<p>“And believe you me, it’s a gift that keeps on giving. There isn’t a day that goes by when my lovely wife and daughter don’t remind me that I voted for Romney. I bought that social moderate, pro-choice, gay rights charade hook, line, and sinker.”</p>
<p>Your opinion carries a great deal of weight with me for exactly that reason. I don’t know what it is about him that I don’t care for and don’t plan to find out (how’s that for intellectually lazy?). I just know he’s not the candidate for me. I am amused at myself by moving closer to a candidate to support through attrition.</p>
<p>Of all the reasons not to vote for Mitt Romney, the fact that he’s a Mormon is waaaaay down the list.</p>
<p>My guess is that he just happened to run into a run-of-the-mill, rude, bigoted American who was unusually honest (and rude). How many people with whom Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton shake hands in fact have a similar attitude about blacks or women?</p>
<p>Romney was prepping for a Presidential run the entire time he was Governor here. I keep thinking, “what is he smoking?”. He was so emphatically pro-choice, pro-gay rights here in Massachusetts that I couldn’t conceive of him surviving a month in the Republican primaries. In retrospect, it all makes sense. He was already planning to do a complete 180 on all of his “firmly held core values”. He’s con man with good hair and a nice smile. Or, as the wonderful humor piece put it, “Look at him. He’s so slick he wouldn’t even tell you if your pants were on fire.”</p>
<p>InterestedDad has this one on Romney 100% correct. </p>
<p>I could care less that he is a Mormon. He is flipflopper, of the worst degree, but even that isn’t as bad as what he has done to cities and towns in MA. He cut state aid to shreds…literally. My town receives many millions of dollars less in state aid than we did in 2002, and yet there are more and more federal mandates, particularly special ed, that are eating up our education budgets.</p>
<p>I would never, ever, ever vote for Romney (and didn’t for gov’nor either ID), because I think he has pretty much decimated my state, and I shudder to think what he could do to a federal government and budget.</p>
<p>(oh wait…our federal budget has already been destroyed ;))</p>
<h2>“I am amused at myself by moving closer to a candidate to support through attrition.”</h2>
<p>EXACTLY how I feel. I figure I’ll have my candidate after I’m through crossing the horribly unacceptable ones off the list. I sure wish I could excited about a presidential hopeful for a change. Barack Obama is the closest thing for me just on the ‘decent guy’ factor alone…but I’m very concerned about lack of experience in his case. I have a good gut feeling about Fred Thompson, but it just may be that I’ve watched too much Law and Order (Please…any Tennesseeans out there…give us the scoop on Thompson.)</p>
<p>I’ve already warned my husband…if it comes down to Mitt or Hillary, I’m voting for Hillary. He has begged me to stay home instead…lol!</p>
<p>"Romney was prepping for a Presidential run the entire time he was Governor here. I keep thinking, “what is he smoking?”. He was so emphatically pro-choice, pro-gay rights here in Massachusetts that I couldn’t conceive of him surviving a month in the Republican primaries. In retrospect, it all makes sense. "</p>
<p>I do appreciate your taking the time to present your experience/observations in such a clear and courteous manner because I’m not as familiar with him as, say, Giuliani. As I said, your opinion carries weight with me.</p>
<p>Yeah, but that’s not what this incident was really about. It was a rival campaign working dirty tricks to get another day of headlines about whether Romney’s Mormonism will hurt him.</p>
<p>Spent virtually his entire career as Washington lobbiest before running for office. He was viewed as a lightweight in the Senate, known for not putting in the hours that are required of a serious Senator. Ladies man, womanizer. Fondness for younger women. He married his 35 year old trophy wife (his second marriage) in 2002. The “oppo research” folk are licking their chops at dragging out a few of his former “dames”.</p>
<p>I know. I know. I voted for Weld, too. I like having a layer of check and balance against the Bulger-style Democratic machine state legislature, when there is a social moderate Republican option. I didn’t know Romney was pathological liar. He presents himself as competent. Plus, Shannon O’Brien was a really weak opponent. I begged my wife to give me one good reason to vote for O’Brien and she couldn’t do it.</p>
<p>c) basic competence and just normal levels of corruption</p>
<p>d) a reasonably centrist politician who will make a good faith effort to govern rationally and not rely on the politics of hate as a substitute for selling policies to the American public</p>
<p>Oh. That’s a pretty stiff condition when added to the others. (He’s actually pretty good on a bunch of things where you wouldn’t necessary expect it.)</p>
<p>BTW, my own personal opinion is that the Bush administration’s arrogance and corruption has more than earned a resounding “throw the bums out” vote, so I wouldn’t vote for a Republican candidate this time around for any office, no matter what. If I can’t vote for a non-Republican in a given race, I simply won’t vote in that one.</p>
<p>In my opinion, you have to slap 'em silly when they screw up as badly as the Bush administration and Republican House, Senate, and Supreme Court have done. Give 'em a time out to think about it.</p>
<p>May I have permission to quote your statements above here when the time comes to critique Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama? I’m serious. </p>
<p>So far, I must say, it appears to me there has been a double standard applied toward some candidates by some of our posters. One example might be the ban here on airing Mrs. Clinton’s dirty linen, while at the same time airing Mr. Giuliani’s appears to be more than acceptable. I hope Mr. Obama is ready for the tough questions, also.</p>
<p>"Running for president is (and should be) a tough thing to do–that’s the way to test the candidate.- mini </p>
<p>Only if you wish to falsely attribute (which I think is exactly your intention) - I never said, or wrote, any such thing. So quote away.</p>
<p>Why am I not surprised?</p>
<p>“One example might be the ban here on airing Mrs. Clinton’s dirty linen,”</p>
<p>So let’s hear it: how many court orders were taken out against Hillary prevented her from visitations from her own daughter because of an affair conducted at public expense? how many gravely ill husbands did she desert to take up with other men, (and carry out yet more affairs in the interim?) I don’t like Hillary, but this one, even by the worst that has been written about her, isn’t even close.</p>
<p>Has Mrs. Clinton had mistresses like Giuliani…er…adulterous affairs…and divorces?</p>
<p>She stood by her man, as he was publicly skewered, just like Tammy Wynett. She didn’t believe in divorce, which should suit the party of family values just fine.</p>