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Romney on Obama: Voters Want Someone "Who is Proud of the Flag"

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts liberal turned hard right presidential candidate, emerges from semi-retirement with a fresh set of Republican talking points to sell the candidacy of John McCain, and, probably his audition as vice-presidential nominee.

This morning, the airbrushed anti-gay venture capitalist was seen on the Obama Network (aka MSNBC) on Morning Joe, hosted by former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough. At issue: Barack Obama's campaign, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and "patriotism." Video and Transcript at Raw Story.

[Obama] said that he repudiates what Rev. Wright said. I don't have any reason to take exception to that. I think of course individuals want to see somebody who loves their country, proud of the flag. I think Sen. McCain, at a time like this, as he goes across the country and lays out aspects of his life, you get a much broader picture than just the years he spent in Hanoi in a prison camp. You recognize him as a individual who served our country throughout his lifetime and that's really one of the reasons people will be drawn to his campaign."

Which, of course, for those of you without a secret decoder ring at home, implies Obama does not "love" his "country" or his "flag", a familiar theme in the right-wing arsenal against Obama, going back to the flag lapel drama and Michelle Obama's "For-the-first-time-in-my-life, I-am-really-proud-of-my-country" comments.

At some point, it might be beneficial for the candidate himself to directly address these talking points. Or, maybe John Kerry has given some other advice.

Video: Romney Swipes at Obama [Raw Story]

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Romney Endorses McCain

Once bitter rivals, former Massachusetts Gov. "Multiple Choice" Mitt Romney joins the growing ranks of GOP leadership uniting behind presumptive nominee John McCain. What a sweet Valentine ...

In Boston today, Romney formally endorsed McCain (video) and asked his delegates to vote for McCain. Guess this means Romney resolved his fundamental differences with McCain over immigration, tax cuts, stem cell research, campaign finance reform, the marriage amendment, ...

When he ended his faltering and expensive bid for the Republican presidential nomination last week, the airbrushed anti-gay gazillionaire said a protracted primary battle would delay the launch of a national campaign against the Democrats, plus, it might help the terrorists. This was the next logical step for Romney because Republicans value loyalty and Romney wants a future in the Party.

Ex GOP Candidate Romney Endorses McCain [HuffPo]

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Romney Out of Presidential Race

After a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday, former Massachusetts Gov. "Multiple Choice" Mitt Romney ends his faltering and expensive bid for the Republican presidential nomination and effectively seals the nomination for John McCain.

The surprise announcement was made in the last hour at the opening of this year's gathering of the Conservative Political Action Committee in Washington DC. The anti-gay and newly social conservative presidential candidate's surprise announcement was met with calls of "NO!" from the audience because many conservatives activists are chilly and even downright hostile to McCain's presidential ambitions. "McCain's named was booed by some members of the audience at the conference when Romney mentioned him," Reuters notes.

As opposed to mentioning his recent loss of 14 of 21 states on Super Tuesday, the airbrushed gazillionaire employed patriotic imagery, the fear of "Islamo-fascism", and, the specter of a Democratic "surrender to terror" to rationalize his decision.

"I must now stand aside, for our party and our country," Romney told conservatives. "If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

The reality, of course, is that although Romney is a darling of movement conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, the formerly liberal governor of Massachusetts failed to gain traction among conservatives and Republican primary voters. Romney did have some wins in Michigan and the West, where his Mormonism is viewed less suspiciously, but, conservatives and evangelical voters in Iowa and the Southern states have been notoriously opposed to Mormons and Romney failed to win any of these primaries. Or, maybe he just "didn't connect."

Romney's decision is a delicious helping of political schadenfreude but should be a reason for celebration. Many progressives—as well as strategists within the Obama and Clinton camps—have hoped that Romney would be able to buy win the nomination, if only because he would be ridiculously easy to beat. With the nation currently fighting two wars, and, his ability to attract independents and Democrats, the hawkish war hero John McCain is a much more formidable opponent.

