comMITTed to Romney!

As I am sitting here this evening, I am contemplating “No Apology“. If you’re a Mitt Romney supporter you know what “No Apology” is, but for those of you who are new to Mitt Romney it’s Mitt’s latest book about America. I bought this book when I attended one of his early No Apology events shortly after it was released at The Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City. I’ll be brutally honest and say though that this afternoon was the first time I’ve actually been able to carve out time to read it. As I stated in my last post I’ve been very apathetic about politics over the last several months, and even though I was so excited to get my hands on a signed copy my excitement waned pretty quickly after that.

I began reading “No Apology” this afternoon and I plan to write about my experience as I read it in it’s entirety. I’ve only read the first 12 pages of a 34 page chapter so far, and it talks about Mitt and his childhood and his memories of his father, and a bit about his history. One thing that stands out is that the senior Romney instilled an incredible work ethic in the junior. It talks of weed pulling and other chores that Mitt was required to do growing up. It also talks about the senior Romney’s helm at AMC, and how when he began the company that it was almost destitute and how he brought it to greatness. He also spoke about the beginnings of Staples, and how it became a success. Sounds like the younger Romney is a chip off the old block. I think it’s important that we have a President who has a strong worth ethic. Because there is certainly going to be plenty of work to do once he comes to Washington.

Until my next installment…

Ann Marie has now left the building!

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Interesting article gossiping about a possible Romney role in the selection of one of his allies as the next chair of the RNC. If this story is true, IMHO, it lends further credence to Gov. Romney’s continued interest in making another run in 2012.

~~John Cronin~~

http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/talkingpolitics/archive/2008/11/14/romney-s-role-in-the-rnc-race.aspx

It now appears true that Fred Thompson really does want to be chair of the Republican National Committee; Thompson obviously doesn’t expect to do any actual work, so the quickly-travelling rumor is that Thompson plans to run as a team with Chuck Yob, long-time political kingpin in Michigan, with Thompson taking a more ceremonial “general chair” title, and Yob actually running the operation.

I can only hope this rumor is true; this could turn the RNC chair battle into a very ugly — and entertaining — affair.

As you might imagine, 2012 GOP Presidential hopefuls have a significant interest in who gets picked to head up the party. I assume — as do others here and there in the rumormongering biz — that Mitt Romney is behind the candidacy of Michigan Chair Saul Anuzis. (Mike Huckabee has a horse in the race: his former campaign manager Chip Saltsman. Other potential nominees have surrogates in the mix as well.)

You can probably guess that Thompson is not a big fan of our former governor, because of the way reporters were talking about how all of the GOP candidates hated the Mittster. One particular sign was that, after it was clear that he was out of contention, Thompson remained in the Presidential race through the Florida primary in what seemed like a deliberate strategy to draw conservative votes from Romney and help his buddy McCain win that crucial state.

Oh, but that’s nothing compared to the enmity between Romney and the aforementioned Yob. Yob headed up McCain’s Michigan campaign in the primary against Romney. But that’s just the latest. I highly recommend this account (in the second half of the article) of how Yob prevented Mitt’s brother Scott from becoming the state’s Attorney General in 1998. That was four years after Yob helped defeat Scott’s wife Ronna Romney in the Republican primary for US Senate. Do you think Mitt remembers that kind of thing?

You’ll also get a flavor from that 2006 story of how much love is not lost between Anuzis and Yob. Since then, Yob attempted to oust Anuzis as Michigan party chair — Anuzis not only beat down the attempt, but then helped oust Yob from his post as Michigan’s RNC National Committeeman, which he had held for eight years.

Published Nov 14 2008, 10:15 AM by David S. Bernstein

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Saul Anuzis for RNC Chair, The Comeback Starts Now!

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If anyone is in a position to help your local Republican organization with their voter fraud prevention efforts, please contact them first thing Monday morning to volunteer your time and get trained to become a Poll Watcher. Their are reports coming in from at least 12 states concerning fraudulent voter registrations. We may well lose this election, but if we do, let’s not let it happen because we stood by and let it be stolen from us.

~~John Cronin~~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081009/ap_on_el_ge/voter_fraud

Officials in Missouri, a hard-fought jewel in the presidential race, are sifting through possibly hundreds of questionable or duplicate voter-registration forms submitted by an advocacy group that has been accused of election fraud in other states.

Charlene Davis, co-director of the election board in Jackson County, where Kansas City is, said the fraudulent registration forms came from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. She said they were bogging down work Wednesday, the final day Missourians could register to vote.

