Free Republic

Which pill do you choose? The red pill? Or the blue pill? The color blue on the shirts of South Florida Romney “supporters” may correlate with the pill they chose to take, as was evident with one individual who, on camera, stated he was paid to wear the Romney shirt and create the impression at the voting location that there was significant support there. Romney "Supporters" Paid to be Romney Supporters

Why is he doing this? Is his campaign really that incompetent? Having successfully shut down scrutiny in the primaries (but not the general election) of his Bain record with unfounded cries of “Newt’s attacking capitalism and free markets,” Romney is back to what started it all, the demand that Newt give back the money he lawfully earned through consulting with Freddie Mac. As Morrissey notes, Newt’s campaign already has diffused another line of Romney’s Freddie Mac attack, quickly asking for the release of his consulting contract before the Florida primary. Romney will go on the offensive at tonight’s debate demanding...

In Florida, Romney Takes Aim At Resurgent Gingrich By Philip Rucker and Amy Gardner January 22 ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney unleashed his harshest personal attack of the campaign on Newt Gingrich here Sunday, saying “it was proven that he was a failed leader” as the former governor pivoted sharply to regain his footing in the wake of Gingrich’s stunning resurgence over the weekend. As the dramatically altered presidential campaign moved to Florida, Republican leaders braced for a long and potentially bitter nominating contest. After upending the campaign in South Carolina with a commanding victory, Gingrich moved quickly to...

A combative Mitt Romney on Monday broadened his call for Newt Gingrich to release records from his work as a consultant, speculating that those documents and records from a House ethics investigation from his time as speaker could show “potentially wrongful activity of some kind.” “We could see an October surprise a day from Newt Gingrich,” Romney told reporters at a media availability here. “And so let’s see the records from the ethics investigation, let’s see what they show. Let’s see who his clients were at the time he was lobbying Republican congressmen for Medicare Part D.

One of the things fellow Republicans and political observers have never liked about Mitt Romney is the wholesome piety he exhibits on the stump, while his hacks and PACs engage in some of the ugliest politics around. He can flash that plastic smile and pretend all he wants, but people know the cold fish doesn't shy away from the politics of personal destruction. If anything, his campaigns embrace it more than most, while feigning ignorance and pretending otherwise himself.This is why so many people in the GOP have come to dislike Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney backer and New Jersey Gov....

What Gingrich's S.C. Romney-Stomping Means For FL's 'Battle Royale' Gingrich crushed once-mighty Mitt Romney in South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary, in a victory that transformed Florida’s upcoming vote from a snoozer into a dogfight. “This sets the stage for a battle royale in the Sunshine State,” said Nelson Warfield, a political consultant for former Rick Perry’s recently ended campaign who’s also a member of Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s inner political circle. “Newt Gingrich changed the narrative of this race,” Warfield said. “Before South Carolina, Romney was the slow, inevitable candidate. And Florida was going to be his coronation. Now Romney has...

Is the date Jan. 21 about to be a lot brighter for Newt Gingrich? As South Carolina votes Saturday, Mitt Romney’s campaign sent a press release wishing Gingrich a “happy anniversary” for the House decision to reprimand him, which happened on Jan. 21, 1997. Headlined “Happy 15th Anniversary, Mr. Speaker,” the release said, “Fifteen years ago today, Newt Gingrich became the first House speaker in American history to be reprimanded by his colleagues.” Gingrich was investigated for tax irregularities and for campaign finance disclosure violations in the late 1990s. The matter, conducted when Republicans controlled the House, was settled when...

Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) - In what appears to be a last ditch attempt to halt Newt Gingrich's late momentum in South Carolina, a fake CNN Breaking News alert was emailed to state Republican activists early Thursday morning claiming that the former House Speaker pressured his ex-wife to have an abortion. CNN did not send out the email alert. It's not clear how many people received the fake email, though at least two members of the South Carolina GOP Executive Committee, who did not want to be named, were among those who found the missive in their inboxes this morning....

