ComMITTed to Romney!

PEWRESEARCH.ORG has an interesting article on how the MSM have treated Obama, Clinton and McCain through the early primaries. They have produced a chart showing the number of positive articles written about each of the three candidates. Conservatives have often been accused by the left as being a bunch of whiners when it comes to our claims of bias towards any conservative Republican. The chart in the article won’t produce any chest-clutching surprises, but I think its still worth a look to have the PEW organization re-confirm what we have long contended.

~~John Cronin~~

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/854/candidate-character

The trajectory of the coverage, however, began to turn against Obama, and did so well before questions surfaced about his pastor Jeremiah Wright. Shortly after Clinton criticized the media for being soft on Obama during a debate, the narrative about him began to turn more skeptical — and indeed became more negative than the coverage of Clinton herself. What’s more, an additional analysis of more general campaign topics suggests the Obama narrative became even more negative later in March, April and May.

On the Republican side, John McCain, the candidate who quickly clinched his party’s nomination, has had a harder time controlling his message in the press. Fully 57% of the narratives studied about him were critical in nature, though a look back through 2007 reveals the storyline about the Republican nominee has steadily has steadily improved with time.

I’d like to ask for some feedback from our Maine Mittheads. I don’t know anything about Charlie Summers and I am posting this not as an endorsement but as an FYI.

If you have followed Mr. Summer’s Congressional service, please post your comments. I’d like to get your take on his policy positions.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.politickerme.com/jessicaalaimo/1632/gov-romney-endorses-summers-congress

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney endorsed Charlie Summers for Congress today.

Romney, a former presidential candidate, won the Maine Republican caucuses in February before dropping out of the race.

In a statement, Romney said:

“Conservatism’s strength is based in the belief in family, the individual, and the goodness of America and Charlie Summers embodies that strength. His experience in the private sector combined with his service as a Maine State Senator, as head of the Small Business Administration in New England, and most recently his service in Iraq make him the ideal person to represent Maine in the United States Congress. Charlie embodies the qualities necessary to effectively represent his constituency from the moment he is sworn-in as Maine’s next First District Congressman.

“Today, I am proud to endorse Charlie Summers and I encourage all my Maine supporters to actively campaign and vote for Charlie on June 10th.”

Summers said: “I am honored by Governor Romney’s support. Maine voters strongly showed their support for Governor Romney during the March Presidential caucuses and his strength among Maine voters will continue to build the momentum of this campaign through the primary and on to a win in November.”

Summers is running as a Republican in the First Congressional District.

Congratulations to Team Chaffetz on winning the endorsement of the Utah Republican Assembly! Jason Chaffetz is one of the new breed of Republican office seekers campaigning on conservative core principles including a strong and uncompromising approach to border law enforcement.

This is a very important endorsement for Mr. Chaffetz, coming as it does from an influential conservative group like the URA.

Best wishes for the Chaffetz campaign in the Utah primary on June 24.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.conservativefront.com/2008/05/29/
utah-republican-assembly-endorses-jason-chaffetz/

The Utah Republican Assembly voted to endorse Jason Chaffetz for the 3rd District Congressional seat at its Endorsing Convention this part Saturday.

Jason Chaffetz beat out Chris Cannon to win the endorsement of the Assembly. Other federal candidates endorsed by the URA include Rob Bishop of the 1st district, and Bill Dew of the 2nd district. Congratulations, Jason!

The Utah Republican Assembly is a nonprofit organization of conservative Republicans with chapters in Salt Lake, Utah, and Washington counties. The Assembly, which was re-established in Utah in 2005, is founded on traditional conservative principles, such as support for the U.S. Constitution, defending American sovereignty, limiting government and taxes, and promoting individual responsibility and liberties.

The Republican Assembly is not an official branch of the Utah Republican Party. The Utah Republican Party does not endorse Republican candidates until they have won the Party’s nomination at a convention or in a primary.

For more information about the Republican Assembly, contact Assembly President Larry Meyers at dixierepublican@yahoo.com.

The National Federation of Republican Assemblies is active in politics in the various states and at the national level. Their website can be found at http://www.gopwing.com

For the first time since Super-Tuesday, Romney had an interview with Hugh Hewitt. Click here to select the Romney interview.

Congratulations to the outstanding men and women of the United States Military Academy who just received their 2nd Lieutenant bars at a beautiful and moving ceremony at West Point.

We watched the ceremony over the Academy’s website and it was very impressive, start to finish.

My son, Patrick, flew to New York this past Wednesday evening to attend the event with his close friend and former football teammate who is now 2nd Lieutenant Clint Wing.

Clint’s family picked him up at the airport and then drove up to the beautiful Hudson Valley. They all attended a banquet that evening with the top brass in attendance.

One of Clint’s friends is getting married at a chapel on the Academy grounds and Pat and Clint will be going to his wedding ceremony this afternoon.

Kudos to Clint and all his accomplished classmates. We should all feel very proud to have our country represented by such fine young men and women.

