Posted on 01/20/2012 5:00:49 AM PST by wolfman23601
Gov. Bob McDonnell said this morning that he's endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney today before heading to South Carolina to campaign for the Republican presidential candidate ahead of the Palmetto State's primary Saturday.
Virginia's governor discussed his endorsement of Romney on CNBC's show, "Squawk Box," and planned additional interviews with CNN and FOX News.
Those interviews coincide with McDonnell's travel to New York City for a economic development meeting this morning.
The governor will head to South Carolina this afternoon for a rally in Charleston and remain in the state into Saturday for other Romney campaign events tonight and tomorrow in Greenville.
McDonnell, a potential vice presidential contender, is offering his endorsement as the presidential primary field narrows. Texas Gov. Rick Perry withdrew from the race Thursday and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman dropped out before that.
In endorsing Romney, McDonnell joins a number of fellow Virginia Republicans who already offered their endorsement to the candidate. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is chairman of Romney's Virginia campaign.
Virginia's Republican presidential primary election is set for March 6. Only Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul qualified for the ballot.
Ugh. Why the hell did he do that?
Can’t believe I worked for this guy.
Can’t believe I worked for this guy.
He thinks he can be ‘next’.
Either that, or he is a top VP option (which would be a good choice on several fronts (VA is big swing state, leader on anti-Obamacare,popular governor).
Wish I was still in VA to vote for Paul in their primary. I’d do it simply to spite the establishment.
notice somebody not walking with Romney today?
DeMint
campaigning with Virginia’s governor in SC isn’t going to gain him one vote.. that’s ridiculous..
I have every intention of voting for Paul. Won’t go as far as a yard sign though!
Yeah, I worked for him too. I will give him credit for following through on his promise to make jobs a priority, he has done a wonderful job of bringing in big businesses to the state. Other than that one point, he has been a huge disappointment. Light rail, hand out for high speed rail, wants the state in the hotel business in Virginia Beach, stacks boards with cronies, and is putting up tollboths all over Hampton Roads. Frankly, I wish he would go away.
Good for you. All of my immediate family is still there and I’ll encourage them to do the same.
And a stupid move by Tollbooth Bob as well. With only Mitt and Ron on the ballot, he really didn’t need to endorse anyone.
If I lived in VA I would vote for Ron Paul as a protest.
I wasn’t going to vote at all, but they got rid of the loyalty pledge. Wouldn’t have ever signed such a Stalinist piece of garbage.
Great piece, thanks. Bookmarked for a more in depth read later.
See my tagline...
To borrow from Cactus Jack Garner, McDonnell’s endorsement “isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit” (only, I think Cactus Jack actually said another word that rhymes with spit).
Never trusted this guy..he voted to limit us to “one gun a month” when he was in the House of delegates.He gave a huge victory to gun controller Guv. Doug Wilder.(D)
“Ugh. Why the hell did he do that?”
Because now that it seems the ballot-rigging will stand, and Gingrich may surge, and it is still 6 weeks to the VA primary; this now has the potential to be a huge embarrassment to the state, and backfire on Romney’s campaign, if the Congressman does well head-to-head against Romney.
“McDonnell endorsing Romney ahead of S.C. primary”
......and he calls himself a conservative???
The lt gov is already proclaiming Romney to be the best thing since sliced bread. The gov could have stayed quiet... There is no requirement to endorse...
The “I am proud to announce” crap really ticked me off on Facebook this morning... I’m not even a VA resident, just a military spouse stationed here in northern VA, and I campaigned, donated $, and put a couple of signs in my yard for this guy. I let the man greet my then baby son at a local street festival, and pictures were taken!
Grrrr. I really shouldn’t read the news first thing in the morning. Lol
The lt gov is already proclaiming Romney to be the best thing since sliced bread. The gov could have stayed quiet... There is no requirement to endorse...
The “I am proud to announce” crap really ticked me off on Facebook this morning... I’m not even a VA resident, just a military spouse stationed here in northern VA, and I campaigned, donated $, and put a couple of signs in my yard for this guy. I let the man greet my then baby son at a local street festival, and pictures were taken!
Grrrr. I really shouldn’t read the news first thing in the morning. Lol
The lt gov is already proclaiming Romney to be the best thing since sliced bread. The gov could have stayed quiet... There is no requirement to endorse...
