Better than his economic legacy.
"Mitt Romney gives first speech since his election defeat" by David Uberti | Globe Correspondent, March 15, 2013
OXON HILL, Md. — Mitt Romney left a familiar, conservative stage to a standing ovation Friday after telling a crowd that he had never fully won over as a candidate to stay its ideological course.
The speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference was Romney’s first since he conceded the presidential election to President Obama on Nov. 7. While the former Massachusetts governor admitted to mistakes in his failed White House bid, he said the Republican Party is nevertheless moving forward to “larger victories.”
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Romney added to laughs, “as someone who just lost the last election, I’m probably not in the best position to chart the course of the next one.”
But the Bay State politician did not dwell on his missteps, either. Instead, Romney stressed America’s role in projecting freedom worldwide and urged conservatives to look toward Republican governors as the future standard-bearers of the party....
Conservatives packed the Gaylord National Resort’s Potomac Ballroom and rose to their feet as Romney strode across the stage to his campaign song, “Born Free” by Kid Rock. He held his hand over his heart and waved to the crowd when it continued to applaud....
Republican governors are the key for the party to “take back the nation, take back the White House, take back the Senate and put in place conservative principles,” he said. They are the party’s new idea men, he added, and include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who some say contributed to Romney’s defeat by working with Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Romney also pointed to the importance of maintaining the nation’s unparalleled military power, red meat for a conservative crowd after his campaign focused primarily on the economy. Such international clout is paramount to projecting American power in the coming decades, he said.
“In all of human history, there has never been a great power that has so often used that power to liberate others, to free captives,” Romney said....
I want to puke. Tell it to Central and South America and all the right-wing dictatorships we foisted upon them.
The conference’s homecoming came after four months of Romney’s conspicuous absence from the national stage. Post-election discussions in GOP circles have focused on how a race seemingly within reach turned into a decisive electoral victory for an incumbent at the head of a struggling economy.
The annual meeting provides a megaphone for some of the GOP’s most prominent leaders, also attracting dozens of vendors and conservative organizations that peddle gear including Ronald Reagan calendars, antiabortion bumper stickers, and Second Amendment pins.
At the conference Thursday, two potential 2016 presidential candidates distanced themselves from Romney and 2008 GOP nominee John McCain. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida criticized Romney’s campaign directly. And libertarian Senator Rand Paul, whose 13-hour filibuster last week sparked nationwide speculation of a White House run, called for a new era of Republican leadership.
For many, Romney and his predecessor McCain represent the old guard that failed to adapt to the changing nature of political campaigns and evolving national demographics. But his reception by conservatives Friday was unexpectedly warm.
Ted Dooley, vice chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans, called the speech “classic Romney.” “He’s giving advice to the next generation of candidates, the future activists, the future Karl Roves, ” said Dooley, 21, of Holliston....
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Related: Romney's Return
You ARE in Kansas Mitt:
"GOP finds wide fault in Mitt Romney campaign" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, March 18, 2013
WASHINGTON — The Republican Party’s official verdict is in: Mitt Romney’s campaign lacked the right message, his preparation was weak, his campaign structure and tactics were flawed, and his use of technology was behind the times.
The Republican National Committee report released Monday explains how the party’s nominee squandered an opportunity to seize the White House from a Democratic incumbent weakened by a tepid economy and stubborn voter discontent.
Or the election was rigged.
Its analysis indelibly sets the legacy of Romney’s 2012 election as a mission marred by multiple strategic and structural blunders — a striking critique for the candidate who ran on his private-sector managerial expertise....
Still, not all of Romney’s struggles were his fault. The report points out that the primary process was lengthy and bitter, which damaged the eventual nominee.
Romney’s primary rivals accused him of “looting’’ companies and being a “vulture capitalist” during his tenure as chief executive of Bain Capital, laying the foundation for Obama to pursue a similar line of attack.
The party’s report asserts a shorter primary season could fix that, with 10-12 debates, which would cut in half the number from 2012. The report also wants the convention to be held in June or July instead of August or September, which would provide earlier access to general election fund-raising money.
To encourage more voters to participate, the RNC report also discourages conventions and party caucuses — like the one in Iowa, which kicks off the nominating process — and holding primaries instead, where all voters cast a ballot. Those changes would benefit a candidate like Romney, who entered the race with financial resources and front-runner status.
Reflecting the ongoing angst within the Republican Party, some conservatives on Monday criticized the party for what they saw as trying to game the system and consolidate power.
“Look at what these focus groups have got these poor guys believing. Look at this, ‘Our party’s narrow-minded,’ ” Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show Monday, after the report was released. “Out of touch? Not out of touch. We are in touch with the founding of this country. We are in touch with the greatness in this country and its people.”
Related: Cumulus: Nearly All Top Advertisers Have 'Exclude Rush Limbaugh' Orders
I've never listened to him, and never will. I already see enough controlled-opposition, false paradigm media.
To counteract the idea that “the party is seen as old and detached from pop culture” the authors propose an “RNC Celebrity Task Force” that would be made up of “personalities in the entertainment industry” who could help host events and attract younger voters.
Do you guys really think that will work?
They also suggest a summit held in April to review different polling techniques and launching a program to recruit college students who can become “data, digital, and tech ‘fellows.’”
One of the few positives — which the RNC hopes to replicate — was Romney’s fund-raising, “one of the hidden gems in 2012,” the report said.
