SEAN HANNITY / MITT ROMNEY / MARK LEVIN
Sean Hannity, the conservative talk show host and FOX co host of Hannity and Colmes, is voting for Mitt Romney in the upcoming NY primary.>
MITT will be on Hannity and Colmes TONIGHT Jan 31, 2008
Rally for Romney
Conservatives need to act now, before it is too late.
By Mark R. Levin - Endorsement
I have spent nearly four decades in the conservative movement — from precinct worker to the Reagan White House. I campaigned for Reagan in 1976 and 1980. I served in several top positions during the Reagan administration, including chief of staff to Attorney General Edwin Meese. I have been an active conservative when conservatism was not in high favor.
I remember in 1976, as a 19-year-old in Pennsylvania working the polls for Reagan against the sitting Republican president, Gerald Ford, I was demeaned for supporting a candidate who was said to be an extremist B-actor who couldn’t win a general election, and opposing a sitting president. And at the time Reagan wasn’t even on the ballot in Pennsylvania because he decided to focus his limited resources on other states. I tried to convince voter after voter to write-in Reagan’s name on the ballot. In the end, Reagan received about five percent of the Republican vote as a write-in candidate.
Of course, Reagan lost the nomination to Ford by the narrowest of margins. Ford went on to lose to a little-known ex-governor from Georgia, Jimmy Carter. But the Reagan Revolution became stronger, not weaker, as a result. And the rest is history.
I don’t pretend to speak for President Reagan or all conservatives. I speak for myself. But I watched the Republican debate last night, which was held at the Reagan library, and I have to say that I fear a McCain candidacy. He would be an exceedingly poor choice as the Republican nominee for president.
Let’s get the largely unspoken part of this out the way first. McCain is an intemperate, stubborn individual, much like Hillary Clinton. These are not good qualities to have in a president. As I watched him last night, I could see his personal contempt for Mitt Romney roiling under the surface. And why? Because Romney ran campaign ads that challenged McCain’s record? Is this the first campaign in which an opponent has run ads questioning another candidate’s record? That’s par for the course. To the best of my knowledge, Romney’s ads have not been personal. He has not even mentioned the Keating-Five to counter McCain’s cheap shots. But the same cannot be said of McCain’s comments about Romney.
Last night McCain, who is the putative frontrunner, resorted to a barrage of personal assaults on Romney that reflect more on the man making them than the target of the attacks. McCain now has a habit of describing Romney as a “manager for profit” and someone who has “laid-off” people, implying that Romney is both unpatriotic and uncaring. Moreover, he complains that Romney is using his “millions” or “fortune” to underwrite his campaign. This is a crass appeal to class warfare. McCain is extremely wealthy through marriage. Romney has never denigrated McCain for his wealth or the manner in which he acquired it. Evidently Romney’s character doesn’t let him to cross certain boundaries of decorum and decency, but McCain’s does. And what of managing for profit? When did free enterprise become evil? This is liberal pablum which, once again, could have been uttered by Hillary Clinton.
And there is the open secret of McCain losing control of his temper and behaving in a highly inappropriate fashion with prominent Republicans, including Thad Cochran, John Cornyn, Strom Thurmond, Donald Rumsfeld, Bradley Smith, and a list of others. Does anyone honestly believe that the Clintons or the Democrat party would give McCain a pass on this kind of behavior?
As for McCain “the straight-talker,” how can anyone explain his abrupt about-face on two of his signature issues: immigration and tax cuts? As everyone knows, McCain led the battle not once but twice against the border-security-first approach to illegal immigration as co-author of the McCain-Kennedy bill. He disparaged the motives of the millions of people who objected to his legislation. He fought all amendments that would limit the general amnesty provisions of the bill. This controversy raged for weeks. Only now he says he’s gotten the message. Yet, when asked last night if he would sign the McCain-Kennedy bill as president, he dissembles, arguing that it’s a hypothetical question. Last Sunday on Meet the Press, he said he would sign the bill. There’s nothing straight about this talk. Now, I understand that politicians tap dance during the course of a campaign, but this was a defining moment for McCain. And another defining moment was his very public opposition to the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. He was the media’s favorite Republican in opposition to Bush. At the time his primary reason for opposing the cuts was because they favored the rich (and, by the way, they did not). Now he says he opposed them because they weren’t accompanied by spending cuts. That’s simply not correct.
