so ... Mitt Romney.
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
coemgen said:It is done. CNN is announcing Romney will suspend his campaign.
One less frightening flip-flopper.
2861U2
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
This basically means the Republican race is over, if it wasn't already. This is good. McCain can basically start a national campaign now, while the Democrats are far, far from it.
U2isthebest
ONE love, blood, life
There must be a connection between sweet hair and flip-flopping. Look at John Kerry...
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
U2isthebest said:There must be a connection between sweet hair and flip-flopping. Look at John Kerry...
That pic of him when he was 22 really reminds me of Kerry. Separated at birth?
diamond
ONE love, blood, life
Shame on all of you
U2isthebest
ONE love, blood, life
It's crazy, I know. We're glad that a candidate we feel would be a wrong choice to lead the country had decided to drop out of the presidential race. We're on the edge with this one.
diamond
ONE love, blood, life
A link to Mitt's speech today:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2E3OWZmYjFkYWFjNjE3M2FmYTBlYTUxZmU5ZThlNzg=
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2E3OWZmYjFkYWFjNjE3M2FmYTBlYTUxZmU5ZThlNzg=
coemgen
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Burying Mitt
Romney failed because he ran as something he's not.
By Howard Fineman
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 1:03 PM ET Feb 7, 2008
Here lieth the campaign of Mitt Romney, victim of the mistaken belief that the only way to succeed in national Republican politics was to turn yourself into something you are not. Or maybe the campaign revealed what his closest friends never imaged him to be. They thought he was a decent classy guy. But maybe he really is a soulless throat-cutter who would do and say anything to win.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was a good fellow who didn't know enough about national politics and listened to people who gave him bad, cynical advice.
Sen. John McCain was in a good position before; now it's hard to imagine that he won't wrap up the nomination in the next week or two. His lone remaining serious opponent, Mike Huckabee, has exceeded expectations, but expecting him to be able to unhorse McCain is perhaps expecting too much.
I have covered a lot of presidential campaigns, and I can't think of one that so lost its way-so expensively-as that of the former governor of Massachusetts. A board room and business favorite, a man with a Midas managerial touch, he was widely admired and even beloved. But he was a Republican of an old moderate school-that of his own father-and, like George W. Bush, Romney the Younger decided that he had to jettison all that he was to become something that he was not.
And so it was that this square peg spent perhaps $80 million-including at least $30 million of his own money-trying to pound himself into a round hole. It didn't work. The irony of his failed campaign: if he had just stuck to selling his managerial mettle, he might well have won the nomination, given the way the country's economic anxieties have become voters' number one concern.
Even as conservative radio talk-show hosts reluctantly settled on him as their savior, they were uneasy about it and about his previous record of social moderation and fiscal flexibility. They sold him hard in the last few weeks, but to no avail. Romney won his home state and the states in the West where Mormonism was familiar, but not much else.
The quality of being genuine is hard to convey, and deciding who should be president based solely on that basis can lead to disaster; you need brains and an ability to go with the flow as well. But voters know a phony above all and Romney came off as one from the get-go. Over the last decade he had changed his views in a rightward direction on so many issues to suit what he thought he needed to win the GOP nomination that he ended up standing for nothing but his own ambition.
He had good staff in the early states, but as soon as the genuine article (or at least a more genuine article) came along in Iowa, in the form of Mike Huckabee, Romney was blown away. Then, having ceded the moderate ground, he lost in New Hampshire to another genuine article, John McCain (who learned his own lessons about the dangers of pandering to the right earlier in his campaign).
It's no accident that the GOP race is down to three men who are clear about who they are: McCain, Huckabee and, yes, Ron Paul.
All of that was Romney's own doing. But he also was damaged by a factor over which he had no control and, to his credit, he didn't seek to mute--his Mormonism. In the Bible Belt, his faith is anathema. And yet when the head of the Mormon Church passed away, Romney left the campaign trail to attend the funeral in Salt Lake that may have damaged him on the eve of Super Tuesday.
It was a class act, one of the few in his otherwise misbegotten campaign. Rest in peace.
Romney failed because he ran as something he's not.
By Howard Fineman
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 1:03 PM ET Feb 7, 2008
Here lieth the campaign of Mitt Romney, victim of the mistaken belief that the only way to succeed in national Republican politics was to turn yourself into something you are not. Or maybe the campaign revealed what his closest friends never imaged him to be. They thought he was a decent classy guy. But maybe he really is a soulless throat-cutter who would do and say anything to win.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he was a good fellow who didn't know enough about national politics and listened to people who gave him bad, cynical advice.
