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Mitt transition pick a red flag for conservatives
Washington Examiner ^ | Monday June 4, 2012 | Phillip Klein

Posted on 06/04/2012 2:41:53 PM PDT by Bigtigermike

Over the weekend, Politico broke the news that Mitt Romney had tapped Mike Leavitt, the former Utah Governor and HHS Secretary under George W. Bush, to lead the transition effort should Romney win the presidency. This is a very worrisome signal to conservatives holding out hope that Romney will live up to his promises to fight for limited government if elected. As Ben Domenech details, Leavitt is one of the few Republicans who has been actively campaigning for governors to implement Obamacare’s health care exchanges at the state level.

[....]

Leavitt has shown time and again that he is to the left of his party—so much so that he was nearly defeated during the Republican nominating convention in 2000. The legislature has on many occasions pushed pro-growth tax policies, only to have them rejected by Leavitt. In [2001] the legislature passed a $25 million tax cut that included income tax relief. Leavitt insisted on a tax cut one-fifth that size… The only two taxes that he has reduced were the sales tax and the unemployment tax. Leavitt is a big spender extraordinaire.

[....]

Beyond the health care issue, there’s the cronyism issue involved. One of the biggest dangers of a Romney “CEO presidency” is that his business background would make him conflate being pro-business with being pro-free market. But as we’ve seen time and again, these are two separate things. As somebody who stands to personally profit if more states implement Obamacare exchanges, Leavitt clearly comes from the tradition of a Republican Party that’s perfectly okay with expanding government in the name of helping business. This is something we saw during the Bush administration, most prominently, with the subsidies for drug companies in the Medicare prescription drug law (which Leavitt helped implement ass HHS Secretary) and the Wall Street bailout.

(Excerpt) Read more at campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Utah
KEYWORDS: leavitt; mikeleavitt; obama; obamacare; rino; romney; romney4dnc; romney4du; romney4gope; romney4msm; romney4obama; romney4obamacare; romney4soros; romneycare; romneycare4ever; romneycare4u; romneycarelives; romneydeathpanels; romneymarriage; romneytransition; stateobamacare
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Leavitt, in short, was exactly the type of Republican the Tea Party was founded to oppose, and he’s playing a key role in planning a potential Romney presidency ~ Phillip Klein
1 posted on 06/04/2012 2:41:57 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney’s liberalism should have been a red flag to conservatives. To late, so sad, to bad..........
But hey, that’s what you get with liberals, they like to hang out with other liberals.


2 posted on 06/04/2012 2:47:38 PM PDT by svcw (If one living cell on another planet is life, why isn't it life in the womb?)
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To: Bigtigermike

Corporate crony or Mormon crony or both?


3 posted on 06/04/2012 2:48:58 PM PDT by CedarDave
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To: Bigtigermike

Is anyone surprised? What’s that old song about the woman who picks up a snake, cares for it, and the snake bites her anyway? In essence, the snake said, “I’m a snake. I bite. It’s my nature.”


4 posted on 06/04/2012 2:49:58 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX ( The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else. ~)
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney NEVER even gave lip service to conservatives during the primary’s. This pick should not surprise any conservative.


5 posted on 06/04/2012 2:52:03 PM PDT by tennmountainman
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To: Bigtigermike
Photobucket
6 posted on 06/04/2012 2:52:48 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: Bigtigermike

This is a very worrisome signal to conservatives holding out hope that Romney will live up to his promises to fight for limited government if elected.

It’s not hope, it’s self delusion.


7 posted on 06/04/2012 2:53:50 PM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney’s true colors showing through (not that I was fooled for one second).


8 posted on 06/04/2012 2:54:57 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture TM)
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To: EGPWS
millard romney willard fillmore Pictures, Images and Photos

millard romney willard fillmore Pictures, Images and Photos

9 posted on 06/04/2012 2:57:07 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: CedarDave

Both.


10 posted on 06/04/2012 2:58:19 PM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Bigtigermike

But, but, anyone but Obama!

/retard


11 posted on 06/04/2012 3:00:03 PM PDT by Crazieman (Are you naive enough to think VOTING will fix this entrenched system?)
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To: Bigtigermike

12 posted on 06/04/2012 3:04:56 PM PDT by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: Bigtigermike

Yep. And a fellow Mormon insider, to boot.

I’ve said it before. I sure as hell don’t feel good about it, BUT I WILL NOT VOTE FOR ROMNEY.

Here we are, stuck with the worst President in history, who is determined to kill our country, and what does the GOP force on us but the worst Republican candidate in history?

I simply cannot vote for a gay activist, baby-killing, big government, narcissistic liar.

And apparently that’s what we are going to be stuck with on the top two lines of the ballot next fall.


13 posted on 06/04/2012 3:06:08 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney is the best reason the GOP could give us to vote third party. They tried to find a more liberal, more statist, more crony, more socialist, and less God-fearing candidate. But none were available that had an "R" behind their names.