Even worse than denying his own record, McCain is flatly lying about Romney’s position on Iraq. As has been discussed for nearly a week now, Romney did not support a specific date to withdraw our forces from Iraq. The evidence is irrefutable. And it’s also irrefutable that McCain is abusing the English language (Romney’s statements) the way Bill Clinton did in front of a grand jury. The problem is that once called on it by everyone from the New York Times to me, he obstinately refuses to admit the truth. So, last night, he lied about it again. This isn’t open to interpretation. But it does give us a window into who he is.
Of course, it’s one thing to overlook one or two issues where a candidate seeking the Republican nomination as a conservative might depart from conservative orthodoxy. But in McCain’s case, adherence is the exception to the rule — McCain-Feingold (restrictions on political speech), McCain-Kennedy (amnesty for illegal aliens), McCain-Kennedy-Edwards (trial lawyers’ bill of rights), McCain-Lieberman (global warming legislation), Gang of 14 (obstructing change to the filibuster rule for judicial nominations), the Bush tax cuts, and so forth. This is a record any liberal Democrat would proudly run on. Are we to overlook this record when selecting a Republican nominee to carry our message in the general election?
But what about his national security record? It’s a mixed bag. McCain is rightly credited with being an early voice for changing tactics in Iraq. He was a vocal supporter of the surge, even when many were not. But he does not have a record of being a vocal advocate for defense spending when Bill Clinton was slashing it. And he has been on the wrong side of the debate on homeland security. He supports closing Guantanamo Bay, which would result in granting an array of constitutional protections to al-Qaeda detainees, and limiting legitimate interrogation techniques that have, in fact, saved American lives. Combined with his (past) de-emphasis on border-security, I think it’s fair to say that McCain’s positions are more in line with the ACLU than most conservatives.
Why recite this record? Well, if conservatives don’t act now to stop McCain, he will become the Republican nominee and he will lose the general election. He is simply flawed on too many levels. He is a Republican Hillary Clinton in many ways. Many McCain supporters insist he is the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama. And they point to certain polls. The polls are meaningless this far from November. Six months ago, the polls had Rudy winning the Republican nomination. In October 1980, the polls had Jimmy Carter defeating Ronald Reagan. This is no more than spin.
But wouldn’t the prospect of a Clinton or Obama presidency drive enough of the grassroots to the polls for McCain? It wasn’t enough to motivate the base to vote in November 2006 to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker or the Democrats from taking Congress. My sense is it won’t be enough to carry McCain to victory, either. And McCain has done more to build animus among the people whose votes he will need than Denny Hastert or Bill Frist. And there won’t be enough Democrats voting for McCain to offset the electorate McCain has alienated (and is likely to continue to alienate, as best as I can tell).
McCain has not won overwhelming pluralities, let alone majorities, in any of the primaries. A thirty-six-percent win in Florida doesn’t make a juggernaut. But the liberal media are promoting him now as the presumptive nominee. More and more establishment Republican officials are jumping on McCain’s bandwagon — the latest being Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has all but destroyed California’s Republican party.
Let’s face it, none of the candidates are perfect. They never are. But McCain is the least perfect of the viable candidates. The only one left standing who can honestly be said to share most of our conservative principles is Mitt Romney. I say this as someone who has not been an active Romney supporter. If conservatives don’t unite behind Romney at this stage, and become vocal in their support for him, then they will get McCain as their Republican nominee and probably a Democrat president. And in either case, we will have a deeply flawed president.
Mark Levin, a former senior Reagan Justice Department official, is a nationally syndicated radio-talk-show host.