“I don’t even know the entire scope of it because registrations are coming in so heavy,” Davis said. “We have identified about 100 duplicates, and probably 280 addresses that don’t exist, people who have driver’s license numbers that won’t verify or Social Security numbers that won’t verify. Some have no address at all.”

The nonpartisan group works to recruit low-income voters, who tend to lean Democratic. Most polls show Republican presidential candidate John McCain with an edge in bellwether Missouri, but Democrat Barack Obama continues to put up a strong fight.

Jess Ordower, Midwest director of ACORN, said his group hasn’t done any registrations in Kansas City since late August. He said he was told three weeks ago by election officials that there were only about 135 questionable cards — 85 of them duplicates.

“They keep telling different people different things,” he said. “They gave us a list of 130, then told someone else it was 1,000.”

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said the agency has been in contact with elections officials about potential voter fraud and plans to investigate.

“It’s a matter we take very seriously,” Patton said. “It is against the law to register someone to vote who does not fall within the parameters to vote, or to put someone on there falsely.”

On Tuesday, authorities in Nevada seized records from ACORN after finding fraudulent registration forms that included the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys.

In April, eight ACORN workers in St. Louis city and county pleaded guilty to federal election fraud for submitting false registration cards for the 2006 election. U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said they submitted cards with false addresses and names, and forged signatures.

Ordower said Wednesday that ACORN registered about 53,500 people in Missouri this year. He believes his group is being targeted because some politicians don’t want that many low-income people having a voice.

“It’s par for the course,” he said. “When you’re doing more registrations than anyone else in the country, some don’t want low-income people being empowered to vote. There are pretty targeted attacks on us, but we’re proud to be out there doing the patriotic thing getting people registered to vote.”

Republicans are among ACORN’s loudest critics. At a campaign stop in Bethlehem, Pa., supporters of John McCain interrupted his remarks Wednesday by shouting, “No more ACORN.”

Debbie Mesloh, spokeswoman for the Obama campaign in Missouri, said in an e-mailed statement that the campaign supported any investigation of possible fraud.

According to its national Web site, the group has registered 1.3 million people nationwide for the Nov. 4 election. It also has encountered complaints of fraud stemming from registration efforts in Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada and battleground states like Michigan, Ohio and North Carolina, where new voter registrations have favored Democrats nearly 4 to 1 since the beginning of this year.
Missouri offers 11 electoral votes; the presidential candidates need at least 270 to win the election.

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Here’s a very basic political question for you. Does John McCain know what the hell he’s doing?

Judging from the reaction he is getting from his own supporters, I’d say the answer is no.

We are witnessing the closing weeks of an epic presidential campaign that has seen history made on several fronts. Mitt Romney, the only LDS candidate to run a nationwide campaign for President. My apologies to any other LDS candidate that may have had a presidential campaign, I am just not aware of any others that ran a major national campaign.

Hillary Clinton, the first woman to run a major national campaign for the Presidency. Barack Obama, the first African-American to run for the presidency. Sarah Palin, the first woman to be picked to run as VP for the Republican Party. John McCain the first former POW to run for the presidency.

As much as I admire Sen. McCain for his service to his country, I have to say that I am mystified by his campaign strategy. Writing off Michigan, a swing state with 17 electoral votes. A state that might have been winnable with the right message. A message of how the American auto industry would finally get a level playing field with some of it’s competitors by having a candidate that promoted cutting the federal corporate tax rate, instead of dampening the enthusiasm of his crowds by lecturing them on a bogus civility. I am not advocating running a dirty campaign, but as that old political saying goes: “Politics ain’t beanbag.”

Sen. McCain has found himself in the unenviable position of being booed by his own crowds. I can fully sympathize with that crowd in Minnesota the other day that wanted him to bring the fight to Obama on his association with radical Bill Ayers. Why on earth the McCain campaign let this slide until less than three weeks remaining in the campaign remains a puzzlement to me. Bringing it up now smacks of desperation, not quite the message you want to send to the troops in the field. But if you are not going to hammer Obama on his job-killing tax proposals, dangerous foreign policy proposals and his general affection for leftist solutions to whatever ails the country at any given point in time, at least the Ayers connection is something conservative crowds can relate to.

The reason McCain is so out of touch with conservative crowds is because he is not a conservative. This won’t come as a surprise to most of you, but for those newcomers to politics, they may not have been engaged in the process long enough to remember President Reagan and for the college aged readers of this site, they weren’t even born during his administration. If all they remember is the last of the Clinton administration and Bushes’ two terms, they might not be expected to know a true conservative if they bumped into one in the hallway. So, if anyone is tempted to believe the MSM spin that McCain represents the center-right of the Republican Party, don’t buy it. He is getting booed in the Heartland because we see ourselves going down to defeat, while he preaches on the need to play nice with Obama.