14 posted on 06/04/2012 3:06:30 PM PDT by so_real ( "The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.")
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To: Bigtigermike
Why is ANYONE surprised that Milt Romney will ruin the GOP
and conservatives FOREVER?


“The Massachusetts Republican Party died last Tuesday.
The cause of death: failed leadership.

The party is survived by a few leftover legislators
and a handful of county officials and grassroots activists
who have been ignored for years.
Services will be public and a mass exodus of taxpayers will follow.
In lieu of flowers, send messages to Republican voters
warning them about a certain presidential candidate named Romney.”

- Boston Herald, 11/12/2006


"In 2006, while Romney was chairman of the National Republican
Governors Association - a group dedicated to electing more
Republican governors - his own hand-picked Republican successor
as governor lost badly to the Democrat, despite the fact that Republicans
have held the governorship in Massachusetts since 1990. Romney largely
ignored the Massachusetts elections and spent most of the time
during the campaign out of state building his presidential campaign.
He came back and publicly campaigned for the Republican candidate
the day before the general election!
“Locally, this is a rebuke to Mitt Romney and checking out within six months
after being elected and having accomplished almost nothing,”

[Jim] Rappaport [former chairman of the state Republican Party]."
- Boston Globe, 11/8/2006


"Governor Mitt Romney, who touts his conservative credentials to out-of-state Republicans,
has passed over GOP lawyers for three-quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he has faced
,
instead tapping registered Democrats or independents -- including two gay lawyers who
have supported expanded same-sex rights, a Globe review of the nominations has found.
Of the 36 people Romney named to be judges or clerk magistrates, 23 are either registered Democrats
or unenrolled voters who have made multiple contributions to Democratic politicians
or who voted in Democratic primaries, state and local records show.
In all, he has nominated nine registered Republicans, 13 unenrolled voters,
and 14 registered Democrats."
- Boston Globe 7/25/2005


Romney Rewards one of the State's Leading Anti-Marriage Attorneys by Making him a Judge
Romney told the U.S. Senate on June 22, 2004, that the "real threat to the States is not the
constitutional amendment process, in which the states participate,
but activist judges who disregard the law and redefine marriage . . ."
Romney sounds tough but yet he had no qualms advancing the legal career of one
of the leading anti-marriage attorneys.
He nominated Stephen Abany to a District Court.
Abany has been a key player in the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association which,
in its own words, is "dedicated to ensuring that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision
on marriage equality is upheld, and that any anti-gay amendment or legislation is defeated."
- U.S. Senate testimony by Gov. Mitt Romney, 6/22/2004 P>


"Romney announces he won't fill judicial vacancies before term ends
Despite his rhetoric about judicial activism, Romney announced that
he won't fill all the remaining vacancies during his term - but instead
leave them for his liberal Democrat successor!

Governor Mitt Romney pledged yesterday not to make a flurry of lame-duck
judicial appointments in the final days of his administration . . . David Yas,
editor of Lawyers Weekly, said Romney is "bucking tradition" by resisting the urge to
fill all remaining judgeships. "It is a tradition for governors to use that power to appoint judges
aggressively in the waning moments of their administration," Yas said.
He added that Romney has been criticized for failing to make judicial appointments.
"The legal community has consistently criticized him for not filling open seats quickly enough
and being a little too painstaking in the process and being dismissive of the input of the
Judicial Nominating Commission," Yas said.
- Boston Globe 11/2/2006


15 posted on 06/04/2012 3:08:42 PM PDT by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: tennmountainman
Romney NEVER even gave lip service to conservatives during the primary’s.

How could he as a prominent liberal politician while he was governor of Massachusetts?

Any lip service could only be lies.

16 posted on 06/04/2012 3:10:15 PM PDT by EGPWS (Trust in God, question everyone else)
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney didn’t lie about who he was. Idiot voters who are in some kind of denile voted for this turd part II.


17 posted on 06/04/2012 3:18:01 PM PDT by Leep (Enemy of the Statist)
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To: Bigtigermike

Romney didn’t lie about who he was. Idiot voters who are in some kind of denile voted for this turd part II.


18 posted on 06/04/2012 3:18:08 PM PDT by Leep (Enemy of the Statist)
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To: tennmountainman

>>> Romney NEVER even gave lip service to conservatives during the primary’s.

Romney did pay lip service to the conservatives during the early stages of the primary.

He said to turst him he’s a conservative. It didn’t work and made him look ridiculous, so he quickly abandoned the ruse.


19 posted on 06/04/2012 3:19:15 PM PDT by Sir Napsalot (Pravda + Useful Idiots = CCCP; JournOList + Useful Idiots = DopeyChangey!)
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To: Bigtigermike

Mark Levin talking about this now.


20 posted on 06/04/2012 3:19:53 PM PDT by hattend (Firearms and ammunition...the only growing industries under the Obama regime.)
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