This pattern is too obvious to ignore. Add in the fact that only Romney had five years and the money and the staff to build up books on every conceivable opponent, and you have enough evidence to make a Clue accusation: It was the former Massachusetts governor, in the mainstream media, with an oppo research dump.
Through it all, he has left few fingerprints and kept his own record largely unexamined. It’s now apparently up to ABC’s Jake Tapper to do the oppo research that all of the other GOP candidacies should have done a long time ago. Tapper comes up with three strong arguments to launch at Romney, which to date none of his opponents have launched: That as governor he offered free cars to welfare recipients, that early releases for inmates serving life terms peaked under his governorship, and that RomneyCare offered free abortions. Tapper also tosses in an argument that Romney made it more expensive to own a gun in his state. Add that up plus Romney’s tax hike and RomneyCare and you have a very vulnerable record. But it hasn’t been attacked or exploited in time to stop his momentum or make a difference.
This speaks well of Romney’s skill as a campaigner, and doesn’t speak well of his opponents’. All of his opponents, and Rick Perry in particular, have superior records to Romney’s in governance. They all do. Newt Gingrich led welfare reform and balanced the federal budget. Rick Santorum was reliably conservative in the Senate. Rick Perry’s record as governor is as arguably the best in the country over the past 20 to 30 years, racking up a gaudy record on both the fiscal and social sides of the conservative coin. But no one has gotten through Romney’s media game to scuff him up or make him answer for his own record.
That needs to change, and the hour is very late.
In effect, the reason we know so little about him is that the Democrats are keeping their powder dry, but they know quite a bit about him, and they will hammer him. I am starting to think that the “conservative” alternative media is alternatively more of a ruse than it is legitimate these days. They never really put any effort into vetting Romney, but spent countless days attacking everyone more conservative than Romney for every minor gaff. I fed right into that eat our own mentality, as I think it is honorable to give full vetting to anyone and I mean anyone who wants to be the nominee for President of the United States of America. What opened my eyes was the near silence about Romney’s attack ads against Newt as Iowa approached. Any smear attack was considered fair game, even though Newt was playing the high ground and not attacking anyone in the race, keeping it positive. No one helped me come to his defense, but instead all of the main “conservative” outlets fed the beast. Then Newt decided that he could not remain 100% positive and attacked Romney over his Bain deals. That is when “conservative” outlets, such as this one, finally showed their true nature. They are nothing of the sort of Conservative, they are purely establishment power defenders. Any criticism of an economic activity in the eyes of our controllers is an attack on our way of life, the entirety of capitalism itself! Isn’t this a wholly progressive tactic in debates? The debate is over, you must be anti-science and a denier! The only reason you do not approve of Obama is that you are a Racist! It is the debate equivalent of shut the F^ck up! Conservatives, true conservatives do not engage in this kind of rhetoric, but here we have HotAir, TownHall, PJ, and just about every other “conservative” outlet engaging in just this exact form of debate. All to get Romney, the single worst candidate on the stage for conservatism, elected. Thanks for letting us know your true colors. I will not be so gullible in the future.
I pray it is not too late. We have put up with the RINOS and the Republican Party pushing Romney for how long???? I don’t believe we have had but 2 primaries? And surprisingly only 28 percent of the U.S.want Romney to Newt’s 21 percent (new poll out today). If we truly live in a free nation where we the citizens are allowed to vote,them we should be allowed to decide who our candidate is. Although a registered Republican, I am tired of their wimpish manner! It is long time past to stand up to Obama and his socialist puppets: Reid and company. How much do we have to endure the stomping on the Constitution?
As I told the Republican part caller last week: Don’t call me to give money, I will give directly to my candidate of choice!
Lets not be impugning rinos here. Hes not our fault. I liked Perry, since no Bushes seem to be willing to run. And for some reason I liked Palin.
Just get used to seeing president Obama on TV for another 4 years. If we even have TV’s 4 years from now.
I know, lets just not run anyone for President. That way the communists win but they can’t say anymore bad things about us. Sheesh.
We’ll have TV’s, we probably won’t have electricity for them.
Sadly, I believe that everything you said was true. It has been extremely disheartening to find out that our so-called Conservative pundits and authors are, in reality, nothing more than Republican Party shills. And…I cant’ begin to say how sad and disappointed I was when I read the absolutely hateful piece on Rick Perry that Roger L. Simon wrote. I’ve been a fan and supporter of Simons since his blog and the start-up of Pajama’s Media but no more. It’s as though some hideous spell has been cast over the entire Nation and no one can see who the true Conservative really is and all we have are insiders and statists to vote for. I think we are going to end up with the Country that we deserve due to simple apathy, negligence, “tolerance” and feckless inattention and it isn’t going to be good.
Conservatives, true conservatives do not engage in this kind of rhetoric, but here we have HotAir, TownHall, PJ, and just about every other “conservative” outlet engaging in just this exact form of debate. All to get Romney, the single worst candidate on the stage for conservatism, elected.
Not to sound conspiratorial, but maybe his money in the Cayman accounts has invested in alternate conservative media. A few tens of thousands of dollars of grants would be more than sufficient to get the likes of PJM, AT, NRO etc to talk you up. And running it through an offshore “investment” account makes tracing it back difficult.
Bryan, could you please explain something to this non-Texas Republican: Why should this nation elect another Texan four years after a Texan finished his two terms…under less-than-ideal circumstances? I hear you go on and on about Perry’s record, but you mysteriously never delve into questions like mine.
I thought the answer was pretty obvious: Because Perry isn’t Bush and his record is stronger than his opponents’.
It’s this kind of rationalization that has taken us to where we are. By what standard do you make this judgment? You must use a different standard than 94% of those polled. And if using your standard, how would you rationalize the accomplishments of the current President? When you start to vet the POTUS to the same extent into his background that all current Republican candidates have been vetted, I might read another of your rationalizations!
What does Perry being from Texas have to do with anything? Why not say because he was a pilot and Dubbau was a pilot? JFK was from Mass. Would that be a good reason to eliminate Romney? Not that another reason is needed.
Brad S, Texas has a population of 25,145,561. If you believe that all 25 million plus are identical, then you must be a liberal. As my friend Forrest Gump would say “Life is like a box of Mitt Romney. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Unless you have a weather vane of course.
Governor Rick Perry is the perfect conservative candidate. He inherited a surplus and after ten years has created a massive deficit. During Perrry’s term as job creator in chief, Texas unemployment has shot up to levels exceeding New York.
Perry just does what conservatives do.
BS. The Texas comptroller recently announced Texas has a budget SURPLUS. You better go back to the puffington post and get you some new talking points.
Just the facts….Texas unemployment last month 8.1. NY State 8.0. No real difference especially since NY is losing population and Texas is adding population from the refugees coming from NY to Texas hoping to find a job.
Ah but how many of those jobs have gone to Perry’s favorite class of folks, illegal aliens? His record on immigration issues is a disaster. He may have cemented the Hispanic vote but for those of us laid off, he’s just not the candidate we want to see. Someone who has business experience and experience in government. Someone who’s had to deal with business killing regulations and restrictions. Someone who’s balanced a check book and made a payroll. Someone who understands the difference between legal and illegal, would also be a welcome change. As well as someone who’s religious leader/supporter wasn’t a racist, bigot or unadulterated buffoon.
That man is not Perry. (We’d also like someone articulate. You know, someone who can explain their ideas, remember their talking points. Failing to elect someone like that might prove as embarrassing as having a President that thinks there are 57 states and can’t stay off the golf course)
That’s so wrong! Texas fared better than any other state during Obama’s reign of unemployment, and had many businesses that headed to Texas because of the employer-friendly environment. Couple that with our being right next to the Mexican border, and supporting thousands of illegals, and Texas is in great shape!
Oh.my.stars. for real?
One. Texas is bigger than France. Nearly as big as Germany. So, the Sun King is the same as Sarkozy? Just asking. They’re coming from the same place. They must be the same. Sarkozy is the same as Robespierre. Same place- same guy, right? Louis the Umpteenth, with his head chopped off, is the same as Robespierre- same place, same time, right? Napoleon’s government is the same as the Vichy government- same place, same politics, right?
