Free Republic

[Big SNIP] ....If Romney can't win, he'll be certain that the person who beat him is so damaged, so beaten up by his negative campaign ads that they will have no chance against Obama. Unfortunately for Republicans, it creates a lose-lose situation. Mitt Romney cannot defeat Obama. His flipping and flopping is well documented and will be highlighted by the Obama campaign as the signature of one with a lack of character. He is such a poor speaker in interviews that he attempted to appeal to the middle class by trying to bet Rick Perry $10,000 and later saying that,...

Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his conservative bona fides following doubts expressed by Sarah Palin. The former Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate told Fox News Sunday that she is "not convinced" by Romney's conservative instincts, indicating he may not be conservative "enough" for her. "And I don't think that the majority of GOP and Independent voters are convinced, and that is why you don't see Romney get over that hump," she said. (VIDEO AT LINK) "I'm not quite sure what she'd be referring to," Romney responded Wednesday, also on Fox News. "I'm pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, I believe in the...

FEBRUARY 15, 2012 Romney Races to Defend Michigan State Up for Grabs as Santorum Surges BY JOSEPH B. WHITE AND NEIL KING JR. [Subscriber Content Preview] DETROIT—Amid signs Rick Santorum could win an upset victory in Michigan, Mitt Romney escalated his campaign to win the state's Republican primary by taking on the powerful auto union and reigniting the debate over the federal bailouts of two Detroit auto makers. Mr. Romney, writing in a Detroit News editorial-page column Tuesday, attacked as "crony capitalism on a grand scale" the Obama administration's $81 billion auto-industry bailout nearly three years ago. The salvo comes...

Mitt Romney is getting some heavy air support in Michigan — the state where he was born and raised — as the “super PAC” supporting him invests almost $500,000 on television ads there. According to someone who tracks Republican media spending, Restore Our Future has committed just over $470,000 for commercials starting Tuesday and set to run through Feb. 20. That marks the group’s largest purchase yet in Michigan, where it will have spent more than $700,000 on ads by next week. The group said Monday that it would continue for now to run an ad called “Risk” that targets...

In a blow to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, Sarah Palin said Sunday that she's "not convinced" the former Massachusetts governor is conservative enough to do Republicans' bidding in the White House. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, said the GOP presidential field remains wide open because Romney's past positions on healthcare, abortion and other issues have been moderate-to-liberal, leaving Republicans confused about what he'd do as commander-in-chief. "Most voters in the GOP, and Independents, we will want to see that candidate who we can trust will just inherently, instinctively turn right – always err on the side of conservatism," Palin...

We’ve all heard the axiom, “as goes Ohio, so goes the nation”. In fact, no Republican has ever won the Presidency without winning Ohio. And for this year’s GOP presidential primary, Ohio is the top prize in what is turning out to be a critical Super Tuesday on March 6th. In fact, just yesterday analyst Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics identified Ohio as the key state between a Romney runaway and the possibility of a brokered convention. So the viability of a three-way split probably comes down to Ohio, which has a fair number of evangelicals, though not to...

H.R. 796, which Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich voted for, was intended to preserve the right of pro-lifers to protest at abortion clinics. In 1993, President Clinton proposed a law, supposedly to protect abortion clinics from violence. In reality, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act has been used to prevent pro-lifers from coming anywhere near abortion clinics, stifling their first-amendment rights. Pro-life Republicans and moderate Democrats (they existed back then) attempted passage of H.R. 796 to head off this threat to constitutional liberties. The bill would still create a federal law to prevent the physical obstruction of clinic...

Mitt Romney sent a clear, unambiguous message to hundreds of conservative activists gathered for the 2012 Conservative Political Action Committee, the largest annual gathering of conservative activists. He’s a conservative. The man mocked as a “Massachusetts moderate” (or worse) by his Republican presidential rivals used his family values, business background and experience as Massachusetts governor to defend his conservative bona fides. Romney used the word conservative more than 20 times in a span of 25 minutes.

Mitt Romney, asked if there were any lessons learned in the wake of losing all three Republican voting contests Tuesday night, said that he simply “wasn’t there to respond” to former Sen. Rick Santorum’s attacks in the days leading up to voting. But today, speaking to reporters on a tarmac in Atlanta, where he flew from Colorado after losses in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado Tuesday night, he did not hesitate to go on offense, accusing two chief GOP rivals of behaving “like Democrats.”

