Michael Medved nails Mitt Romney’s challenges in 2012, as well as the GOP’s.

From The Daily Beast:

Michael Medved

On no significant issue has Romney moved to the left or to the center over the last four years; his platform of 2012 offers a program of conservative reform far bolder and more substantive than any ideas he put forward in 2008.

Mitt’s precise problem came into focus for me with an e-mail from an angry listener to my radio show who upbraided me for my open support of Romney as the most electable candidate against Obama. “We remember what you did to us last time, and we won’t let you get away with it again!” she wrote. “This time you’re trying to ram the RINO, Romney, down our throats and last time it was McCain. It was because of people like you that we got stuck with McCain, when we could have had a real conservative who would have beaten Obama!”

And who would have been that “real conservative” back in the distant days of 2008?

None other than … Mitt Romney, the “conservative’s conservative ” eagerly endorsed by Senator Jim DeMint and nearly all of my talk radio colleagues, including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage and many more.

That Romney no longer counts as a “real conservative” doesn’t reflect any ideological shifts on his part, but it does suggest a significant movement of the entire GOP toward the enraged and indignant right. The far lower turnouts in Florida, Nevada, Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri all indicate that this tectonic movement hardly counts as a positive development for the Republican Party.

“The enraged and indignant right.” – Sound familiar?

We have seen many such sentiments expressed here, on other sites and in a daily diatribe on most truth twisting Talk Radio shows. This “I’d rather be RIGHT than win” mantra will prove to be a major stumbling block on the road to successfully ousting President Obama.

Just as Talk Radio and misguided fringer conservatives mucked up the 2010 mid-term elections, where the goal was to TAKE CONTROL of the Senate as well as the House (while disposing of Harry Reid in the process) they seem hell-bent on using the same tactics in the 2012 cycle. The GOP could have deposed Reid in Nevada with a popular mainstream conservative, but were overrun by the “blood in their eyes” right-wing activists who offered us an ill-prepared and unsuitable candidate.

In Delaware, rather than keep a safe, solid seat in the GOP aisle and make the incumbent tow the line AFTER control was won, we had to suffer through the debacle of a psuedo-witch leading us to defeat, while Talk Radio extolled her conservative purity.

Why?

“Because we’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”

In our personal lives, very seldom is it wise or successful to make serious decisions while in a highly emotional and angry state of mind. Unfortunately, this logic doesn’t seem to be followed in certain political circles.

It’s sad to see the same storm clouds gathering again on the political horizon. Hopefully we can wake up, seek shelter from the storm and ride the sensible, pragmatic and MAINSTREAM CONSERVATIVE course to victory.

Cross-posted at Right Speak

This was cross-posted at Right Speak and Race42012.

Something fundamentally changed this week in the 2012 GOP Republican nomination race.

The weeks from mid-November have not been very good for Mitt Romney. After seeing the latest non-Romney candidate Herman Cain (remember him?) begin to implode and the media resurrect Newt Gingrich, Romney saw his front runner status once again challenged. As his standing in the polls began to look shaky to the skyrocketing Gingrich, he caught flak for a testy interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier. Almost daily there were endless stories, theories and prognostications about the impending demise of the Romney campaign.

All the negativity seemed to reach its zenith during the Saturday December 12th debate in Iowa, when Romney challenged Gov. Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet over what Romney said or wrote about using his Massachusetts Health Care plan as a national model. Of course Perry flinched and declined the bet, but the damage to Romney was apparently already done.

DNC Operatives tweeted snarky political talking points insisting Romney was an out of touch elitist with no connection to the common man. How else could someone so carelessly toss around a number which represents about 20% of Iowa caucus goers annual income? The story was all over the news Sunday and Monday.

But then something happened….

Tuesday, Romney got up off the mat, brushed off his suit, combed his hair and got back into the fight. He called on Gingrich to return his $1.6 million payout from scandal plagued mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in an interview with Fox’s Brian Kilmeade.

Gingrich’s reckless response ended up handing Romney a political gift and an opening to contrast himself against the former Speaker. Newt castigated Romney over his years at Bain Capital in a way that would have made Saul Alinsky and couch companion Nancy Pelosi proud. Gingrich assaulted Romney (and Capitalism) by calling for Romney to return the millions he earned “bankrupting companies” and killing jobs.

Romney would later use the issue in the Thursday debate to provide a preview of how he would handle a similar attack by President Obama (whom Newt apparently called to get his talking points) and defended himself and Capitalism, quite adroitly in the process.