As you may know, I have thrown in the towel on this Presidential election. If my state permits it, I will write in Mitt Romney for president. During the course of my involvement in this election, I have become aware of several candidates that I consider true conservatives, people that I can help promote in the future. People like Sarah Steelman and Dr. Bob Onder here in Missouri. Jason Chaffetz in Utah, Jeff Beatty in Massachusetts and William Russell in Pennsylvania. So, although the outcome of this election looks grim at the moment, a last minute reversal is always possible. So whether we win or lose, the commitment to Gov. Romney, the Free and Strong America PAC and other fine conservative candidates is ongoing.

Let’s all stay engaged in the process because, to quote Pat Buchanan, “You can’t legally, have more fun than a Presidential election!”

~~John Cronin~~

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/11/mccain-seeks-to-calm-angry-supporters/

It was a surreal scene during John McCain’s town hall meeting Friday as the GOP nominee was forced at times to defend Barack Obama as he urged thousands of supporters to cool their increasingly vitriolic anti-Obama rhetoric.

McCain sought to calm his raucous audience by lightening his criticism of Obama at times and repeatedly pleading with the crowd to be “respectful” of the Democratic nominee only to be repeatedly booed today. Supporters at recent rallies have shouted out that Obama is a terrorist, traitor and criminal, among other choice words.

“We want to fight, and I will fight but we will be respectful. I admire Senator Obama and his accomplishments. I will respect him,” McCain said to a chorus of boos as he tried to answer a supporter who urged him to engage in a “real fight.”

“I want everyone to be respectful and lets make sure we are because that’s the way politics should be conducted…now I don’t mean that has to reduce your ferocity. I just mean its got to be respectful. OK,” he said.

But for the second day in a row, a McCain town hall meeting felt more like an intervention as staunch supporters repeatedly pleaded with the GOP nominee to attack Obama using his associations with people like Bill Ayers or risk losing in November.

“My wife and I are expecting (a child)…and frankly, we’re scared. We’re scared of an Obama presidency,” one man told McCain asserting that Obama also “cohorts with domestic terrorists.”
“I want to be President of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you…he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared as President of the United States,” McCain said to additional boos from the crowd. He tried to assuage them by adding, ” if I didn’t think I wouldn’t be one heck of a lot better president I wouldn’t be running,” but received only a smattering of applause.

“Saying the facts about him, and the truth, that needs to come out,” another supporter urged McCain, as yet one other called on him to go to “the mattresses” with Obama at next Wednesday’s debate.

It didn’t stop there. McCain had to literally grab the microphone from one female supporter while she was still asking her question after she called Obama an “Arab.”

“No ma’am. No ma’am. He is a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that is what this campaign is all about. He is not,” McCain repeated shaking his head.

The new message comes after days of multiple TV and web ads and campaign conference calls attacking Obama’s associations with Bill Ayers, ACORN, Tony Rezko and casting him as an unknown entity who has been dishonest with the American people. Last Saturday, Sarah Palin kicked off the more aggressive message by stating that he “pals around with terrorists” and it escalated with McCain saying Monday that America does not know “the real Barack Obama.”

Though at other times, McCain reluctantly succumbed to the pressure and attacked Obama’s Ayers connection and liberal voting record as farther to the left than socialist Bernie Sanders.

“In order to win this election…you have to talk a little bit, and bring to the attention of the voters, the press is not going to do it for you…some of the associations that have really marred Obama’s life,” former US Senator Rudy Boschwitz recommended during the event.

Noting that he doesn’t care about Ayers or his wife, whom he described as an “old, washed-up terrorists,” McCain said that the bigger issue is that Obama is not being forthright about his relationship with the 60’s radical.

“What we do care about is people telling the truth about their associations with these individuals. That’s what the question is about…Sen. Obama said that Mr. Ayers was a guy in the neighborhood, when in reality, Sen. Obama’s political career was launched in Mr. Ayers living room,” he said to cheers.

But when lobbed a softball question by another town hall attendee to talk about ACORN improprieties McCain punted on drawing the connection between the community organizing group and Obama–a relationship the campaign had been pushing aggressively all day.

While he called for a “a full and complete and thorough investigation” of allegations of voter registration fraud against the group and left it at that.

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http://wkzonews.blogspot.com/2008/10/romney-speaks-in-zeeland.html

Romney Speaks in Zeeland

ZEELAND — The nation’s economic crisis was the focus of a speech by former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Zeeland, appearing with Congressman Pete Hoekstra.