Sen. John McCain was in a good position before; now it's hard to imagine that he won't wrap up the nomination in the next week or two. His lone remaining serious opponent, Mike Huckabee, has exceeded expectations, but expecting him to be able to unhorse McCain is perhaps expecting too much.
I have covered a lot of presidential campaigns, and I can't think of one that so lost its way-so expensively-as that of the former governor of Massachusetts. A board room and business favorite, a man with a Midas managerial touch, he was widely admired and even beloved. But he was a Republican of an old moderate school-that of his own father-and, like George W. Bush, Romney the Younger decided that he had to jettison all that he was to become something that he was not.
And so it was that this square peg spent perhaps $80 million-including at least $30 million of his own money-trying to pound himself into a round hole. It didn't work. The irony of his failed campaign: if he had just stuck to selling his managerial mettle, he might well have won the nomination, given the way the country's economic anxieties have become voters' number one concern.
Even as conservative radio talk-show hosts reluctantly settled on him as their savior, they were uneasy about it and about his previous record of social moderation and fiscal flexibility. They sold him hard in the last few weeks, but to no avail. Romney won his home state and the states in the West where Mormonism was familiar, but not much else.
The quality of being genuine is hard to convey, and deciding who should be president based solely on that basis can lead to disaster; you need brains and an ability to go with the flow as well. But voters know a phony above all and Romney came off as one from the get-go. Over the last decade he had changed his views in a rightward direction on so many issues to suit what he thought he needed to win the GOP nomination that he ended up standing for nothing but his own ambition.
He had good staff in the early states, but as soon as the genuine article (or at least a more genuine article) came along in Iowa, in the form of Mike Huckabee, Romney was blown away. Then, having ceded the moderate ground, he lost in New Hampshire to another genuine article, John McCain (who learned his own lessons about the dangers of pandering to the right earlier in his campaign).
It's no accident that the GOP race is down to three men who are clear about who they are: McCain, Huckabee and, yes, Ron Paul.
All of that was Romney's own doing. But he also was damaged by a factor over which he had no control and, to his credit, he didn't seek to mute--his Mormonism. In the Bible Belt, his faith is anathema. And yet when the head of the Mormon Church passed away, Romney left the campaign trail to attend the funeral in Salt Lake that may have damaged him on the eve of Super Tuesday.
It was a class act, one of the few in his otherwise misbegotten campaign. Rest in peace.
phillyfan26
Blue Crack Supplier
- Joined
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Mike Huckabee is a serious opponent?
MrsSpringsteen
Blue Crack Addict
That Newsweek piece is right on-no amount of money in the world can buy anyone an authentic self. You can't fake one either. Too bad he felt the need to trash and insult MA in the process too.
He'll run for President again, no doubt in my mind about that.
He'll run for President again, no doubt in my mind about that.
U2isthebest
ONE love, blood, life
phillyfan26 said:
He's the only one with God on his side, remember?
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
My conservative parents must be fit to be tied now. I asked them the other night who they were backing, since their original faves (Thompson and Giuliani ... believe me, I was biting my tongue when they told me that) were gone.
They reluctantly were going with Romney, because they cannot stand McCain and don't even get them started on Hillary. I'm curious if they'll vote for a write-in candidate now.
They reluctantly were going with Romney, because they cannot stand McCain and don't even get them started on Hillary. I'm curious if they'll vote for a write-in candidate now.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
Maybe they'll stay at home. 
You know, like the girls and blacks will do if their candidate doesn't get nominated.
You know, like the girls and blacks will do if their candidate doesn't get nominated.
U2isthebest
ONE love, blood, life
martha said:Maybe they'll stay at home.
You know, like the girls and blacks will do if their candidate doesn't get nominated.
Seeing as I'm a white woman supporting the black male candidate that logic makes perfect sense, does it not?
Last edited:
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
I don't actually think they wouldn't vote. They're big on voting and being involved in politics and all that good stuff.
They're very conservative, but I honestly believe they would vote for a democrat if they believed that dem was the better candidate. And at least they think Huckabee is nuts.
