Mitt Romney Has ‘Rockefeller Problems’

Mitt Romney is the poster boy for the Rockefeller Republican wing of the Republican Party.  He is definitely moderate to liberal, a former northeastern Governor of Massachusetts, became an independent when Reagan/Bush were in office, ran to the left of Ted Kennedy for Senator, and ran for MA Governor as a

"pro-choice, economically centrist, and culturally liberal, business-oriented Republican"

That was only ten years ago when his wife, Anne, promised the women of Massachusetts that they had nothing to fear with her husband as Governor as he was pro-choice.  Just like Romney started vetoing bills from the MA legislature when he decided to run for President instead of seeking a second term as Governor knowing full well that every bill would be overridden.  Not to mention the Romney poll numbers were tanking because for one reason he was an inaccessible Governor.

Romney and his wife can say anything they want today trying to convince conservatives that he has changed but it is not working.  He is not comfortable speaking as a conservative and you can see right through the facade.  Then there is the 'scorched earth' attacks trying to take out Rick Santorum who is a conservative.  Epic fail by the Romney camp as now Santorum supporters are flat out mad at Romney and his campaign threatening to not vote for Romney for President if he gets the nomination as they consider him to be Obama lite.

Now his wife is saying Romney won't do any more debates and maybe he should just stand there while she talks?  Guess she thinks she would do less gaffes then her husband?

The latest from Romney is touting Rick Santorum endorsing him in 2008 and the comeback from Santorum is priceless:

Santorum said Friday he regretted endorsing Romney for president in 2008. 

"As far as my endorsement, you know what?," Santorum said. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." 

Santorum worked with McCain in the Senate and knew his temperament but didn't have the advantage of seeing how uncomfortable Romney was in conservative states like mine or seeing what his campaign did to other candidates in 2008 by undermining them every step of the way using his surrogates to attack them all over the net and in debates to put them back on their heels with half truths and lies.  Funny how Romney liked debates at the beginning but now doesn't.  He has lost his edge and conservatives have finally woken up to the fact that Romney is playing the part of a conservative just like an actor in a movie but he is not a very good actor.

Mitt Romney Has ‘Rockefeller Problems’ 

In his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney faces the same problem that confronted New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in his 1964 bid for the GOP presidential nod — a failure to engage conservatives. 

That’s the view of Chris DeSanctis, who offers readers a history lesson in a new article on the American Thinker website. 

Rockefeller was a liberal Republican and head of the moderate-to-liberal wing of the GOP based in the Northeast, nicknamed me-too Republicans because their platform resembled the Democratic Party’s platform. 

Believing his support among moderate and liberal Republicans was secure, early front-runner Rockefeller “tried to court the growing conservative wing of his party” led by Sen. Barry Goldwater, according to DeSanctis, an adjunct professor in the Department of Government and Politics at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. 

But the liberal GOP establishment was alienated by Rockefeller’s rightward move, while conservatives failed to embrace a liberal Northeast Republican. So Rockefeller changed course and began to viciously attack conservatives. 

The tactic backfired, and Goldwater won the nomination. “The conservative wing of the GOP had shocked the liberal wing,” DeSanctis notes. 

Now in this year’s GOP race, “Mitt Romney has Rockefeller problems,” he asserts, quoting former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson: “Romney’s main political vulnerability is a serious one. Running for Massachusetts governor in 2002, he was a pro-choice, economically centrist, and culturally liberal, business-oriented Republican.” 

And due to his Massachusetts record, conservatives “refuse to embrace Romney. Like Rockefeller, this prevents him from uniting the party,” DeSanctis says. 

But those conservatives “love” Rick Santorum because he has remained consistent to his conservative beliefs about government, says DeSanctis, who concludes: 

“Goldwater’s issues of low taxes, a smaller federal government, strong military, support for individual rights, and conservative family values, among others, are now mainstream in the GOP.

“This is why today, against all odds, a traditional conservative like Rick Santorum is rising.” 

A recent poll of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute showed Santorum with 35 percent of the vote to Romney’s 26 percent.   

Source:  Newsmax

I can remember my Dad saying in 2004 that Rockefeller was nothing but a northeastern liberal who didn't have a conservative bone in his body.  He was for Goldwater all the way.  The man who would never put a bumper strip on his car had one for Goldwater that read "In Your Heart You Know He is Right,"  He detested Rockefeller with a passion and blamed him for a lot of Goldwater's problems in the general election.  I guess I inherited my Dad's dislike for northeastern liberals trying to run as conservatives.

Living in MA for nine, long miserable months didn't help while my husband was on an Industry Assignment for the Air Force.  Romney talks about trees in Michigan?  I never saw as many trees blocking out the sun in the winter as I did in MA.  Only time you saw the sun was at 4:00 AM streaming in from the east into the windows.  In the afternoon, the sun didn't clear the trees to the south.  Was ready more than once to pack up the kids and head back to Southern California.

Both my parents would get mad every time Ohio would vote Democrat for President, Governor, or Senator so I guess I inherited that streak from them.  Dad would have loved living in Oklahoma.  Found my home in this Conservative state where a lot of Democrats are more conservative then the Republicans I met in MA.

IMHO there is only one Republican who stands on principle even if it is not the conventional wisdom of the day.  It is because he has core values that won't waiver.  He is not running as something he is not as you can see it and hear it when he speaks that he is a conservative.  That person is Rick Santorum who deserves the votes of conservatives to be our nominee.  He definitely meets the Ronald Reagan 80% for conservatives and he is honest.  The big plus is that there will be a contrast between Santorum and Obama while with Romney he can be portrayed as Obama lite in many ways.  Romney's arrogant, elitist attitude is not playing well with Conservative Republicans.

One thing we have found out is that the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party is alive but not so well these days.  Pretty bad when you have a group, Dogs Against Romney, detailing his abuse to the family dog, Seamus.   Romney is that typical cold northeasterner who doesn't relate well to people from other parts of the Country who are much more friendly.  Noted that Romney is not coming back into Oklahoma to campaign from what I am hearing.  It would be a waste of time IMHO.  Now if we could only get his ads off our radio and TV, I would be happy!

Have a great rest of the day and a reminder to conservatives to get out and vote for the most conservative candidate in your primary.  Don't let the Rockefeller establishment types tell you that Romney is the only one who can beat Obama because that is simply not true.  We need a real choice in November to bring out conservatives to vote so we can Keep the House and Take the Senate.