Governor Bush was a successful Governor from a prominent, wealthy family. He restored decency and sense to the Governnor’s Mansion, after the wild party of the dry drunk Ann Richards. Who, famously, ruled by skin color and disordered sexual orientation. She’d tell you who was sleeping with what, the very first time you met anyone. It was grotesque and gossipy. And insidery- the writers who flattered her? Had been drinking with her on camping trips for twenty years. None of which showed up in those famous “open meetings” posted online. The democratic wheeler-dealers, the newspaper writers, and the money-men would go on these big, progressive camp-outs, and smoke pot, drink too much, hook-up, and make the arrangements that the rest of us peons were supposed to live with. It’s right there in Molly Ivins biography. The biographer thought this was cute and friendly.
I met her banker that ran the investment funds for the state. Yeah! He’s Hispanic, right? Good for the minorities. The man had a solid-gold slinky he’d play with. My husband works in the financial services industry. The guys who are looking out, truly, for the widows and orphans- aren’t playing with solid gold, Monopoly Man toys. They’re driving Detroit metal, buying suits off the rack, and being abstemious. The ones that end up getting sued for insider-trading and corruption? Flashy. I don’t know that the guy is corrupt, but I do know flagging him as a poor minority guy? Doesn’t work with the solid-gold slinky. Might as well sell him as a hidalgo-type.
I’m not going to slam Governor Bush. Or President Bush. He is a decent man. He’s the guy with the megaphone at the still-smoking ruin of the World Trade Center, telling the workers that everyone in the world was with them, and that we all hear them.
Governor Perry, too, is a decent man. He’s a harder man than Bush. He comes from a dry-land dirt farm. I don’t think most people have any idea how hard and dangerous a life like that is. How hard he worked, even as a child, to make his father’s farm viable. He went to college- A&M- the ag school. It’s in the middle of nowhere. You study. If you’re Perry- you join the yell team. A&M is all about building leaders. He was a leader there. I live in Austin- with UTA, which is plush, green, and- well- we grow leaders, but not LEADERS. Our last fine mayor was an Aggie, for instance.
His mother sent him to school, with handmade clothes. They were that poor. Hand-made underwear. Texas Monthly, the big, splashy, state magazine- the writer makes fun of this. The writer doesn’t say ” Mr Perry was raised by resourceful, skilled people.” He says “neener, neener, neener. country hick, town kids rool.” Really elegant, right? That’s what the man deals with, here. He’s been around the world, he’s a decent, honorable military veteran, his parents worked to give him what they could, and some idjit makes fun of his mom’s skills.
I take this personally, since I send my family on their way in uniforms and handmade clothes. FWIW- Jalie, a Canadian pattern company, sells the pattern to make JCrew-style boxers. So,you can be townie, and spend $100 for three pair of underwear, or you could be a hick, and buy a pattern from a foreign country, use finer fabric, and make several more pairs. But, you’d be a country hick for knowing how to do something other than shop at a mall. Operating expensive machinery ( a modern sewing machine costs about $300 for a basic model) is so HICK, didn’t you know?
The Dems deliberately ran up the budget, when Perry was coming in. They worked to make him fail. He cut the budget, saved the rainy day fund, and kept Texas government working.
Teachers here- get degrees in things other than teaching, and then get certified to teach, at least at the upper levels. The freshman level chem teacher had a master’s in biology. the sophomore level chem teacher had a master’s- which is the same as the community college professors here- and better than at most places. the science department would draw straws on who went to the international science fair each year- b/c they worked with the students so well, and so thoroughly- that they were certain to get in, each year. Students in high school were publishing scientific papers. I coasted, my freshman year in college, on my high school’s rigorous teaching.
B/c I was paying for school myself, and working. which was affordable. Maybe not now- but tuition was deliberately held down, so that poor kids could make a go at becoming college- educated rich grown-ups.
Rick Perry grew up like this- poor, hard-working, scrambling. He became a military pilot. He married his childhood sweetheart. She had a career, too- nurse- and then she raised their kids. They’re good kids.
If you talk about the big prayer rally: it was Baptist, Church of Christ, pentecostal, evangelical—poor, country hicks made good. You can say you don’t want them in the national conversation, and how they talk is icky- they aren’t on the Supreme Court, they aren’t the model for speech on television, but they have all taken nothing, and turned it into something. Texas has an economy that’s in the top ten in most nations. And right now, it’s the only growing economy in the nation.
And, finally, in Texas- I don’t have to care what the government says about all sorts of things. I can send my kid to school with Ho-hos and Ding-dongs, if I wanted ( unlike that Chicago school.) I can smoke in public,nobody’s going to call me worse than Hitler. I can carry a gun in my purse. I can carry a pink gun- there are about five different pink guns advertised in the paper in the sunday ads- right next to the pink golf shirt ads- and the pink lipstick ads. I bet you can’t do that in your state.
Oh- oil, gas, refineries, nuclear. We got it all. and rock quarries. and horse-racing.
did I mention oil wells? and nuclear power plants? and refineries? Big, messy refineries? Worked by guys in jeans? Driving GIANT pick-up trucks? If Al Gore were gay, these’d be his naughtiest wet dream ever.
And steak? And breweries? and vineyards?
stadium- size churches- stadiums taken over by churches?
and gigantic, world famous topless bars?
Perry reigns over a more various, more wild, more BIG state than the Sun King.
Because Bush was never a Texan. He was a east coast, Ivy league RINO. Just like Romney.
answer to article’s title—
so the obamanation can do it and get their four more years
What a crock.
Look, I don’t have a dog in this fight. Obviously, Bryan does. Sometimes he straps on the Rick Perry kneepads a bit too tightly.
This is one of those occasions.
Tim Pawlenty? Gimme a break. Rick Perry had a ton of money and was the leading candidate. That rock did NOTHING to collapse his campaign. Nothing. Oppo “research” has NOTHING to do with Rick Perry being in single digits. Mitt Romney has NOTHING to do with Rick Perry being in single digits. The Rick Perry excuse and alibi tour continues for his dismal showing, but only one person is responsible for him looking and acting like a fool for so long until this most recent debate.
He also governed a state in conjunction with pals who didn’t try to block his every move. His resume is not as stellar as it would be if he had to fight the Marxists at every turn.
And…he went after Romney hard from the get go. Their spitball fights were unseemly and at times disgraceful. If people are turned off to Perry, it’s not because of a lack of vetting of Romney.
Perry and Gingrich doing the Marxist’s dirty work, debasing success in the free market system and the system itself is a disgrace.
These other guys have spent their whole adult lives slopping at the public trough.
Romney is no angel and not a particularly strong candidate…but it’s high time for these whiny, mewling, sore losers put on their big boy pants and stop the alibi tour long enough to look in a mirror.
They sucked at getting voter to look at THEM, because they ran …and are still running idiotic campaigns. They insult the base saying it has no heart on border crashers, attacks the free market and went into debates poorly prepared and incredibly inarticulate.
The harsh reality is this: Romney was beatable just as he is. He’s a week front runner…much of the time not even the front runner. The others collapsed not because of anything but their own doing. Man up. Or tuck tail and run away, but stop blaming others and shirking responsibility. We are trying to REPLACE the guy who does that for a living, not replicate him.
Here in Florida I have got three or four mailings about Newt’s baggage and how bad he would be for the party. I am also starting to get the same kind of mailings about Santorum. I wonder who could be behind these mailings? Wonder if I will see any about Mitt?
Have you considered having the mailings dusted for Mitten prints?
You need to find out who is behind it….. The Democratic Party, Mitt???? Amazing isn’t it? If you watched the debate on Monday, you learned Mitt didn’t have anything with what the Superpac is doing in ads. Funny they were the ones that reduced Newt’s lead in Iowa. Mitt is as slick as he looks! Just another Obama but White. I don’t care what color you are!!! The person that would have destroyed Obama was my guy Herman Cain. Who do you think was behind that? Funny as soon as he dropped out the allegations and women disappeared.
“Why has there been, up to now, so little pressure on Romney to prove why he should be the Republican nominee?”
