Free Republic

Mitt Romney has picked up a major, if still unofficial, endorsement in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Former President George H.W. Bush told the Houston Chronicle he believes Romney is the best candidate in the race—though he stopped short of officially endorsing his 2012 bid. "I think Romney is the best choice for us," Bush told the Houston Chronicle. "I like Perry, but he doesn't seem to be going anywhere; he's not surging forward." The ex-president, who is personally close to Romney, praised the former governor's "stability, experience, principles." "He's mature and reasonable—not a bomb thrower," Bush said,...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney showed the right stuff by keeping cool when an unruly airline passenger threatened the likely GOP presidential contender in a flap over reclining seats, experts said. “There’s no need to get into fisticuffs over a reclined seat,” said etiquette guru Jodi R.R. Smith, president of Mannersmith. Smith called Romney “generally one of the more well-mannered politicians on our national stage.” The former Bay State governor and his wife, Ann, were on a flight from Vancouver to Los Angeles Monday when Romney asked the man sitting in front of his wife to put his seat upright for...