They're very conservative, but I honestly believe they would vote for a democrat if they believed that dem was the better candidate. And at least they think Huckabee is nuts.
kellyahern
Blue Crack Supplier
coemgen said:It is done. CNN is announcing Romney will suspend his campaign.
anitram said:
Actually, its more likely that he got out now because he obviously cannot win against McCain. Simply look at the number delegates McCain has won and do the math. McCain has essentially won the nomination, and it would have been foolish and a waste of millions of dollars for Romney to have continued any longer.
coemgen
Rock n' Roll Doggie
From Time.com
Why Romney's Product Launch Failed
By Michael Scherer/Washington
Mitt Romney made a fortune in management consulting, so it's only appropriate that his presidential campaign would make a bedeviling business school case study. As a candidate, he seemed to do everything right. He worked longer hours, built a larger, more professional organization and outspent all of his Republican rivals. He alone approached the race for the White House as an almost pure product launch, with the flexibility and funding to change his marketing and respond to almost any eventuality. He even looked better on television.
And yet, his campaign failed from the beginning, losing out of the gate in Iowa to a populist upstart Mike Huckabee, then losing in New Hampshire and South Carolina to a war hero, John McCain, who had been written off as an also-ran months earlier. More disappointing results followed, and on Thursday, Romney announced that he would not go on.
"This isn't an easy decision. I hate to lose," he told thousands of conservative activists at a conference in Washington. "I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country."
The crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where Romney had helped launch his campaign in 2007, called out in despair. But the anguish of activists could not change Romney's fate. He had been bested in nearly every major contest he had entered, save the states he had once called home, Michigan, Utah and Massachusetts. The delegate count made victory nearly impossible. "You guys are great," Romney told the crowd, as people called out to him, "No!" and "Go all the way."
As a problem for political scientists, Romney's failure is far less difficult to understand, since the very qualities that made him such a success in the private sector helped prove his undoing at the polls. In politics, unlike business, adaptability can be a liability. In politics, unlike business, success is not measured in strictly quantitative terms. Voters want leaders, not just capable managers — men or women who can inspire trust and inspiration. Romney never convinced enough voters that he was that man.
By all appearances, Romney approached the problem of winning the White House with the same rigor of the "strategic audits" that allowed him to earn more than $100 million as a business consultant at Bain Capital. Beginning shortly after his victory as Massachusetts governor, he appeared to shift his more moderate stances on a number of hot-button issues. In each case, his new position lined up remarkably well with the conservative base of the Republican Party. Just years after courting the gay vote in Massachusetts, Romney became a national spokesman for the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. After running two campaigns as a pro-choice politician, he became a leader of the pro-life cause in Massachusetts. Despite scant experience as a hunter and a history of supporting some gun control, he joined the National Rifle Association.
This provided easy fodder for his Republican opponents, who attacked him mercilessly, and often unfairly, as a candidate without convictions. At the conservative conference in 2007, Romney brought in hundreds of supporters to win a highly symbolic straw poll. But the press focused much of its attention on the detractors in the crowd — the supporters of Sen. Sam Brownback, who handed out "Mitt-flop" sandals and the person dressed as a porpoise in the hallways, introducing himself as "Flip Romney."
Until the end, Romney persevered without any apparent faltering of enthusiasm or optimism, focusing enormous amounts of money and time on the earliest primary states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, with a travel schedule that constantly out-hustled his rivals. He also adapted to the shifting political terrain, most notably staking out a hawkish stand on illegal immigration, and remaking his central campaign theme at several points. Most of the time, he pitched himself as the one true conservative who could win the White House, appealing like no other candidate to national security hawks, tax cutting conservatives, and evangelical voters, many of whom were skeptical of his Mormon religion. At other points, when the economy more recently became a central concern of voters, he focused more on his business background. For such a usually well-polished corporate leader, Romney also managed to make quite a few memorable gaffes in his efforts to prove his conservative credentials, such as when he called for doubling the number of terror detainees at Guantanamo.
In the end, it was an evangelical pastor, Mike Huckabee, who proved to be Romney's undoing. Though Romney all but staked his candidacy on the first caucus state, Iowa, he lost there to the under-funded Huckabee by nearly double-digits. The Iowa loss weakened him in New Hampshire, where he has a vacation home. Then when he tried to establish himself as the conservative alternative to McCain in the south on Super Tuesday, Huckabee again rose to defeat him on a bare bones budget.