Romney Suspends Campaign [AP]
Republican Romney Quits US Race [Reuters]

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Ex-Romney Strategist, Sex Offender Questioned in Baby Homicide

The hits keep coming for "Multiple Choice" Mitt Romney, the airbrushed gazillionaire, former governor of Massachusetts and Republican presidential candidate. On the eve of the Florida Republican primary, news surfaces that a former aide is once again behind bars on sex offender charges after being questioned in connection with the homicide of a seven-month-old girl.

The Boston Herald: 26-year-old Matthew Joseph Elliott, former strategist with the Romney Iowa campaign, "was arrested Monday night at a Des Moines home where the baby died. An autopsy ruled the death a homicide, police said. West Des Moines Police Lt. Jeff Miller said no suspects have been named in the baby’s killing but Elliott has been questioned in connection with her death. Elliott has not been charged"

Several sources confirm Elliott's extensive arrest record—the registered sex offender was convicted in Iowa in October 2006 of exploiting a minor, and, "his rap sheet in Iowa also includes charges of escaping from authorities and violating the state’s sex offender registry, records show." Given this history, it is very curious that not only was he a key player in Romney's advance operation in Iowa, but, once played a leadership role in Iowa College Republicans and was director of the Iowa GOP's legislative campaign operation.

Elliott's arrest is just the latest chapter in a revolving door of Republican presidential strategists involved in violent crimes or sexual offenses. John McCain co-chairman Bob Allen arrested and convicted for offering an undercover (black!) male police officer $20 to perform oral sex. Rudy Giuliani event organizer was arrested for extorting a (male!) college student in a sex case. South Carolina Giuliani co-chairman indicted for running a cocaine ring? You have to love those Republican family values ...

Ex-Romney Iowa Worker Quizzed in Baby Slay [BH]
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Finally! Romney Wins Michigan

This is wonderful news. After dismal showings in New Hampshire and Iowa and hemorrhaging millions of dollars of his own money, "Multiple Choice" Mitt Romney places first in the Michigan primary. Yea! The formerly liberal and now very anti-gay Republican governor of Massachusetts won approximately 39 percent of the vote to Sen.John McCain's 30 percent.

The expensive Romney win advances the Daily Kos "chaos theory" since Republican voters have abandoned their free market theories and are apparently rationing presidential primary victories. (= Good for Democrats) The Times' analysis is somewhat more polite:

Mr. Romney’s victory guarantees a headache for political watchdogs as the competitive Republican field heads to South Carolina for its Saturday primary. Mr. Romney, Mr. McCain and Mr. Huckabee have each won a major primary or caucus, leaving the party without a clear frontrunner.

Despite lacking a concrete plan to jumpstart the economy in the state with the highest unemployment— somewhat derided by Beltway conservatives—Romney apparently won on his technocrat credentials. It didn't hurt that Romney's father was a three-term popular and principled governor (unlike you-know-who) and the Mittster grew up in suburban Detroit. Officials say low "voter turnout may also have helped Mr. Romney’s cause. Freezing temperatures, an early morning snowfall, and a dearth of Democratic contenders on the ballot may have [also] affected turnout."

Rudy Giuliani was an asterisk with three percent of the vote. Far right-wing no-shot presidential candidate Ron Paul won twice as many votes as the former New York City mayor.

Now it's off to South Carolina where the gazillionaire Romney can sink more of his hard-earned millions into negative advertising against McCain. Hopefully this translate into a victory for Fred Thompson or Mike Huckabee.

McCain Wins New Hampshire

CNN projects Arizona Sen. John McCain as the winner of the New Hampshire Republican primary. McCain, whose campaign was written off as DOA as recently as last summer and fall, benefits from "a record turnout for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary" as well as "wide open race in both parties and unseasonably mild temperatures."

McCain's is a sharp rebuke to "Multiple Choice" Mitt Romney, the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts who was expected to be the favorite, but, was the distant second choice in the Iowa Caucus. Romney's misfortunes were sealed when two of the state's leading newspapers published unprecedented anti-Romney editorials, focusing on his shifting positions and ongoing questions on his authenticity.

You can spend your entire fortune, Mitt, but you can't run from the truth.

