Free Republic

Most Republicans have just finished what might be called the spring of their discontent. Not much went right in the first half of the year; not much to cheer about. But not Mitt Romney. For this unsuccessful 2008 Republican presidential contender, it is hard to imagine how events could be moving more decisively in his favor in 2009. One can almost hear him wondering: Why didn't things break this way last year? Let us count the ways that the world has conspired to help Mr. Romney. At a time when the Republican Party is straining to find new leaders, other...

Maybe Mitt Romney should look warily over his shoulder, lest a political calamity befall him, too. Continuing President Obama's political good fortune, a growing list of possible Republican opponents in 2012 is falling by the wayside, often due to self-inflicted wounds.

Mitt Romney says publicly he’s not considering another presidential campaign, most recently on Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” But many of his loyalists expect one and remain at the ready for 2012. When dozens of former Romney aides and advisers convened on the terrace of Charlie Spies’ fashionable Penn Quarter loft earlier this year on a warm February night, the purpose was ostensibly to help raise money for the Virginia state House race of Romney strategist Barbara Comstock. But Spies, formerly the Romney campaign’s CFO, wasn’t just hosting a $100 per-head fundraiser. He was also staging...

Discussing disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a fellow Republican, said governors and other national leaders are expected “to live by a higher standard because … the culture of the nation” can be hurt by their failings. “Seeing this family become healed is our highest priority,” Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “At the same time, and not commenting particularly on Governor Sanford, … people in public life ought to be held to a higher standard. … I heard one … former governor say, ‘Well, everybody makes mistakes.’ Well, that’s true. “But not all...