The former Massachusetts governor made an appearance with Congressman Pete Hoekstra at a conservative stump speech at Gentex Corporation. Romney told the crowd that for economic experts, the writing was on the wall when it comes to the financial crisis. He wouldn’t offer a prediction on when the economy will recover, but he said he’s confident things will turn around. Both Romney and Hoekstra voiced concerns about Michigan’s economy, saying the state isn’t business-friendly enough. Romney’s been campaigning for other Republicans, including Hoekstra and presidential nominee John McCain.

[Editor's Note: Isn't it very telling that Mitt Romney continues to fight for the votes of Michiganders after the Party's nominee, John McCain, has written the state off?]

~~John Cronin~~

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It remains an open question whether McCain’s pick of Gov. Palin is a net benefit for his campaign. But of one thing there is no doubt. She is certainly turning into a cultural icon, inspiring changes in women’s fashions and skits on SNL.

On this site’s chatbox, we have been having fun with a couple of phrases from Thursday’s VP debate: “Doggone it, there you go again” and “You betcha.”

But however much fun Gov. Palin has inspired, there are also some hard political facts we must consider. Namely, McCain is behind in the polls with a month left in the campaign and he has recently pulled the plug on his Michigan campaign. Michigan, with 17 electoral votes and a state that Gov. Romney could have delivered to McCain on a silver platter.

We are getting word from several sources that the move is controversial within the Republican Party. It strikes me as politically tin-eared to make a move that high profile operatives within your own party second guess you on. This stuff all goes back to one of the many reasons Sen. McCain was not my first pick. He just seems to be out of touch with his own party. He is certainly out of touch with the conservative base. His only conservative policies have Mitt Romney’s fingerprints all over them!

For the sake of the country, I hope he gets it right by Nov. 4. Otherwise, Obama gets a chance to complete Jimmy Carter’s second term in office.

~~John Cronin~~

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The road to victory for John McCain has gotten tougher in the past week: He has given up on Michigan, struggled to deal with a financial crisis many voters blame on Republicans and faced skepticism about his vice-presidential pick.

All of that raises pressure on Sen. McCain’s field generals in the battleground states where he is still competing — people like Gentry Collins. The Iowan’s success or failure, and that of his boss, hinges on the rapid-fire decisions Mr. Collins needs to make every day, from appeasing local political leaders to keeping tally sheets on daily phone calls.

Mr. Collins’s territory is rocky terrain. As one of Sen. McCain’s 11 regional campaign managers, he is responsible for Iowa, where Sen. Barack Obama holds a solid lead, and Missouri, a state Sen. McCain has to win but where polls show a close race. At least one of the presidential candidates, and usually both, are in Mr. Collins’s states every week. Voters see those events, though they don’t see the last-minute scrambles by his staff that makes them possible.

Behind the scenes, Mr. Collins’s task is complex. In Iowa, he must contend with a fractured party where most active Republicans wanted someone else for president. In Missouri, a classic swing state that has gone with the winner in 24 of the last 25 elections, Mr. Collins is outgunned by a better-funded Obama campaign that has been on the ground longer.

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Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Presumptive Democratic Nominee Barack Obama

Mr. Obama has talked about how Mr. McCain would be going after him for his “Funny” name, well, since he finds his name so funny (hehe)…I figured why not call it so, and why not add Mr. Kwame Kilpatrick to the mix too…because guess what? Mr. Kilpatrick of “spent a day in jail time” for violation of his probation is coming too. Isn’t this just so dang exciting all? I can’t wait to see the pictures. I wonder if Mr. Obama has the guts to actually chastise his fellow Democratic leader? We shall see I guess.

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While the MSM enjoys it’s coffee break, Jenny writes to us from the site of the latest breaking news in Michigan. Pictures to follow!

~~John Cronin~~

Jenny on 14 Jul 2008 at 7:35 pm edit this17

Hello, everyone! I have just returned from the event. There was a good sized, enthusiastic crowd there. Unfortunately, Mitt was in a hurry to leave, so I didn’t get to talk with him/get a picture with him, but I do have some pictures to share! I will be posting pictures as well as a little rundown on what happened.

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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080711/NEWS15/80711039/1215

~~John Cronin~~

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be in Michigan on Monday to help celebrate the opening of Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign office in Farmington Hills.

Romney is often mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain. Raised in Bloomfield Hills, Romney is the son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney, and he came back to win the state’s Jan. 15 presidential primary. Political observers have said that Romney could help attract votes in the state, which has become a key battleground in the upcoming election.