January 31st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
He’s voting for Mitt! Technically not an endorsement, as he didn’t actually use the “E” word, but it is GREAT news!
Mark Levin also had a terrific article today on National Review online titled “Rally for Romney:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDEzMDYzZjBkMDNhYjk0ZjdhZmJlZWNkMWQ1NjI4MGI=
How can we get this kind of info out into the MSM?
January 31st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Serious? I am so happy. Maybe that will encourage others to come forward to throw support behind Mitt Romney. Like Rush, Glen Beck, and others.
January 31st, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Big Headlines across the press like this “Romney Accuses McCain of ‘Nixon Era’ Campaign Tactics” I don’t know if it will do bode well for Mitt or not.
January 31st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
McCain doesn’t need fundraising. Media gives it to him free. McCain lies about Romney 3 days before Florida primary with willing accomplices in the press. So what hypocrisy to deny regular Americans the right to produce attack ads within 30 days of an election (McCain Feingold)! So much for free speech!
Senator McCain cannot win General Election any more than Senator Dole in 1996. Even though all early media polls during Primary Season showed Dole winning handily, Clinton CRUSHED Dole in the General. Wasn’t pretty.
No difference between Hilary and McCain. Both voted for War in Iraq, and both later attacked Rumsfeld. McCain is also against the Federal Marriage Protection Act to the U.S. Constitution, was one of only two Republicans who voted against Bush tax cuts (now he is for them!), and wants constitutional rights and trials given to unlawful enemy combatants! This man wouldn’t know a strict constructionist judge from a terrorist!
http://www.politicaljunkyfood.blogspot.com
January 31st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
What a great article! Down with McClinton! I haven’t given up hope, and just when I feel a bit down (watching the MSM for 10 seconds can do that), I read something like this and can feel the momentum for Mitt and for the salvation of the republican party.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I am so happy that both Rush and Mark are people out there speaking what we believe. They are our voice! Thank God for them! Mark Levin’s article cut right to the truth. I listen to both Mark and Sean every day just to hear what’s really going on, and to feel better. Because truthfully, the media makes me upset. I love Mitt Romney for what he stands for and who he is. He will have my vote and my family’s vote Tuesday and I hope and pray that he will be our Republican nominee. I hope the Conservatives wake up to what is going on and rally our support and ultimately our vote for Mitt Romney!!!
January 31st, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Rush Limbaugh voted for Mitt too (though he didn’t expressly say it)
This is awesome. I wish I had an audio clip!
January 31st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Mental Instability! Mental Instability! Mental Instability! It’s MENTAL INSTABILITY, stupid1
THat’s what the problem is with McCain, and it’s the way to take him down.
“Temper tantrums” “Arrogance” “Bald-face lying” “Venom” “Dirty TRicks” “Loose Cannon”…these are all symptoms of an underlying disease. Who knows why? That torture he went through. Senility and dementia. Merely a despicable self-seeker.
It’s “MENTAL INSTABILITY”.. and even worse his extreme hawkishness and “hatred” and impulsivive over-reaction is not what we need in foreign policy or in a Commander in Chief. McCain is an old over the hill soldier from another time and place, NOT A GENERAL, NOT A COMMANDER.
MENTALLY UNSTABLE. Too much of a hawk.
Do you want this guy’s hand on the nuclear button……That’s the way to finish him.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:29 pm
This is great stuff, and it’s even better than Mitt is appearing of H&C tonight; its one thing to have support and exposure in the Blogosphere; it’s much more important to capture Huckabee votes and undecideds by appearing on the cable and network shows.