Mitt Romney acknowledged on Wednesday that his path to the Republican presidential nomination is not going to be easy after three shock losses to newly ascendant rival Rick Santorum. A day after Santorum beat him in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Romney attempted to play down the results, saying his campaign did not devote a lot of time and money to the three state nominating contests and chose to compete strongly elsewhere.

The dueling press releases from Mitt Romney's campaign and the DNC this afternoon shed light on a new issue in the campaign: contraception. At a campaign event in Colorado last night, Romney criticized the Obama administration's new contraception benefit rule, calling the decision "a violation of conscience." The DNC shot back today with a press release saying Romney's campaign "misleads" on the issue, pointing out that Massachusetts's health care law kept in place a similar contraception mandate. "Romney is being hypocritical criticizing the President on contraception when his health care law kept in place a similar state mandate," the release...

Refinancing mortgages... a plan pushed by Glenn Hubbard, Dean of Columbia business school, also a top economic advisor to GOP hopeful Mitt Romney.

At 10:45pm, MSNBC reported that 21% of the votes were in. Romney with 3642 votes (39%), and Gingrich with 2573 vote (27%). Here is the screen shot: And here is the screen shot with a time stamp: Six minutes later, at 10:51pm, MSNBC reported that only 19% of the votes were in -- Romney with 3569 votes (42%) and Gingrich with 2059 votes (25%). Here is the screen shot: And here is the screen shot with a time stamp:

Mark Levin spent part of his first hour playing Milton Friedman clips and explaining why Romney’s position on minimum wage is wrong, to educate the man and us. But as you’ll see in his monologue below, it frustrates him very much that he feels he has to do so. He starts by playing a clip of Romney today that he was very much unimpressed with, which then turned into this amazing monologue where he explained why he is frustrated with Romney’s lack of conservatism. This is a MUST LISTEN. Here is a partial quote from his monologue but you should...

An exuberant Ann Romney said on the evening of her husband’s Florida primary win Tuesday that she was amused by attacks on the former Massachusetts governor that characterized him as a “moderate” or a “liberal.” “It’s been funny to me. What’s next, a communist? I don’t know, it’s been humorous,” she said with a laugh during an interview with CNN moments before the network called the state for Mitt Romney. “We are looking forward to a win tonight.” Ann Romney said that she knew where Mitt’s true beliefs lay. “I know where his values are on a personal level. He...

After Gingrich Newt scored a surprise blow-out victory in South Carolina last week, the former Massachusetts governor not only unleashed a political broadside of epic proportions. "It not about winning here anymore," one Romney staffer told BuzzFeed. "It's about destroying Gingrich — and it's working." After two standout debate performances that put him up 9 points in recent polls, Romney is keeping the pressure on Gingrich, looking to score a blow-out victory of his own here. To that end, Romney has rolled out a team of surrogates in the Sunshine State to take the fight to Gingrich in person: from...

MIAMI —Former House speaker Newt Gingrich said Friday that the reason he seemed less combative during Thursday’s televised debate was that he was shocked by what he described as rival Mitt Romney’s “totally dishonest” replies to several questions. In a telephone interview, Gingrich cited Romney’s remarks on immigration, his vote for Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1992 and whether he knew about an ad his campaign is running against Gingrich. “I think it’s the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen,” Gingrich said. At several moments during the debate, Gingrich simply leaned away from his lectern and...

Really? Well over half of Americans are angry enough to want the monstrosity repealed. I am beginning to wonder if Romney is trying to throw the race to Newt Gingrich.

I’ve been saying; ever since Romney announced his candidacy, that there was very little difference between him and Obama. Now, that fact is echoed by ultra-liberal George Soros… and he ought to know a liberal when he sees one.

Hosted by Wolf Blitzer at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Candidates: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.Word is the audience will be "allowed" to participate.Livestream here.

MOUNT DORA, Fla. -- Newt Gingrich trained his full arsenal of weaponry on Mitt Romney at a rally here Thursday morning, charging that his opponent wouldn't stand up to President Obama in a general election and questioning his commitment to the GOP. It was the harshest critique Gingrich has leveled to date and may be a reflection of his slackened showing in the polls. It also underscored Gingrich's strategy of capitalizing on the free media and momentum he tends to capture in debates; tonight CNN is hosting the final debate before Florida voters render their judgment on Tuesday, and the...

