Is Romney Really an Outsider?

NY Times isn't fooled by Romney's rhetoric that he is an outsider to DC and neither are a lot of Republicans. If we are not fooled, can you imagine how the Obama campaign would love to face Romney in the general election with his trying to play the outsider?  With so many lobbyists surrounding Romney the outsider tag is fast becoming an insider tag.

His supporters disputed the notion that Mr. Romney’s case against the Washington establishment was undercut by his deep ties to it. 

More people turning into pretzels trying to defend Romney.  Will he ever release the names of his bundlers?  When President George W Bush was running in 2000 and 2004, he released the name of everyone who was bundling for him as they made a contest out of it but we knew who the people were.  Today most of Romney's bundlers are secret -- why?  What is Romney hiding?

At least 294 registered lobbyists donated a total of at least $401,000 to Mr. Romney through the end of 2011, according to a New York Times review of federal disclosure records, while an elite group of 16 “bundlers,” representing interests as varied as Wall Street, Microsoft and the tobacco company Altria, gathered more than $2 million worth of checks from friends and business partners for Mr. Romney’s campaign.

He has received donations from 294 registered lobbyists?  IOTW, he is bought and paid for by Wall Street and K Street just like Obama.  Will someone be kind enough to explain why we should support Obama lite when he has a record of growing Government not shrinking Government?  We already have a Big Government type in the White House and definitely don't need another one.  Replacing Obama with Romney does what for us?  Instead of Obamacare in every state, we get Romneycare.  Instead of Wall Street and K Street controlling Obama we get them controlling Romney.

The question on a lot of conservative minds is why is Romney running when he couldn't beat McCain in the primary in 2008?  It makes no sense unless he feels entitled to be President.  Anyone who believes Romney is conservative is not thinking.  I don't know one conservative who believes the minimum wage should be automatic but Romney does.

If there is one statement that sums up Romney, it is this one:

For a candidate running against the entrenched interests of Washington, Mitt Romney keeps an awful lot of lobbyists around. 

Romney should be the poster person for 'don't do as I do but do as I say' which explains his campaign. 

Romney Runs as an Outsider but Makes Room for Lobbyists 

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times -- A fund-raiser for Mitt Romney in Washington last week invited guests to panel discussions led by lobbyists, among others. 

By NICHOLAS CONFESSOREPublished: February 12, 2012   

They have hosted fund-raisers and raised millions of dollars for his campaign. They employed some of his top operatives after his first White House run, helped create the platform for his second bid and have deployed regularly to attack his Republican rivals on the campaign trail. 

(snip)

His kitchen cabinet includes some of the most prominent Republican lobbyists in Washington, including Charles R. Black Jr., the chairman of Prime Policy Group and a lobbyist for Walmart and AT&T; Wayne L. Berman, who is chairman of Ogilvy Government Relations and represents Pfizer, the drug manufacturer; and Vin Weber, the managing partner for Clark & Weinstock. 

(snip)

Other lobbyists serve on one of Mr. Romney’s policy advisory teams, have hosted fund-raisers for his campaign or have joined the many influential Republicans whose endorsements Mr. Romney’s campaign has hailed. Among them are David Wilkins, a former United States ambassador to Canada who lobbies for the Canadian oil industry, and Stephen Rademaker, a former State Department official who lobbies for the defense contractor General Dynamics.
Many of the lobbyists advising Mr. Romney, like Mr. Black and Mr. Berman, are veterans of other Republican presidential campaigns, including Senator John McCain’s four years ago.  

“These are the people who have made a career at the intersection of policy and presidential campaigns,” said David A. Donnelly, executive director of Public Campaign Action Fund, which advocates for public financing of elections and tracks campaign contributions. “To the extent that Mitt Romney depends on these people, and he gets elected, it’s four more years of business as usual in Washington.” 

A spokeswoman for Mr. Romney did not respond to requests for comment. In an era when K Street firms serve as holding pens for political operatives and landing pads for retired lawmakers of both parties, the profusion of lobbyists around Mr. Romney’s campaign in part reflects the growing embrace of his candidacy by the Republican establishment, including most of the party’s elite donors and dozens of members of Congress.     

Excerpt:  Read More at the NY Times