Ironically, Romney's remarkable strengths as a corporate visionary and manager proved to be his weakness as a candidate. At his town halls in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, voters often came away saying they were impressed with what he said, but unsure of him as a leader they could trust. As a candidate, Romney presented himself to voters as a product, branded as a conservative and proven as manager. But he struggled to move beyond the polished pitch to make a real connection with voters. Over the course of his tireless struggle for the presidency, he learned a lesson that has bedeviled many a candidate before him: It is often easier to win in business than to win in politics.
Why Romney's Product Launch Failed
By Michael Scherer/Washington
Mitt Romney made a fortune in management consulting, so it's only appropriate that his presidential campaign would make a bedeviling business school case study. As a candidate, he seemed to do everything right. He worked longer hours, built a larger, more professional organization and outspent all of his Republican rivals. He alone approached the race for the White House as an almost pure product launch, with the flexibility and funding to change his marketing and respond to almost any eventuality. He even looked better on television.
And yet, his campaign failed from the beginning, losing out of the gate in Iowa to a populist upstart Mike Huckabee, then losing in New Hampshire and South Carolina to a war hero, John McCain, who had been written off as an also-ran months earlier. More disappointing results followed, and on Thursday, Romney announced that he would not go on.
"This isn't an easy decision. I hate to lose," he told thousands of conservative activists at a conference in Washington. "I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, in this time of war, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country."
The crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where Romney had helped launch his campaign in 2007, called out in despair. But the anguish of activists could not change Romney's fate. He had been bested in nearly every major contest he had entered, save the states he had once called home, Michigan, Utah and Massachusetts. The delegate count made victory nearly impossible. "You guys are great," Romney told the crowd, as people called out to him, "No!" and "Go all the way."
As a problem for political scientists, Romney's failure is far less difficult to understand, since the very qualities that made him such a success in the private sector helped prove his undoing at the polls. In politics, unlike business, adaptability can be a liability. In politics, unlike business, success is not measured in strictly quantitative terms. Voters want leaders, not just capable managers — men or women who can inspire trust and inspiration. Romney never convinced enough voters that he was that man.
By all appearances, Romney approached the problem of winning the White House with the same rigor of the "strategic audits" that allowed him to earn more than $100 million as a business consultant at Bain Capital. Beginning shortly after his victory as Massachusetts governor, he appeared to shift his more moderate stances on a number of hot-button issues. In each case, his new position lined up remarkably well with the conservative base of the Republican Party. Just years after courting the gay vote in Massachusetts, Romney became a national spokesman for the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. After running two campaigns as a pro-choice politician, he became a leader of the pro-life cause in Massachusetts. Despite scant experience as a hunter and a history of supporting some gun control, he joined the National Rifle Association.
This provided easy fodder for his Republican opponents, who attacked him mercilessly, and often unfairly, as a candidate without convictions. At the conservative conference in 2007, Romney brought in hundreds of supporters to win a highly symbolic straw poll. But the press focused much of its attention on the detractors in the crowd — the supporters of Sen. Sam Brownback, who handed out "Mitt-flop" sandals and the person dressed as a porpoise in the hallways, introducing himself as "Flip Romney."
Until the end, Romney persevered without any apparent faltering of enthusiasm or optimism, focusing enormous amounts of money and time on the earliest primary states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, with a travel schedule that constantly out-hustled his rivals. He also adapted to the shifting political terrain, most notably staking out a hawkish stand on illegal immigration, and remaking his central campaign theme at several points. Most of the time, he pitched himself as the one true conservative who could win the White House, appealing like no other candidate to national security hawks, tax cutting conservatives, and evangelical voters, many of whom were skeptical of his Mormon religion. At other points, when the economy more recently became a central concern of voters, he focused more on his business background. For such a usually well-polished corporate leader, Romney also managed to make quite a few memorable gaffes in his efforts to prove his conservative credentials, such as when he called for doubling the number of terror detainees at Guantanamo.
In the end, it was an evangelical pastor, Mike Huckabee, who proved to be Romney's undoing. Though Romney all but staked his candidacy on the first caucus state, Iowa, he lost there to the under-funded Huckabee by nearly double-digits. The Iowa loss weakened him in New Hampshire, where he has a vacation home. Then when he tried to establish himself as the conservative alternative to McCain in the south on Super Tuesday, Huckabee again rose to defeat him on a bare bones budget.
