Free Republic

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign on Monday rejected a Republican attack on the Affordable Care Act, repudiating a contention made in last week’s Supreme Court decision that the law’s requirement that individuals carry medical coverage amounts to a tax. The Romney team’s refusal to invoke the word “tax” with regard to the individual mandate puts the candidate at odds with others in his party at a moment when Republicans are attempting to capi­tal­ize on the Supreme Court’s decision, which deemed President Obama’s health-care law constitutional. Some Republican-led states are trying to thwart the legislation’s effort to cover the poor. In an...

Pundit says: Romney will fail if he doesn't change course.

No link yet. I'm just seeing it on CNN. Reuters said Fox called it as well.

Romney clarifies his position on Blunt amendment By PHILIP ELLIOTT | Associated Press – 10 hrs ago Email 6 WASHINGTON (AP) — Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday he opposed Senate Republicans' effort that critics say would limit insurance coverage of birth control, then reversed himself quickly in a second interview saying he misunderstood the question. Romney told Ohio News Network during an interview that he opposed a measure by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that was scheduled for a vote Thursday. "I'm not for the bill," Romney said before urging the interviewer to move on. Romney later said he didn't...

No #s yet, just some tidbits: I'd expect Michigan results between 10 and 11 tonight, and Arizona results between midnight and 1 AM (all eastern) Early observations on today's polls: Michigan still pretty close, but Romney headed for a huge win in Arizona. It looks like Romney has banked about a 30 point lead among early voters in Arizona and they're more than half the electorate. From the findings I didn't expect file: Babeu still seen more favorably than not by Arizona Republicans. Santorum's favorability numbers not what they were a week ago- the shine is finally wearing off with...

To understand Mitt Romney, you have to understand the most difficult passage of his political life: how he changed his position on abortion. Not the story he tells about it, but the real story. Romney began his political career as a pro-choicer. In the story he tells, he had an epiphany, a flash of insight, and committed himself thereafter to protecting life. But that isn’t what happened. The real story of Romney’s conversion—a series of tentative, equivocal, and confused shifts, accompanied by a constant rewriting of his past—paints a more accurate picture of who he is. Romney has complex views...

On Friday, Ann Coulter turned up on Medved's radio show to talk about Mitt Romney. During the interview Coulter claimed that conservatives aren't going for Mitt because he's "too square". Coulter has not only jumped the shark by endorsing Romney in the first place, she's gone stupid. Conservatives don't like Romney for one obvious, glaring reason: he can't be trusted. Ann (along with many other Romney supporters) has become expert at providing lame excuses and explanations for Romney's past proclamations that he was "more gay-friendly" than Teddy Kennedy, has "always supported a woman's right to choose", and "doesn't want to...

Last night, BuzzFeed got a hold of the 2008 John McCain campaign's research book on Mitt Romney. In over 200 painstakingly researched pages, it notes every slip-up, political fib, and potential liability for Romney going forward. And of course it picks apart all the times Romney has said one thing, and then when the political winds changed, said something else. Read more: 14 Bald-Faced Mitt Romney Flip-Flops That Were Dug Up By John McCain

Mitt Romney's Multiple Political Personalities (John McCain's ad - 2008) Before his recent endorsement...John McCain didn't think much of Mitt Romney. He released this ad highlighting Romney's affinity for taking whatever position necessary to get elected. Paid for & approved my John MeCain! Mitt Romney's Multiple Political Personalities That was then, this is now. McCain raps Newt for 'liar' comment

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose support in Iowa has withered after riding on top of the polls, on Tuesday called former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a liar who would mislead the American people if elected to the White House - but added that he would still vote for him if Romney won the GOP nomination. On CBS' "The Early Show" this morning, CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell asked Gingrich about comments he had previously made about his chief rival and the Super PAC whose negative campaign ads have hurt his campaign: "You scolded Mitt Romney, his...

Mitt Romney was more nuanced Thursday when questioned about radio show comments he made regarding deporting President Barack Obama's uncle. According to The Hill, the former Massachusetts governor was asked by radio host Howie Carr if Onyango Obama, who is allegedly in violation of his immigration status and was arrested for drunk driving this summer, should be deported.

I'd like to tell you a story. It's about two men, trapped in one body. One man: a Republican politician whose positions on the issues made him palatable even to Massachusetts voters. The other: a Tea Party Republican taking one extreme position after another on the economy, immigration, foreign policy, and more. The only thing they agree on? They both want to be president, and there's not much they wouldn't do or say to get there. You've probably guessed it -- the body they're fighting over is Mitt Romney's. And if you want to watch the struggle in full detail,...

Anyway, all that is by way of introducing a couple of comments Romney made in an interview with the editorial board the Seacoast Media Group, a Fox subsidiaries that owns small newspapers on the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Romney was asked about the inconsistencies in his positions on certain issues over the years and the poor guy just tried too hard to make the problem go away without explaining it: “I’ve been as consistent as human beings can be,” he said. And then, maybe even worse, "I cannot state every single issue in exactly the same words every...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney discussed his reputation as a flip-flopper at Wednesday night’s CNBC Republican presidential debate, disputing the characterization and calling himself “a man of steadiness and constancy.” Romney was asked to address the “issue of character” after he mentioned the auto bailout, which he has been accused of switching positions on. The Democratic National Committee has been bracketing Romney in Michigan with ads attacking him for flip-flopping on the issue.

Speaking to voters in Pittsburgh, Mr. Romney said, “My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.

(Newser) – Mitt Romney's views on global warming are back in the news. This week, he reaffirmed his skepticism about humans contributing to climate change. CBS News detects a "rightward shift" as the campaign goes on, and both Democrats and Rick Perry agree, notes CNN. Judge for yourself, as Politico rounds up some of his statements on the subject: * Thursday: "My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us." * August:...

Mitt Romney has put a lot of work into reversing the perception, prevalent during his 2008 campaign, that his ideological compass only follows the magnetic field of whichever electorate he happens to be trying to win over. The title of his campaign book, No Apology, was as much a statement of principle as it was a potshot at the (entirely fictional) bowing and scraping Obama has done overseas. He’s refused to cede an inch on the merits of his Massachusetts health reform program, despite the incredibly inconvenient fact that Democrats cribbed from it when they wrote their national overhaul. And...

Mitt Romney is always quick to lambast other Republicans for being career politicians, as if this is his first rodeo and he is a political newcomer. However, the truth is he’s been in politics for over seventeen years, many of which have been spent appealing to liberals and moderates and fighting to keep from being identified with Ronald Reagan. Yet the more one goes back and listens to the things Romney’s been saying during his nearly two decades of public service, the more one has to wonder why he thought someone would link him to Reagan in the first place....

<p>Our purpose and goal on FR is to restore, defend, preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity!!</p> <p>The goal of the domestic enemy (the left), i.e., the statist liberals, Marxists and progressives is just the opposite.</p>

Mitt Romney has finally found a groove on the right. But he could find himself stuck there if he wins the GOP nomination. With Romney’s recent move to wield the immigration issue as a club against Rick Perry — painting him as “soft” on a topic that resonates with the Republican primary electorate — the former Massachusetts governor is taking advantage of a rare opportunity to outflank Perry on the right among conservatives. After the Texas governor wounded himself with his remarks in the last debate, Romney seized on the issue of illegal immigration, trying to paint Perry as an...