The “I am proud to announce” crap really ticked me off on Facebook this morning... I’m not even a VA resident, just a military spouse stationed here in northern VA, and I campaigned, donated $, and put a couple of signs in my yard for this guy. I let the man greet my then baby son at a local street festival, and pictures were taken!
Grrrr. I really shouldn’t read the news first thing in the morning. Lol
LOL
He only had two choices to endorse: ROMNEY-THE-RINO, or The Ralien (aka, Ron Paul). There's only 2 names on the Ballot there, since the Republican Establishment Elite made sure there would be no legitimate Challenger for THEIR CHOSEN ONE.
One thing we've found out throughout this Primary is where people stand (Party Loyalty or PEOPLE LOYALTY), and we've seen sell-out after sell-out to the Establishment Elite.....remember that when you Vote.
One thing he campaigned on was privatizing ABC stores in VA. I suggested at the time that should he accomplish this, and this thing only, followed by privatizing anything else in government that he’d achieve national stature.
He didn’t, and of course, he won’t.
Yep, a Paul win in VA will clearly be seen as a vote against Romney and the party hacks.
The GOP establishment would have been wiser to stay silent until Romney had the race locked up. The full court press by the GOP establishment demonstrates that they are worried about Romney’s chances. It is also serving as a rallying cry for conservatives, who instinctively rebel whenever the “elites” start telling them how they should vote. If Gingrich pulls off SC and then FL, the race will be wide open. Amazing how fluid the primary situation continues to be. The only thing that is starting to look certain is that the race will soon be down to two men. Santorum has made a heroic charge, but if he finishes below 20% in SC I just don’t see how he’ll be able to financially stay in the race.
I will do this not because I like Ron Paul, or want him to be president - far from it, in fact. I think Ron Paul is a mentally unbalanced kook and I would NEVER vote for him in a general election. If I thought there was even a remote chance that my voting for him in the Virginia primary might result in his winning the national republicrat nomination I would not do it.
However, the Virginia GOP is not going to allow write-in votes in the primary, and the only other candidate who will be allowed on the ballot is Mitt Romney. This means that Mitt Romney will win the Virginia primary - but he's going to do it without my vote.
PS - I am very disappointed in my governor right now...
Saw it also on FB — and his FB supporters are telling him what they think of him, too.
Establisment jerk.
I will be pulling it for Ron Paul also here in VA. But let’s face it, Virginia is full of these types, especially N. Virginia.
Even though I don’t agree with 90% of his positions, I actually respect Doug Wilder somewhat. He is definitely NOT part of the establishment.
Crud, sorry for the repeater post... Apparently my “smart” phone is playing stupid today...
I could forgive him if he endorsed Romney over Paul in the VA primary, but he is endorsing Romney over everyone and campaigning in SC for Romney for the SC primary. This is not about the VA race.
I’m in the same boat as to voting. I think Ron Paul is going to do very well in VA .... McDonnell has aspirations beyond VA so he’s going to try to stay on the ‘good side’ of the establishment. Instead of being “bold” and showing some real courage & leadership in a country that has none, he’s taking the supposedly ‘safe’ route ..... it’s a tin ear to the people route, too. Not what I want in government. He’ll be a colorless VP if the nominee chooses him for that position.
I think that’s the right thing to do. Paul isn’t going to be the nominee and these self-important establishment hacks need to be given the middle finger.
The base is saying loud and clear that they do NOT want Romney and the elites are doing all they can to cram him down our throats.
I wanted to see if any of the election officials were able to look me in the eye while they gave me the news.
I'm pretty sure adopting that pledge requirement was the stupidest thing the republican party of Virginia has done in my life time.
I’m going to have to see if I can dig up a Ron Paul sign or two for my yard. There was no shortage of them around us in ‘08 (we lived in Texas then). I know that our next door neighbor, bless his heart, is a full fledged Ron Paul supporter (and also a misplaced Texan... So I guess the rest of our neighbors will just think we are silly texans)... He probably knows where to get some... Boy am I gonna get a ribbing from him when I ask... He knows I’m not really a Paul fan...
He wants to be Romney’s VP selection. Virginia has a single-term limit for governors and McDonnell’s time is up this year.