Clint is going to Fort Riley where he will receive additional training as a tank commander before shipping out to the Middle East. Please keep Clint and all our service personnel in your thoughts and in your prayers.

~~John Cronin~~

I have to say that if someone had asked me a year ago which major Democratic candidate’s campaign would have produced the most melodramatic moments, I would have chosen Hillary’s in a New York minute.

Events have, of course, proven me wrong. The ongoing soap opera that is the Obama campaign has provided us with more YouTube moments than I could possibly have hoped for.

Obama is a very talented speaker and he has been very successful at utilizing the ‘Net to raise money, but, Oh My, those radical pastor eruptions!!

These alleged “men of the cloth” need to get back to preaching the basic dogmas of Christianity and leave politics to the politicians.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=297039683804574

By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, May 30, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Decision ‘08:

Everybody knows the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his bigoted anti-American rants. We’ll soon get to know the Rev. Michael Pfleger. With Barack Obama, you’re not only waiting for the other shoe to drop. You’re following a centipede.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s name is coming up more often in recent weeks as a possible McCain VP candidate. Reportedly, WIZBANG.COM had somebody “drop a dime” about a McCain advance man being spotted recently in Juneau.

~~John Cronin~~

http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/05/29/
alaska-gov-sarah-palin-to-meet-with-mccain-vp-search-team.php

A tipster sent us word that John McCain’s VP advance man Arthur Culvahouse has been spotted in Juneau, Alaska. There’s only one reason he would be there - to meet with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin about the Vice President position.

This comes on the heels of McCain’s Memorial Day weekend barbecue attended by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former White House budget director Rob Portman, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. Supposedly that was in informal affair, not a vetting session, but it appears that the VP selection game is very much afoot.

Governor Palin would (in my estimation) make an excellent VP candidate for McCain. Thomas Cheplick at The American Spectator makes the case that she’s probably the only VP candidate who can balance the ticket against Obama. She’s also a potential magnet for disaffected Hillary Clinton voters, many of whom are just looking for a reason not to vote for Obama

My sentiments exactly.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9406882

Tribune Editorial

Article Last Updated: 05/28/2008 10:14:38 PM MDT

As Mitt Romney helps his Republican pals rake in treasure for the fall campaign, he also is racking up credits with other GOP candidates as a big-name guy they can call to help them on the stump. All of which suggests that Romney could cash in those credits when the 2012 presidential race rolls around.

This may sound cynical, but it’s the way the political game is played. Richard Nixon and Bob Dole played it that way, and so do aspiring Democrats. It’s a way for a candidate to burnish relationships with others in his party and generally pay his dues. Give something of yourself to others and the party, and when the time comes, they’ll give back to you.

Cal Thomas is one of the best conservative writers out there and he proves it again in this article. Click on over to TOWNHALL.COM and read his take on Obama’s eagerness to sit down at the negotiation table with totalitarians.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas/2008/05/28/obama_see_no_evil

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is the polar opposite of John F. Kennedy.

Judging from recent comments, Obama apparently would pay no price, bear no burden, forsake any hardship, support any foe and oppose any friend that wished to pursue liberty. Kennedy understood that evil exists in the world. He saw it in World War II as his generation defeated the evil that gripped Europe and Japan. And he witnessed it as president when Nikita

Khrushchev approved the building of the Berlin Wall and the installation of Soviet missiles in Cuba, acts that flowed from Khrushchev’s perception that the young president was weak and inexperienced.

Obama thinks he can negotiate with evil and transform evil into something else. Initially his foreign policy platform was a naive pledge to meet “unconditionally” with the leaders of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba and other nations dominated by dictators. In recent days he has changed his tune somewhat. He would still meet with the heads of these mini evil empires without preconditions, but “there must be careful preparation. We will set a clear agenda.”

This leads to an important question: On what basis does a free nation negotiate with nations that are not free? Does Obama expect leaders who got where they are by undemocratic, even violent means, to embrace press freedom, religious liberty, political pluralism and rights for women? What would evil leaders demand of him? Any concession given to dictators, who are not known for keeping their promises, would surely result in the United States being taken less seriously and contribute to the undermining of our national security.

Sam Brownback, the electrifying stump speaker from Kansas, oversees McCain’s outreach to Catholics? Who’s in charge of overseeing Brownback? If this is the best McCain can do, the only thing that will save us in November is that Obama’s leftist tax and spend policies and affection for tyrants will scare the electorate into McCain’s waiting embrace!

~~John Cronin~~

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/12018

Among the ribs and veepstakes crowd at John McCain’s Arizona ranch for his Memorial Day barbecue was Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback.

His name has not surfaced as a possibility for the second spot on the GOP ticket with McCain. But Brownback helps oversee the presumptive nominee’s outreach to Catholics.

Attendees who could be in the vice presidential mix were Republican Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana (Prime Buzz does not see how this pick helps McCain), Charlie Crist of Florida (Need we say more?) and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts (Social conservatives like him, but McCain? Not so much.)