is too old to do two terms/ Romney would be perfectly positioned to run again in 2012——
If Romney were that popular with the base, he would have won the nomination. McCain should pick Cheney as his VP -- then maybe he'd have a chance.
Along with Fred Thompson and a host of conservative senators.
It’s funny watching a forum that swooned all over Fred Thompson now attacking Mitt Romney for doing something Fred Thompson did over a week ago.
Your comment would seem much more applicable to Mitt Romney than to McCain. While some here doubt that Mitt is moving very far to the right, I haven't seen any evidence that he's been moving actively to the left over the last few years the way McCain has. McCain may have been a conservative once (more likely, IMHO, he happened to take conservative positions without an understanding of why they were correct) but he certainly isn't anymore. Even if he hasn't yet become as much of a leftist as Hillary or Obama, he's getting there.
Apparently, he was wrong, as enough conservatives voted for John McCain that the combined Huckabee/Romney voter set could not stop McCain on Super Tuesday.
Conservatives are not trying to drive a stake through McCain’s heart. Most stopped that when it became clear we could not stop him from winning the nomination.
Now most of us are doing what we always beg the moderates to do when a conservative wins the primary — backing the candidate chosen by the party.
Loyalty is a two-way street. We have a house minority leader with a lifetime high-90 rating and 100% recently. We have a senate leader who is in the 90s for ACU ratings.
Fred Thompson already endorsed McCain last week.
“I hope we’ll follow his 11th Commandment through this campaign season and wait to beat up on each other until after Obama or Clinton is defeated.”
When a Republican accuses another of not being a Reagan Republican, he breaks Reagan’s 11th commandment. Oxymoronic?
If McCain wins, it will be because a lot of Democrats who were disgusted with their candidates voted for him. That would mean the Republicans will get slaughtered down-ticket. The Democrats will offer to let McCain do what he wants (which will likely help the Democrats anyway) in exchange for his doing what the Dems want. McCain will be more than happy to accept, on the basis that he was at least getting 'something' out of the filibuster-proof Senate.
If the Republicans were to run a reasonably-conservative candidate (say Fred Thompson) who then lost to Obama, that would mean they lost the Presidential race, but by running a candidate who was less attractive to crossover voters they would reduce the effect of such votes down-ticket. Given the bad blood between Obama and Clinton, Republicans might even gain seats in Congress in that scenario.
True, but when a Republican accuses a true RINO of not being a Republican, he doesn't.
I believe Obama will be a far more dangerous general election opponent (and would likely be a worse President) than Hillary.
If nominated, McCain will loose. One of the few Republicans that Obama can beat is McCain. So why nominate a looser. The Republican convention is months away!
Show me a more workable solution that promotes conservative values in 2008.
Stand your ground. Don't let McCain and the MSM stapeed you into a premature and unwise decision. No candidate can battle both an opponent and 1/3 of his base at the same time. You betcha. Dump McCain next week or in 6 months. Nominate an electable Republican at the September convention. One who has the support of the party base. Because of fatal flaws in both Democrat hopefuls, many Republicans could beat either Democrat as long as they have the widespread support of the Republican membership.
There's plenty of time to gracefully rid the party of McCain in accordance with established procedures. Rhetoric aside, partisan electors are not tied to candidates. They can do as they wish at the convention if they represent a clear majority opinion.
Stand your ground. Don't let McCain and the MSM stampede you into a premature and unwise decision. No candidate can prevail while fending off attacks from both his opponents and the members of his own party.
A similar situation existed in 2003. Partisans supported a liberal Republican because of unfounded fears of the popularity of a Democrat, cultural separatist. The liberal won and the results were a disaster for both the California GOP and the state of California.
There’s your ticket....screw Huckabee./
We're going to be stuck in a two front war.
Did he?
http://www.pinnaclecascade.com/
Seems there’s some doubt about that.
If he said it ‘in a statement’, where’s the statement?
And criticism befell Duncan Hunter for endorsing Huckabee even though the owner of this website did the same.
“This is no longer about past preferences or differences. It is about what is best for our country and for me that means that Republican should close ranks behind John McCain,” Thompson said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.”
I agree, that's hardly a ringing endorsement. But it isn't a "keep fighting, Huckabee, to stop John McCain" either.
IMO, if Hunter endorses anybody it'll be Huckabee.
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