The Conservative Media, led by Brit Hume, Charles Krauthammer and George Will let loose on Newt with both barrels and sent him reeling. Newt ultimately tried to back away, “apologizing” for the remarks on the Thursday night Sean Hannity show. (With all the apologizing and retractions Gingrich issues, one has to think he might have to give TWO State of the Union addresses each year if elected President. One to report out to the nation and another the following night to retract and clarify his remarks.)

Polling numbers began to show disturbing trends for Gingrich. Not only would he fare poorly against President Obama, but his GOP national numbers began tanking as well. Gallup’s daily tracking showed a 12 point decline over 8 days.

Iowa polls showed a tightening race, with Gingrich in a three way tie with Ron Paul and Romney or losing outright to Romney.

The National Review published a scathing anti-Newt non-endorsement.

During the first half of Fox News’ Iowa debate Thursday night, everyone BUT Romney pummeled Gingrich over his conservative bona fides and his Fannie/Freddie connections.

Romney put in one of, if not, his best debate performances of the campaign, emerging unscathed and with renewed vigor and confidence.

Friday saw Romney received the enthusiastic endorsement of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, before they both set about campaigning in the important early voting primary state.

So what changed this week?

Perhaps the media overplayed their hand, which they often do, in painting things sooooo bleak for the Romney campaign

Perhaps Romney’s performance in the Saturday Iowa debate was not perceived to be as bad as spun, by the people who watched it.

Perhaps most regular folks “got” the bet Romney was making, was to flush out a lying varmint.

Perhaps most people understand in business there are indeed winners and losers, but more often than not, in capable hands, there are more winners.

Perhaps people realize they don’t want a “bomb thrower” leading them here, hither and yon, because of uncontrollable bombast.

Perhaps despite months of heavy shelling from both Talk Radio (Rush & Levin) and the DNC artillery, the Romney phalanx of 20-25% voter support is actually a sturdy floor and not a ceiling. After all, all challengers to Romney have fallen back to high single or low double digits after being vetted, while Romney has weathered his storms with his support virtually intact.

Whatever the reason, there seems to have been a shift not only in the tone but the momentum of the race. The Gingrich campaign seems a little more deflated and defensive and on the same course of other high flying non-Romney candidates. Talk Radio a little more desperate and peevish about the durability, tenacity and renewed inevitability of the Romney nomination. All while the Romney campaign ship seems to have righted its course and has a strong wind back in its sails.

Can you feel it?

UPDATE from Rebel Ross: The Romney campaign has released this ad called Momentum which lets us know they can feel it.

UPDATE 2 from Jayde: VIDEO CBS Evening News report (Dec 17, 2011): Romney makes South Carolina campaign push

In his 2010 book “No Apology,” former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney maps out the issue of America’s energy policy, in a chapter titled “Running Low.” In his writings, Romney recaps the current situation regarding our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and the dangers it poses to our national security, economic stability and our overall liberty as free people. Romney asserts the following as the premier risks involved in being reliant on non-US energy supplies:

• “From a foreign policy perspective, our addiction to foreign oil necessitates a massive military presence in the Middle East, and it has contributed to involving us, like it or not, in ancient and seemingly intractable conflicts.”
• Romney goes on to cite other perils of relying on Mid East oil, such as profits from oil being used to fund terrorism, development of destructive weaponry, selling advanced technology to unsuitable parties, such as Iran and ultimately leading to war, as in the 1992 Iraq War.
• Non-Mid East dependence is also a risk in Romney’s view, pinpointing the efforts of Venezuela, as led by Hugo Chavez, to “supplant democracy throughout Latin America” via the wealth his oil exploitation provides. In Romney’s view, Chavez’ “verbal buffoonery” is eclipsed by his megalomania and menacing of freedom.
• Domestically, Romney states the US “spends $200 billion per year importing oil from other nations.” Citing the high cost of producing energy at home, it’s good business policy for American companies to import, as you want to by the product as cheaply as possible. To remedy this situation, Romney would reverse the cost equation by spending money on producing domestic energy supplies.
• Romney advocates the development of all our energy sources, nuclear, oil, natural gas and coal. “One of the great disappointments of the so-called stimulus package of 2009 was that we spent nearly a trillion dollars and have no new energy production facilities to show for it.”

Read more…

In evaluating a potential Mitt Romney 2012 presidential candidacy, the focus of discussion almost always seems transfixed on his role in developing a health care reform plan in Massachusetts, while he was Governor. Health care will no doubt be a major issue in 2012, but there is so much more to Romney’s record and life experience, which also needs to be examined.

Last week Romney appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, to deliver the Daily Top Ten list. It was a mildly amusing affair, allowing Romney the opportunity to poke fun at his buttoned down image, despite the decidedly weak comic material he was provided by Letterman’s writers. However, the Top Ten format seems like a good way to provide some background information about Romney, to his supporters, detractors and those unfamiliar with him.

