Huckabee Jealousy Behind Anti-Mitt for VP Movement?
Matt Lewis TownHall.com
Some conservative leaders are now publicly opposing Mitt Romney’s consideration for VP.
This is from the Government is not God PAC website:
More than 20 leading social conservatives signed an open letter to Senator John McCain expressing their displeasure over the prospect of an “M&M” ticket being pushed by Karl Rove, Sean Hannity and others in the economic wing of the Republican Party.
Among the signers are those, such as Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, who once supported Mitt Romney and now publicly regret it.
Note: A trusted source tells me that the minute Romney endorsed McCain, Weyrich decided he couldn’t stomach Mitt’s decision, and promptly endorsed Huckabee. With the exception of Weyrich, who endorsed Romney, the signers all tend to be former Huckabee supporters.One source, who was close to the Romney campaign, tells me this is an attempt to elevate Mike Huckabee as a possible VP pick:
“Who has been talking about Huckabee as Veep? Nobody. I’d rather have Hannity and Ingraham saying good things about me to millions of people, rather than worrying about what this rag-tag group says about me.”
It has been reported that this full-page ad will run tomorrow in various cities and towns where John McCain will be campaigning. But I’m doubtful it will see the light of day in more than a few small publications (As Jim Geraghty writes, ”This is absolutely fantastic news… for the advertising department of the Prescott Daily Courier.”).
If this organization were really serious, they would probably focus on targeted direct mail and phone calls. Instead, this is more likely an attention-getting device to try to get some attention for the Huckabee for Veep movement.
Here are some an excerpts from the ad:
FOR US THE BOTTOM LINE IS THIS: The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts make him utterly unacceptable as a Vice Presidential choice.
Governor Romney got no traction during the primaries simply because his recent “conversion” to conservative and pro-life principles is not credible.
Question: Knowing what you do of McCain, do you think that these guys opinion of Mitt makes him more or less likely to pick Mitt based on their opinion? … My guess is that they have achieved the opposite of their supposed intent and in fact made Mitt more acceptable to McCain after their attacks.
Update: You can indicate your willingess to vote for Gov. Romney here.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Oh wow are they stupid. No one can push Sen. McCain around, remember VA Beach, 2000 he labeled Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell “Agents of Intolerance” he made it clear then that he won’t pander to them and I doubt he’s changed on that.
I think it would be hilarious if he picks Romney as his VP just to poke them in the eye. If it’s McCain/Romney and they win on the backs of conservatives and moderate independents while these extreme Social Con. leaders tell their people to stay home, they will be seriously marginalized in the GOP.
This is all about clout, for 8 years they’ve gotten everything they wanted 2 extremely qualified Supreme Court Justices plus several Appellate Court Judges. Meanwhile the rest of us got rampant spending and major mismanagement in the war on terrorism.
It is high time we choose the best on national security and the best on the economy and run them as a ticket, that we can win on.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I’m thinking this is one of those rare times “Mac the Maverick” will be a good thing. Huckabee and his ilk are SO tiresome. I’m sure MANY others feel the same way by now. The Prescott Daily Courier!! LOL. Thanks for the laughs.
Alex
April 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
This is right out of the Huckabee playbook. I can promise McCain that if he chooses huckabee, the ENTIRE west is lost, and we will have Obama as president. With Romney we can stand a chance of winning. With Huckabee, it’ a certain loss, as I will be writing in Romney.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Don’t knock Paul Weyrich too much. Some of us just visit, but he has to live with these folks. Can’t blame him for kissing and making up.
It does, however, strike me as unfailingly desperate, and yet further proof that the Huckabee campaign was first and foremost the anti-Romney campaign. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it is a sorry state of affairs when you completely define yourself as the antithesis of someone else. We should all be FOR something, not AGAINST something else.
History offers many examples of the legions of also rans who “put their trust in the arm of flesh” by positioning themselves as the antagonist to another person, only to find that there is nothing left when the protagonist is gone. A life built in this manner, political or otherwise, is on a sandy foundation indeed. The miserable lot includes Brutus, Cain, Judas Iscariot, and let’s not forget Satan himself (purported brother of Jesus).
Though not nearly as noteworthy, let’s add Huckabee (and Clinton, and ultimately Obama, all those who stand with and for anyone and everything in the great antagonist’s cause without bringing anything of merit to the table themselves) as a footnote to the list of losers and move on. Next…
April 4th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Hey, go swamp this petition:
http://www.nomittvp.com/
There are a lot of Mitt supporters chiming in.
April 4th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Have you all seen the primary signers? Quelle surprise: Carmenker, Glenn, etc.
April 4th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I went and took a look and it honestly kind of depressed me. There are just so many signatures on there and I am so sad at the lies etc. I do NOT believe anyone could NOT like Mitt. He is such a great man. What is wrong with those people? It is like they have no powers of discernment! They cannot tell who is the good guy and who’s not! Odd
It is also quite apparent that it is again being skewed by the Huckabee crowd. And those are definitely lions not Christians! Talk about ugly. Maybe God can protect Mitt from the Lions den like Daniel of old. Just too too sad… and how do they dare bring the LDS church into it? Did anyone see the comment that obviously the LDS Church had entered into an agreement with the Muslims….. what???? creepy like most of the rest of it I suppose… It seemed like just a bunch of sad, disgruntled, misdirected people….
April 4th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Hi again, I just got on again and wow… I am not nearly so sad as I was before and way more encouraged!!!! There are alot of people on there with a brain! Hallelujah! I saw alot of nice things about Mitt and encouragement to put him on. I was excited!