Because Mitt politically is an Obama clone. Or as close to it as the GOP can produce.
The MSM is extending the same protection to Romney as it extends to the Obomination.
Obama’s negative numbers are incredible. No incumbent has EVER won with numbers approaching his. Add in that the Judical system is standing by the history of States controlling their ballots, which will remove 10 states and 107 EV’s from obama’s grasp, and you have a potential blowout of epic proportions.
With Mitt, the Oligarchy, of which the MSM is a critical component, wishes to set up a heads we win, tails you lose election.
With Mitt as POTUS, America goes from a Marxist to a socialist, whic should make the MSM happy.
The voters? ‘Fook ‘em and feed them fish heads’ is the message from the establishment.
It ain’t over yet. Newt wins either SC or Fla and it’s game on. Newt as POTUS doesn’t leave me all warm and fussy feeling but ANYTHING is better then Romney.
So, why haven’t conservative outlets challenged him and vetted him?
Obama is the least vetted person in the entire world!!
If you don’t think the Clintons and the GOP fully vetted Obama in 2008, then you have lost your mind.
Actually the GOP did not fully vet Obama. They left much of his life out of bounds to be looked into. Regardless of if they did vet him, they never reported it in volume enough to inform the voters so they could vet him. McCain argued repeatedly what a wonderful president Obama would be.
The whole point of breaking a scandal is to reach the stage where all the questions the press asks the tagged politico are about the scandal, completely clogging up the politico’s ability to communicate. No matter how many scandalous facts have emerged about Obama (Rev. Wright, Rod Blagojevitch, etc.) the MSM completely refuses to treat him like an ordinary white politician, staying in complete affirmative-action mode (look how good he’s doing, so much better than expected). Until this protective shield is broken there’s no point trying to publicize anything negative about Obama. Heck, he’s just outright violated the constitution with his “recess” appointments — every journalist who has done any research on the issue knows this, yet the story has completely dropped from the news. We live in interesting times.
Look…nobody is going to vet Obama. People have been asking the media for almost five years to find out who this guy is…they are not going to look into his background.
No college grades; social security number issued in Connecticut in 1977; no senior thesis available; no sat/lsat scores; no idea how he paid tuition at Occedental, Columbia, or Harvard Law; no actual copy of a birth certificate, the one posted on the net has been deconstructed by clever 17 year olds; no passport records; rumors that he lived in the foreign dorm at Occedental.
Not to mention: Vera Baker and Larry Sinclair, or how about Tony Rezko?
Nobody in the media is going to look into any of this.
Welfare recipients did not get car’s under his watch,that was Deval Patrick who
implemented this. Abortion was covered under Masshealth,long before Romney.Gov Romney did stop infertility treatments for people on Masshealth and welfare. I do not believe the early release from jail is true either.Mass is ruled by Dems,he was a good governor.
– isn’t articulate in now answering questions from the press; the media is already working him over, softening him up for the Dems. By November it will be as if Obama ran unopposed.
Oh boo hoo!!! Another far right wing rag whining pathetically because, once again, one of their own is not going to get the GOP nomination.
Romney has been thoroughly vetted. There just isn’t any real slime to latch on to withe Romney like there is with, say, Newt Gingrich.
Maybe one day you hard right wing types will wake up and face the unpleasant truth: You do not control the Republican Party, nor will you ever control the Republican Party.
Deal with it.
Fourteen years old, right?
I concur with Danram. Romney is the most viable candidate of the Republicans running. Ronald Reagan isn’t running this year. And I doubt he could win if he was.
I’m not ready to let the country turn into Obamagrad just yet. The juggernaut towards socialism is at full steam. Do we just let Obama & Co. finish the rack and ruin, or do we at least try to put the brakes on a little? A RINO, any RINO, will be better for the country than what we have now.
Wake up! This is an election we must win. And that means appealing to the center. Leave the ideology for another election cycle. Another four years of Obamanation would be worse than the worst candidate the Republicans are fielding. Quit trying to smack a homer, and settle for a base hit.
Disagree. The worst thing we can do is continue to reward the Republican party with our votes when they put a RINO up there. No more appeasement from me. If you’re not willing to fight for both civil and economic liberties, I will vote for somebody that is – Ron Paul if I can, Gary Johnson if I can’t.
I’m tired of neocons telling me it’s my responsibility to kick Obama out of office. It’s my responsibility to vote for a president who upholds the Constitution. I’ll be durned if I’m going to vote for Romney, or K-Street Santorum, or Fannie Mae Gingrich. SICK OF IT. And they’re never going to get the message unless we show some discipline via the pain of missed votes.
All I can say is prepare yourself for four more years. And if Paul or Santorum runs as third party, we’re doomed.
The real problem is that the prior caucus and primary allowed so-called independents vote, in some districts in alarming numbers that far exceeded registered Republicans. I ask you: why allow Democrats affect the outcome of our nomination process? The presumptive nominee is declared so because of the outcomes of those contests where socialists’ votes were equivalent to those of social-conservatives.
The question now becomes whether the reality of Romney as political shape-shifter and RINO is allowed to take center stage within the media coverage…as it should have long ago.
That is the sheer stupidity of allowing so called independents to vote in
open primaries where anyone can just vote for the Republican nominee. This
must be the work of the establishment RINOs which is why they never moved
to change it! Democrats never allow conservatives to vote in their primaries
yet, Republicans allow Democrats to choose our nominee?
He is the MOST vetted candidate, you idiot! Why won’t anyone go anywhere NEAR Gingrich’s record?! Gingrich has more baggage than an airplane!
Really? No one’s paid attention to Gingrich’s record? What are you expecting to happen?
Same thing happened to McCain. Just remember how he was the media darling until he won the nomination. Then the deluge. Your common conservative is too nice, too fair and too busy with work to imagine what the MSM desires and schemes. Take a look at the comments on a few liberal blogs. These are indicative of the wall of spewage Romney will have to contend with. Granted, I don’t think Romney is as gullible as Mcain was.
Thanks to the DNC’s handmaidens in the MSM, we’ll know more about what Romney’s dog likes to eat when this nom process is over than we’ll ever know about Obama’s early political affiliations and his college transcripts.
… and I tell you it ain’t easy eating anything when you’re strapped to roof of a moving car!
Unintentionally hilarious article. Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich didn’t collapse because they are laughable and in way over their head as presidential candidates, they collapsed because Mitt Romney leaked secret stuff about them to the media. Also Romney, whom both the conservative and liberal media despise and have viciously dumped on for five years, even going after his religion repeatedly, has received no vetting.
And now the truth: loud, obnoxious, religious right and tea party activists get a lot of attention and Fox panders to them, but there aren’t that many of them. That is why the rest of us Republicans (ironically, a silent majority) sweep them aside every four years and nominate Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, the Bushes, Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney. Get used to it.
All you say may be true but the Republican Party’s game is about up. People who are not die-hard Republicans are starting to say NO to the lessor of two evils. Romney gets trounced by Obama. No Democrat who is sick of Obama votes for Romney. No independent who thinks there isn’t a dimes worth of difference will vote on Obama hatred. But since the people who own both the Democratic and Republicans Parties already have their guy in, they don’t really care.
MarkinLA is right. There are TONS of RINO’s in the Republican party who claim to refuse to have nothing to do with the election if Mitt Romney is nominated.
Romney Derangement Syndrome. It makes people insane and tells them “Hey Lets help Obama Destroy our Country some more! — that way everyone will know how mad we are!”
Insane RINO’s and totally unpatriotic.
Talk about insane. I guess if you have ever voted for a Republican, the party forever owns your vote and you have to swallow what ever crap the RNC put out. What did Reagan say about the Democratic Paryy leaving him? Well plenty of people realize the Republican Party left them a long time ago but hoped that they would be listened to. They realize it didn’t and won’t work anymore.
why hasnt the liberal mainstream press vetted Obama ?? Gawd, they seem to give him a free pass on everything
You seemed to forget Rev. Wright, Ayres, him being a secret Muslim, a communist, a socialist and everything else the MSM could dredge up but the people elected him anyway
maybe you forget just how fast the MSM shut down any stories on wright, ayers, et al. Hillary dug up some of those, and the MSM/DNC/Leftist-elites were very quick to label her a (wait for it) . . . racist.
