Free Republic

New information is surfacing about Mitt Romney and his 2016 plans following the 2012 presidential candidate's nationally-covered speech on Thursday morning. The former Mass. Governor and Republican nominee for President spoke out against Donald Trump, calling the Republican front-runner a "phony" and "fraud." He urged Republicans to unite behind another candidate, yet declined to indicate which candidate he would be supporting. An in-depth look at Romney's campaign finance activity, however, shows that the former candidate may be gearing up to take another shot at the White House. In late January and early February of 2016, Romney's campaign finance entities, which...

This week, the Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) established a joint-fundraising account, "Romney Victory Inc." The idea is that donors can write one big check to the joint account, which can then be divvied up between Romney's campaign committee and the RNC. According to Romney Victory fundraising documents, the first $5000 in an individual's contributions to Romney Victory will go to the Romney campaign (the $2500 maximum for use in the primary campaign, which technically runs through the convention, and the $2500 maximum for the general election). The next $30,800 goes to the RNC, again the maximum...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush dropped out of the Republican presidential primary two days ago, prompting campaign officials and supporters to look for a scapegoat for the debacle. They may have settled on a pricey one, indeed. Political strategist Mike Murphy, head of the pro-Bush super PAC Right to Rise USA, is under fire for allegedly giving himself a salary and compensation package that totals $14 million. "He made minimum of $14 million," a Bush campaign bundler told CNN.

Republican lawmakers reportedly laughed at House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) after he told them he had been given a promise from Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Lawmakers were amused at Ryan's naiveté for thinking that Reid is someone their party can trust. "I know, I know," Ryan replied with a smile, according to The Hill. Reid and Ryan just finished working together to help pass a $1 trillion dollar spending bill, which many argue contained far more liberal policies than conservative ones. Reid has promised Ryan that he will return to regular order in the New Year....

-snip- To many of the billionaires it felt like a mugging. -snip- Rove's 2012 crash is having profound effects on the 2016 Republican primary. To begin with, George W. Bush's Brain is no longer considered much of a brain. "I gave Rove $500,000. What did I get for it? Nothing!" Langone told me. Two of Rove's most generous 2012 funders, Texas billionaires Bob Perry and Harold Simmons, have since passed away, and their heirs have turned off the cash spigot. "Everyone is still shocked Romney lost," says Simmons's widow, Annette. "I haven't committed at all." So far this year, Crossroads...

Romneycare signing. Romney praises Gruber's "model" as "essential." Watch the VIDEO. It speaks for itself.

The United States stands on the verge of the most significant change to our health care system since the 1965 introduction of Medicare. The bill that was passed by the House and a parallel bill before the Senate would cover most uninsured Americans, saving thousands of lives each year and putting an end to our status as the only developed country that places so many of its citizens at risk for medical bankruptcy. Moreover, the bills would accomplish this aim while reducing the federal deficit over the next decade and beyond. They would reform insurance markets, lower administrative costs, increase...

JACKSON, MISS. — Chris McDaniel supporters vowed to keep up the fight after the primary runoff was called for Sen. Thad Cochran Tuesday night, but by Wednesday afternoon several outside groups and one prominent Mississippi Republican threw cold water on talk of an official challenge. “My understanding is that is not going to happen,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) from Washington. “I kind of heard it through the grapevine at lunch.” Wicker supported Cochran’s reelection and was intimately involved in his fundraising operation for the runoff. The Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund — two of McDaniel’s biggest national...

The Republican Party’s senior operatives publicly are committing the cardinal sin of promising to spend tens of millions of dollars of its most generous donors’ money to lard up on data: knowledge. What, instead, is required — to restore its ability to make good, winning, decisions — is virtue: understanding. This critical distinction appears lost on the politicos. Memo to the GOP donor base: to win (in 2014 and 2016 and beyond) the GOP can and must get just two things just right. First, the GOP must (and can) reunite its libertarian and conservative factions around the Constitution. Second, the...

Romney said his Bay State health reforms weren’t necessarily suited to other states. Few listened. By Avik Roy During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney maintained that the health-reform law he signed in Massachusetts was not the same as Obamacare. “Our plan was a state solution to a state problem,” Governor Romney insisted. He was trying to fix Massachusetts’ uniquely broken insurance market, he said; Obamacare, by contrast, was a “a power grab . . . a one-size-fits-all plan.” Nobody took him seriously — not conservatives, and not liberals. But today, as the nation braces for health insurance “rate shock,”...

Romney-tied PAC has taste for secrecy [Millions in gifts tied to obscure or shell firms] "Among all the super PACs that have brought a deluge of big-money donations into the presidential nomination race, only the one allied with Mitt Romney has established a pattern of accepting big contributions from corporate entities that tend to obscure the actual source of the money or appear to have been created specifically as vehicles to mask the wealthy donors. Twice, the Restore Our Future super PAC has amended its reports to the Federal Election Commission after media reports indicated that contributions of $1 million...

Debating in Tampa, Florida in late-January, while falsely characterizing Newt Gingrich’s income from his government consulting work, Mitt Romney denied that Bain did “any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare”. Now we learn that Bain, under Romney’s “supervision”, purchased and ran the Damon Corporation, who pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges as a result of tens of millions of dollars in systemic Medicare fraud committed under Romney’s and Bain’s control. Damon was fined over $119-million which was, at the time, the largest criminal healthcare fine in Massachusetts history and Mr. Romney’s participation was characterized in 1996 by Corporate...

I’m so tired of the refrain that a critique of Mitt Romney’s work at Bain is “an attack on capitalism.” Capitalism means that you RISK capital, so that you will profit if things go well and you will incur a loss if things go poorly. Private equity firms, like Bain, are in the business of maximizing profit for investors (not to “create jobs” as characterized by Romney supporters), which is perfectly reasonable and legal. To do that, private equity firms often make investments then extract “consulting fees” and “special dividends” in excess of the original investment to ensure that no...

Romney Supervised Medical Testing Company Guilty Of Massive Medicare Fraud In 1989, Bain Capital purchased controlling interest in Damon Corp., 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 Corp. was busy submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims to Medicare to the tune of millions of dollars charged for unnecessary blood tests.

Debating in Tampa Florida this month, Mitt Romney strongly denied that his investment company Bain Capital did "any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare." However, under Romney's "supervision," Bain purchased and ran the Damon Corporation which pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges - as a result of tens of millions in systemic Medicare fraud... According to a cited Forbes report, in 1989, Bain Capital purchased controlling interest in Damon Corp. 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.."...

The pro-Newt Gingrich PAC "Winning Our Future" claims that "at least six" stations in Florida have -- as of Thursday -- been telling the group they need more documentation to run their ads. "Stations all across Florida started to pull spots asking for fact checking," said Gregg Phillips, managing director of Winning Our Future, who accused the outlets of being "lazy" and suggested they were part of a coordinated effort across Florida to derail Newt Gingrich. The SuperPAC currently has three ads running in Florida. Phillips speculated this kind of fact-checking wasn't being done on Romney ads.

Debating in Tampa, Florida in late-January, while falsely characterizing Newt Gingrich’s income from his government consulting work, Mitt Romney denied that Bain did “any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare”. Now we learn that Bain, under Romney’s “supervision”, purchased and ran the Damon Corporation, who pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges as a result of tens of millions of dollars in systemic Medicare fraud committed under Romney’s and Bain’s control. Damon was fined over $119-million which was, at the time, the largest criminal healthcare fine in Massachusetts history and Mr. Romney’s participation was characterized in 1996 by Corporate...

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...

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...

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...