April 5th, 2008 at 7:21 am
I learn a little of something new everyday. Today I learned that “social conservative” must mean pro-life. Not just any pro life, but “I’m-better-than-you-pro-life” because I’ve been pro-life longer than you! It also means that nothing is as important as “MY” position on this, not the economy, not national security, not even family values. Besides, wasn’t it that terrible Romney boy who HUNG a dog at boy scout camp, no, wait, it was …………….
April 5th, 2008 at 11:25 am
So, people who don’t support your candidate are Judas, Brutus, Cain and Satan, but us Hucabee supporters are “agents of intolerance!”
You guys crack me up!
Listen, I was a little part of the Huckabee campaign. I can tell you for certain that we were not an anti-Romney campaign. We were trying to win to Presidency. What were you guys? Were you the anti-Huckabee campaign? or maybe the anti-McCain campaign? No, you were trying to win, just like us. We didn’t define ourselves as an anti-anyone campaign. I can understand you all not liking Huckabee, he was your political opponent. I don’t like Mitt. But let’s not forget history here. In the squabble between our candidates…your guy started it, and he did so because he was loosing ground despite bleeding millions of dollars in campaign funds.
But….
You guys need to get over the fact that WE BOTH LOST to McCain! Now, it’s time to band together. We’ve got to keep the Dems out of the White House. You all ought to forget Huckabee, and focus on Obama or Hillary. I think it’s kind of ironic. I come to this website and see a bunch of articles on Huckabee and how desparate and jealous he is. I go to Huckabee’s website and see an Easter message. I don’ t see jealousy or desparation.
And in the original blog post, Rusty wrote, “One source, who was close to the Romney campaign, tells me this is an attempt to elevate Mike Huckabee as a possible VP pick:”
What else would a Romney campaign person say? This is not an unbiased source! I’ll tell you what it likely is…it’s a bunch of people who don’t want Romney anywhere near the presidency, just like me. And they have every right to do this. If you guys want to buy an ad, buy it. Make your case for the former Gov of MA. But I’ve never heard so much belly-aching and sour puss conspiracy mongering as right here on the Committed to Romney website. Wait…I take it back. The Ron Paul site had more conspiracy mongering, but not as much sour pussiness.
So, we all lost. And we’re all trying to get our man to the VP spot. But… whatever happens, WE MUST defeat Obama/Hillary.
I’m not sure Mitt or Mike is the best pick for beating the Dems. I’m thinking Condi Rice, Marsha Blackburn, Jim DeMint or someone of that calibre. Let’s be a bit more pragmatic aobut the whole thing, people.
April 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
And in reply to Ron,
Social conservative includes being against the gay agenda, which your Gov. Romney had difficulty with in MA.
Social conservative includes truly belieiving conservative principals, not just adopting them for an election cycle.
My main problem with Romney was the fact that being a Mormon, he grew up in a pro-life environment (if I understand Mormon teaching on the subject). Then, for political expediency, he became effectively pro-choice (his words, not mine) and promised pro-choice policies in a campaign. He did this, because he knew he had to to win.
Then, he tried the opposite tack to try to win in the Republican national contest.
Ron, it looks to me like Romney doesn’t really believe the pro-life, anti-gay positions as much as he adopts them for an elecion.
It’s not the fact that he converted later to pro-life. It’s that he ever left it in the first place. It’s not the fact that he gives lip service to being against the gay agenda. It’s the fact that he wasn’t against it in MA.
It wasn’t a question of when he converted, nearly as much as why he converted and how truly sincere it was.
April 5th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Matt, The Judas reference was applied to Paul Weyrich, who endorsed Mitt Romney, until just a few days ago. It is not that he does not support our candidate–It’s that he did support him until people convinced him that supporting a Mormon was not in his best interests.
Look, this anti-Mitt campaign has been waged by anti-Mormon, Huckabee supporters. We are not here to have a debate with you. There is no debate, as Mitt received more votes, more delegates, and won more states than Huckabee. We don’t need to justify our support to you or anyone else. This is about a hate filled anti-Mitt campaign; we are simply responding to it. Fred Thompson, Rudy Guiliani, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback, also finished behind Mitt; but you don’t see their former supporters launching petitions against Romney. You can say whatever you want, but the majority of the backlash stems from evangelicals who refuse to see a Mormon in power. Most of us are Republicans; we support the conservative agenda. We have better things to do than launch bigoted personal attacks.
April 5th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Matt, I never thought you were anti-Romney, I never even thought that Huckabee was anti Romney, I never even thought that Huckabee was the one using anti-Mormon talk. But as far as that goes-(don’t they believe that the devil is Jesus’ brother?) Gees!
April 7th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Mitt Romney is and has been the most honorable man during this election process. How anyone would even consider Huckabee is way beyond me. An M&M ticket would have my full support.
April 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I’m appalled, though not surprised by all this. This “stop the Mormon from ever becoming president” mentality exactly mirrors the anti-Mormon attitude of many, though not all, of the leaders of the evangelical movement, where deceit, outright lies, false accusations, half-truths, misrepresentations, slander, etc. are the norm. Good men are maligned falsely, and an entire religion is trashed by them. This only reveals their true colors to others besides the LDS folks, who have been more keenly aware of it in the past. It’s basically a “slander your opponent’s reputation as a way to help your own cause” attitude, which is made worse by the fact that it’s done in a very deceitful manner, and plays up to people’s prejudices in a stealthful way. I predict a split within the evangelical movement where those who are fed up with this kind of garbage will take a courageous stand against it and no longer let it taint their movement’s credibility and reputation.