If the MSM are so effective in shutting down critical stories on Obama and Romney, how is it that you have such detailed knowledge about such stories?
All you need to know to know if the MFM is still effectively covering for their little man-god is Fast and Furious.
If a Republican President had sold weapons to narco-terrorists with absolutely no plan of tracking them or setting up a sting operation for the terrorists, and hundreds of people were killed due to the program, there would have been nothing else on the news. Ever. Justifiably.
Yet the media is utterly and totally quiescent on the story. It’s shameful. At least Pravda was silent due to a legitimate fear of death. Our media is silent due to an illegitimate fear of conservatism.
CFbleachers:
Governor Perry only recently obtained a legislative majority big enough to make the dimocrats almost irrelevant. For the first 10 years or so of his governorship the democrats, media and rinos caused him a lot of trouble, yet his stewardship has resulted in loser pay lawsuit reform, medical malpractice reform that resulted in a major influx of doctors in to Texas, limits on abortions, and many other conservative policies, not to mention balanced budgets. And just so you know, during the last session that ended in August he was under tremendous pressure from dimocrats, media & rinos to increase taxes rather than cut programs to balance the budget. He stood his ground and the budget was balanced via spending cuts. Then just last month the Texas comptroller announced that the state is now running a budget surplus.
There is not another Governor in the USA that can match his record and considering the size of this state, really his only peers are California, and New York & foreign countries. Can you name any similar sized government entity, foreign or domestic that has and is doing as well as Texas? I doubt it, and this record has been accomplished with the dead weight of most of the 49 other states riding on our backs since 2008.
There is a certain hatred for Texas and Texans that makes even a lot of conservatives irrational. Here we have a chance to elect a guy who was a pilot and captain in the air force, a farmer/rancher, legislator, Agriculture Commissioner, Lt. Governor & long term sitting Governor of the most successful state in the union and folks are getting hung up on “Texanism” & the “showbiz” aspect of politics and will end up selecting a much less qualified candidate.
If and when Perry drops out, I hope he will come home to Texas and start making preparations for the coming financial disaster so that we texans can weather the fallout. We are already taking in a lot of refuges from Mexico & the USA, we won’t be able to handle them all when California, Illinois and/or the federal government runs out of other peoples money to give away and the creditors force them in to bankruptcy.
If Perry quits, your loss will be our gain.
Yes, and YES.
And instead of building a wall at the Rio Grand, perhaps it should be built starting at the Red River. I am so damn sick and tired of talking to people who move to Texas because they can’t find a job in their socialist state where the Democrats have driven them into bankruptcy (like Romney’s state of Massachusetts) and then complaining because we don’t do things the way they did back in (name the failing state). They need to just stay the hell out.
And the next time someone tells you that Rick Perry is just George Bush Two, ask them if that is the case, why are the Bushies all supporting Mitt Romney.
As to Mitt Romney, all I have to say is “Damn, American voters have finally been totally dumbed down.”
Zane,
I agree. I don’t mind the ones that come here and want to become naturalized Texans. They can’t help it that they were born somewhere else. As far as the others that come for our milk and honey and bitch all the time, here is a song written just for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2GJLLeyMd4&feature=related
In any candidate for ANY job (yep, even POTUS), the best predictor of future performance is past performance. (I know, I’ve said that 100 times.)
That means looking at track records, not promises and dodges.
Who has the best track record? Perry. Who leads one of the FEW states creating jobs? Perry. Who understands/deals daily with tough immigration issues? Perry. Who has military experience and a demonstrable positive relationship with our defenders? Perry. Who has an energy plan that’s also tied with national security/independence? Perry. Who actually seems to understand capitalism? Vulture comment aside, Perry. Who (apparently) has a long-term successful track record of effecting turnarounds while working with the opposing party? Perry.
Do I agree with him on everything? Nope. But folks, we have to stop parsing every bleepin’ word and blip, and focus on the big picture.
My radar may be completely off (I’m not a Texan and I’ve never met the guy), but he seems absolutely committed to the security, prosperity and solvency of America and Americans. His policy proposals actually make sense.
His TRACK RECORD indicates he might actually have the cojones and gray cells to turn things around. Can we really ask for more?
Well said GDI. I am a Texan, but that has little to do with my support for Perry. Like you, I judge a person by his walk not his talk. Everybody in this field talks a better game than Governor Perry, but not one comes even close to him in real accomplishments. It is amazing to me that the so called “tea party” voters are currently polling only about 3% for Perry. They are his natural constituency. I was at the first Tea Party event in Texas and within a month of that spontaneous event, Perry was speaking at Tea Party events in Texas. One of those events was where the Texas secede anecdote came from. At that time most national and local republican politicians were avoiding the movement like the plague. I am beginning to think that this self government business has devolved into a shallow “showbiz” American Idol process, and no real solid candidate will ever be president again.
Permit me to make an observation from the left, ladies and gentlemen, which is that perhaps the reason Obama and Romney consistently beat the s**t out of the conservatives you love in every single poll of the entire electorate that I’ve ever seen is that the American electorate thinks your favorites are too extreme.
To cite the most obvious example, Rick Santorum’s position on birth control alone puts him in a place that most CATHOLICS don’t want to go, let alone the rest of us. Yet you seem to think it’s the MSM that is responsible for his troubles, when all the MSM ever had to do was report that position and he was cooked. He has risen in the polls lately only because a) the polls are limiting themselves to likely voters in Republican primaries; b) the IA and SC primary voters have proportions of evangelical voters which are totally out of whack with the nation as a whole; and c) the other not-Romney candidates all sank without trace, leaving Santorum as a last, desperate hope. In head-to-head polls against Obama, he gets crucified. The man was NEVER going to be able to win the Presidency and anyone with the slightest appreciation of the beliefs of the electorate would have known it.
I know, I know, you guys kicked butt in 2010 and think the country has swung over to your point of view. But if you bothered to read the many analyses of that election you’d know that it was made possible by a low turnout from the left, which lulled itself into believing that electing Obama meant they could rest for four years. Now you are making the same mistake. A low turnout will not happen in 2012. Here in New Mexico Obama won by double digits in 2008, a Tea Party conservative governor was elected in 2010, and the latest polls here show ANY Republican losing to Obama by double digits once again. This pattern will be repeated in other states — believe it.
Romney’s record of flip-flopping, which the MSM really HAS documented, should be preventing him from being considered by the electorate but he’s pretty much even with Obama in the polls, which tells me that they find his RINO credentials — questionable as they are given his shape-shifting — close enough to the majority of the electorate to render him thinkable alongside Obama. Your guys are NOT there, and it’s because the electorate DOES know about where they stand, and DOES NOT agree with them. You’re right to think Obama is vulnerable; you’re wrong if you think the electorate sees your candidates as preferable to another four years of him, and it’s not the MSM’s fault for reporting their politics, as expressed by them over and over in the debates, accurately.
I’ve dealt with this on the left for fifty years — it’s hard but vitally necessary to look beyond the beliefs of your own corner of the political universe for explanations of why you’re losing. You on the right would be well-advised to try it some time.
I tend to agree with you that voters are still not ready to take their medicine and support policies that will get the economy and the country back on track (just like in 1976 they weren’t yet ready to vote for Reagan). Another four years of Obama, though, and …
Sad, but true.
The better politician always wins. Not the better executive, not the smarter man, nor the better man…the better politician. Look at every single Presidential election in modern times and you’ll see that this is always the case. [This is a horribly devastating commentary on the politicking skills of Messrs. Kerry and Gore, BTW]
Romney has maintained discipline and played the game exactly as it’s supposed to be played. He’s learned from his past campaign and become even more (if humanly possible) “polished”. He’s learned to stay above the fray while clandestinely firebombing his opponents. He’s learned to pivot and answer the question he WISHED he’d been asked. Good! This is the political Teflon shield that all Presidents need to develop and maintain.
