Mitt Romney gave a gracious speech before this year’s Conservative Political Action Committe. It was his first speech since losing the election to Barack Obama and highlighted some of the bright spots Republicans have in an era of Obama:
Perhaps because I am a former governor, I would urge you to learn the lessons that come from some of our greatest success stories: the 30 Republican governors.
Yes, they are winning elections, but more importantly, they are solving problems. Big problems. Important problems. Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia secured a constitutional amendment to expand charter schools. Governor Rick Snyder signed Right to Work legislation—in Michigan! Several secured tort reform. Many turned huge deficits into surpluses. Republican governors reached across the aisle, offered innovative solutions and have been willing to take the heat to make tough decisions.
The capture of 30 governorships by the GOP is, indeed, good news but unsurprisingly unreported in the nation’s press. Having Republicans in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina help the party. Governor Jindal in Louisiana, for example, has said he is seeking to eliminate his state’s sales tax in an effort to help consumers and businesses. These types of proposals never come to pass in Democrat-controlled states.
As Romney indicated, governors can also help the party to win elections and send representatives to Capitol Hill:
We particularly need to hear from the Governors of the blue and purple states, like Bob McDonnell, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Susanna Martinez, Chris Christie, and Brian Sandoval because their states are among those we must win to take the Senate and the White House.
But the main theme, I felt, of Romney’s speech is something we never hear Democratic presidents discussing – the role America must play in the world:
It is no secret that the last century was an American century. And it is no secret that over the span of the 21st century, America’s pre-eminent position is far from guaranteed. The consequence if America were to be surpassed would be devastating. Why? Because among the primary rivals for world leadership—China, Russia, and the Jihadists—not one believes in the freedoms we take for granted. Freedom depends on American leadership.
American leadership depends on a military so strong, so superior, that no one would think to engage it. Our military strength depends on an economy so strong that it can support such a military. And our economy depends on a people so strong, so educated, so resolute, so hard working, so inventive, and so devoted to their children’s future, that other nations look at us with respect and admiration.
I believe Romney wasn’t strong enough enunciating his vision to appeal to enough Conservatives or to undecided voters who didn’t like Obama but who needed a “strong” candidate to woo them.
It is too bad that Romney could not make this point with enough force while he was running for office:
Today, history and duty summon us again. The country is imperiled by mounting debt, by failing institutions, by families stressed beyond their limits, by schools that fail to make the grade, and by public servants who are more intent on scoring political points than on national renewal.
Liberals like to point to the GOP as a dying old white man’s club but, as we showed the other day, this is untrue. The Conservative message is taking off – but on a local level. Had Romney not set himself up as a flip flopping, 47% bashing kind of guy, I think he could have won. But to write off the Republican Party because of two consecutive loses in presidential races is silly. McCain was a weak candidate and Romney was a damaged one.
Obama did not win 49 states as Reagan did again Mondale and the Republican Party will be back, assuming they can field the right candidate.
I feel the winning candidate will be the one who can stay true to the parts of Romney’s speech found in this article while avoiding the pitfalls that did him in.
We thank Romney for his service, graciousness, and love of country.
       
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Capitol Commentary’s Daily News
Stuart Stevens, the guy who ran Mitt Romney‘s campaign, writes in the Washington Post today that the Republican Party’s current electoral shortcomings are about more than just a failure to organize and harness new technology. It’s about giving the people what they want.
He illustrates:
In this fourth decade of the Internet, one of the original truisms is still true: Content is king. The ugly, clunky Drudge Report site still harvests record numbers of eyeballs because it serves up a hearty meal at a good price: free. The content rule is true across mediums. How many graphic makeovers and relaunches has CNN attempted to arrest its slow slide? The simple truth is that most people feel there is no reason to watch CNN, and they are happy not to. Meanwhile, “Storage Wars” racks up viewers and “Dog,” the bounty hunter, has a new series.
So it is in politics. A Republican renaissance will inevitably be driven by policy. Parties must constantly reinvent themselves and prove their relevance to voters. …
Barack Obama was able to forge a powerful community in 2008 because of his message. Technology conveyed that message to millions, nurtured it and help harvest their votes. But he didn’t win because he won the Facebook wars; he won the Facebook wars because he was winning.
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Filed under News | Comment (0)Political fact-checker PolitiFact announced its annual choice for “Lie of the Year” today. The winner: The controversial “Jeep” ad produced toward the tail end of the election by the Mitt Romney campaign.
Explaining its choice, PolitiFact wrote:
It was a lie told in the critical state of Ohio in the final days of a close campaign — that Jeep was moving its U.S. production to China. It originated with a conservative blogger, who twisted an accurate news story into a falsehood. Then it picked up steam when the Drudge Report ran with it. Even though Jeep’s parent company gave a quick and clear denial, Mitt Romney repeated it and his campaign turned it into a TV ad. …
It’s not that President Obama and his campaign team were above falsehoods, either. Their TV ads distorted Romney’s positions on abortion and immigration to make them seem more extreme than they actually were. A pro-Obama super PAC even created an ad suggesting Romney was responsible for a woman’s death when her husband lost his job at a Bain-controlled company.
But the Jeep ad was brazenly false.
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Filed under News | Comment (0)Ah the old quid pro quo. Sort of like that line from Throw Momma from the Train:
Criss-cross… you do my murder, I do yours. Criss-cross!
We are talking about “murder” (in a way) in that it is a Democratic politician (JoAnn Watson) from Detroit saying she wants her meat… she wants a bailout for her city because voters there supported Obama.
Here’s the quote in its full glory:
“Our people in an overwhelming way supported the re-election of this president and there ought to be a quid pro quo and you ought to exercise leadership on that,” said Watson. “Of course, not just that, but why not?”
