Free Republic

It might have been Mitt Romney’s most revealing moment in all the Republican debates. Badgered by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who was continually interrupting him, Romney appealed to CNN moderator Anderson Cooper to reassert the rules of the debate: “Anderson?” That one-word plaint could stand for all of Romney’s straight-arrowness. It is a virtue and a curse. “Scandal” and “Romney” are two words you expect never to have to see in a sentence together. He’s every bit as upstanding as you would expect from a former Mormon bishop, a father of five and grandfather of 16. Romney is a familiar...

Rick Perry wants Mitt Romney to cough up his form 1040s (that’s the US individual tax return document). The Romney camp demurred, saying they would consider doing so next year. (Remarkably, Romney has NEVER released, even during his governorship of Massachusetts.) Why won’t Romney do it? Speculation, from liberal group ThinkProgress and others, is that Romney pays a way lower tax rate than many Americans because of his extensive financial investments, from which income is typically taxed below that of regular income. One left-leaning analyst speculates Romney paid an effective tax rate as low as 14 percent on his $6.6...

Today, Mitt Romney refused to take a position on the big battle in Ohio over the ballot initiative to repeal Governor John Kasich’s law rolling back the collective bargaining rights of public employees. The fight is a hugely important one to conservatives, with right wing money flowing into the state, and conservative bloggers erupted in fury at Romney, asking how it is that he can be running for president when he isn’t willing to take a firm stand against the scourge of public employees. [snip] Governors who are willing to risk serious unpopularity in order to roll back the bargaining...

Campaigning in Ohio today, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stopped by a Republican Party phone-bank making calls in support of Gov. John Kasich's government union reform referendum, but refused to endorse the actual referendum. CNN's Peter Hamby called the scene an "incredible moment in politics."

Businessman Herman Cain is now atop the field of Republican White House hopefuls, squeaking past former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the latest CBS News/New York Times poll. Cain garnered 25 percent support of Republican primary voters in the poll released Tuesday, compared to Romney's 21 percent. In early October, the two men were tied at 17 percent.

OKLAHOMA CITY – So, how excited were the good, conservative folks at the Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame Museum when Republican Mitt Romney arrived there Friday morning for a fundraising event? They weren't really. There was polite applause and a "Wow, it's the GOP presidential frontrunner - in the buckle of the Red State Bible Belt! Gee whiz!" reaction. Yeah, there was some "enthusiasm, but it was more subdued than you would have guessed.This reporter came in expecting throngs. Perhaps a lot of them were "busy" or didn't have the spare $20.12 for a ticket. Regardless, Mitt Romney was...

Mitt Romney is always quick to lambast other Republicans for being career politicians, as if this is his first rodeo and he is a political newcomer. However, the truth is he’s been in politics for over seventeen years, many of which have been spent appealing to liberals and moderates and fighting to keep from being identified with Ronald Reagan. Yet the more one goes back and listens to the things Romney’s been saying during his nearly two decades of public service, the more one has to wonder why he thought someone would link him to Reagan in the first place....

In a stinging comparison that is sure to leave a mark, on Sunday’s This Week With Christiane Amanpour, George Will said the rise of Herman Cain had a lot to do with Republicans coming to the realization that Mitt Romney is their Michael Dukakis. “A technocratic Massachusetts governor running on competence, not ideology,” Will observed.

The New Hampshire Primary is a must win for hometown Mitt Romney, but the sudden surge of Herman Cain has now put a threat to Romney’s huge lead in New Hampshire. In a recent Insider Advantage poll Herman Cain rose to 24% while Romney has fallen to 39%. Romney has been as high as 45% in previous polls. Romney has been slipping in recent New Hampshire polls, some believe due to his pressure to move the Nevada Caucus ahead of the New Hampshire Primary. mitt-romney-town-hall-new-hampshire A win for Herman Cain in Iowa could give him the momentum to make the...

WASHINGTON - Among the Republicans angling to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. a year from January, Mitt Romney is the closest to achieving his goal. The former Massachusetts governor has reached the decisive phase in his presidential campaign: attempting to consolidate his support and cinch the nomination. (snip) Romney’s most ardent conservative critics have been left to rally around Herman Cain, simultaneously engaged in a book tour and presidential campaign, in a last-ditch effort to prevent his nomination. (snip) ...the Romney staff is focused on what it sees as an inevitable clash with Obama and the Democrats. But with the...

After watching the GOP presidential debate the other night, it was hard to avoid this conclusion: Mitt Romney looks more and more like the GOP presidential nominee. He's the best debater. He's got his issues and his rejoinders down pat. He brushes away his opponents like lint on his lapel. And all with such ease. That said, there's a teensy problem he just can't seem to beat: Conservatives don't like him. Or trust him. Or really want him to be the GOP nominee. Sure, you say, Republicans never like their nominees, and they still manage to vote for them. There...