I keep hearing about the “weak” Republican field but frankly I think that we suffer from an embarrassment of riches. Romney wasn’t my #1 pick, but Perry flamed out magnificently and he just isn’t the better politician (maybe next time). All of the candidates have weaknesses and strengths and it is QUITE ridiculous to say that Romney hasn’t been vetted. Every time something comes up he parries it and then turns the focus on Obama. Exactly as he should.
“Why is Romney Still the Least Vetted GOP Candidate?”
Maybe because there isnt much baggage to find? Vetted means getting out dirty laundry.
A better question is: “Why wasnt Obama vetted at all?” – If Obama has been vetted a tenth of what Romney (whom according to you is the least vetted) is today, we wouldve not been in this mess.
The fact I have heard all of this crap before proves he HAS been vetted. Almost every state in the union has public funding for abortion through Medicaid and Planned Parenthood. You go ahead and vote for the serial adulterer Newt Gingrich though, the independents are going to love him.
Everyone seems to be forgetting the goal in November 2012: REPLACE OBAMA.
To do that the 72% of those who believe this country is headed in the wrong direction and the 63% who want Obamacare repealed (despite what politician Obama says it’s based on) and the other majorities who want Obama gone (except of course the 47% who pay 0% –ZERO!!!– income taxes and are leeching off the government dole) need to realize that an ultra-conservative, tea party, ultra right winger, etc. CANNOT win against Obama because you need to get the coutnry’s Independents to vote Republican and they will NOT vote for someone from the extremist right. They won’t. Not in 2012. Maybe 2016, maybe, but not in 2012. I’m not a big Romney fan either but in comparing the opponents he’s got the edge.
This scrill and tax return crap is just the latest broadside against Romney. We’ve wondered lately if it isn’t simply religious bigotry in disguise and they see it as a sideways method to get rid of the competition.
The next thing you know the MSNBC and other lefty snark of calling him Willard M. Romney will be picked up by the conservative right and media who want him gone.
Remember the goal: REPLACE OBAMA.
The failure of the media to vet Barack Obama in 2008 will be Barack Obamas undoing in 2012.
For example:
Media: Governor Romney, when will you release your tax returns?
Romney: As soon as President Obama releases his college transcripts.
Media: Governor Romney, how much money do you tithe to the Mormon church?
Romney: I will answer that as soon as President Obama tells us how much money he gave to Trinity United.
For almost every potential media “gotcha” surrounding a Republican candidate for President. The same unexplored “gotcha” exists for Obama.
They (the MSM) have only themselves to blame for coating the Republicans in teflon.
Irony is sweet.
Well-said TommyTee.
TommyTee: If you want to know how much Obama gave to Trinity United, look at his tax returns, which he HAS released.
As for his college transcripts, I’m guessing that those who voted for George W. Bush TWICE knew about his “gentleman’s C” transcripts and I’m guessing Obama’s grades are better than that. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about college grades. They do about what they’ve done since.
Try again, friend.
You totally missed the point of the comment.
Read it again, friend.
Romney not vetted???? Where have you been the last 5 years. The “problem” here is that Romney has no skeletons in his closet. He is just a good, honest person.
The evidence is that the only effective attack against him is his ability to turn around failing companies and make a profit. Really???? Is that all you could find “bad” on Romney????
I want a president who can do what Romney and Bain did: take a failing country and restore it to it’s former glory. Now, more than ever, I am a Romney supporter.
I urge all honest, clear-thinking people to seriously consider Romney for president.
What are you smoking? Romney a good guy? Yeah, if you consider other corporate raiders, like T. Boone Pickens and George Soros, good guys.
Here’s the deal: Romney has flopedoin the issue more than a fish out of water. He was against every conservative value until around June, 2007, five months after he decided to run for POTUS the first time, and realized that he was going up against hard-core pro-lifers like Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee. He has more stories that a Camp Fire Girl leader at a bonfire.
And since he used taxpayer funded government money to bail those companies out, whose money do you suppose he will use to bail out the government?
I can think of ALOT of people I’d love to see him fire. . . like the 44 czars and their entire staffs.
Michael Savage was saying yesterday that these liberals are highly dangerous and intelligent in a power hungry evil sort of way and that we shouldn’t underestimate them (paraphrasing). I believe the liberals would love to have Romney as our candidate and have done all in their power, including just an occasional criticism to make their delightful plan look good and fool the gullible republicans.
Then our worthless, weasily GOP establishment has bought into their nonsense and have proclaimed Romney to be the One also. Why should Romney be our guy? Any great accomplishments? None that resonate with the public, who cares about the corrupt olympics. Outspoken leader of a liberal state like Christie or Walker? Nope, just a big government health care guy.
Any business accomplishments that would shed light on his ability to lead or direct an operation? Nope, just a white collar fleece operator who made millions in the exact stereotypical way that the dems have in their crosshairs. (Personally, I don’t care, more power to him, its just his road to great wealth doesn’t endear him to the average Joe out here).
Romney, tailor made for the democrats.
If the choice is between a far right and far left candidate…I choose the far right. We have the far left to blame for so much of our once great nation’s problems. Just look at the mess our once great public schools are in…no discipline, rewritten PC History, dumbing down of our kids and grandkids as to our founders and Constitution. The bare minimum of essential Reading, Writing, and Math are depriving our kids of getting into the best universities…we are importing our doctors, scientists, engineers etc.
Liberal Ideology is the aim of the schools instead of Excellence, they are giving everyone trophies to push “equality”…nothing like what happens in the real world.
Gov Rick Perry has been vetted inside out for three elections for Governor of Texas, won every election he’s been in (18, I believe). The 2010 Tx election
was a hard battle. US Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson,(supported by Karl Rove and company) challenged Gov Perry in a GOP Primary, which he won, then preceded to win the General election against Democrat Mr White from Houston. Sen Hutchinson nor Mr White were political slouches, and you all know Roves reputation.
I left out a word, meant to say “Neither Hutchinson nor White were political slouches, and you all know Karl Rove’s reputation.
Silly, we do not vet democrats in this country.
Not vetted?? Many of us have turned this guy inside out for years. Maybe you are a johnny come lately. Great work has been done by an Evangelical couple David and Nancy French out of Tennessee and they have maintained a web site for over 5 years doing just that. Check them out at http://www.evangelicalsformitt.org
Now I will go on record saying he should release his tax records. He is not Timothy Geitner who did not pay for years. I will also go on record as to wanting to vet Newt Gingrich. Where are the records of the “historical advice” you provided to Fannie and Freddie for 1.5 million plus? Since we taxpayers paid for this advice, shouldn’t we get to see what we paid for. So, Romney show your taxes and Gingrich show us your “advice” records!
Whew. Weepy Crybaby Teapartiers, are now really dragging the bottom of the barrel to find something ANYTHING to stick to Romney. These have got to be some of the weakest, lamest criticisms yet. In a time when our country is going DOWN THE TUBES AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT, so-called conservatives are whining that Mitt is too liberal all the while drooling over other candidates who voted for Jimmy Carter, ran a campaign for Al Gore not that long ago or sat around complaining about Global Warming with Nancy Pelosi.
This is SOUR GRAPES, not reasonable positions.
Romney was vetted in 2007. Again in 2011 and now in 2012. Its not that he has not been vetted. He has been exceedingly scrutinized, with supposedly “conservative” people taking some of the most left wing positions imaginable just to defeat him.
Its Romney Derangement Syndrome, and it comes from drinking too much Tea-flavored Kool-Aid.
If you so-called conservatives, Tea Party sillies and RINOs who won’t vote Republican if the candidate is Romney — if you wanted someone else, then you should have got behind him. You didn’t. Romney wins.
Get over yourselves.
Last poll breakdown I saw (a day or so ago), Romney was getting as many, if not more “tea party votes” as Gingrich and way more than Perry. It ain’t the tea party people that are upset with your guy Romney, it is the real conservatives. When they broke down meager 6%-7% supporting Perry in SC, they were the hard core conservatives.
He was vetted in ’08. No need to write an article on it.
He was vetted so people already know about him. Its no wonder nobody really wants him.
