Tag: Mitt Romney
Paul: Romney Is ‘Yesterday’s News’
If Romney runs to the right of Jeb Bush, he’ll still be to the left of the rest of the party, so it may be a difficult spot to occupy. Look, I like Governor Romney, I like him personally, I think he is a good person, I think he was a great businessman. But you know that’s yesterday’s news.
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the Louisville Courier Journal.
Paul Characterizes GOP as ‘Same Old’ Same Old
You need a candidate who reaches out to new constituencies and is able to bring new people into the party. Because if we do the same old, same old candidates, we are going to get the same old result.
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), “back in insurgent mode, lobbing bombs at his potential Republican presidential rivals and looking to take back a political spotlight that Bush and Romney have been hogging lately,” Politico reports. “Paul is also heading to New Hampshire and Nevada this week, hoping to strike a fire with voters who want a new voice to carry the GOP’s message to the White House.”
GOP Flip Flops from ‘Freedom Fries’ to Francophiles
It’s well-established by now that, with the possible exception of agreeing to being lynched on the White House lawn, there is virtually nothing Pres. Obama could do that Republicans would support. No matter what he does, or does not do, they and their lapdogs in the “liberal media” will reflexively carp and complain.
Their current carp is that Pres. Obama signaled a lack of solidarity with France when he opted not to appear at the unity rally in Paris after the terror attacks there last week. A (poorly punctuated) Fox News headline summed up GOP upsetness: “Obama AWOL in Paris: Message to America, Allies Is We Don’t Care.”
Of course, had the president flown to Paris, Fox et al would be complaining now that he’d wasted money on travel and security to participate in what they would otherwise view as a substance-less, feel-good Kumbaya moment with other socialist world leaders.
Chait: Romney Will Come to His Senses
Eight years ago, John Kerry briefly considered another run for president, after also having failed to oust an incumbent despised by his own party’s base and mistaking the outpouring of commitment on his behalf as an expression of personal loyalty, rather than the partisan loyalty it actually was. Soon enough, Kerry came to his senses. Romney will, too.
— Jonathan Chait, in New York Magazine.
A Romney Run Would ‘Upend the Race’
It would upend the race. He leads in national GOP polls, but more importantly, Romney would start as the favorite in New Hampshire. The winner of the New Hampshire primary on the Republican side has gone on to the be the party’s nominee in nine of the last 11 presidential elections. Notably, that includes all of the last three cycles. Romney would also threaten former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and move New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie down a notch for the establishment track, setting up the potential for a protracted nomination fight between a couple of establishment candidates, the most viable harder-line conservative and possibly Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Of course, Romney came within 34 caucus votes of winning Iowa. And if conservatives split like they did last time, a Romney Iowa and New Hampshire sweep is possible.
— Morning Line.
Tailgunner Ted Cruz Is Down on a Romney Re-Re-Run
There are some who believe that the path to Republican victory is to run to the mushy middle, is to blur distinctions. I think recent history has shown us that’s not a path to success.
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), quoted by the Wall Street Journal, on Mitt Romney flirting with another presidential bid.
Jeb Bush a Solid Moderate Republican
37
Jeb Bush’s ideological score based on a combination of three statistical indices created by Nate Silver. Bush’s score is “similar to Romney and McCain, each of whom scored a 39. He’s much more conservative than Huntsman, who rates at a 17. Still, Bush is more like his father, George H.W. Bush, who rates as a 33, than his brother George W. Bush, who scores a 46. And the Republican Party has moved to the right since both Poppy and Dubya were elected.”
Romney Still Most Republicans’ Choice
19%
Percentage of Republican voters nationwide who prefer Mitt Romney as their presidential nominee again, followed by Jeb Bush at 11% and Chris Christie and Ben Carson at 8% each, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. No other Republican tops 6%. With Romney out of the race, Jeb Bush leads with 14%, followed by Christie at 11%, Carson at 9% and Sen. Rand Paul at 8%.
Mitt Romney Tells an Obama Joke
While campaigning in Iowa, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney proves his sense of humor is as sharp today as it was during the 2012 campaign, as reported by National Journal:
“President Obama went to the bank to cash a check and he didn’t have his ID. And the teller said you’ve got to prove who you are.”
“He said, ‘How should I do that?’ She said the other day Phil Mickelson came in, he didn’t have his ID but he set up a little cup on the ground, took a golf ball, putted it right into that cup so they knew it was Phil Mickelson. They cashed his check. And then Andre Agassi came in. And Andre Agassi didn’t have his ID either. He put a little target on the wall, took a tennis ball and racquet — hit it onto that target every time. We knew that was Andre Agassi so we cashed his check.”
“And she said to him, ‘Is there anything you can do to prove who you are?’ And [Obama] said, ‘I don’t have a clue.'”
“And she said, ‘Well, Mr. President, do you want your money in small bills or large bills.'”
It was side-splitting jokes like that one that garnered Mitt’s inclusion into the “Encyclopedia of Mormon Comedians.”