So here is a list of some perhaps unknown events, facts and trivia, designed to provide insight and prompt discussions about Mitt Romney. And in no particular order we start:

 10)      Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947. That makes his zodiac sign a Pieces and a Pig in Chinese astrology. It is said of Pig people – “Pigs are models of sincerity, purity, tolerance, and honor. When you first meet them, Pigs seem too good to be true. They are careful and caring, obliging and chivalrous. Put your trust in him, he won’t let you down and he will never try to. The Pigs simply want to do everything right.”

9)         Mitt Romney once suffered broken ribs, a fractured arm, a concussion, facial injuries and accidently declared dead, after being in a head on auto collision in France. In June 1968, while driving fellow missionaries, a Mercedes passing a truck, missed a curve and swerved into the opposite lane, slamming the car Romney was driving, head-on. Trapped between the steering wheel and door, the Romney had to be pried from the car. Later a French police officer mistakenly wrote Il est mort (he is dead) on his passport. The wife of the mission president was killed and other passengers were seriously injured as well. Back home in America, fearing his son was dead, George Romney relied on his friend, Sargent Shriver, then US Ambassador to France, to go to the hospital for details. Shriver discovered Mitt had indeed survived and would later fully recover without needing surgery.
Read more…

On Wednesday January 19th, the House of Representatives passed a repeal of the recently enacted health care reform legislation, known as ObamaCare. The vote of 245 to 189 was cast along strict party lines, with only three Democrats joining the victorious Republicans. However the vote is widely viewed as merely a symbolic gesture from the GOP; as the measure is not expected to be brought up on the Democrat controlled Senate floor. 

With no “Replace” legislation waiting in the wings to be considered, Americans will have to wait and see what the GOP controlled House majority will devise, if anything. On Thursday, the GOP House leadership did take some initial action to begin looking at health care reform alternatives. Others suggest the GOP might drag it’s feet in replacing ObamaCare, since strategists eye it as a winning 2012 campaign issue for the GOP and its hopes of gaining control of the Senate, as well as the White House. 

Against this backdrop, potential 2012 GOP Presidential hopefuls will be jockeying to present their own ideas to voters. Some have the luxury of never having to face the task of resolving health care issues, while some have addressed the issue head on. The GOP presumed candidate with the most experience in health care reform is former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney. His is famous – or infamous, depending on which GOP circles one travels – for enacting a health care plan during his tenure, which nearly everyone has cited as the model for ObamaCare. Surely this issue will be Romney’s biggest hurdle in seeking the nomination.  

While some are quick to throw brick bats at the MassCare plan, others take a more reasoned and pragmatic view of Romney’s actions. The following points were originally posted by Right Speak member Noelle, commenting in a blog post about the virtues of Romney’s plan. 

Here, with her permission, Noelle expresses some very good points in drawing distinctions between Obama and Romney’s plans: 

“This has been an interesting and lively debate. Just to add my 2¢ here, I think Romney’s has only 2 challenges in winning the nomination. The first is his health care reform that was passed in MA, and the second is his religious faith. Regarding his faith, that is clearly a ridiculous issue, but that won’t stop a few people from refusing to support him.” 

“The legitimate issue is his record on health care reform. I am a conservative; MA is a very liberal state. I’m glad I don’t live there and have to live under such liberal “leadership.” That being said, health care is a complex issue. Romney and others who worked on it spent a very long time researching, studying, analyzing, compromising, and fighting, to get a result that in the end was overwhelmingly supported by the people of Massachusetts.”

 ”There are elements of it that I don’t like and that are not well received by conservatives. The problem I see is with those who don’t support Romney. Rather than look at the complexities of the issue and plan, acknowledging both the good and the bad, they only talk about the points they don’t like. Arguing in sound bites, rather than really showing an understanding of the complexity of the issue.”

To say the MA healthcare reform is a model for Obamacare is ignoring some very significant factors:

 1.      Romney BALANCED THE BUDGET before tackling the health care issue. Obama didn’t.

2.      Romney DID NOT RAISE TAXES to implement the MA healthcare reform. 

3.      Romney’s bill was 72 pages long. Obama’s was 2,700 pages. That is significant because how much is hidden in those 2,700 pages? You can’t hide in 72 pages. 

4.      The MA healthcare reform bill was found to be constitutional in Massachusetts. The constitutionality of Obamacare is still in the courts, but I believe that it is unconstitutional, and the current VA ruling says so too. 

5.      The MA healthcare reform was designed specifically for Massachusetts. It is a relatively wealthy state, with already relatively low numbers of uninsured. Obamacare intends to impose the same solutions on Tennessee, West Virginia, Nevada, Oregon, California, Alabama, and all the rest, even though each state has its own unique issues to address. 

