The Severely Conservative Mitt Romney's Thirst

This writer has pegged the CPAC speech by Romney perfectly -- it was painful.  That is the best description I have heard to date.  Was sitting here laughing as I read this article because it is so true that Romney will do anything to get the nomination as witnessed by his teaming with Donald Trump to ask the rich for donations as his campaign coffers are not doing so well as he has tapped out his donor base from Wall Street and K Street and now looking to tap out the big donors from the Trump contacts which would include gambling interests.

Seems like an odd combination since Mormons oppose gambling in total -- Utah doesn't even have scratch off lottery tickets or horse racing -- but  Romney a strict Mormon is going to one of the big casino owners for raising donations?  Found this while searching about Mormons and gambling:

Gambling911.com earlier reported how as governor of Massachusetts, Romney supported the expansion of gambling in the state, including legalizing casinos. 

(He later flip-flopped on the issue and said he opposed expanding gambling, but that was only after he decided to run for President and needed to be anti-gambling to appeal to the Christian Conservative voters who voted in the 2008 Iowa Republican caucus.)

Imagine that -- another flip flop out of Romney -- this time on gambling.  I should have guessed it because it seems every time I go looking at Romney and where he stands, it is another flip flop.  Does the man have no core values just like Obama?

Romney trying to play the part of a conservative is so pathetic it reminds one of scratching on a blackboard with finger nails.  This is one conservative who is not buying into the Romney 'koolaid.'

February 15, 2012, 10:37 pmMitt Romney’s Thirst
By CHARLES M. BLOW 

Thirsty. 

When I was younger, that’s what we used to call people who were so wantonly driven to get something that they would do anything, no matter how desperate and unseemly they looked in the doing. 

So that’s the only word that I can think of for Mitt Romney, whom MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has dubbed Thurston Howell III, the millionaire from “Gilligan’s Island.” 

Thurston is thirsty. 

Last week, Mitt Romney, the “Massachusetts Moderate,” as Newt Gingrich likes to call him, was bending over backward to prove himself conservative enough for the Conservative Political Action Committee. 

It was painful. 

In his speech at the organization’s annual conference, he said that he was a “severely conservative Republican governor,” and tried to suggest that he had been a consistent conservative: 

My conservatism did not come so much from reading the writings of great conservative scholars as it did from living my life, my family my faith, my business. Conservative values were also part of my business experience, because in business you don’t have a choice about balancing your budget, you either balance your budget or you go bankrupt. So I learned time and again the principles of conservatism.

This was in part a response to the rise of Rick “The Theocrat” Santorum. And Santorum realizes that Romney is weakest when he moves to the right. That’s why Santorum has been quick to take shots at Romney’s conservative credentials. 

Politico reported that after Romney’s “severely conservative” gaffe, Santorum sent out an e-mail that said: 

At yesterday’s CPAC gathering, Mitt Romney tried hard to convince the conservative audience that he also was a conservative. Romney even described himself as being “severely conservative.” A quick look at Romney’s record reveals he is severely mistaken.

Furthermore, Santorum’s communications director, Hogan Gidley, told Talking Points Memo (TPM) on Tuesday: 

Gov. Romney going toe to toe with Rick Santorum on social issues is like Ryan Seacrest going toe to toe with Mike Tyson.

T.P.M. went on to quote Gidley as saying: 

Rick Santorum fought to end partial birth abortions – Mitt Romney’s healthcare law allowed for $50 dollar abortions…. Rick Santorum fought to protect marriage as one man and one woman – Mitt Romney singed [sic] marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples. With a track record like that, it’s no wonder Mitt Romney is still having to try [to] sell himself as a social conservative.

Santorum is right on this front. Not only is Romney hardly coming across as more consistently conservative, according to a Pew Research Center poll released on Monday, Romney is actually coming across as less so: 

Three months ago, a slim majority (53%) of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said Mitt Romney was a strong conservative. Today, 42% see him this way, while the number who say he is not a strong conservative has jumped from 33% to 50%.

This growing skepticism about Romney’s conservatism is most pronounced among Tea Party Republicans. Among Republican and Republican-leaning voters who agree with the Tea Party, just 29% say Romney is a strong conservative, down from 51% three months ago. Fully 68% of Tea Party Republicans say Romney is not a strong conservative. 

Fewer Republican voters today think Romney has been consistent as well. By a 48% to 39% margin, more Republicans say Romney does not take consistent positions on the issues. In November, 47% felt he was consistent and just 33% said he was not. 

Someone get the “Massachusetts Moderate” something else to drink, not the Kool-Aid he’s trying to serve the Republican base.

 Source:  New York Times Blog