And Mitt stepped in s***!
NEW YORK - About a dozen demonstrators - with a few pooches - rallied against Mitt Romney yesterday outside the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
The half-hour protest took issue with Romney over the oft-told story of how he traveled with his Irish setter, Seamus. Romney said he put the dog inside a crate and strapped it to the roof rack for a 12-hour drive on a 1983 family vacation.
Protest spokeswoman Kitty Hendrix said the Dogs Against Romney website has about 25,000 members. The protesters held signs that said “Mitt is Mean’’ and “Dogs Aren’t Luggage.’’ A pug and a bull terrier joined their owners at the demonstration.
Scott Crider, an Alabama online marketing specialist and dog owner, started the website.
“I was just mortified that somebody would put a live animal on top of their car and drive for 12 hours,’’ Crider said.
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"Risking union ire, Romney slams Santorum’s labor votes" by Michael Levenson | Globe Staff, February 17, 2012
Mitt Romney is taking an antiunion stance in Michigan, attacking Rick Santorum for his “unapologetic defense of big labor’’ as part of a new attempt to paint his rival as beholden to a powerful Democratic ally.
Romney is seizing on votes Santorum took in the Senate against national right-to-work legislation and in support of the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires government contractors to pay the prevailing wage. Both votes reflected the positions of organized labor.
“I’ve taken on union bosses before, and I’m happy to take them on again because I happen to believe that you can protect the interests of American taxpayers, and you can protect a great industry like automobiles without having to give in to the UAW [United Auto Workers], and I sure won’t,’’ Romney said Wednesday.
Says the CEO.
Next Day Update: In Quinn bill debate, Mitt Romney stood by labor
Mitt is either psychotic or a liar, take your pick.
Romney’s campaign, meanwhile, blasted out memos declaring, “I won’t give in to the UAW,’’ and calling Santorum “big labor’s favorite senator.’’
Says the CEO.
Next Day Update: In Quinn bill debate, Mitt Romney stood by labor
Mitt is either psychotic or a liar, take your pick.
Romney’s campaign, meanwhile, blasted out memos declaring, “I won’t give in to the UAW,’’ and calling Santorum “big labor’s favorite senator.’’
Romney’s attacks on labor carry some risk in Michigan, where he is trying to broaden his appeal to blue-collar voters before the state’s Feb. 28 primary.
Then I don't imagine this is going to help.
About 17.5 percent of all of Michigan’s workers are union members - the fifth-highest rate of any state, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state’s primary is also open to independents and Democrats. In the past, some Democratic union members have crossed over to sway the Republican outcome. But union leaders said they have no plans to meddle in the GOP primary and are planning simply to ignore Romney’s rhetoric.
“We don’t want to sabotage their primary,’’ said Albert Garrett, president of the Michigan chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “We think whoever they select won’t be good for workers in Michigan.’’
In the general election, he said, unions will ramp up and make “very clear how we feel about Mr. 1 Percent, Mitt Romney.’’
Some political allies of labor said Romney’s assault on unions and the United Auto Workers could backfire.
“There are a lot of union members in Michigan who vote Republican,’’ said state Representative Brandon Dillon, a Grand Rapids Democrat and strong labor backer. “He’s totally miscalculating where voters are in the state.’’
Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, who endorsed Romney yesterday, has pointedly avoided joining fellow Republican governors in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Indiana who have waged major battles against union protections in their states. Snyder, who is facing reelection in 2014, has said he considers right-to-work legislation, which would bar unions from charging nonmember workers for representation, “very divisive’’ and not “appropriate in Michigan during 2012.’’
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In attacking unions, Romney is trying to steer his duel with Santorum back toward his strong suit, economic issues, said Craig Ruff, a longtime observer of Michigan politics and a senior fellow at Public Sector Consultants, a Lansing think tank.
“It does focus attention away from social issues and toward economic issues, and maybe that’s what the campaign plan is all about: to have Romney spending more time talking about jobs and unions than abortion and ObamaCare,’’ he said.
The danger is that independents and blue-collar Democrats will punish him for his rhetoric in November. “If Romney were to get the nomination, many of them are Reagan Democrats, they’re going to remember his broadsides, and he’s going to weaken his ability to appeal to that group, which is very significant in number,’’ Ruff said....
Romney courted union members in his 2002 race for governor of Massachusetts, pledging to push for annual increases in the minimum wage, tied to the cost of inflation. He also sought and received the endorsement of several politically potent police unions.
But in Michigan, he is highlighting the times he battled unions - his efforts, for example, to ban union members from serving as government managers and to exempt small public works projects from the state’s prevailing wage law. As president, he says, he would support federal right-to-work legislation and repeal the Davis-Bacon Act....
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"Santorum surge is telling for Romney" February 09, 2012|By Michael Levenson
Rick Santorum’s unexpected three-state sweep Tuesday is sending a clear message in the political world: Many Republican voters remain dissatisfied with Mitt Romney’s business-minded, PowerPoint appeal.
In turning to Santorum, voters in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado revived an alternative who, while lacking Romney’s money, organization, and establishment support, offers a homespun conservative sensibility, unbending Christian conservative convictions, and a message acknowledging the struggles of blue-collar workers.
What do you mean the votes were non-binding?
Also see: Labor Can't Count on Santorum
Yeah, he's a real working cla$$ man!
“I don’t think this was as much an endorsement of Rick Santorum as it was another wakeup call for Governor Romney that he needs to be more specific about why he wants to be president, beyond that he’s a successful businessman,’’ said Richard Wadhams, a former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, who caucused for Romney.
He and other Republicans said they expect Romney will now respond to Santorum’s revival as he has to surges by Newt Gingrich: by launching a fearsome barrage of attacks.
Yesterday, Romney’s campaign began the assault, accusing Santorum of being a Washington insider and supporter of pork-barrel spending. Romney’s well-financed super PAC may amplify those arguments on the airwaves.
Republicans were bracing for the attacks with some trepidation. Many are eager to end the intraparty fighting and begin directing the party’s energies toward ousting President Obama....
In racing toward the general election, Romney may have lost sight of the unease he continues to stir among some Tea Party adherents, evangelical voters, and conservatives, who hold sway in the primaries and caucuses, some Republican leaders said....
Get CRAP ARTICLE LINK!
Related: Tea Party voters more open to Romney
So that article was really just a piece of crap, huh?
Santorum’s success was all the more stunning because Romney won Colorado and Minnesota in 2008 and was thought once again to have a formidable operation in Colorado, an important swing state in the general election....
Translation: The whole process has been scripted.
Republican leaders expressed doubts about Santorum’s ability to challenge Romney in the weeks ahead, mostly because they say he lacks the money to compete on the airwaves in Arizona and Michigan and on Super Tuesday.
Not a week later. Santorum should win Michigan now.
But they said it is possible that Santorum could become a durable competitor, particularly if Gingrich continues to fade from the political conversation.
Gingrich is already fading because Adelson pulled the plug -- something I never saw in my Globe (maybe it's in the pile of unread papers).
“Santorum is for real,’’ Wadhams said. “People like Santorum, and his sheer tenacity has established himself as a credible candidate.’’
And the next Republican nominee for president.
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Related: Mitt Romney hosts $10000-a-head event for lobbyists and industry
Santorum's surge means new strategy for Romney
Santorum surge forces Romney to shift focus
Santorum implies vote-buying by Romney
How else is he going to get them?