Ironically, Romney's remarkable strengths as a corporate visionary and manager proved to be his weakness as a candidate. At his town halls in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, voters often came away saying they were impressed with what he said, but unsure of him as a leader they could trust. As a candidate, Romney presented himself to voters as a product, branded as a conservative and proven as manager. But he struggled to move beyond the polished pitch to make a real connection with voters. Over the course of his tireless struggle for the presidency, he learned a lesson that has bedeviled many a candidate before him: It is often easier to win in business than to win in politics.
U2isthebest
ONE love, blood, life
coemgen said:
I think that sums up Romney's biggest problem in the best way possible.
anitram said:
1. McCain had more obstacles to overcome in the nomination process than either Hillary or Obama had. Now that McCain has won the nomination, the money will start to come in. A national front runner campaign is very different from the primaries.
2. People argued that McCain could not win the Republican nomination. One reason was because he had little money. Well, now he has the nomination.
Get busy saving for four years of insane taxes! Get ready for a whole new day of massive recession! The liberals are coming back into power!!! [/B][/QUOTE]
Have you been watching a Republican president and congress screw things up for the better part of 7 years or is that just me? The average person's tax burden has been unchanged since Reagan was president(he actually raised taxes a bunch of times on middle class, poor and even the rich w/1986 tax reform, which was devestating for the housing market) The only slight change in tax burden's since the Carter years is that top 1% paid an effective 29% in fed income taxes, down to a low of 22% in 1985, up to around 25 in Clinton years, and down around 23-24% now. The top rate cuts, along w/ unnecessary capital gains and dividends tax cuts, with record spending by Republicans has caused the mess we are in now! The only taxes that are going to go up are going to be those in the top 35%bracket, who dont need and did not ASK for these tax cuts, and those with unearned income. No Democrat will raise taxes significantly on anyone making under 500 grand, wake up! The Republicans have borrowed and spent and drive us right to the edge of a cliff: tanking housing market, brink of recession, tight credit, inflation fears and frightening weakness of the dollar! Vote for more of the same, see how it turns out! Romney was the same deal, proposed budgets that increased spending every yr in MA and raised property taxes, fees, etc and still left a $1billion deficit. He's no one's 2012 savior, he is a phony slimeball that only the most gullible cant see through! I could do damn well in venture capital too if I had inherited all the money to put up and hire good advisors. Mitt=joke, and thats why he dropped out.
Have you been watching a Republican president and congress screw things up for the better part of 7 years or is that just me? The average person's tax burden has been unchanged since Reagan was president(he actually raised taxes a bunch of times on middle class, poor and even the rich w/1986 tax reform, which was devestating for the housing market) The only slight change in tax burden's since the Carter years is that top 1% paid an effective 29% in fed income taxes, down to a low of 22% in 1985, up to around 25 in Clinton years, and down around 23-24% now. The top rate cuts, along w/ unnecessary capital gains and dividends tax cuts, with record spending by Republicans has caused the mess we are in now! The only taxes that are going to go up are going to be those in the top 35%bracket, who dont need and did not ASK for these tax cuts, and those with unearned income. No Democrat will raise taxes significantly on anyone making under 500 grand, wake up! The Republicans have borrowed and spent and drive us right to the edge of a cliff: tanking housing market, brink of recession, tight credit, inflation fears and frightening weakness of the dollar! Vote for more of the same, see how it turns out! Romney was the same deal, proposed budgets that increased spending every yr in MA and raised property taxes, fees, etc and still left a $1billion deficit. He's no one's 2012 savior, he is a phony slimeball that only the most gullible cant see through! I could do damn well in venture capital too if I had inherited all the money to put up and hire good advisors. Mitt=joke, and thats why he dropped out.
Strongbow said:
Yes, that conservative crowd that went BOOOO at him today on stage at CPAC is going to be shelling out at the rate that Obama's been raising.
Or maybe these folks will pay up?
Or maybe the Chairwoman of the American Conservative Union Foundation will have her members pony up?
If not them, then surely Dobson will mobilize his people!
OP
OP
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
anitram said:
of course he will. McCain is nominally pro-life, and these people are sheep and have been treated as such by every Republican president since Reagan, so they'll just do what they are told and pull the lever next to the "R" ... right?
right?
U2isthebest
ONE love, blood, life
Irvine511 said:
Sure beats the heck out of thinking for yourself!
OP
OP
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
U2isthebest said:
Sure beats the heck out of thinking for yourself!
and i'm wondering if a McCain candidacy might not jumpstart this process.
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