If you Google “Romney inevitable” you get 1,980,000 results. The Romney campaign is hoping that the more his inevitability is discussed, the truer it will become. There is something to that. Political players want to be on the winning team. Donors don’t want to waste their money. It’s heady stuff, I imagine, for the Romney team to read pieces like this by Jonathan Martin: “Hours after Chris Christie signaled he believes Mitt Romney is the Republican party’s inevitable nominee, Romney and the rest of the GOP field went about proving him right. Romney again outclassed the opposition in Tuesday’s Bloomberg/Washington...

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) -- Presidential challenger Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of failing to lead in a time of economic peril but sounded less conservative than his Republican rivals in their debate Tuesday night, defending the 2008-2009 Wall Street bailout and declaring he could work with "good" Democrats. Romney also gave one of his most spirited defenses of his health care initiative when he was Massachusetts governor, legislation that Obama has called a partial blueprint for his own national overhaul. By positioning himself closer to the political center on several points, Romney sought to underscore his claim that he...

Announcing his endorsement of Mitt Romney in a press conference in New Hampshire this afternoon, Chris Christie described the endorsement as an “easy decision.” Citing Romney’s experience as an executive in both the political and private sectors, Christie emphasized the need for a candidate who was ready to assume office and could beat President Obama in the general election. “The biggest reason why I want to support Gov. Romney is because I believe he’s the best person to be able to articulate Republican values and defeat Barack Obama in November of 2012,” Christie said, mentioning Romney’s detailed jobs plan and...

Mitt Romney appeared to be softening to the Occupy Wall Street protests on Monday, taking a more sympathetic tone as he remarked on the movement, which he had called “dangerous” just a week before. “I look at what’s happening on Wall Street and my view is, boy, I understand how those people feel,” he said at a town hall event in Hopkinton, N.H. “Because with median income down 10% ... with chronic unemployment, long-term unemployment worse even than the Great Depression, the people in this country are upset. And I understand middle Americans saying, ‘Wait a second, what’s going on?...

Our political Quote of the Day is from The Politico’s John Martin, Maggie Haberman and Ben Smith who say this is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s moment and if he doesn’t seize it it will be gone: [quote] If Mitt Romney can’t start locking up the GOP nomination now, he may never be able to. The former Massachusetts governor’s charmed path toward the presidential nomination was made even smoother Tuesday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opted out of a campaign and recommended that voters choose the candidate with the “best chance” of beating President Barack Obama. No white knight...

“You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!” – Taylor (Charlton Heston); The Planet of the Apes, (1968) This classic line is all that came to mind when I read this piece in POLITICO—following New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s decision not to enter the presidential field, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s law firm made a number of calls requesting early state filing deadlines… that’s right. She thinks she can blow it up. She just might. Poll Shows Palin Within 5 Points of Obama She Has A Documentary Out, Doncha Know? Palin’s political action...

Rick Perry isn't up to the job. Chris Christie isn't coming to the rescue. Republicans must accept that the candidate they want is right in front of them The Romney Campaign David Frum Why the GOP should embrace Mitt Romney Rick Perry isn't up to the job. Chris Christie isn't coming to the rescue. Republicans must accept that the candidate they want is right in front of them posted on September 28, 2011, at 4:28 PM David Frum recent columns Is Obama's defense of Israel too little, too late? We can't blame the poor for America's poverty problem What a...

Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman's presidential campaigns both issued statements late Thursday responding to The Cable's interview with a senior foreign policy advisor for Rick Perry, in which the advisor clarified Perry's stance on U.S. policy toward Afghanistan. "[Perry] would lean toward wanting to bring our troops home, but he understands that we have vital strategic interests in Afghanistan and that a precipitous withdrawal is not what he's recommending," the advisor said. "He has a clear sense of the mission and wanting to win it, but not just by throwing the kitchen sink at it." In an e-mail titled, "Rick's...

Just when you thought Keynesian economics was finally dead among Republicans, Mitt Romney announces two prominent New Keynesian academics, Greg Mankiw and Glenn Hubbard, as the heart of his economic team. So if you loved how Obama has managed to continue the flawed economics of the Bush administration*, you’ll feel pretty safe with Romney. Sadly the real problem goes beyond Romney and Obama. The financial crisis and the government’s response to it illustrate the failure of much of mainstream macroeconomics. Yes, the Romney team would have had its stimulus proposal tilted more toward temporary tax cuts, but it still would...