Free Republic

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....

Okay, the creepiness is overwhelming. Mitt Romney strikes me as the guy who wants to be president so bad that his ambition overrides his intellect. During last night's debate it was the cheap shot fired at Perry "well you've had a couple of bad debates" and Romney's hand resting atop Perry's shoulder. But if you've followed all the debates as I have you will notice a repeat offender. There is simply no graciousness to the man. And I'm an avowed Palinista.

Notwithstanding the fact that not a single ballot has been cast in any of the Republican primaries, there seems to be a concerted effort by the liberal media to bestow the GOP nomination upon former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. According to the Detroit Free Press, "Mitt Romney's steady-as-she-goes campaign for the presidential nomination is beginning to look inevitable." The Washington Post tells us that Romney "is suddenly attracting new support from major donors and elected officials… as people across the GOP grow more accepting of the presidential contender as the party's standard-bearer." Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times declares,...

<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>

The Republican primaries have been taking a weird, wrenching turn. The pattern could be described as chaotic, except that it has one consistent theme. That theme is that Republican voters are searching for someone, anyone, other than Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney ran a large national campaign for the nomination four years ago, so he is well-known to Republican primary voters. Too well known. They know all about his infamous flip-flops on abortion. They know all about RomneyCare, the government-directed health care plan he created as governor of Massachusetts, which he touted as a model for the rest of the nation...

According to the survey, which was released Monday, 28 percent of Republicans and independents who lean towards the GOP say they support Perry as their party's presidential nominee, with Romney at 21 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is at ten percent, with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who's making his third bid for the White House, former Godfather's Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, all at seven percent. The poll indicates that Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is at four percent, with former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at three...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney treated supporters at a fundraiser in Virginia to a sneak peek of his inclinations regarding his vice presidential shortlist should he become the Republican nominee in 2012, according to a new report. At the Virginia Beach home of State Sen. Jeff McWaters Monday, Romney praised three up-and-coming stars of the GOP, saying his shortlist included Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the Bearing Drift blog reported Tuesday

An Ohio Republican Party official sent over results from the party's presidential straw poll in a proving-ground swing state, which showed Mitt Romney the clear winner. Romney, who made the Ames Straw Poll his Holy Grail in 2007 but is bypassing Ames, Florida's Presidency V and all other such contests this cycle, won handily with 25 percent. Tim Pawlenty, who is fighting his own war for Ames, scored second place, with 16 percent. But Pawlenty was bunched with the third- and fourth-place finishers, Michele Bachmann (15 percent) candidate Rick Perry (14 percent). Perry is especially noteworthy, since he has yet...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney still leads the 2012 Republican nominee race, but the person who polled second is a bit of a surprise: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. With Palin in the race, Romney has 26 percent, Palin has 18 percent and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is third with 12 percent, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll. However, without Palin in the race, Romney tops the field at 30 percent, Bachmann has 16%, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has 11 percent, and Texas Governor Rick Perry has 8 percent. Palin Remains a Factor The fact that Palin...

Coming out of the July 4th weekend, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the clear front-runner in the crowded Republican field of White House hopefuls — though history suggests the early lead in the polls won’t necessarily make him a shoo-in at the ballot box. Polling this far out from the first vote being cast can be a shaky barometer for who will emerge victorious from the grueling primary process. Just ask former House Democratic leader Richard A. Gephardt, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani — each of whom sprinted out to...

A few weeks ago, the race for the Republican presidential nomination was a jumble of candidates, none of whom seemed to be winning the party's hearts or minds: Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich. For a moment, some GOP voters even pinned their hopes on pizza magnate Herman Cain, mostly because he didn't sound — or look — like the others. But now, if you talk with Republican political professionals, the GOP race has suddenly settled into a contest among only two or three potential nominees. There's Romney, still the front-runner, stolidly running a cautious and conventional campaign. There's Michele...