6.      Romney succeeded in getting support from both sides of the aisle. He was able to compromise and find solutions that were satisfactory to both. No one group was entirely happy, but all had the opportunity to participate and contribute to the debate. Obamacare was forced upon us all without getting input or support from Republicans.

 ————————– 

As realistic, rationale and reasonable as these points are, critics will no doubt continue to take the easier path, popping off slogans, platitudes and talk radio mantras. Campaign opponents of Romney will also attempt to make political hay of his reform actions. However, with so many offering so few solutions or even worse – advice bereft of actual experience – it may turn out, the man who did the most, will actually be the one voters will listen to.

Author’s Note: Doug would like to thank Noelle for her comments, which presented here, inspired this post. —– Cross-posted at Right Speak

Looks like Mitt Romney will be spending his upcoming Valentine’s Day in fabulous Las Vegas, addressing the 2,500 members of the International Franchise Association. The speech is an opportunity for Romney to showcase his business acumen in the 2012 Presidential caucus state of Nevada. As Eric McPike reports in a Real Clear Politics article this morning, the IFA’s 51st annual convention will take place in Las Vegas from Feb. 13 to 16th. The event will be held at the MGM Grand, with the theme “Building the Future Together.” The emphasis of the confab will be focused on how small business owners can position themselves “as the economy begins to improve.” Romney will have to strike the right balance of criticism of President Obama’s handling of the economy, while conditions may seem to be improving.

Additional focus is being centered on this event, since Romney is a leading contender for the GOP Nomination in 2012, should he decide to run. Nevada is now emerging as an important early voting state in that process. While Romney won the Nevada caucus quite handily in 2008, the delegates he won were none binding, so there was little importance attached to his win. In 2012, all that will be changed.

According to CNN:

“Last weekend, in hopes of preventing a repeat performance, Republican state party leaders changed the rules to make the 2012 caucus results binding, meaning that delegates attending the Republican National Convention in Florida the following summer must stick with the candidate choices determined by the caucus results.” 

The Nevada caucus, which will be the third of four early nomination voting states in 2012, along with Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, will award its delegates on a proportional, as opposed to a winner-take-all basis. The hope of party leaders is to have a more energetic and active exchange among the candidates.

Usually we’ve been the ugly stepchild that nobody cared about,” says Heidi Smith, a Nevada member of the Republican National Committee. “This time around it’s going to be important for the candidates to come here and prove themselves to the people of Nevada. 

According to Laura Meyers of The Las Vegas Review–Journal, Romney seems to have a decent head start in Nevada, thanks to his name recognition and his winning performance here in 2008. Meyers then adds: 

That’s one reason Republican leaders decided last month not to make Nevada’s February 2012 GOP caucuses a winner-take-all contest. They wanted to attract all GOP presidential comers to compete for delegates instead of potentially ceding the state to Romney if he jumps into the race.

“I think everyone has to recognize that Mitt Romney will be the front-runner in the Nevada caucuses,” said Jack St. Martin, a GOP consultant based in the state. “The question will be how strongly he finishes and who finishes second, and how strong a second.”

So by deciding to award the caucus delegates proportionally, Nevada will see its status as an early decider in Republican Presidential politics raised significantly. For Romney it offers both a challenge and an opportunity. Romney will now have to work a little harder to ensure a victory in a state in which he will be favored in, much like New Hampshire. However, a victory in both states will provide him with the needed momentum to enter any proportional primaries to be held in March or Super Tuesday in early April.

The announcement for Romney’s Las Vegas appearance touts his business, managerial and political record and skills: 

The 50th Annual IFA Convention honored those who have made the industry what it is today and showcased the growth of franchising over the past half century. Attendees left inspired, optimistic and ready to face the challenges that lay ahead.

Our 2011 Annual Convention Opening General Session keynote speaker will be

Mitt Romney

Widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as a public servant and in private enterprise, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney currently serves as the Honorary Chairman of the Free and Strong America PAC.

In 2008, Governor Romney was a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and distinguished himself as an important voice in favor of strengthening our economy, military, and families.

Elected Governor of
Massachusetts in 2002, Governor Romney presided over a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and a period of sustained economic expansion. Without raising taxes or increasing debt, Governor Romney balanced the budget every year of his administration, closing a $3 billion budget gap inherited when he took office. By eliminating waste, streamlining the government, and enacting comprehensive economic reforms to stimulate growth in
Massachusetts, Romney got the economy moving again and transformed deficits into surpluses. Come hear what he, and our other convention speakers, has to share.

MRC is proud to publish this guest blog post by Doug NYC GOP. The following was cross-posted at RightSpeak.net.