Mitt Romney’s campaign unleashed a multi-pronged attack against Newt Gingrich Wednesday — a sign the GOP front-runner could be worried about a surge from the ex-Speaker prior to South Carolina’s primary on Saturday. Romney rolled out a pair of new attack ads and dispatched two of his top surrogates to blast Gingrich’s erratic temperament just days before the make-or-break southern contest. “He’s not reliable,” former Missouri Senator Jim Talent slammed on a media conference call. “Yes, he can say exciting things — he also says things that undermine the conservative movement.” That theme was reminiscent of the line of attack...

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...

DAMON CLINICAL LABORATORIES Romney Was Board Member Of Company Fined Over $100 Million For Medicare Fraud – At The Time, It Was The Largest Criminal Fine For Health Care Fraud In History Romney Sat On Board Of Damon Clinical Laboratories, A Bain Capital Portfolio Company Fined Nearly $120 Million In 1996 Due To Medicare Fraud. “A Needham clinical laboratory agreed yesterday to pay $119 million in criminal and civil fines after pleading guilty to charges that it defrauded the nation’s Medicare system by seeking reimbursements on millions of dollars worth of unnecessary blood tests. … Damon Clinical Laboratories Inc. admitted...

After ignoring former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for three weeks, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is renewing its assault on Newt Gingrich days before ...

Almost two-thirds of adult Facebook users in South Carolina say they aren't fans of the tea party, according to a Facebook poll conducted today with POLITICO. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are "not at all supportive" of the tea party, compared with 20 percent who were "somewhat supportive" and 18 percent who were "very supportive." Of those surveyed, women were slightly less supportive of the tea party. Just 35 percent were either "somewhat" or "very" supportive of the movement, compared with 42 percent among men. The results only represent the sentiment of South Carolina users on Facebook, not...

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...

Rick Santorum accused rival Mitt Romney on Tuesday of running a “dirty politics” robocall campaign in South Carolina to discredit the former Pennsylvania senator and mislead voters in the state’s fiercely contested Republican presidential primary Saturday. Campaigning at the Yorktown aircraft carrier museum in Charleston Harbor, Santorum slammed the former Massachusetts governor for an automated call that plays a tape of Santorum endorsing Romney’s 2008 run for the GOP presidential nomination. “Gov. Romney, out there playing a recording from four years ago, and suggesting that I’m endorsing him, is another example of Gov. Romney misleading the public about my record...

(MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.) -- Amid continued pressure from his rivals to make public his tax returns, Mitt Romney said at a Republican presidential candidates debate Monday night that he will "probably" release that information in April. That timetable is in line with tradition of past nominees, who have released their information around tax day in early April. "I have nothing in them that suggests there is any problem," he said. "I'm happy to do so." Romney had said as recently as last Wednesday that he doesn't feel the need to do anything more than the law requires him to do,...

Money may not be buying Mitt Romney much Republican love, but it’s going a long way toward helping him buy the next best thing: endorsements in the GOP primaries. Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC and its affiliates states have lavished close to $1.3 million in campaign donations to federal, state and local GOP politicians, almost all since 2010. His recipients include officials in the major upcoming primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, and in three southern Super Tuesday states where he was trounced four years ago. In New Hampshire, a U.S. senator, a congressman, 10 state senators...

The five Republicans candidates trying to emerge as the alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney engaged in fratricidal combat on a stage at St. Anselm College Saturday night as the former Massachusetts governor aimed his political barbs at President Obama. With just days remaining before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, the candidates trailing Romney in the polls decided to battle each other for second place rather than focus on the candidate running far ahead of them in the polls. Romney smiled as the other candidates attacked each other and defended his record against occasional, mild criticism from GOP rivals. But...

The fight to place all seven Republican presidential candidates on Virginia's primary ballot is moving toward the courts while one candidate bumped from the ballot, Newt Gingrich, insisted Wednesday that he was the victim of fraud. The conservative Citizens for the Republic and former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Paul Goldman said Wednesday that Virginia failed to follow its own laws in determining which candidates should make the ballot. The state delegated its duties to the political parties without double-checking their work, Goldman said. Virginia requires candidates to submit signatures from 10,000 registered voters, including 400 from each of 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...