Posted on 09/01/2007 3:03:45 PM PDT by Rameumptom
Romney's strong conservative stances on issues today are consistent with his long-held core conservative values in many more areas than his critics would have us believe.
Romney's Conservative Credentials Go Way Back
The quote from Adolph Hitler, "Tell a lie often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people will believe you." applies to the liar as well as to his intended target.
Says it all!
Yes, it does say it all. You and the MSM have it figured out.
Why yes, I read that poll and noticed that you trimmed out the part that showed that a large % of the Romney support was from Democrats that said they were going to crossover to vote for him.
It also noted that the results of this poll were 180 deg from the poll last month that had Fred Thompson first and Romney in 4th place.
Why would I be unimpressed with this poll?
Because you don't believe the most recent data and want to hold on to "last month"?
Because you don't appreicate the upward trend and momentum of Romney's rise?
Because you are a Fredhead trolling on a Romney thread?
Just a few guesses.
If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that’s what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.
~~ Ronald Reagan, in his autobiography, An American Life .
Plus, I think the two of you will be interested in this trend. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1884058/posts
Sorry, but a guy who wants to take away my rifles, doesn’t understand about the need for small goverment, and spent most of his adult life as a liberal, does not get into the 90s on the conservative scale.
You see, I look at his record, not his rhetoric du jour.
And you sound like a Democrat when you cry “religious bias”. Sure, Mormons sometimes just a bit too comfy with authority.
But if Mitt had been a consistent conservative, I’d be supporting him, even though his Mormonism will probably cost him 5% in vote margin no Republican can afford to give up.
Are you ready for the October 2008 4-part cover story series from Time Magazine on “What is Mormonism?”
Rather selective polls in your link and very few of them even listed Thompson.
~”Are you ready for the October 2008 4-part cover story series from Time Magazine on “What is Mormonism?””~
Absolutely. It’ll be a walk in the park compared to the slanders Mormonism has endured in the past, and we’ve nothing to hide. The MSM is playing with napalm on this topic. It will be very easy to generate a backlash in favor of Romney on the topic of religion, particularly if their treatment of the topic is demonstrably slanted.
The follow-up question, of course, is, just how many of the people who would vote Republican would take any story by Time seriously? Such a story wouldn’t appreciably sway the electorate. The only exception would be those who are determined to find a reason to be swayed.
No, obviously, you are FAILING to look at his actual record and are ONLY relying on rhetoric.
He fought for lower taxes, smaller government, stonger families, a stronger military and the rule of law in a place hostile to many of those things.
---In the four balanced budgets he signed into law, Governor Romney used the line-item veto or program reduction power to cut spending by nearly $1 Billion. Over the course of four budgets, Governor Romney made over 300 line-item reductions, 350 line-item eliminations and struck language 150 times.
--- Gov. Romney was instrumental in passing a bill abolishing a retroactive capital gains tax in the state that would have forced nearly 50,000 taxpayers to pay an additional $200 million in state taxes and fees
--- 4 years ago --- before the illegals marched in our streets --- Romney opposed a bill that would have allowed illegal aliens to get driver’s licenses. "Those who are here illegally should not receive tacit support from our government that gives an indication of legitimacy," the governor said. (Scott S. Greenberger, "Romney Stand Dims Chances Of License For Undocumented," The Boston Globe, 10/28/03)
--- Romney vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have permitted illegal aliens to pay the same in-state tuition rate paid by citizens at public colleges and universities in Massachusetts.
--- Romney vetoed the bill providing state funding for human embryonic stem cell research
--- Romney vetoed a bill that provided for the "morning after pill" without a prescription because it is an abortifacient and would have been available to minors without parental notification and consent
--- He vetoed legislation which would have redefined Massachusetts longstanding definition of the beginning of human life from fertilization to implantation
--- Governor Romney strongly supported a successful ballot initiative that replaced the state's bilingual program with English immersion. (Romney Vows to Protect English Immersion Law, May 1, 2003)
--- Governor Romney demonstrated his commitment to school-choice by vetoing a bill that would have canceled funding for Massachusetts' charter-school program. (Romney to Veto Charter School Moratorium, June 23, 2004)
--- He supported parental notification laws and opposed efforts to weaken parental involvement
--- He fought to promote abstinence education in public school classrooms with a program offered by faith-based Boston group Healthy Futures to middle school students.
