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Quote of the Day: Does Mitt Romney Have the GOP Presidential Nomination Wrapped Up?
Our political Quote of the Day comes from the Christian Science Monitor’s Brad Knickerbocker, who raises the question of whether despite the new and old media political horse race coverage, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doesn’t really have the Republican presidential nomination wrapped up:
One by one, Mitt Romney’s GOP rivals have taken runs at him, trumpeting his failures as a true conservative and his flip-flopping. But one by one, they’ve stumbled, and at the moment the race for the GOP nomination seems like Romney’s to lose.
It’s looking more and more like Mitt Romney has the Republican presidential nomination in the bag.
One by one, his declared GOP rivals have taken runs at him, trumpeting his failures as a true conservative (see “Romneycare” with its dreaded individual mandate when he was governor of Massachusetts) and his flip-flopping on such issues as abortion, climate change, and the auto industry bailout (see http://mittromneyflipflops.com/).
Sometimes they’ve gotten him hot under his normally well-starched collar, as Rick Perry did on immigration in last week’s debate when he accused Romney of the “height of hypocrisy” – a charge you might think would be reserved for something a little more important than who a lawn care contractor hired.
But one by one, they’ve stumbled – Perry on immigration himself, his family’s hunting camp with its racist name, and a prominent evangelical supporter’s slur about Romney’s Mormon religion; Herman Cain’s own flip-flopping on abortion, the holes in his “9-9-9” economic plan, and an apparent lack of knowledge on foreign affairs.
Cain jokes about being “the flavor of the month” (he identifies with Haagen-Dazs Black Walnut). But there’s truth to the ice cream imagery, especially the tendency to melt. Ask Michele Bachmann, once thought to be the tea party favorite – until Perry and then Cain rose in the polling charts, knocking her down to single digits.
And now Rick Perry has joined the birther side — doing it with the typical statement allowing some plausible-if-you-are-a-cabbage deniability, with the typical comment that in effect says, well, the President says he was born here, it’s a distraction but not completely rejecting the birther movement as something out of a Rod Serling episode. This may play well with some in the GOP but with the exception of Romney most candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination seem to be in a heated race to alienate big chunk of independent voters and complete the process of so-called RINOS (the label given to moderate Republicans marginalized or exiled from their former party) from the Republican Party. Romney seems to be the one candidate who’s running who could rope in some of these votes and piece together strong election coalition.
Still Romney has a basic problem: he remains widely distrusted and disliked in his own party — which is a bit of a problem for someone who wants to get his party’s nomination.
8 Responses to “Quote of the Day: Does Mitt Romney Have the GOP Presidential Nomination Wrapped Up?”
He’ll be fine in the general if he chooses a hard core social conservative governor as VP.
Any other Pres nominee or VP choice will kill the Reps chance of taking back the WH.
Looks that way from a practical viewpoint, unless someone comes from left field. (Gov. Kasich, for instance.) Cain is being pilloried by the Dems as stupid and worse, and the other candidates are nit picking his stances, and rightfully so. It is a shame he is not better prepared and more consistent with his talking points, since I think he is a good man. But, without the polish and money, he is toast.
BTW: I wish Mitt, who I’m not crazy about, would lose that annoyingly condescending tone and attitude. (I would have told him to get his f____ hand off my shoulder.)
Romney will pick Herman Cain for VP, then die of an impacted bowel and Cain will then be the front runner.
The fact Romney doesn’t have the nomination locked up is a sign of the problems in the GOP electorate. He is literally the only actual statesman running that has a chance of getting a win in the general election, a fact that has been obvious ever since that same electorate was paying actual attn to Donald Trump of all people, yet they are trying everything they can to find someone else.
Republicans are idiots. I’m willing to make a blanket statement about that now. I have tried really hard to be moderate but I know stupid when I see it and I have to call this like I see it. They have never forgiven Romney for the fact he came out with a healthcare plan for his state that worked, even Romney still seems proud of it and he should, but out of all the GOP they can’t even find one to represent their goals that can last more than 15 minutes in the spotlight of public scrutiny. You know why? Because the goals they want are awful, generate poor results, and offend people.
Lets look at Herman Cain, the current flavor of the week. Despite this massive economic downturn that was caused by massive market manipulation by unregulated financial institutions and policies that have bled money out of the middle class in the name of economic fairness, he told anyone out of a job or poor to blame themselves for their lot in life. He actually did that. In addition, he has a tax plan that is going to put even more of the burden on middle and lower income families. So here basically is the plan of the GOP front runner:
1) Tell everyone who is poor or out of a job its their own fault. They are too stupid or lazy to be successful.
2) Tax them more, and tax the rich less.
3) Ask for their votes
And he is the FRONT RUNNER! So when I say republicans are stupid, this isn’t just a lefty rant. This is backed by observation. I can see that there is a huge section of the GOP electorate that is willing to not only vote for those who act against their own interests, but to do so when the candidates are publicly stating they are acting against their own best interests. I don’t know what else to call it.
Slam, you have a right to your opinions, including the one where you say you are a fallen moderate. Indeed you sound more like a liberal trying to be a moderate, which is OK some of my worst enemies are liberals.
I am a moderate. I used to be a Republican. I don’t feel I’ve drifted left, I feel the GOP has drifted right. Now guys like me are “liberals” because we haven’t followed suit. I hear more made up, unthought out bullsh!t from the right wing than I could think possible. I hear it from the left too, but you know the difference? The guys on the right are either elected officials or highly rated news figures, whereas the guys on the left spouting the BS are patchouli wreathed hippies standing on a street corner or running a poetry reading out of Berkeley. I can ignore the one, but other concerns me.
I’m only going by your comments, I can’t look any further.
slamfu-
My sentiments exactly. Republicans have absolutely gone bonkers. They would need Special Ed classes just to get back to stupid.