You Virginians should give consideration to voting for Ron Paul in your already rigged election. That would not only stick a fork in the eye of the beltway GOP, it would also scrape it around the socket a few times. Giving Paul a freakish tactical victory to deny Romney a strategic, Pravda style propaganda victory would be priceless, and certainly would be some torpedoes below the waterline of the flagship “Massachusetts Moderate”.
He has truly sold out to the Republican Elite Establishment.
REFERENCE
Thanks for the link! I was unaware he had expanded that magnificent essay into a book. I will check it out.
“Yep, a Paul win in VA will clearly be seen as a vote against Romney and the party hacks.”
I would think Paul getting much over 20% against the vote-riggers be a repudiation and major embarrassment.
“I will be pulling it for Ron Paul also here in VA. But let’s face it, Virginia is full of these types, especially N. Virginia.”
A lot of dingleberries around the nation’s “beltway”.
Tennessee’s CINO governor, Bill Haslam, has also come out in support of Willard.
I don’t dislike McDonnell, but Ken Cuccinelli is 10X the conservative McDonnell is. I hope Cuccinelli is on a future presidential ticket.
UNfortunate but not surprising. McDonnell said long ago that he would likely support a governor, because he believes it is important to have executive experience.
I always presumed he was holding out because he was partial to Rick Perry, and now with Perry gone, Romney was the only governor left.
Some call this “establishment”, and in it’s non-negative form I guess that’s what it is — the people who have worked personally with Mitt Romney don’t have the same feelings about him as those who haven’t. (Kind of the opposite of the Gingrich thing, with his biggest critics coming from the ranks of people who worked closely with him).
I had this discussion with Bill Bolling once (he endorsed Romney in 2008 and 2012) and it was the same thing. He knew ROmney personally, had hung with him and his family, and was comfortable with the guy. Apparently Romney is likeable personally, and that seems important to some people.
I’m dissappointed, but I won’t hold this against McDonnell. It does however suggest that he’s not as likely to get tapped as a VP in a Gingrich administration; my guess is he wasn’t on tap for that anyway, since Gingrich and McDonnell live in the same state.
Well, sadly, he is the only sane candidate left on the ballot in Virginia. I’d actually feel worse if he had endorsed Ron Paul.
Not really but he is a suited and saluted type. So much of politics is driven by image. McDonnell has been a great Governor though his attorney General is the real conservative star. Gov Gilmore also endorsed Romney and I respect him also. Jim DeMint did last time. I don’t think it will help Romney too much with the groups he needs help with. Newt is going to blow out SC probably by 10 points. He will go on to FL and win it easily. Romney may win VA since he and Ron Paul are the only two on the ballot but I’m not sure of what other options are but if those are the only choices I’m voting for Paul. Its a primary and Paul is not going to win but at least I can help stop Romney who I believe could be a disastrous mistake.
The last thing we need is a meek accommodating moderate in the mode of Gerald Ford going up against Obama who may have the economy of a Jimmy Carter but fights like a street thug. We need a fighter and that is someone who can point to real measurable conservative accomplishments. We do not have perfect candidates and at the beginning of this thing I would never dream I’d be at the point where I’d be supporting Newt Gingrich but I am and he has proven the ability to take the hits and come back into the ring and deliver a knock out(SC). That is exactly the kind of fight we need in a candidate to defeat Obama. I also have little doubt Newt will choose a solid conservative running mate. He is shrewd and in it to win and perfection isn’t on the table and Rick Santorum just isn’t ready for the presidency and always manages to make himself look small even when he says what are sometimes great things. Paul just isn’t in it to win, he is a smart man but chooses to highlight ignorant moral equivalency arguments on terrorism which overshadow his campaign plus he seems to have little fire for Obama or liberal Democrats.
We need to stop Romney so we can keep the Tea Party momentum going because if he wins its game over or might as well be unless by a miracle he transforms into the greatest conservative President ever and not some GWH Bush type. We need someone who will led the charge not just drive behind in a limo smiling. I’ve gained some respect for Romney but I still don’t trust him at all. I don’t want someone choosing Supreme Court justices that I do not trust or working out deals with Democrats when we have an option to choose someone who has went to war with Democrats and won.
Throw these RINO asses out on their tails.
You’re welcome! I wish I could buy every Pubbie convention delegate a copy of that book.
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