Surveys keep coming in showing Mitt Romney wresting control of Florida from Newt Gingrich. The latest -- a Monmouth University poll of Florida. 1. Mitt Romney 39% 2. Newt Gingrich 32% 3. Rick Santorum 11% 4. Ron Paul 8% The internals show the typical gaps. Men pick Gingrich by 5%, but women go massively to Romney (19% lead over Newt). Newt does better with those who call themselves "very conservative" but Mitt does best with the more moderate set. Gingrich leads by 13% among evangelicals. There's some good news for Mitt on the tea party front. He and Gingrich are...

Mitt Romney attacked his GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich over what has to date been one of Gingrich’s most effective debate methods — going after the moderators and the media for questions he deems inappropriate. “It’s very easy to talk down a moderator,” Romney said Wednesday on Fox News. “The moderator asks a question and then has to sit by and take whatever you send to them. And Speaker Gingrich has been wonderful at attacking the moderators and attacking the media.”

Everything seems very serious, very important, very consequential now. The earlier debates — months ago — were looser. The eight or nine candidates would bounce onto the stage. Romney would greet Bachmann with a big mwah. Cain would smile brightly. The atmosphere was almost festive. But now we’ve gotten down to the nitty-gritty — crunch time. Newt immediately links himself to Reagan. Remember when pundits swore the Gipper couldn’t win? he says. He also points out that Reagan’s economic program was labeled “voodoo economics.” That was Bush 41’s — the future Bush 41’s — line, of course. But the 1980...

In 1989, Bain Capital purchased controlling interest in Damon Corporation, a medical testing company located in Needham, Massachusetts. During the time that Bain held its ownership of the company Mitt Romney personally sat on the Board of Directors. And during that same period, Damon Corporation was busy submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare to the tune of millions of dollars charged for unnecessary blood tests. ... By the time Damon pleaded guilty to defrauding the United States Government of $25 million - and paid a total of $119 million in what was, at that time, the largest penalty of its...

Newt Gingrich can’t be President. Not because of his $1.6 million Freddie Mac scandal, or his fake charity scandal, or his $300,000 ethics fine while Speaker, the arms dealer scandal, or any of his other personal and financial scandals. Newt Gingrich (or Rick Santorum) can’t be President because to be nominated, you need delegates.... Newt has lots of media coverage, but in the physical world where campaigns actually occur he can’t get 1141 delegates.... No candidates besides Paul and Romney filed in all the states: VA - no Gingrich or Santorum - 49 delegates MO - no Gingrich - 52...

Romney aides tell Fox News they expect a second place finish based on exit polls.

“You’ve got to stop the spread of crony capitalism. [Obama] gives General Motors to the UAW. He takes $500 million and sticks it into Solyndra. He stacks the labor stooges on the NLRB so they can say no to Boeing and take care of their friends in the labor movement. . . . He has to bow to the most extreme members of the environmental movement. He turns down the Keystone pipeline, which would bring energy and jobs to America. “My view is capitalism works. Free enterprise works. . . . There’s nothing wrong with profit, by the way. That...

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Voters battled rainstorms and tornado warnings as they streamed to the polls here today, capping a tumultuous and at times politically dizzying week of events that, by tonight, could potentially reshape the Republican presidential nomination process once more. Extending a more aggressive phase of his campaign, Mitt Romney today renewed attacks on Newt Gingrich, calling on the former House speaker to release records related to his role consulting Freddie Mac, the quasi-public lending agency that many blame for accelerating the housing crisis. “I’d like to see what he actually told Freddie Mac,” Romney told reporters after visiting...

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

GILBERT, S.C. — Mitt Romney and a top surrogate called for Newt Gingrich, Romney's chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, to release the House Ethics Committee report that led to a reprimand of Gingrich and a $300,000 fine. After Romney was pressed on his tax returns, Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) stepped in and interrupted Romney. "The people of South Carolina are not talking about tax returns. They're not. They're talking about jobs, spending and the economy," she said before taking a shot at Gingrich, who is neck and neck with Romney in recent polls of South Carolina. "In all...