The campaign office is located at 31440 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 100 in Farmington Hills. The celebration with Romney begins at 5 p.m. Monday.

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Governor Romney couldn’t make the event on time because his plane was weather delayed and he still managed to raise a cool $2,000,000.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/mccain_raises_2m_in_michigan.php

McCain Raises $2m In Michigan

07 May 2008 08:04 am

The tally from last night’s fundraiser at the Oakland, Co., Michigan mansion of Compuwere CEO Peter Karmanos: $2 million. Much of it will be sent to the RNC and to state parties.

400 people attended, including McCain advisers Charlie Black and Tom Loeffler and eBay’s Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney’s national finance chair, John Rakolta.

Romney was there, too. Scott, not Mitt.

Mitt was supposed to be there, but his plane from Boston was delayed because of weather.

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Interesting article at the DETROIT NEWS. We are not the only ones touting Mitt for office. Michiganders involved in state politics are trying to draft Romney to run for Governor of Michigan in 2010.

Although it’s a very nice compliment, I hope MR keeps his eyes on the prize, the White House in 2012!

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/POLITICS01/805060354

Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

Michigan native Mitt Romney helps host an Oakland County fundraiser today for Sen. John McCain, and said Monday he expects to campaign for McCain in Michigan and elsewhere.
But don’t expect Romney’s future to include a run for office here. Despite the hopes of some Michigan Republicans, the former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate said he has no plans to return to the state.

“There is no prospect that I will be running for statewide office in Michigan — or any other state for that matter,” Romney said. “I’ve made Massachusetts my home these last 35 years or so, and I don’t have plans to change the place where I run for office.”

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Read the whole thing. Here are some choice quotes:

In 2000, running against George W. Bush and the entire Carroll Campbell machine in South Carolina, John McCain got 42% of the vote, and 240,000 votes out of 573,000 or so cast.

Tonight, he got 33% of the vote in a field where his top challengers—Romney and Giuliani—aren’t even running, and 135,000 actual votes. If just the same people who voted for McCain in 2000 had voted for him today, he would have won 50+% of the South Carolina vote. That would have been truly impressive.

Instead, John McCain LOST the support of 100,000 people—and he’s the winner?

McCain had the same “success” in New Hampshire (McCain, 2000: 48%, 116,000 votes; McCain 2008: 37%, 89,000 votes) and Michigan (2000: 50%, 600,000 votes; 2008: 30%, 257,000 votes).

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According to the MSM……If Romney doesn’t win Iowa, he’s toast………If Romney doesn’t win Wyoming, he’s toast……..If Romney doesn’t win New Hampshire, he’s toast……..If Romney doesn’t win Michigan, he’s toast………If Romney doesn’t win Nevada, he’s toast……If Romney doesn’t win,…… oh, never mind, but you just wait until he has to face the Democrats in the Fall.

Sure.

Updated delegate count:

Romney——72

And now it’s on to Florida and let’s win there!

~~John Cronin~~

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http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1704390,00.html

By: Michael Duffy and Karen Tumulty

Whenever I am tempted to cool my anti-MSM rhetoric, along comes a screed like this one from our friends over at TIME/CNN. They describe Gov. Romney as a “strange, inauthentic collection of market research, body parts and DNA……assembled in a lab by the party’s mad scientists.”

I am sure they would spin this as a spoof of MR, or as political satire that they wouldn’t expect those of us who live in fly over country to fully appreciate, but I view it as some of the last gasps of the “Dinosaur Media” as it slinks into oblivion. What does this kind of writing say to the voters of Wyoming and Michigan who just propelled “the Frankenstein monster of the 2008 Republican sweepstakes” to sweeping victories in their primaries? No wonder the main use of their publications now is to wrap fish and to line the bottoms of birdcages.

Until he pulled into his home state of Michigan, Willard Mitt Romney was the Frankenstein monster of the 2008 Republican sweepstakes. The former Massachusetts governor at times seemed less like a real person than a strange, inauthentic collection of market research, body parts and DNA that had been borrowed from past GOP campaigns and assembled in a lab by the party’s mad scientists. Romney had the overpowering optimism of Ronald Reagan, the family values of Dan Quayle, the hair and handsome looks of Jack Kemp and the manners of George H.W. Bush. On paper, each piece of the Romney contraption was designed to appeal to a different part of the scattered GOP coalition. But the overall formula wasn’t working as expected. Romney placed second in Iowa and New Hampshire, despite pouring millions of his own fortune into the race. His rivals among the other candidates neither liked nor respected him, and that dynamic was beginning to show up in televised debates. Michigan would be where he regained his footing — or just got buried.

~~John Cronin~~

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