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Blogs Eric Reads
Former Romney Aides Trying to Sink Palin
The conservative magainze The American Spectator notes the opening salvo in the GOP Civil War:
Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin’s bid for the White House, have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election. “Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won’t be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,” says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin. “The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney. He’s in charge on November 5th.”
…
Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a “diva” and was going off message intentionally. The former and current Romney supporters further are pushing Romney supporters for key Republican jobs, including head of the Republican National Committee.
Romney’s people have written McCain/Palin off completely and are focusing entirely on Romney in 2012… at the same time that they’re “working” on the McCain/Palin campaign! I’m gonna grab a bowl of popcorn because this is going to be good.
Palin’s Future
A little bit of Saturday morning fun because they’re already polling Republicans for 2012:
Fortunately for her, she’s got a pretty sold lead on “Other” and “Don’t Know.”
Moar Mittens!!
Sorry for the lack of postage, but I’ve been busy in my real life. Hopefully, John McCain will pick Mitt Romney to be his veep, thus providing a nearly infinite supply of lulz until November. Then we’ll be back in business.
(via)
Mitt Romney: Comeback King?
Yeah, you read the title right. According to one of his sons, Mitt Romney might be down but not quite out:
Josh Romney, one of former Gov. Mitt Romney’s five sons, says it’s “possible” his father may rejoin the race for the White House, as a vice presidential candidate or as the Republican Party’s standard-bearer if the campaign of Sen. John McCain falters.
The 60-year-old Romney, who “suspended” his campaign for the GOP nomination after a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday and a week later endorsed McCain, was taking a break from politics this weekend on a skiing vacation in Utah with his wife, Ann, according to his 32-year-old son.
…
Apparently, that whole business with the lobbyist Ms. Iseman is part of what could motivate Willard to jump back into the race. He still has those 286 delegates, and I’d love to see him put them to good use. Re-run, Mittens, re-run!
Good Riddance to Bad Mittens
By now you’ve probably already heard that Willard Mitt Romney has ended his bid for the presidency, effectively handing the Republican nomination to John McCain, but maybe you haven’t heard why he did it:
“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win,” [Romney] said. “And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”
Yes, if Mitt had stayed in the race, the Republicans would have certainly lost, and if the Republican lose, the Democrats terrorists win. Right. Remember, Mitt, that most Americans want our troops home from Iraq within a year and that Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans on the War on Terror and… well, everything else.
Tuck your tail between your legs and run home to your immense personal fortune. Your flip-flopping, pandering, and overall fakeness will hardly be missed.
McCain Has Flipped. Will He Flop?
Back in November, I wrote about how Mitt Romney’s flip-flops on… well, pretty much everything were hurting him in his home state of Massachusetts. Three months later, it looks like the mantle of Chief Republican Flip-Flopper has passed on to John McCain. But McCain isn’t just changing his stances on the Republican party’s core issues, like Mitt did. Now, McCain is actually opposing legislation that he wrote!
The Carpetbagger Report’s Steve Benen wants to know: How many of his own bills is John McCain prepared to vote against?
* He said this week that he’d vote against his own immigration plan.
* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now, if the treaty comes to the Senate floor, he’s vowed to vote against it.
* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. In 2007, to make the far-right base happy, he voted against the bill he had taken the lead on.
* In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he now opposes the measure he’d backed.
* McCain used to support major campaign-finance reform measures that bore his name. In June 2007, McCain announced his opposition to a major McCain-Feingold provision.
I don’t always think it’s fair to expect politicians to never change a position on anything, especially for someone like McCain who has been in Congress forever, but there’s a difference between changing his mind and voting against bills her sponsored (and even bills with his name on them!) in the interest of pandering. It’s time for someone to call Mr. “Straight Talk” on his flip-flopping.
Of course, this begs the question, if Republican primary voters are looking for consistency, where are they going to find it?
Because McCain Sounds So Much Like Romney
Most Democrats probably weren’t paying attention to today’s primary in Michigan since the DNC stripped all of Michigan’s delegates and only Clinton, Dodd, Kucinich, and Gravel were on the (meaningless) ballot.
For Republicans, however, today was the day that a clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination could have been determined, and it was especially important for Mitt Romney, who was banking on a Michigan victory in order to stay in the race. And Romney did indeed win this evening with a 9-point lead over second-place John McCain.