Again. I think it would be effective to have a banner presence at/at the periphery of a JM event here in New York, with its high media density. Please contact me directly or post something on the NY for Mitt blog in this regard: my e-mail address is BrooklynCouch@aol.com
January 31st, 2008 at 6:30 pm
http://reason4romney.blogspot.com/
January 31st, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Sean Hannity?? Are you sure? OK, here’s my spiel. Yesterday, at the very beginning of his radio talk show Sean said that he had thought hard about the whole election the night before and he is convinced that McCain was either completely right, or absolutely right in all the major issues after all. I did not detect any sarcasm, especially after a few callers, he was still defending his ill-found epiphanies. I was flabbergasted especially since Romney, at least, is still in the race and he (Sean) is openly against the Huckster. I knew exactly why he changed his positions, it was because of Giulani’s endorsement of McCain. Sean, despite his best efforts to hide his allegiance to Rudy throughout the campaign, was very transparent in his support for him during his shows (could be the NY connection). I was flabbergasted yesterday so I just turned off the radio and promise to never tune to Sean Sanity again! He deliberately had to follow Rudy out of the ring, and cheered for McCain while Romney, the only electable true conservative is still fighting. Did anyone listen to yesterday’s show and did he (Hannity) change or rescind his flops?
Anyway GO MITT!
January 31st, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Hannity was kidding yesterday . . .
January 31st, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Ken..it was a joke. Rush had done that previously.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:55 pm
We have to get the spotlight on McCain’s record. He says he can be a better leader than Mitt? What legislative greatness has he achieved to date? McCain-Feingold/Kennedy/Liberman. These bills must be explained agian and again so the casual voter understands. McCain-Liberman may cost $1.2 trillion? When contrasted to Mitt’s record, it should be a landslide but we need a drum beat of the Romney Team/Supporters asking the right question—”What conservative ideas/issues/bills has McCain advanced in two+ decades in Washington”?
January 31st, 2008 at 6:57 pm
IMMEDIATELY, this needs to happen: Romney and Huckabee resolve their differences, and Romney offers him the position of Vice President. Huckabee knows he cannot win alone, but he’ll understand that a Romney-Huckabee ticket would be a winner. Huckabee drops out and immediately announces he is running for V.P. and campaigns around the country with Mitt.
McCain and the rest of the RINO-stablishment would be left in the dust. It would have been earth-shaking if this announcement was made at the end of last night’s debate. Can you imagine it? The Rudy/Schwarzenegger news wouldn’t have even been noticed.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Let’ go on the offense. If every Romney supporter would ask people they come in contact with over the next few days to vote for Mitt it will cause a ground swell of support beyond anything the MSM can do to destroy it. I was very pleasantly surprised today when I asked several people I came in contact with to support Mitt just how many of them actually liked him and might just vote for him come Tuesday. Let’s shout it from the mountain tops that there is only one candidate that can fix Washington and that’s Mitt Romney!!
January 31st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
For more than 50 years I have only voted for Republican Presidential candidates. McCain is a consummate liar and I will never vote for him.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:15 pm
GO MITT
January 31st, 2008 at 7:32 pm
J.D.
Yeah, that’s what I suggested yesterday.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Thanks guys (braddahmike & Stephen)! I’m relieved; it just did not sound like him (Hannity) when I was listening. I’m calling all my relatives in CA to VOTE for ROMNEY! Conservative talk radio is one of Romney’s best and effective means of getting his message nationwide. I just can’t picture a president who looks like the OLD man I saw in the debate last night! - surly, detestable, belligerent with sporadic memory lapses ….NO WAY!… McCain’t!
January 31st, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Mitt can be great teacher for Huckabee for 8 years before he can run for president. He is still very young.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:37 pm
JD - I agree that Mitt needs to get Huckles on his team ASAP. I believe this is the only plausible strategy given the short timeframe til Tues. Of course, I can imagine the MSM headline already…”Christians and Mormons Unite Forces Against a War Hero”
January 31st, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Oh, and was it just me or did Huckles and Romney compliment each other indirectly a few times last night? Hmmmmmmm
January 31st, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Huckabee for VP would work… to win, but what then? What would his role be in the administration?
January 31st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
His role would be charming with Americans and play guitar on radio weekly. More Holiday Inn visits around the world.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I posted the following on the Huckabee site blog. Perhaps we can start to sway their camp from a grass roots effort? Notice I did not specifically push Huckabee as VP and left it as open to either combination….we need to ease in the union idea first else we turn them off with a #2 settlement.