Very disappointed in you. Those of us on the Democrats In Control of Everything committee (DICE) have been trying to keep this quiet. It’s all working according to plan– we WANT Mitt to be the guy to lose to Obama, we chose him a year ago, and it’s been working like a charm. The only way it can fail is if Republicans notice what we’re up to, as we discussed on the Wordguise Alembic a month or so ago. We haven’t been able to control Gail Collins, but otherwise everyone has been most cooperative. Now please, can’t we go back to talking about Newt for another week or so? Please?? Thank you.
This whole piece is a joke. Romney has been vetted repeatedly, particularly in 2008. Do you recall Giuliani, McCain, Huck, etc. coming after him? They’ve got the dirt on the guy and, let’s see, McCain endorsed Romney and the other two have been defending him against the loser attacks of this cycle. Try again.
They are all lightweights, the Chicago Machine is the big leagues for digging up dirt, Willard has no idea what’s coming…
Anyone who thinks Romney has been vetted is delusional as he was not he nominee as that was McCain. Romney is the perfect foil for Obama – with his offshore accounts and only wanting to release his next year tax return not filed yet. People generally will vote for people they like and not many people like the stiff and wooden Romney. People do like Obama even if they disagree with the direction of this country.
So vote for the communist, flaming liberal. That makes all the sense to me.
It’s about money. Romney and his ruling class backers have it. The conservative candidates don’t. Paul has money, but little reason to vet Romney. Huntsman may have had money and motive, but for whatever reason, didn’t spend it in attack mode.
People think Newt has been scattered and dumb, but how could he have run a Romney-like campaign that would have taken tens of millions? Same for Santorum, Bachman and Cain. Perry was probably willing and able, but wasn’t prepared enough, or perhaps was still to weak at the start to manage the campaign effectively..and maybe he was unprepared for somebody as ruthlessly unethical as Romney. It happens.
It’s also ironic that the conservative msm has mimic’ed the big-time msm by covering for their guy. They aren’t quite as laughingly blatant, but they still have done yoemen work. The fact that Romney has somehow acquired conservative icons like Ann Coulter, Mark Steyn and Charles Krauthammer really gives pause. Since there are dozens more like them, and since they easily outnumber supporters of all the conservative candidates combined, it seems more than passing strange. That outspoken conservatives as diverse as those three have somehow come to the conclusion that the most liberal candidate in the race is the only electable one is startling.
Must be something in the water. Or something in the money.
I heard Rick Santorum on Hannity’s radio show the other day saying the Mitt is doing robocalls in SC with Santorum’s endorsement of Romney from 4 years ago. What a dirty trick.
Can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or not, but imho it is a dirty trick. At some point, many politicians who run for national office have endorsed someone that they will later run against. It’s normal.
Based on the pitiful campaign McLame ran, anybody who didn’t endorse him deserves praise.
If the robocalls don’t mention the year, then they are not only a dirty trick, then are extremely unethical. Pretty surprising for Romney’s camp, huh?
No, I’m not being sarcastic. I heard Santorum complaining about this to Hannity a few days ago; Santorum was very upset. A very dirty trick, indeed, and shows me what lengths Mitt will go to to confuse voters.
As lowdown, dirty and underhanded as the Romney camp has been to each of its Republican rivals, I just don’t see him doing this to Obama. If anything, I see him running a McCain-like gentlemanly rivalry with a dignified loss at the end.
Vet the statement below Mr. Preston. It disqualifies Gingrich. When I posted it in another thread some jerk who preferred to remain anonymous called me a liar. He offered not a jot or tittle of evidence in support of his calumny. Everything I said about Gingrich is true. Vet the Freddie Mac connections of Newt Gingrich. It is more relevant than any of the concerns about Mitt.
Since he supported the socialist sub prime mortgage scheme which led to the housing bubble, the near collapse of the banking system, the election of Barack Obama and the Dodd-Frank regulations which are stifling a recovery, Newt Gingrich is wholly unqualified to be the GOP nominee.
Some of those are not dispositive of Gingrich as Romney also supported them – certainly the sub-prime mortgages, the Tarp bailouts, and you can’t be serious about Gingrich supporting the election of Obama.
The burden of proof for a profoundly stupid claim like you just made is on the person who makes it.
Nutters like yourself fling the socialist claim around about anybody they don’t like. No doubt Newt has expressed support in the past for the universally accepted bipartisan idea of affordable home ownership. Opposing it would be like opposing affordable food. And as Newt himself has said, he also supports the idea of private/public partnerships, of which Fannie and Freddie are rogue examples. Only about 90% of Congress supported those agencies before they went rogue in support of the CRA. To twist that into the nutty idea that Newt is a socialist doesn’t illustrate anything about Gingrich (or the millions of other conservatives who supported both), but it certainly says a lot about just how crazy you are.
I don’t usually read your inanities, but just from this one, it appears you are a Paulbot. Only Paul’s groupies are ignorant enough to make such a claim.
The sub prime socialist mortgage promoting GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac didn’t “go rogue”. To a small government capitalist they were rogue from the beginning. It took 30 years for them to destroy the economy. I have degrees in economics and law and 38 years of business experience. What are your qualifications? If you read Reckless Endangerment it might give you a bit of a clue. Might.
Very very few people opposed Fannie or Freddie or even commented about them until everything exploded in 2008. The GSE’s simply weren’t an issue for the vast vast majority of the country. If anything, people were happy to be able to refinance at low interest rates. Nobody knew that huge numbers of unqualified people were getting home loans.
Nobody knew anything about the Community Reinvestment Act either. The first warnings of potential doom were in late 2007.
I was heavy on the blogs from about 2003 on. Fannie and Freddie were not a topic of discussion. The subject wasn’t a priority at all in the 2004 election, or the 2006 election.
Newt was in the mainstream, along with Romney, Dubya, and every other national politician. Claiming that ANY of them supported socialist policies is crazy revistionist history.
You’re entitled to be a kook and advocate for your own candidate. You aren’t entitled to create your own facts.
You are as arrogant as you are uninformed. What you knew from reading blogs provided you with a very inadequate knowledge base. Gingrich should have known better, which is why he lied about what he did.
Read Reckless endangerment and get a bit of a clue. Lots of people were aware of the danger posed by the CRA and the pushing of socialist sub prime mortgages (which you think was such a great idea0). It got us exactly where those who opposed these GSEs said it would.
They were overwhelmed by the likes of Gingrich who were more concerned with lining their pockets.
What an idiot.
Based on hidsight, this fool claims to understand everything that has ever happened in the world. You can’t get any more stupid than that.
And oh yes, if you have the credentials you claim, act like it instead of throwing nonsensical claims around.
The credential I pay attention to is the ability to make a reasonable argument. I’m tolerant of colorful claims, even enjoy them or I wouldn’t be here, but they have to be based on information that is, at a minimum, loosely tied to reality. At least in this case, you are spouting crap that is so far from reality that only fellow kooks would pay attention. And whining about your law degree is kid stuff.
Remember everyone, Obama is the commie in the White House.
Do you want a killer commie in the White House?
Try not to get so worked up over the fleshly GOP when a legion of demons is in the White House.
It’s time for an exorcism and a washing.
Why was Obama never vetted?
Of course he was and all candidates for President have been. Every four year the vetting process gets better and better as more and more information is available. The Republican party has opposition research and terabytes of info on Obama just like the Democratic party had on McCain and they are developing on Romney. Heck just today McCain had over 200 pages of opposition research on Romney put online today.
The Non-Romney candidates are missing some big items, for example, where does Willard stand on the VAT? A recent WSJ article said he has left the door open, well, force him into a yes / no answer instead Newt is stupidly going after the tax returns which will end up being the focus of the last debate before SC votes…focus on the VAT, it matters to all of us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsMIa6E_KUk
Yeah, all is quiet on the main stream media front, but wait till Mitt—of be a missionary in France and get a draft exemption to party on the west bank, thank you Lord—is the official nominee and the chicken hawk slur comes home to roost. Hey hey, ho ho, how many boys had to go? A humping the Michelin on the LBJ Dong Nai, Just so Mitt could get a French blow at Versailles. I guess the upper class blue bloods still do the Grand Tour of Europe come hell or minor proxy wars against godless communists. At least Mitt speaks French and isn’t prone to butchering English like Quayle and Bush, but damn that boy looks high yellow.
