Romney can make systems work

San Antonio Express-News ^ | January 12, 2012 | Michael Gerson

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It is commonly argued that Mitt Romney has benefited from a weak Republican field, which is true. And that the attacks of his opponents have been late and diffuse. True, and true.

But the political accomplishment of Willard Mitt Romney should not be underestimated. The moderate, technocratic former governor of a liberal state is poised to secure the nomination of the most monolithically conservative Republican Party of modern history.

Some of this improbable achievement can be attributed to Romney's skills as a candidate. In 14 debates, he delivered one gaffe (the $10,000 bet) and once lost his temper (with Rick Perry) — neither lapse particularly damaging. Under a barrage of awkward formats and dopey questions, Romney has been calm, knowledgeable and reassuring.

Romney is the varsity — a far better candidate than, say, Bob Dole or John McCain. A Republican nominating process that swerved again and again toward silliness — alternately elevating for consideration Donald Trump, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain — seems ready to settle on a serious, accomplished, credible candidate. Republicans, it turns out, are choleric and fractious — but not suicidal.

The nominating process has also revealed Romney's limitations. It would be awkward for anyone this stiff to pose as a working-class stiff, and Romney should not try. But if he gains the nomination, Romney's rival in connecting with average voters will not be Bill Clinton. It will be professor Barack Obama. Again, Romney benefits from the luck of the draw.

Romney has paired his skills with a sophisticated political strategy. His campaign team learned something from the failures of four years ago. Last time, Romney flooded the early states with money and personal attention. In Iowa, his limited return on investment made him a political punch line. This time, Romney rationed both his money and his presence — lowering expectations and generating genuine enthusiasm when he finally arrived to campaign.

Ideology has always been Romney's main vulnerability. Running and winning in Massachusetts before running twice for the Republican presidential nomination is a process best described by biologists — a story of adaptation and evolution.

Other candidates have naturally carried more vivid ideological messages. In the end, the intra-Republican argument has come down to Ron Paul versus Rick Santorum — both effective spokesmen for their views. Paul carries the hopes of libertarians and those who seek a return to the federal government of an 18th-century agrarian republic. Santorum stands more in the empowerment tradition of Jack Kemp or George W. Bush. On the whole, he is reconciled to the goals of modern government — encouraging equal opportunity and care for the elderly, sick and vulnerable — but not to the bureaucratic methods of modern government. I come down on the empowerment side of this divide. But maybe, at this moment, the Republican Party doesn't need a clear decision on its identity (which might not be possible anyway). Romney has this advantage: In supporting him, no Republican is called upon to surrender his or her deepest ideological convictions. Romney is temperamentally conservative but not particularly ideological. He reserves his enthusiasm for quantitative analysis and organizational discipline. He seems to view the cultural and philosophic debates that drive others as distractions from the real task of governing — making systems work.

His competitors have attempted to portray Romney's ideological inconsistency over time as a character failure. It hasn't worked, mainly because Romney is a man of exemplary character — deeply loyal to his faith, his family and his country. But he clearly places political ideology in a different category of fidelity. Like Dwight Eisenhower, Romney is a man of vague ideology and deep values. In political matters, he is empirical and pragmatic. He studies problems, assesses risks, calculates likely outcomes. Those expecting Romney to be a philosophic leader will be disappointed. He is a management consultant, and a good one.

Has the moment of the management consultant arrived in American politics? In our desperate drought of public competence, Romney has a strong case to make.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

....In political matters, he is empirical and pragmatic. He studies problems, assesses risks, calculates likely outcomes. Those expecting Romney to be a philosophic leader will be disappointed. He is a management consultant, and a good one.......

“Everywhere my dad has gone, he's fixed things,” Tagg Romney said.

_____________________________________________________

So Mitt Romney "fixes" things but he has no ideological core.

Well Rush, how do you defend this as our "expected" nominee?

You and your, "Run a conservative and we'll win!!

Right on! Right on!

Then you go and repeatedly kick in the teeth of the two fighting for conservative principles.

You DON'T do your homework, but instead go off half-cocked in a knee-jerk reaction like the MSM.

Why weren't you commenting on Mitt Romney when he was lying about Rick Perry's job success in Texas.

A NON-Perry supporter "numbers guy" dug into the facts went to bat for Gov. Perry when Mitt Romney paid for and "approved" this attack ad against Perry. THE FACTS [:59]

Mitt Romney knew early on JOBS JOBS JOBS would be the campaign issue that will keep or replace the man in the White House -- so he had to TAKE OUT PERRY. And as noted in the OpEd above, the ONLY one to truly rattle Mitt has been Perry -- twice.

Why is that Rush?

Could it be that Gov. Rick Perry has the record and the truth on his side?

Why doesn't Mitt Romney release his tax returns?