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Newt Gingrich appeared incredulous after being told of the latest attacks by GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney. ”Wait, wait, wait.  Hold on. They’re saying I helped re-elect a Democrat?” Mr. Gingrich told reporters in Winnsboro, S.C., adding, “That’s just stupid.” Earlier Wednesday, the Romney campaign set up a conference call with two former lawmakers who lashed out at his leadership as House speaker, saying it helped to re-elect President Bill Clinton. The campaign also released a new Web ad,  calling him “unreliable.”Mr. Gingrich said he helped create the GOP’s first House majority since 1928. “So what did Mitt Romney do?  Who...

GOP front-runner Mitt Romney struck an especially low blow at Newt Gingrich in South Carolina Tuesday: He compared the former speaker to Al Gore. Speaking at a rally at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., the GOP front-runner derided Mr. Gingrich’s claim during a debate Monday night that he had a hand in the creation of millions of jobs during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Mr. Romney noted that Mr. Gingrich was only in his second term in the House when Mr. Reagan became president, and argued that the private sector, not government, is responsible for job creation.

FLORENCE, S.C. — Mitt Romney delivered a 13-minute speech here on Tuesday morning, shook hands with an audience that filled only a small part of a ballroom and caught a plane for a fund-raising gala in New York, a clear sign that he is looking beyond South Carolina. The outward confidence in Mr. Romney’s posture belied a deeply uncertain and fluid conclusion to the Republican presidential primary here. His rivals have shifted away from assailing his business record and are reminding conservatives through radio and television advertisements about the health care bill he signed as governor of Massachusetts and about...

After a debate in which Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney faced attacks from all sides, the Romney campaign says it has not yet accepted invitations to participate in two high-profile debates leading up to the January 31 Florida primary, and a key Romney adviser is expressing fatigue and frustration over what he sees as a never-ending series of GOP debates. "There are too many of these," Romney strategist Stuart Stevens said after Monday night's Fox News debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. "We have to bring some order to it. We haven't accepted Florida…It's kind of like a cruise that's...

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer sat down with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and opined that Newt Gingrich won last night’s debate — in fact, he “won big.” Krauthammer criticized Mitt Romney‘s mediocre debate performance and was incredulous at how the former Massachusetts Governor wasn’t prepared for a question on his tax returns. “How could he not have prepared a nice short succinct humane answer about what he did at Bain?” Krauthammer perplexedly exclaimed. “He didn’t really have that — he kind of stumbled around.” RELATED: Rick Perry Challenges Romney: ‘Mitt, We Need For You To Release Your Income Tax’ O’Reilly wondered...

On her show today, radio host Laura Ingraham gave Mitt Romney an opportunity to respond to comments made by rival candidate Newt Gingrich this morning on the CBS Early Show. Gingrich, you’ll recall, referred to the former governor as a “liar” and a “Massachusetts moderate” rather than a true conservative. RELATED: Newt Gingrich: Mitt Romney Is A Liar, ‘Massachusetts Moderate’Mitt Romney’s response was pretty much classic Mitt Romney: “Well, I don’t know why he’s so angry.”“Well,” said Ingraham, “he’s angry because he sees himself lacerated in commercial after commercial and he gets a 98.6 percent pro-life voting record yet, you...

Another chance to make a first impression? Fresh off a rousing debate performance that had the Republican audience giving a standing ovation -- the first in a debate since Ronald Reagan in New Hampshire in 1980 -- Newt Gingrich may be reconsidering how far he can go in the GOP campaign. Holding a distant second place in several polls, Gingrich said Tuesday that he could stick it out past South Carolina if he performs well enough against front-runner Mitt Romney. Related Video Huckabee: Gingrich had 'night of his life' in SC debate But will his strong performance be enough to...

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The Republican candidates were returning to the campaign trail Tuesday slightly bruised but unbowed after a raucous debate that left Mitt Romney fielding attacks from the get-go and all five candidates earning wild reception from a fired-up audience that will be casting votes alongside fellow South Carolinians on Saturday. Romney was put on defense out of the box at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal/South Carolina GOP debate -- answering questions about his record at private venture firm, Bain Capital; distancing himself from super PAC ads against fellow candidates; defending his record as Massachusetts governor, and dodging...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint are two powerful conservative voices in Republican politics, but they seem to be coming at the race for the Republican presidential nomination from totally different angles. Jim DeMint took to the airwaves on The Laura Ingraham Show to warn former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- and all of the other presidential candidates -- to tone down their campaign rhetoric in the Palmetto State. “I would encourage all of the candidates, ‘let’s just be as positive as we can.’ I know they’re frustrated if people run negative ads,” DeMint said....

Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has called for Gov. Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, as well as the data that could substantiate his claim of having created 100,000 jobs as CEO of Bain Capital. Romney has resisted releasing his tax returns, and his campaign has thus far refused to provide the hard proof to back up his claims about Bain. “Governor Romney has claimed to have created 100,000 jobs at Bain, and people are wanting to know: is there proof?” Palin told Sean Hannity on Fox News. Rick Tyler, former Gingrich aide and head of Newt Gingrich’s...

In the Republican presidential candidate debates this weekend, Mitt Romney repeated his claim that he is an effective leader who created a "net net" of 100,000 jobs while he was working in the private sector. But three recent reports, by the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and by Fact Check.org, the nonprofit nonpartisan project run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania say that the Romney campaign has yet to offer convincing proof to back up the claim. ... It hardly seems plausible to suggest that he created the positions that make up the current...

VIDEO"Uploaded by americanbridge21st on Jan 9, 2012 Though Mitt Romney has spent 5 years of his run for President mired at 25%, there is one group that is signaling their singularsupport: the Washington Establishment. And Karl Rove, the king of conventional GOP wisdom is working double-time to make sure rank-and-file Republicans know it's time to fall in line. Through his constant television appearances and weekly op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Rove has consistently favored Mitt Romney and done what he does best: work to tear down any credible rival to Romney."

"There is a story on the Drudge Report today from Sarah Palin in which Sarah Palin says that the White House wants Mitt Romney to be the Republican nominee. Now, not only did I tell you that the Broncos were gonna beat the Steelers, for months I have been telling you that the Democrats want Romney -- and you all know it. You've been listening here and you've heard people call me and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, that I'm full of it, that they're scared of Romney".

Mitt Romney is the only 2012 candidate whom a majority of Republicans — including conservatives — consider an “acceptable” GOP nominee for president, according to a Gallup Poll Tuesday. In the new survey, 59 percent of all Republicans said Romney would be an acceptable presidential nominee for the Republican Party. Just 46 percent said the same for Newt Gingrich and 45 percent for Rick Santorum, who were trailed by Rick Perry at 37 percent, Ron Paul at 29 percent and Jon Huntsman at 21 percent. Romney is also the only candidate whom the majority of both conservative and moderate/liberal Republicans...

He’s worth $250million and is running for the White House, but Mitt Romney is still trying to portray himself as an ordinary down-to-earth guy. The GOP presidential candidate has been condemned for saying he has been worried about getting a ‘pink slip’ at least twice in the past. Opponents said this was a poor statement to give about job termination notices because Mr Romney has always had money to fall back on.

Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney, a Mormon facing doubts about his conservative credentials, said Saturday he had the endorsement of five former US ambassadors to the Vatican. Romney's campaign unveiled a letter from the ex-envoys hours before a debate in which he was to face off against his rivals, including Catholics Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, who have cast him as a weak-kneed moderate. The former ambassadors said they were "united" behind Romney "because of his commitment to and support of the values that we feel are critical in a national leader" and "experience, vision and commitment to the...

"It has recently come to our attention that your station has either been asked to run, or may soon be asked to run, various advertising spots produced by the Mitt Romney aligned SuperPAC “Restore Our Future” or Romney for President, the principal campaign committee of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Included among the Romney advertisements submitted to your station for broadcast are likely to be various advertisements which specifically mention Speaker Gingrich and purport to quote or reference the findings of a 1997 report issued by the House Select Committee on Ethics (the “Report”). The content of these advertisements state...

Mitt Romney's numbers in South Carolina are surging, and he now has a solid lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new survey of likely GOP primary voters in the Palmetto state. ......................................................... According to the poll, 37% of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina say they are currently backing Romney ..................................................... Santorum and Gingrich are battling for second place, with Santorum at 19% and Gingrich at 18%