What the h@%% are you talking about? That’s all I hear about is how rich Romney is. How awful it is to make money,
He donated his book sales to charity, he gave his inheritance to charity.But he’s not good enough! We want a failure to lead us, just as we have now!
My gosh we don’t want a man who is careful with his money!
We are going to loose because newt will come unglued and the indies will think he’s a nut case!
Whoa! You’re crazy, dude! Though Romney has definitely come to his conservatism more recently than some of the other candidates, to say that Newt Gingrich (of all people) has a better record than him is nuts! Newt’s record is far more spotty than Romney’s is! Ironically, the man who most effectively levels the charge of flip-flopper at Romney is the most guilty of it. That man is a snake.
Romney has been conservative in the way that really counts–moderate and moral behavior. None of the candidates can compare in devotion to God or their family!
Newt’s a snake, Mitt’s an empty suit, and the rest are fools and whackos. Why wouldn’t anyone vote republican?
I have no doubt that they all believe that they are the answer to conservative prayers. It is self deception at best. They know that we know that they are all frauds.
I agree.
Also, Romney is a replay of the same trick that was played on the Democrats.
Everyone thought John Kerry was the bee’s knees until we realized who he was, long after all the other candidates were gone. We were sold a pig in a poke.
And, truthfully, Mitt Romney IS John Kerry. I would recognize that “don’t you know who I am?” demeanor anywhere.
Anyone who would vote for “Corporatations are people too, my friend” should have their head examined.
But face it, the Republican base demanded Sarah Palin back even though she lost McCain the presidency, they demanded social conservatives who will stand on stage with preachers nearly as bad as Reverend Wright, and not distance themselves from them, people who hate most Americans and preach it every week. They demanded people who distance themselves from the established science of evolution. They demanded people who will suppress the science of climate change. They demanded, at this most painful point of recession, that the science of Economics be replaced with stale folksy nostrums.
People who can live up to all of those demands at once are people like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry, and Santorum…. you can’t be all that and NOT be a fool.
Also the base is too angry to get someone who could refuse gays politely, they demanded someone who will offend everyone who has a gay relative or a gay friend. The base absolutely demands failure, and they’re going to get it.
Romney looked the best because he’s been in line so long that he predates the nuts taking over the Republican base in 2008.
Last election, even the most conservative members of congress lost their primaries if they weren’t willing to tell obvious lies about the President in order to satisfy the new Republican nutbase. I remember a senator with a 95% conservative voting record who says he lost his primary because he refused to be so disrespectful and say “Obama’s a foreigner, a Muslim, a Communist, he hates America”.
I say that racial panic motivated so many bad people that it tainted the opposition with stupidity. People subject to that sort of paranoia have lots of other bad ideas, thus the fools and nuts.
I love to hear the Romney is the “weakest front runner”…however he wins a state like Iowa that he wasn’t suppose to even in it!…that’s a bunch of trumped up BS …these other candidates are a joke…they can’t even run a steady campaign. Romney has been vetted for about 6 years now…so stupid!
Mitt Romney has been vetted. The reason it appears that he hasn’t is because there is nothing else to vet. We live in an age where politics attracts the absolute worst type of human being, when someone genuinely decent like Mitt Romney runs for candidacy it is almost un-believable.
And it is driving the democrats crazy.
The only thing they have on him is that he is successful and rich.
And that is what they are going to use to run against him.
There is nothing else.
Sort of like GW. Gee I miss him.
Doesn’t admitting you liked GW make you a “Marxist” traitor RINO, probably a Demoncrat, on PJ these days? I think you’re the only person to mention GW on this website this year!
The party has changed, the base has drunk the grape koolaide and they’re busy force feeding it to the babies now.
Mitt Romney has been vetted. The reason it appears that he hasn’t is because there is nothing else to vet.
Thank you! That’s exactly right.
No.
He’s a professional politician and as scummy as any of them.
He has no positives. He won one election by running as being enough of a liberal to be tolerable to Massachusetts, and then he governed as that liberal.
He supports gun control, believes in human released CO2 climate change, and thinks Romneycare was both the best he could do and a good thing.
And then there’s Tapper’s work.
Romney’s a loser for the GOP–if we elect him,we’ll still lose.
Because Romney was hand picked by the Marxist propaganda machine we call the press. The press attacked all they did not want such as Bachman. They will push Romney as they did McLaim. When he gets the nomination they will put 100% of their effort in destroying him. Even if Romney wins they have their puppet who will bend over and do whatever Marxist thing they want.
I wonder what the surviving WW11 vets think about all their friends that died giving their live for nothing. We are what they fought to stop. Communists Nazis whatever you want to label.
Obama still remains the least vetted candidate
Mitt is not manipulating the media, the media is manipulating the America people. The left thinks he is easy to beat and the right thinks he is our only chance to win. Newt cant win, dont believe it. Santorum is also likely a dud in the general election. Perry could have won, if he had a chance at winning primary.
Honestly the only other person who could win is Paul. He would destroy Obama’s youth vote, and would get more minority votes. The only question is big government GOP and big military conservatives. It is a really sad election we are eliminating all candidates rather than choosing the best one.
Bachmann wins Iowa straw poll only to get bumped by Perry. We feel out of love with Perry when we watched him debate. Then we found our true love Herman Cain, to bad he couldn’t commit to one woman. All was not lost, when Newt used his silver tongue on us. Oddly he may have cheated with more woman than Cain. Currently we overlook his love of FDR and Woodrow Wilson and he may yet win SC. So people are voting against Mitt or the not Mitt. This race is over and we will have more Obama and it makes me ill.
The Romney playbook has always been lie, weasel, spin, knive potential rivals in the back and use propaganda such as the word “inevitable” to eliminate opponents and scrape over the line as a winner by default.
Hey, it worked great for the Teleprompter in Chief during his first presidential run.
The problem for Romney is the 2008 playbook won’t work in 2012. All the dirt, shady unethical deals at Bain, the flip/flops, the ducking of tough questions, talking out of both sides of the mouth at once and so on will be exposed under the blowtorch the Obama Administration and it’s minions.
The core problem, and the reason that the Romney camp is so desperate to aviod any critical examination of it’s candidate is that Romney is the WHITE OBAMA.
Why would voters accept the plastic imitation when they could have the real thing.
4 more years, change your getting…
I thought Obama was the least vetted candidate.
Rep. Ron Paul has been the only consistently conservative running for the GOP nomination this year. Yes, some of his viewpoints about foreign policy run counter to the mainstream so-called conservative media; however the policies that Ron Paul stands for are actually very politically conservative; concentrate on a strong defense for the USA. Paul alone has demonstrated an ability to bring new voters and independents into voting Republican and when Perry, Gingrich and Santorum have finally dropped out and the conservative vote is no longer split then Paul can emerge with more delegates than Romney because so many of the remaining primaries are not winner take all states. With Ron Paul as the nominee of the Republican party there will finally be a true choice for voters and we could have a non-compromising conservative in the White House.
Easy, he it the candidate that Obama wants to face in the general election. Therefore, the MSM has the obligation to give him a pass…until after the GOP primaries…then they will go after him with a vengeance.
Wait and see.
you’re absolutely right. I voted for Romney in 94 against Kennedy and also for him against Shannon O’Brien for Governor. Romney couldn’t win as dog catcher in MA. TO say Romney has been vetted is absurd since we don’t know why he has so many offshore accounts. Why only yesterday McCain’s opposition research was released as the current bozo’s running in the Republican race (not including Paul and Romney) didn’t have much opposition research on him. Also Romney states his residence in MA yet where he states he lives is in the basement of his son’s house as he sold his Belmont house a few years ago. He still votes in Belmont, MA and I’m sure when all is said and done the dems will say he’s committing voter fraud as he’s not a resident. Romney’s negatives are at 58% – he’s toast
Its remarkable that this article and many of the comments have completely missed the bigger picture.
The candidate, or soon to be candidate, that is the least vetted is Teh Won, Barak Hussein Obama himself. The mainstream media has, and still is, shielding him from the same scrutiny that each of the Rs have been subjected to. That, is what you all should be up in arms about.