1) She theoretically appeals to a bigger slice of the GOP (conservatives) than Romney does (moderates-centrists) 2) Her strength is in the red states while Romney's is in the blue states 3) She is a superstar; he is not 4) She draws bigger crowds than he does on the campaign trail 5) She is a far more eloquent speaker than he is 6) She does retail politicking better than Romney 7) She is younger and has far more energy than 64 year old Romney 8) She apparently is much more Internet and social networking savvy than Mitt is. 9) Palin...

Mitt Romney is on track to get the Republican nomination for president the same way his 2008 rival John McCain did. The former Massachusetts governor was the runner-up in the last open primary and is not facing anyone strong enough to knock him out of his place in line. The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found 30 percent of likely GOP voters would back Romney. Second, at 14 percent, was Sarah Palin, who is: a) not yet running, and b) not yet literate. This is in spite of party purists' fury over Romney's record of helping people and running...

Mitt Romney may be leading in the polls, but his status as the GOP “frontrunner” is fragile at best. For all the talk of Romney’s “did-what-he-had-to-do” performance in the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, it’s widely accepted that the former Massachusetts governor is an uninspired choice for the GOP nomination. ... Historically, Republicans have nominated the runner-up from the previous election cycle, and Romney was the runner-up in 2008. But his second-place finish was exceedingly narrow — and in the end, closely contested. Once John McCain beat him in New Hampshire and South Carolina — after Mike Huckabee had...

Mitt Romney may have enraged the GOP base with his answers on anthropogenic global warming, but as Politico reports, he won’t back down from them in the face of withering criticism from conservatives. Instead, he appears to be offering a compromise. He’ll continue to declare his belief in AGW, but promises not to do anything about it: Mitt Romney won’t be doing any apology tours on climate change.The early GOP presidential front-runner has broken with his party’s conservative ranks to declare global warming a real threat to the planet that merits some sort of action to curb heat-trapping emissions.But the...

...my official prediction is that Obama will be facing either Romney or Palin in 2012. IF PALIN DOES NOT END UP RUNNING, MITT ROMNEY WINS THE NOMINATION. ...If Palin runs as expected, it will be a close race to the finish between the two of them. So why is Palin the only one who can derail Romney?...When voters do not vote Palin...her support drifts to Romney more than anybody else. With Palin in the race, voters will be forced to decide whether to coalesce around one conservative candidate and win, or break apart into multiple factions and hand the nomination...

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney has a message to Tea Party candidates nationwide: If you lose your Republican primary bids, stay on the sidelines. The former Massachusetts governor on Monday warned the grassroots movement not to mount third party efforts in general elections, which he said would siphon votes from Republican nominees. "If there is a conservative candidate that runs in the general election, then obviously, divide and fail is the result," Romney said in an interview with the conservative Web site Newsmax. "Hopefully Tea Party candidates will run in respective primaries and they will either win or lose. And...

Stalking-horse definition: 1)Means to disguising a real objective 2)A deceptive candidate who is on the ballot or enters an election only to divide the opposition (eg conservative vote) so that his friend or ally can win the election coming up the middle In sports, there is an old saying: A team doesn't control its own destiny. In other words a team finds that it has to rely on another team not doing well or screwing up in order to advance to the playoffs themselves. In respect to the GOP primaries, CONSERVATIVES do control their own destiny. Roughly for every 1...

In an article for the Washington Examiner Byron York writes: “The bottom line is Sarah Palin is not going to run for president,” says a Republican adviser close to front-runner Mitt Romney. “She’s making money, she’s moved on, she’s kind of an entertainer rather than a politician. She still has some sway with the grass roots, but she is not going to run.”“I don’t think she’s going to run,” says a Republican close to Tim Pawlenty. “She has faded a lot in the last few months. I look at what she’s doing now and say that she’s found a way...

On his first trip back to the nation's first voting state as a soon-to-be declared presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney reaffirmed his support for federal ethanol subsidies -- an always important campaign issue in Iowa that figures to take on an even more central role in the divided GOP field. "I support the subsidy of ethanol," Romney told a potential voter after an event here was cut short by a fire alarm. "I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution in this country." Support for ethanol subsidies has long been considered a political necessity for...