Governor Romney filed and signed into law the most significant expansion of military benefits in recent years. The new law reduced to zero the cost members of the Massachusetts National Guard must pay to attend public colleges and universities, increased twenty-fold the death benefit paid to families of members killed in the line of duty, created a new annuity benefit for Gold Star spouses and boosted the amount paid to Gold Star parents. (Romney Signs Legislation Expanding Military Benefits, November 11, 2005)
Romney's Fiscally Conservative Record Proven
So Mitt isn’t a flaming leftist. His moderate governance of a liberal state still does not make him a conservative.
When there is another more viable candidate is a consistent conservative, why support a dubious one who is a proven gun-grabber?
I honestly think that some Republican women like Mitt for the same reason that many Democrat women liked Clinton.
Romney probably got a bump from recent Michigan endorsements and the Ames straw poll.
From 4th to 1st would be quite a bump and one that most state polls don’t show.
“I agree that Mitt’s “message” (the current one) is conservative. I just don’t believe that Mitt’s core principles (if he has any) are conservative.”
A) Mitt Romney’s life is pretty wide open for inspection. He certainly does have the solid core values of family, work ethic, integrity, etc. The only 08 candidate to have been a CEO. The only 08 candidate with 3 degrees. The only major candidate still married to his first wife.
B) On political values, Mitt Romney is not a proven ‘consistent convervative’ as you pointed out, but has been a blue state Republican. However, his record in Massachusetts is a center-right reasonably conservative record, which btw is more conservative than say GWBush was as governor in Texas. And the claims that he a gun-grabber are not fair as the only bills he signed as Governor were NRA supported. Likewise, the flipflop on abortion is brought up, and yet curiously as Governor most of what he did in the area was on the prolife side. He governed about as conservatively as the Massachusetts electorate would allow.
Consider Mitt Romney as a smarter, more capable, more articulate, better-on-immigration and more fiscally prudent version of G W Bush. He ‘gets it’ on judges and would be solid there. He is certainly running on the 3 key Reagan conservative themes of strength in defense and foreign policy, lowering taxes and spending, and defending family. Moreover, Romney is the only candidate speaking out quickly on key issues and going after the Democrats and liberals, for example:
http://www.mittromney.com/News/In-The-News/Iowa_Marriage_Ruling
IMHO, if that is not conservative enough for you, the only proven, consistent conservative worth voting for in the race right now is Duncan Hunter.
If you think for example Fred Thompson is the next ‘Reagan’, I wish we would have seen more of it in the 8 years he was senators; here’s a viewpoint from richard Vigurie that he’s not a solid conservative either:
http://rxpaul.townhall.com/g/2a2376eb-6d66-421e-b321-ebeec7667923
Stylistically, Thompson has a southern drawl that makes southerners more comfortable, but he has the legacy of McCain-Feingold to live down. There are not big differences between Romney and Thompson on the issues (or in their record).
Last point: The nomination race will be won by Thompson, Romney, or Rudy. And right now, the odds-on favorite is Rudy. (Check Intrade odds). A conservative has two choices - find the best candidate to stop Rudy and support them to take down Rudy, or decide that none of the top three are good enough anyway and just support your favorite candidate, knowing they wont win. I frankly dont think Thompson has it in him to stop the Rudy train, based on how he has run his campaign in the past 3 months ... but Romney does, working to get in front in most early states. Part of my calculation in favoring Romney is his personal character and accomplishments; and part of it is the knowledge that he is a far more acceptable candidate for conservatives than Rudy would be.
The latest month saw other polls with Romney moving up and polls where Thompson declined. Now we have a national poll showing it. The bad news is that Rudy is now more out in front than before on national level, as Thompson is now only 2 points ahead of Romney nationally:
Diageo/Hotline GOP National Primary August 22-26 (Results)
* Rudy Giuliani 27% (20%)
* Fred Thompson 17% (19%)
* Mitt Romney 15% (8%)
* John McCain 12% (17%)
* Mike Huckabee 4% (1%)
(parens are july numbers)
The latest month saw other polls with Romney moving up and polls where Thompson declined. Now we have a national poll showing it. The bad news is that Rudy is now more out in front than before on national level, as Thompson is now only 2 points ahead of Romney nationally:
Diageo/Hotline GOP National Primary August 22-26 (Results)
* Rudy Giuliani 27% (20%)
* Fred Thompson 17% (19%)
* Mitt Romney 15% (8%)
* John McCain 12% (17%)
* Mike Huckabee 4% (1%)
(parens are july numbers)
LINK:
http://race42008.com/2007/09/02/poll-watch-diageohotline-gop-national-primary-2/#comment-142334
As well, if they come after Romney on religion, they would also be going after their media darling Reid. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Reid handles all this regardless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.