Why are we going to be left with this vulnerable, big government "fix-it" elite with no chance of beating Obama?

Where does your ideological loyalty lie today Rush?

Look in the mirror Rush. The half of your brain tied back needs some blood flow, quick. You're hurting our chances to make Obama a one term president.

____________________________________________________

Misfire: ROMNEY AD TARGETS Rick Perry's Jobs Record "I think it's safe to say the Romney campaign is going for the kill with its latest attack on Rick Perry. The former Massachusetts Governor has already gotten a fair amount of mileage out of attacking his Texan rival from the left on Social Security, and from the right on immigration, but this new spot strikes at the heart of the Perry campaign's raison detre -- jobs, jobs, jobs:.....

The spot's most striking image is a tumbleweed blowing along a deserted Texas highway. That's rich. It's intended to create the impression that Rick Perry's Texas is something of a depressed ghost town. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since the recession began, desperate job seekers have flocked to Texas at a clip of roughly 1,000 people per day. And they're finding work, too. Despite a huge population influx and a bruising national recession, Texas' unemployment rate remains below the national average. How remarkable has the Lone Star State's economic performance been? Read this Political Math analysis (written by a self-professed non Perry supporter), and marvel. One telling data point:

[Cincinatus' Wife]

REMEMBER THIS? [look bottom left to see that Romney sources MSNBC's Morning Joe and the Huffington Post for this flier].

[Cincinatus' Wife]

His competitors have attempted to portray Romney's ideological inconsistency over time as a character failure. It hasn't worked, mainly because Romney is a man of exemplary character — deeply loyal to his faith, his family and his country.

THIS WILL NOT WORK. DID IT WORK FOR JOHN KERRY when the Left put him forward as "Ready for Duty" Vietnam war hero? NO!!

Mitt's Masquerade [about how he matches up with another Mass pol – John Kerry – who lost]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Perry on Mitt. Some highlights:

Perry's ad: Carbon Copies [:60]

Perry rattles Mitt: That's -- I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals. [video clip]

And Perry's gone after Mitt (A LOT) on hiding his support for mandated health care (remember the $10,000. bet?).

Perry's ad:

"Romney's Remedy"RomneyCare

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Then Mitt tried to take Perry out at the conservative forum using bad information. Romney wanted to stop any talk about LDS.

FR: Inside Romney controversy at Values Voters Summit (It was about Bryan Fischer not Jeffress)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Drudge is in the bag for Romeny.

Nov 14, 2011: Special report: The golden age of opposition research Original source – Reuters .....Overall, Romney is thought to have the best oppo team in this Republican primary, with Yost as chief of research and Matt Rhoades, another veteran of RNC opposition research, as campaign manager. No one in the Romney organization would comment.

*****************

....."Frustrated rivals think they know the secret: a low-profile, hard-driving Republican operative named Matt Rhoades, who is Romney’s campaign manager. Rhoades met Drudge, as POLITICO Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris and co-author Mark Halperin reported in their book “The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008,” when he became research director of the Republican National Committee and was introduced by his predecessor on a special trip to Miami. Rhoades has since been seen as a pipeline to the reclusive Drudge, who now has two veteran Washington reporters working on the site as well.".... Source

[Cincinatus' Wife]

ROMNEY'S EMBRACE OF MANDATED HEALTH CARE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS leave him naked to face Obama on the political stage.

Obama will be free to use his Billion Dollar war chest to help LIBERALS down the line win seats because he WON'T need much money to take out Mitt!!!

______________________________________________

Romney’s Troubling Appointments (Mitt's environmental policy team now works for Obama) …………….“"EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has taken most of the fire from Republicans as her agency rolls out a slew of controversial new climate and clean air rules. But McCarthy, the EPA assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, has taken on much of the heavy lifting of writing, structuring, and implementing the rules.

“Lisa’s the coach and Gina’s the quarterback” in the work of rolling out new clean air regulations, said Daniel Weiss, an energy and climate policy expert at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with close ties to the Obama administration. “She’s running the plays, improvising on the line.”

Another Romney environmental adviser in the effort to regulate “greenhouse gases” is now Obama’s Director of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren. Dr. Holdren has some exotic views: …………..

[like "population control" and letting American exceptionalism wither on the vine]

Romney’s Advisers Met With Obama to Help Craft ‘Obamacare’ “Three of Mitt Romney’s advisers went to the White House at least a dozen times in 2009 to consult on the former Massachusetts governor’s health care plan that President Obama used as a model for his initiative -- now a federal law that all the Republican presidential candidates want to repeal.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday he was "not in a position to comment on specific meetings." But in a remark that won't help Romney in his pursuit for the 2012 Republican nomination, Earnest repeated that Obama took cues from the Massachusetts legislation.