============
Conservatives need to unite or else we are left with McCain as the GOP nominee. This is a Fact. And, McCain will not win in a general election against either Obama or Hillary because too many conservatives will sit out rather than vote for him. What is our best course of action? Romney and Huckabee must join forces before Tuesday. This would unite the true conservative voting block and give us hope for November. Together a Romney/Huckabee or Huckabee/Romney ticket could own the white house for 16 years….they are both young enough for 8 year terms each.
Please consider this and promote it for the sake of this nation and the future of our party.
=================
January 31st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Joe
I can tell that really went over well on the Huckabee blog. It did the opposite of winning them over. I dont think Mike Huckabees own website is the right place to do that. I realize you had good intentions and appreciate it.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Isn’t it time to start talking and planning for a THIRD PARTY. And who better to lead it and take up the fight than MITT ROMNEY? Isn’t the message already loud and clear that he stands not to be appreciated and, in fact, to be undermined by the very same Washington insiders whom he wants to scatter into the hinterlands. Isn’t it clear that a campaign with two nearly identical candidates, McCain and Hillary, would be a wide opening for a conservative campaign. This is the year a THIRD PARTY just might prevail.
I have not known about Mitt for more than a year, when I first saw him on CSPAN articulately expounding on his health care scheme. I am, by the way, not a Mormon, and not even an active religious person. But I have not supported a Democrat since, as a teenager, I worked for JFK.
BUT, if McCain wins the Republican nomination, and the Republican Party allows itself to have been “destroyed” and “neutered” by the Mainstream Media [because that's just what the situation will have been if McCain prevails], I will NOT vote for McCain or even work for McCain. In fact, if it comes down to it, I might even vote for Obama over McCain. McCain is too much of a mental case, a degenerate, lying sleaze, the worst of the old Washington Politics and the disease which afflicts our nation.
Yet, if there were a third Party…of a conservative stripe….I would vote for that Party and frankly I believe that a Third Party could actually win an election against the other two, if it were Hillary and McCain. Anyway, that is the only scenario whereby I would not have been totally disenfranchised by the Mainstream Media.
I would love to see Mitt Romney, if he doesn’t prevail in the Republican Primary, run as an Independent. He has the organization, he has the resources, he has the name recognition and he has a large core of Conservative Americans with no place to go. Just a fantasy, you say. But stranger things have happened.
What does he need in order to achieve that? It’s very simple. All he needs is a couple of first group and website to emerge somewhere in the US, a simple political group and announce that they will seek to draft him, to encourage him to run as an Independent if McCain wins, because they cannot stomach McCain. This group will get endless free press and publicity and coverage….and it will be a constant reminder to all Republicans that McCain is an anathema and that his nomination will destroy the party. That is all that is required…and, of course, would have to set itself up and operate independently of the Romney campaign, just a grass roots movement urging him to stay in the race,….ALL THE WAY. The firestorm of press attention plus a good website to solicit contributions would immediately attract millions of Conservatives
Please think about this, folks. It IS an option. And one which can be easily done. Astonishingly easy to do. If things don’t work out for Mitt after Super Tuesday, that group could be up and running and with millions of dollars of financing in a week or two…..
January 31st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
I thought that the speech given by President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in the movie Independence Day would be appropriate. I’ve made some changes to fit us Romney supporters:
Good evening. In less than a week, we along with others Super Tuesday voters will join together. And we will be voting in the most important election in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us on February fifth. Republicans we can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that in less than a week it will be February fifth, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from John McCain. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win that day, the Fifth of February will no longer be known as Super Tuesday, but as the day the Republican Party declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate President Mitt Romney!