Unfortunately for Romney, the Michigan Republican Party lost interest in the primary as the day grew later, so they hadn’t been paying attention when they released their official congratulations for the winner.
The Michigan Republican Party mistakenly sent out a news release Tuesday night congratulating John McCain for winning the state’s GOP primary.
…The Associated Press named Romney the GOP winner when polls closed in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula at 9 p.m. EST.
The first GOP release went out just minutes later and stated, “In a close-fought victory, Senator John McCain succeeded again (in) the Michigan Republican primary, winning over a traditionally unpredictable voter base in Michigan.”
Five minutes after that, the party sent a release that said, “In a close-fought victory, native son Governor Mitt Romney won an important contest here tonight.”
Whoops. Okay, so it’s a silly little mistake, but Romney’s victory and the fact that the Michigan GOP was itching to give McCain the nod are indicative of a larger problem plaguing Republicans: they have no idea who they want to be President.
The convincing victory by Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary on Tuesday means three very different states — with dissimilar electorates driven by distinctive sets of priorities — have embraced three separate candidates in search of someone who can lead the party into a tough election and beyond President Bush.
…
On the most tangible level, the vote on Tuesday was proof from the ballot box of what polls have shown: this is a party that is adrift, deeply divided and uninspired when it comes to its presidential candidates and unsure of how to counter an energized Democratic Party.
Romney’s victory (which will keep him in the race) begins another chaotic month for the Republicans. May it be filled with money-wasting ads and swift-boating.
And apologies to the Michigan Republican Party which oh-so-badly wanted McCain to win on Tuesday. Of course, they should be used to this kind of thing; after all, they voted for Dewey.
Romney: Huckabee = Clinton?
In a desperate attempt to save his skin in Iowa, Mitt Romney has launched a new campaign comparing Mike Huckabee with fellow Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.
“Governor Huckabee’s record is more liberal than our nation needs right now,” the former Massachusetts governor said in Iowa last week, seeking to link his GOP presidential rival to the former Democratic president who is loathed by many Republican loyalists.
…
Romney’s aides argue Huckabee’s record as governor undercuts his claim that he’s the only authentic conservative in the race. Romney himself has stopped short of explicitly saying his rival is simply another Clinton, though he’s less shy about it in campaign literature mailed to thousands of Iowa Republicans.
So let me get this straight: Mike Huckabee–a Southern Baptist minister who is firmly anti-choice, opposes embryonic stem cell research, and really, really hates the gays–is just like Bill Clinton? I don’t get it.
“They’re very different people, and obviously the area of concern relates to spending and taxation. We think of Bill Clinton as being a tax raiser and a spender,” Romney said — then mused that he had read somewhere that Huckabee had raised more taxes than Clinton when they were governors.
Ah, of course, it’s all about taxes. Mike Huckabee is just like Bill Clinton because Huckabee rose taxes, according to… something that Mitt Romney read… somewhere.
C’mon, Mitt, you’re going to have to do a little better than that, especially when your record on some of those issues… well, who knows what your record is?
Flip-Fops Hurt Mitt in MA
Via TPM:
Recent polling has made something pretty clear for Mitt Romney: He would have a hard time at best in the general election in his home state of Massachusetts, where he served one term as governor. The latest SurveyUSA poll shows him losing the state by an amazing 65%-31% margin against Hillary Clinton. And what’s more, he might not even try to compete there at all.
The Romney campaign’s response makes sense. Massachusetts is a pretty solidly liberal state, and I think it’s safe bet to say that Generic Democrat will do better than Generic Republican in 2008. But what does this new poll really say about Mitt Romney?
After all, Massachusetts elected him once, so the must have liked where he stood on some things. And yes, his approval ratings weren’t great, but he certainly wasn’t at the bottom of the barrel. So what happened? What changed between 2002, when half of Massachusetts elected him governor, and now, when he’s considering not even campaigning in his own state?
What changed is that he’s flip-flopped on so many of the issues that got him elected in the first place, like abortion or gay marriage, and even such things as campaign finance and making English our official language.
Massachusetts, that bastion of liberalism, liked Romney when they knew what he stood for. As long as Mitt keeps making it difficult for people to figure out what he believes, his poll numbers are going to hurt, even among people who used to support him.
(Cross-posted at DailyKos )