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Mitt Romney's Anti-Palin Crusade

Submitted by Allen on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 13:16
in

The American Spectator is reporting that Republican operatives on behalf of Mitt Romney are actively trying to sink Sara Palin.

This is the second credible source who has reported this to me.

The Specator piece also mentions how unhelpful Romney has been to other Republican candidates.

This election has shown the worst side of the Republican Party. Along with being ideologically adrift, the Party has an abudance of "supporters" who need to learn Ronald Reagan's Eleventh Commandment. Republicans should not speak ill of fellow Republicans.

There is no need to detail the premediated, destructive attacks of David Frum, Peggy Noonan, and Mitt Romney. There is need to remember those who let the Democrats off the hook by directing their fire on Republicans.

National Review Online has a longish defense of Romney. The majority of this piece is a compelling defense of Romney being active this campaign season. The paragraph on Palin is not persuasive.

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Comments

11th Commandment

Submitted by alexashrugged on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 14:15.

I absolutely agree - I've been reminded of Reagan's 11th Commandment for the last several weeks and wrote about it here

Mitt and Nevada

Submitted by BOVI on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 14:43.

I read the spectator article which you refer to.  To be honest I was wondering why Mitt wasn't doing the rounds  here in NV.  I supported him during the primaries and their is a large amount of support for Mitt here.  I was wondering why McCain hadn't tapped into Romney's infrastructure here, and I wasn't sure if it was because McCain hadn't asked  or Romney didn't want to.

If the second is true, so much for that heralded speech about why he dropped out.  If its true he is effectively helping to achieve what he said he was aganist.  Whether true or not this perception is growing and perception is often deemed reality.  I personally hope its not the truth.  This is one of those times where "United we stand and Divided we fall" is really the truth.

As I said before I plan to pinch my nose on election day, because the alternative is unacceptable.

K-Lo says that Mitt's a Team Player

Submitted by lagomorph on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 17:45.

Here's part of Kathryn Jean Lopez' post in today's NRO:

‘Where’s Mitt?’
In search of a former candidate, finding a team player.

It’s been the most frequently asked question I’ve gotten from National Review Online readers and conservatives over e-mail and in person since the market chaos and subsequent bailout circus began.

My answer these last few months has always been: Turn on MSNBC. Turn on FOX. Google a conservative candidate for Congress. Romney is liable to turn up....

...And yet, a ridiculous item on the Internet yesterday suggested that he’s been in hiding, keeping a “low profile nationally” and unwilling to help out Republicans who aren’t a sure thing.

Since Romney suspended his campaign and subsequently formed the Free and Strong America political action committee in April, he has donated approximately $202,000 to 75 GOP candidates, according to numbers made available to NRO from the PAC. Romney has also made an additional $173,000 in donations through flexible spending accounts to five affiliated state PACS, including $10,000 to the National Organization for Marriage, which is working to pass Proposition 8 in California, and $5,000 to stop a ballot initiative in Massachusetts to decriminalize marijuana.

And when the McCain campaign famously withdrew from Michigan, Romney contributed $50,000 to the demoralized GOP there. According to his PAC, “The total amount of financial support to GOP candidates and conservative causes through Romney-controlled state and federal PACs is $375,000.”

The web piece further blamed former Romney aides for being the source of the Sarah-Palin-is-a-diva complaints coming out of the McCain camp, presumably meant to damage her post-election prospects should the Republican ticket lose next week. The problem with that is: Most of Romney’s inner circle is still his inner circle — some having come from the business world, others being Massachusetts people now running his PAC. Others returned to Washington, and are doing McCain surrogate work, but are far from campaign insiders. Whomever is shooting at Palin from the McCain camp is not doing Romney’s bidding.

There was also a very good Ana Marie Cox piece in Daily Beast on Nicolle Wallace being involved in the Sarah-Palin-as-Diva kerfuffle per Fred Barnes, etc.  Will the circular firing squad damage be overcome by a McCain win on Tuesday?  If this keeps up, it's going to be damned hard to govern with the bodies all over the floor, and five'll get ya ten that the ones we can't find on the floor will be under the bus.

More Horse Manure from NRO

Submitted by section9 on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 20:05.

Let's be clear, NRO as an institution was completely in the tank for Mitt early on.

Palin came out of nowhere and captured the heart and soul of the Party. Mitt's people don't like this because, to put it mildly, any primary candidate who can't beat John McCain in a primary can't beat Sarah Palin in two years after she becomes even more lethal than she is now.

Mitt's zombies need to take down Palin so she gets the blame for McCain's loss. It won't happen the way he and his sponsors on the RNC want it to happen for one reason: in less than two months, Palin has siezed the loyalty of rank and file Republicans like no one since Reagan.

Mitt can't match that. No amount of post-November 4th makeover can change that.

And in two years, Palin will be almost unstoppable.

 

 

Posturing for 2012

Submitted by jtwilton on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 22:33.

 

It should not surprise many of us that there are people, like Governor Romney, that are reading the polls and at least in private predicting that Senator McCain is going to lose.  Once they make this leap they realize that the 2012 race is not that far away and it’s never too early to start positioning themselves on chess board.  I respect Governor Palin but I think the plain truth of the matter is that if McCain does lose she will shoulder the majority of the blame and go back to Alaska to finish out her term as Governor with her future in national politics very uncertain.

 

false report, leave Mitt alone

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 23:26.

Romney's guys are NOT in the McCain campaign, so the report is self-refuting. Beside's which K-LO is right that Romney has been out there and active on behalf of other candidates.

This has been debunked: The Specator piece also mentions how unhelpful Romney has been to other Republican candidates.

If that is untrue, how can you trust the other statements? You cant.

As a Spectator subscriber, I have noticed that the 'prowler' has been a consistent anti-Romney source going back over a year now. For this reason, I call BS, he's as biased against Mitt as K-Lo is for Mitt.  I trust TAS on many things but not on what's really up with Mitt.

 Please guys, lets AT LEAST save the recriminations for AFTER the election. We have a bunch of races to win.

Please stop the pre-post-mortem

Submitted by lagomorph on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 11:01.

Amen, FT.  Assigning blame before the end of the race is just dumb, silly and unproductive when we should be focusing our energy on winning.  Polls are tightening and the redistribution of wealth meme is gaining traction.  Palin's stayed right on message this week, as has McCain.  Nothing resonates better, however, than both the very hard-working lovers of American exceptionalism, Average Joe and Tito, up on the stump with McCain/Palin.  And in addition to "Drill Baby, Drill!" we've been hearing "Use Your Brain, Vote McCain!".  Heh.  Something's happening out there and this is nothing but a distraction.  Focus, people.  FO-CUS.