January 31st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
I like the idea of a Huck/Romney pairing, (in fact, when Huck won the value voter’s vote, I thought they needed to pair up right then and there because Mitt would never win the evangelicals over) but Huck is in McCain’s lap right now, and I also believe Huck and Mitt are in a power struggle right now. However, I do believe Huck has reason to think he may not be the vp choice of McCain. McCain may pick Crist, because the republicans need Florida to win. Any comments?
January 31st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Linda, I agree with you that Huckabee must be mentally going through a phase at this time “knowing” that he will “not” be McCain’s VP choice. It is very transparent. And if he wants to continue his politcal career, he had better side with Romney and fast. Or, he will go down very hard and fast. McCain has been using him and will dump him faster than a speeding bullet.
He will select Crist, Kerry or Lieberman. Huck will be a has-been. At least with Romney, he will have a better chance in serving the public for 4, 8 or even 16 years. This would be absolutely “pandomonium” for America. Can you even imagine……………………….Go MITT>
January 31st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
McCain’s choice for V.P. will be Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina. I’ve thought this for years because of their close relationship in pushing the amnesty. And if you’ve noticed, Graham has been following McCain EVERYWHERE over the past weeks. I don’t think Huck and McCain get along all that well, and, besides, McCain wants a lapdog. Huckabee wouldn’t be as obedient as Graham.
If worst comes to worst, and Hillary and McCain are nominated, that outcome will ABSOLUTELY be the factor in the creation of a third party. Bill Clinton has already explained why when he said: “If Hillary and McCain were the nominees, it would be the most civil election in history.” In other words, there would be not enough differences between the two candidates to give the voters an actual choice. There are numerous scenarios that follow such a situation: (1) Ron Paul runs as an independent; (2) Lou Dobbs runs as an independent; (3) Michael Bloomberg runs as an independent. Any of those candidates look to Romney as V.P.
And the White House goes to a candidate who ultimately wins only about 35% of the vote.
Mark my words…
January 31st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
If there is a third party, Mitt Romney is the guy to lead it. All the others are still basiclaly l
“liberals” on the issues and thus indistinguishable on issues from Hillary and McCain….whilie Mitt is the only Conservative……He should be leading a third Party, with a top level Conservative as his VP……
January 31st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I doubt Romney would ever go for a Romney/Huckabee ticket. He’s a better man than that because that’s exactly what McCain is up to…taking all kinds of endorsements from smoky back room deals. Huckabee has pandered to McCain for months. There is no way he would go with Romney after all his attacks on Romney’s faith. It would make him look like a hypocrite. Oh, wait a minute, it’s a little late for that I’m afraid.
I am all for a third party. The republican party is selling itself out and it’s time to put it out of it’s misery. Only question is…will conservatives have the guts to wrench themselves away from the GOP and stand up for what they believe or will they be tentative and watch the party self destruct with McCain at the helm?
January 31st, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I was at the SLC call center today and I a worker there if he thought GMR would run in a 3rd party. He said “NO”
January 31st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
If truth be told, folks, the last third party effort in this country, that of Ross Perot in both 1992 and 1996 arose from the first effort at destruction of the Republican Party by George Herbert Bush in his one term of office, and now GWB, after two terms in office, has pretty much “finished it off”.
For those of you who keep score, you only have to look around at some of the old semi-corpses that McCain has been dredging up as supporters and endorsers, these are the living dead still around from the first Bush’s Presidency.
Look at all the old insiders who have come to McCain’s assistance, all through the typical backroom Washingon “deals”. Aren’t these the guys who Mitt said he was going to “clean out” of town.
Well, how are you going to run them out of town, if you need their help to get in, so that you can then run them out. Surely, the logic of the situation dictates, that Mitt go on ,…and on…and on….and keep on ticking and keep on fighting…..even if the Republican Party regulars don’t rally around him. And why should they? He’s a conservative, an outsider…and he is the “kiss of death” to them as soon as he gets in. Isn’t he?
Nope, a Third Party has always been the inevitable place where a candidate like Mitt could find himself. In the meantime I wish him well and hope he prevails “somehow”. But if he doesn’t “Third Party is the way to go. And HE COULD WIN!