"You've certainly heard the president himself say that there were a number of very good ideas included in the health care plan that then-Gov. Romney put in place in Massachusetts that were incorporated into the Affordable Care Act and so it’s clear that these are some ideas that we were interested in incorporating and we did incorporate.

"But in terms of individual meetings and who participated and what the goal of them was, I don’t have that information,” he said.”……

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Iowa ethanol industry celebrates Romney-Santorum[and Gingrich and Obama]

Mitt Romney hit for past emissions stance [Inconvenient Truth on Climate Change]

June 15, 2011: Al Gore praises Mitt Romney on climate Mitt Romney on Wednesday got a big thumbs up for his stance on global warming from a source that likely won’t help him at all in the GOP primary: Al Gore.

The former vice president and Nobel Prize winner praised Romney for not heeding right-wing calls to reject the science behind climate change.

“Good for Mitt Romney — though we've long passed the point where weak lip-service is enough on the Climate Crisis,” Gore wrote on his blog. “While other Republicans are running from the truth, he is sticking to his guns in the face of the anti-science wing of the Republican Party.”

Earlier this month, Romney told a New Hampshire town hall meeting that he believes climate change is happening and that man-made emissions are a cause.

"I don't speak for the scientific community, of course, but I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," Romney said. "I can't prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer.

"No. 2, I believe that humans contribute to that," he continued. "I don't know how much our contribution is to that, because I know there's been periods of greater heat and warmth than in the past, but I believe we contribute to that. And so I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you're seeing."....

Conservatives slam Mitt Romney for going weak-kneed in war on public employees

Here's The Old Bain Capital Photo Everyone Will Use To Attack Mitt Romney

[gemoftheocean]

Perry isn’t my favorite, but I admit Romney did a hatch job on him -— what Perry is failing on would be foreign policy and a clue that people do NOT want to pay instate tuition for illegal aliens. Had he not blown himself up on that one issue I’d have taken a look at him.

But it always disgusts me when ‘moderate Republican’ is code for ‘doesn’t give a damn about abortion and will support it.’ ditto ‘Moderate republican’ means ‘can be rolled on principles and will give up core values to sign on to Democrap legislation.’

I’d much prefer Perry, flawed that he is, though Santorum would have 1st dibs on my vote, then Newt, then Perry. After that Huntsman (now we’re starting to get down to people I really don’t care for) then Romney (who I think is a blow dried creep of the first water) then Paul - who I think is a psychopath as far as conspiracy theories goes — never mind his head in the sand scary foreign policy thoughts. ANY ONE of them, however, I would vote for over zero. But I am praying it’s not Romney, or that nutbag Paul (whom I don’t think will last once the open primaries are out of the way — as I think that is where the bulk of his support is coming from — disaffected dems, not-too-bright-on-foreign-policy ‘independents’ and the oddball republican here and there who can’t point to Italy on a map to save his soul and who believes Marilyn Monroe killed JFK.

[Rocky]

I think they have captured his attitude correctly. Romney won’t push for the repeal of Obamacare. He’ll find ways to “make it work.” Ugh. It can’t work, and the longer it stays in place, the harder it will be to remove.

Please, America, no Romney. Not now, not ever.

[Salamander]

I don’t care if Moot can raise the dead.

Ain’t votin’ for him.

Period.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Perry isn’t my favorite, but I admit Romney did a hatch job on him -— what Perry is failing on would be foreign policy and a clue that people do NOT want to pay instate tuition for illegal aliens. ...

AGAIN... people DO NOT PAY tuition for illegal aliens.

Perry on foreign policy??? He's one of the few who understands it.

[Reagan69]

Yep, especially that pink slip system.

[Reagan69]

I will vote for him if he and Ann show us their Mormon Magic Undies !

[papertyger]

Wow!

Talkin’ trash to Rush...

One rarely sees that level of stupidity coming from an ostensibly conservative source.....

[papertyger]

I refuse to support the Scozafava/Crist/POS wing of the Republican Party

[Does so]

"...It is commonly argued that Mitt Romney has benefited from a weak Republican field which is true..."

Palin suffered hundreds of death-threats: Romney can afford the security needed from the intimidating techniques of our domestic National-Socialists.

[uncbob]

His competitors have attempted to portray Romney's ideological inconsistency over time as a character failure. It hasn't worked, mainly because Romney is a man of exemplary character — deeply loyal to his faith, his family and his country. But he clearly places political ideology in a different category of fidelity.

Can this guy be serious with this BS Statement

[Does so]

I refuse to support the Scozafava/Crist/POS wing of the Republican Party

Careful, there.

The worst Republican candidate from 2008 would have been preferable to Obumbler.

[papertyger]

Disagree.

Sometimes you have to be backed into a corner before you’ll fight.