Among the other findings in the report:
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Related: "Romney was a particularly weak GOP candidate"
UPDATE:
"Ex-Romney aide details campaign ‘miscalculations’" Globe Staff, May 08, 2013
WASHINGTON – The book – “A Bad Day on the Romney Campaign: An Insider’s Account” – is written by Gabriel Schoenfeld....
The book makes a case that Romney downplayed foreign policy too much — and made too many blunders — in a way that put the campaign at a disadvantage when responding to international events. Schoenfeld highlights Romney’s response to the attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi.
“The Romney campaign’s response to the Middle East crisis left Romney and his team looking ill-informed and opportunistic,” reads a press release on the book.
Schoenfeld also outlines several other foreign policy problems, according to the press release. Those include “poor vetting” of Richard Grenell, a foreign policy spokesman who later resigned; Romney’s failure to mention the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the troops, during his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention; and what Schoenfeld calls “a mistake-riddled European tour.”
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Although Schoenfeld never appeared to be among the core group of Boston-based advisers, he was valued enough to receive two $25,000 bonuses in the final months of the campaign, something that only some of the top staffers received....
Schoenfeld is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and is the author of “Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law.”
He has also been paid for “communications consulting” by Gabriel E. Gomez, Republican nominee in the US Senate race in Massachusetts, where several other former Romney staff have been working.
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One critiqued even harder:
"Governor Chris Christie has little sympathy for lost views. ‘‘For the people that didn’t want a dune to block their view, they now no longer have a house to block the view from,’’ he said. ‘‘So, how about that choice?’’ He said he may seek to force the holdouts to accept the dune work, either through eminent domain or some other governmental maneuver."
Now wonder he likes Obama so much. Both behave as dictators.
Related:
"A Hurricane Sandy relief effort is taking on new urgency following last month’s historic blizzard."
Related: Sunday Globe Special: East Coast Still a Mess Six Months After Sandy
May Day: Sandy Stirred Up Sewage Tsunami
And they haven't fixed shit, folks.
Christie's Secret Surgery
No, it wasn't related to Sandy.
Also see: Republicans to spend $10m to gain minorities
Back to the conference:
"Rob Portman is 1st GOP senator to back gay marriage" by Charles Babington | Associated Press, March 16, 2013
WASHINGTON — A Republican senator’s endorsement of gay marriage is the latest sign of soul-searching in a party struggling to adapt in a society whose demographics — and views on emotional issues — are changing fast.
Gay marriage still divides the party, with the conservative wing strongly opposed. But an increasing number of Republicans, now including Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, are reversing course. Many others simply downplay the subject.
With the issue of immigration also shifting rapidly under Republicans’ feet, they seem increasingly focused — and united — on one overarching goal: keeping income taxes from rising. Their solidarity on that issue is thwarting President Obama’s efforts to find a compromise approach to deficit spending and expensive social programs.
These trends raise the possibility that the GOP — reeling after losing the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections — will lessen its identity with hot-button social issues and sharpen its emphasis on tax and spending matters.
Portman announced Friday that he now supports gay marriage, linking his stand to learning that one of his sons is gay.
A former US trade representative and White House budget chief, Portman is seen as one of the party’s most knowledgeable and effective leaders. Mitt Romney considered him to be his running mate last year. Portman says he told Romney of his son’s sexuality but doesn’t think it affected Romney’s decision.
As a US House member in 1996, Portman supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Portman’s reversal makes him the only Senate Republican to openly back gay marriage.
‘‘I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married,’’ Portman wrote in an op-ed article in The Columbus Dispatch.
He said he had talked to his pastor and others, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who opposes gay marriage, and former vice president Dick Cheney, who supports it.
Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, became arguably the best-known Republican to embrace gay marriage with his announcement in June 2009.
Portman said his previous views on marriage were rooted in his Methodist faith. However, he wrote, ‘‘Ultimately, for me, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God.’’
Despite his party’s struggles with Americans’ increasing acceptance of gay rights, many GOP leaders met Portman’s news with silence or a shrug.
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I've white-flagged this issue since there are so many more important issues that affect far more people.
"Rob Portman’s helping GOP revisit marriage" March 16, 2013
Ohio Senator Rob Portman, a Republican rising star who co-sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act, announced a public change of heart Friday. Two years after learning that his son was gay, Portman said, he has come to think differently about same-sex marriage, seeing it as a tribute, not a challenge, to the value of marriage itself. His declaration comes after a group of prominent current and former GOP officeholders — including Massachusetts governors William Weld, Jane Swift, and Paul Cellucci — argued for equal marriage rights in a friend-of-the-court brief in a Supreme Court challenge to DOMA.
Slowly but surely, more Republicans are changing what seemed to be an intractable stance. To some degree, this is a nod toward electoral reality. Gay marriage won great success at the ballot box last year; polls show that the majority of Americans support it, overwhelmingly so among younger Americans. The truest proof of GOP leadership on the issue will come when more politicians set aside their fear of primary challenges to do the right thing — not because they happen to have relatives who are gay, but because they recognize that gay marriage, like the civil rights struggle decades ago, is the just and right thing for the country. But if Portman’s declaration provides a path for other Republicans to reconsider their views, so much the better.
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And look who is making his way back?
"Romney’s four-day event, which was first revealed last month, is called “Experts and Enthusiasts.” It will be held in Park City, Utah, the same place Romney held a major donor retreat last summer. Romney emphasized the bipartisan lineup. Speakers listed are Arthur Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute; Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard; Scott McNealy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems; and Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen. The attendance fee was previously reported to be $5,000."
Like $5 to those guys.
Related: Mitt Romney takes on new role at son’s investment firm