Nearly 75 percent of Wayne County voters pulled the lever for Obama in November.
“After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C. and came home with some bacon,” said Watson. “That’s what you do.”
Everybody knows political payback happens… those who support the winning side gain some benefit from it (grants, programs, etc…) but I can’t remember the calls for an entire city to be bailed out because of it happening before… and so openly.
Have Democrats really no shame?
To make matters worse JoAnn Watson pays just $ 68 per year for property tax while her neighbors pay thousands of dollars on similar homes. She said her property taxes dropped after he Detroit home got hit by a “tornado.”
Trouble is, she never filed a claim for it and maybe the tornado hit between 1993 and 2001…
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Capitol Commentary’s Daily News
Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan writes in Human Events today that “gifts,” as Mitt Romney calls them, have always been popular “south of the border”:
“What the president’s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote, and that strategy worked.”
Thus did political analyst Mitt Romney identify the cause of his defeat in a call to disconsolate contributors. …
But Mitt also has a point. …
[The Hispanic community] is a huge community being sucked into the morass of a mammoth welfare state. …
Nor is this unusual. Populist programs to stick it to the rich have always had an appeal south of the border.
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Filed under News | Comment (0)One of the Conservative talking points that came out of the 2012 presidential race was:
How do you run against Santa Claus?
Santa, in this case, being Obama dolling out Federal monies like it was presents on Christmas morning. Case in point: the Federal bail-out of General Motors and Chrysler which cost U.S. taxpayers $ 85 billion and, thus far, resulted in losses of $ 35 billion.
Big Union got their pensions stabilized and they got a seat on the board, GM’s president got canned, and Chrysler ended up back in foreign ownership (Fiat). And Mitt Romney was mocked for saying Jeeps would be built in China but, in point of fact, they probably will:
Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.
But back before all of this, Mitt Romney penned an opinion piece in the New York Times titled: Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.
Romney made a few good points:
But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.
The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.
In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.
Were the auto industry a child, it would be sent to bed without its dinner for acting badly. Rewarding bad business behavior with taxpayer dollars that are not re-paid only encourages more bad behavior and doesn’t treat the cause only the symptoms.
Apparently this sunk Romney in Ohio:
‘‘The biggest determining factor was that we couldn’t handle the automobile bailout issue,’’ said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.
Fairly or not, the perception of Romney as indifferent to the auto industry’s fate was ‘‘a coffin nail,’’ said John Heitmann, a University of Dayton historian who teaches and writes about the car’s place in American culture.
Ohio is second only to Michigan in auto-related employment.
Since 12.4% of Ohio’s workforce is in the auto industry as of 2010, Mitt’s point obviously didn’t sit too well with them.
However all of the auto plants in Ohio are non-union.
According to the Associated Press 60% of polled Ohio voters supported the auto bailout even if it was bad economics.
So the lesson is don’t be responsible fiscally… just dole out enough money to enough groups until you can rest assured of their support.
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Capitol Commentary’s Daily News
Despite bone-chilling cold weather, tens of thousands turned out to see Mitt Romney in person last night in Yardley, PA. The event required a ticket to get in and three hours before the gates opened, the local GOP organizers told TheBlaze that more than 35,000 had registered.
By 2pm, the parking lots were nearly full and more than 10,000 had assembled in front of the TSA staffed security check point.
At 3pm, following a Secret Service sweep of the venue, the crowds began to file into the open filed where a small stage and temporary stadium seating was assembled. The lines to get in, stretched more than a half mile.
The crowds just kept coming. The long line did not decrease in size over the next two hours. Soon, the entire space was filled with enthusiastic Romney supporters. Many brought signs stating their affiliations and reasons for standing with Romney – Ryan.
Image: Jane Delbianco
Image: Jane Delbianco
Image: TheBlaze
Image: Jane Delbianco
The place was jammed… front, back, sides… everywhere you looked, people were wedged into Shady Brook Farm.
Image: TheBlaze
Finally, at 6:45pm – The Romney campaign bus arrived.
Image: TheBlaze
The video below shows the energy from the crowd. The sound was a bit overwhelming for our little iPhone recording device.
The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show.
Image: TheBlaze
Most media estimates pegged the crowd at somewhere between 20-30,000. As someone who stood for over four hours and watched the massive throng gather, I can tell you with great confidence, the number was easily 30,000 and more likely to be 35,000 or more.
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Filed under News | Comment (0)It’s all about optimism.
Mitt Romney is campaigning like a winner. President Obama, on the other hand, is putting together ads like… this.
One of these things is not like the other…
Is this Romney’s best ad yet?
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Filed under News | Comment (0)Oh, Joe.
I must admit — there is a tiny part of me that will be sad when Barack Obama is defeated in November because we will no longer have crazy old Joe Biden around to keep us entertained:
Related: “I’m a big Tom Kaine fan”
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Filed under News | Comment (0)A new poll shows likely voters in Ohio split dead even between Mitt Romney and President Obama with each candidate holding 49 percent.
It’s a swing state, one of which many say Romney needs to win the election. Maybe he should try going on the Tonight Show.
From the New York Times:
Appearing with Mr. Leno (where he lifted “The Tonight Show” audience average by almost 50 percent), the president gained another advantage, according to a producer of one rival late-night show. “Jay is Ohio,” the producer said, asking not to be identified discussing a competitor’s strengths.
Mr. Leno has always projected a more mid-American appeal than most other late-night hosts, a conclusion borne out by some numbers. Mr. Leno averages a 3 rating in Cleveland, but only a 2.1 in New York.
Romney did appear on the show once. Way back in March.
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