What do you know about BHO? Not much. Where are the college transcripts that are so important to the media? Where are all the classmates and people that grew up with BHO? How did a young black man with nothing amass such wealth in such a short time, as a Community Organizer? I guess if we want those answers we are just “racists”.
This whole ‘debate debacle’ is nothing more than getting the ‘dirty laundry’ out of the closet so the media doesn’t have to do any work. This amounts to nothing more than a circular firing squad. Does anyone wonder why the GOP can’t get “quality” candidates? They are all career politicians. If all elected officials were classified as ’1099 Employees’ of these United States, then we, The People would have to worry less about the corrupt, morally bankrupt and sleazy lying critters that occupy the WH and Congress.
The slate of candidates the GOP has put forth is nothing less than pathetic. The GOP has devolved into the mold of trying to put forward the the candidate ‘whose turn it is’ to be the nominee. Just like Bob Dole and John McCain, both of those worked out so well. I personally wouldn’t vote for any of current flock, but any of them is better than the current occupant of the WH!
The double-dealing, insider privileges, and a long list of scandals, leaves Mittens and his “religion” free from attack for some bizarre reason. Obama didn’t even get a pass on HIS bizarre and “out of the mainstream” religious beliefs.
Romney is, plainly, a charlatan who plans to buy the Presidency with his core group of fellow Joseph Smith followers. I won’t go into the polygamist Romney family tree.
Spend some time in Salt Lake City (or Stepford as many of us refer to it), or try to step inside ANY Mormon “temple” and you will be quickly identified and ushered out.
Oh, and let’s not forget Mormon “charities” – they ONLY help other Mormons in good standing with the “church”. Having lived where they control the politics and the culture, perhaps I have a different impression than some others. And then I read “The Book of Mormon”. Good Lord, those people actually believe that science fiction? THIS conservative would sooner vote for a Scientologist. Might as well.
Mittens is ripe for the picking if anyone has the spine to do so.
Call me a bigot, delete my post, whatever. Just the facts ma’am.
~(Ä)~
Wait till the MSM brings up Romney’s magical underwear, green apron, the fact that Satan and Jesus were brothers, and that all “good” Mormons become gods and goddesses after death, so they can have lots of sex and populate other planets with their children. Don’t even ask about the “romantic” marriage ritual. And that’s just a scratch of the surface.
No, just the facts as you and the rest of the Obama left see them.
Yeah, I read the Book of Mormon. Met and visited with some fine Mormon young men. My take on the Book of Mormon – and there’s more than that…archaeological research and their belief that they are on the North American continent for a reason. I get it. Who knows? This fight for the WH at this juncture in history may be the culmination of the entire religion.
It’s not far off base. Obama is gutting our military, while giving out military secrets to China…and the secrets will be scattered all over Europe and Asia. This is deliberate.
The Augusta Chronicle poll yesterday reports that
Gingrich’s 32 percent
Romney’s 29 percent
Ron Paul 15 percent
Rick Santorum’s 11 percent
Rick Perry’s 3 percent
3 percent other (could it be Colbert)
It’s painfully obvious that the mainstream media wants Romney to be the GOP nominee, because that takes Obamacare off the table as an issue.
Gingrich is paranoid that one of his ex-wives will spill the beans on him any time now, so he is spreading around all of this crap about Romney’s money as a smokescreen in order to blame Romney for the exposure of his own problems. Why does he continue to behave like Nasty Newt when everyone knows the Grandpa Newt routine works for him.
The only “vetting” I care to do of Mitt Romney is how weakly he has stood up to the (tacky) Bain attacks and (equally tacky) demands to release his tax returns.
Playing defense, not offense.
It does not bode well for how he will stand up to the full force of the democrat attack machine, assisted by its handmaiden in corruption, the so called mainstream media, when (and if) they succeed in choosing him as the republican candidate, just as they selected John (“illegal immigrants are children of God, too” and “reverend Wright is off limits”) McCain as the candidate in 2008.
If you know about Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, you will understand the attacks against Romney, McCain and any other Republicans who try to unseat Obama. He was a community organizer in Chicago for four years. He learned how to use Alinsky’s radical rules to try to destroy anyone who gets in his way. Unfortunately, people who don’t know about his “work experience” in Chicago fall pray to the Democrats’ use of Alinsky’s rules. Google Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals – Crossroad
“The first step in community organization is community disorganization. The disruption of the present organization is the first step toward community organization. Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displace by new patterns…. All change means disorganization of the old and organization of the new.” p.116
Obama has caused disorganization of our country since the day he took office. The proof that he used Alinsky’s Marxist tactics to get into office is : “Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father’s model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday.” –Letter from L. DAVID ALINSKY, son of Neo-Marxist Saul Alinsky.
Are voters in our country as dumb as Obama and his Marxist friends think they are?
Saul Alinsky was a Marxist
The Dems prefer Romney. They figure he’s the easiest to beat.
As soon as he’s nominated, the “evil Mormon” meme will be trumpeted in the sycophantic mass media.
No, they know he’s the hardest to beat because he appeals to the centrist independent voters the most. They (we) prefer him for the same reason, because they’d mind him the least as president.
I would do anything to keep a nutcase idiot theocrat christian-revisionist like Bachmann out of the whitehouse. Mittens I wouldn’t mind so much. If he wasnt sucking up to the nutcase base i might even vote for him
no, let me amend that. Beyond sucking up to the bigotbase (and the facts coming out that he’s been pretty nuts himself in his private life), Romney totally lost me with “corporations are people too, my friend”
If he supports the most obscene miscarriage of justice, the perversion of the political process that made money “speech” even the money of corporations whose interests are constrained by law to be only their own amoral, unpatriotic profits, then he is not qualified to be dog catcher, let alone President. F**k Romney!
Josh, If Romney wins the nomination, does that mean you will vote to re-elect our Marxist president or will you stay home and not vote?
What gives so many of you the idea that Obama (or the MSM or whatever other paranoid fantasy group you dream up) wants to run against Romney? Can’t you read polls? Romney is the ONLY candidate who gives Obama a run for his money. Everyone else is at least five points or more behind him.
Maybe you can’t read polls but Obama’s people can, and they’re preparing to run against Romney and clearly regard him as the toughest opponent because that’s what the American electorate (as opposed to Republican primary voters) is saying. Republicans choose their candidate but the entire electorate chooses the President, and you delude yourselves if you think anyone other than Romney has a chance of beating BHO.
I’ll grant you that in the last few days a lot of stuff has come out about Romney that calls his electability into question. (And, BTW, it has been oppo research by OTHER Republicans, not the MSM, that has made most of this stuff public.) But that doesn’t mean it makes Gingrich or Santorum or Paul MORE electable, because the electorate (again, NOT the Republican primary voters) thinks their positions are too extreme.
You are laboring under illusions based upon your ideology. Been there; done that. Outgrew it. You should, too.
Excuse me but it appears Willard Mittens Romney is backing out of the debate in Tampa Monday night because he’s afraid of having to face Gingrich right after losing in SC. Such a poor sport and you think he’s up to snuff to face Obama – rotflmao
Mitt Romney Keeps Defending the Individual Mandate:
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/12/28/mitt-romney-…
The Romney Con Exposed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4vS9SF3vc-A
http://inflation.us/videos.html
Rush Limbaugh: Romney Is Not Mr. Conservative!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bqNvB9p9cdc
Why Did A Former Romney Campaigner Defect to Another Candidate?
http://www.revolutionpac.com/2012/01/former-romney-campaigner-defects-to-ron-paul/
Study: On Spending Cuts, Most GOP Candidates Light On Details; Who Isn’t?: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/30/study-on-spendi…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSVi45vfA6o
Another great place for information on the candidates is The Conservative Scorecard, which is an easy-to-read description on the strength of the candidates on key conservative positions. The ratings are based on their prior statements and positions over their political careers. It can be found here:
http://www.conservativescorecard.com/
Newt Gingrich: Serial Hypocrisy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CWKTOCP45zY
Gingrich would be worse than Obama on Foreign Policy: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/28/gingrich-would-…
Mitt Romney for president?