Strategist: Romney Best Candidate to Stop the "Militant Gay" Agenda"

Only hours before the Iowa Caucus and the official beginning of the 2008 election season. Apparently, the strategists at the Mitt Romney campaign are eying the polling data and fear embarrassment if their millions of dollars cannot buy the social conservative vote in the Hawkeye State.

Via Think Progress: On MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent (R, of course), who now advises Romney, pushed back on well-documented clams that Romney previously claimed to be a strong supporter of gay rights. Talent maintains Romney has never been inconsistent on gay rights and has "always" tried to stop the influence of "the militant gays." Video and Transcript at Think Progress:

"He’s always had the same position as to regards to the gay agenda. Look, he wants to know people to know he values gay people as people, okay? But he doesn’t want the militant gays to be able to change the cultural institutions of the country."

"Multiple Choice" Mitt has not "always had the same positions" on the gay agenda, whatever that may be, We've reported this since last year and this is the reason the press and fellow Republicans constantly question Romney's authenticity. Even the mainstream media is aware of Romney's revisionist history on gay rights: Pam Spaulding links to You Tube of CNN's Wolf Blitzer questioning Romney on his previous opposition to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

No matter how much you spend to run for president, you can't run from your record, Mitt.

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Mitt Romney's Father Marched "With" MLK? It Depends Upon What Your Definition of "With" Is ...

During his much-hyped and anti-climactic "big" speech on his Mormon faith, revisionist Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed he "saw" his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, "march with Martin Luther King." This claim was repeated last weekend on NBC's Meet the Press. This sounds great—the elder Romney was strong supporter of King and sparred with the quasi-racist Goldwater faction of the Republican Party—except there is one problem: It never happened.

The Boston Phoenix has extensively researched the shifting claims by "multiple choice" Romney—the elder Romney marched "with" King in Grosse Pointe in 1968, or, was it Detroit in 1963?—and "can find no evidence that the senior Romney actually marched with King, nor anything in the public record suggesting that he ever claimed to do so." Romney did participate in a civil rights protest against "housing bias in Grosse Pointe just six days after the King march", but, according to the Free Press, "King was not there."

The 1968 claim, which Romney has repeated several times, is especially troubling because at that time the younger Romney was "in the middle of his two-year mission for the Mormon church in Le Havre, France" and, even if it did happen, which it didn't, Mitt would not have been able to "see":this.

The Romney campaign now says the claim was clearly meant to be allegorical and channels Bill Clinton to explain the discrepancy. "He was speaking figuratively, not literally," clarifies Eric Fehrnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign.

In other words, it depends upon what your definition of "with" is.

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Romney REFUSES to Blame Mormon Church for Historic Bias Against Blacks on "Meet the Press"

Republican presidential candidate and airbrushed gazillionaire Mitt Romney has only now began to answer some questions around his faith and membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints—but this is only in general terms because his recent so-called "big" speech on his faith only once mentioned the word "Mormon."

In January, you will recall Rod 2.0 asked when Romney would publicly address the historic bias against black people and exclusion of blacks in church leadership that officially ended in 1978 when Romney was 31years-old. Tim Russert—who we've previously criticized for softball questions to Republican candidates and his transparent hit job on the Democratic front runner—deserves credit for raising the question over the weekend when Romney appeared on Meet the Press. Was the church wrong to bar blacks from the priesthood and teach the theory that blacks were "cursed"? Romney refuses to say. Transcript and video.

GOV. ROMNEY: I'm very proud of my faith, and it's the faith of my fathers, and I certainly believe that it is a, a faith--well, it's true and I love my faith. And I'm not going to distance myself in any way from my faith. But you can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at, at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights. You may recall that my dad walked out of the Republican convention in 1964 in San Francisco in part because Barry Goldwater, in his speech, gave my dad the impression that he was someone who was going to be weak on civil rights. So my dad's reputation, my mom's and my own has always been one of reaching out to people and not discriminating based upon race or anything else. And so those are my fundamental core beliefs, and I was anxious to see a change in, in my church.

I can remember when, when I heard about the change being made. I was driving home from, I think, it was law school, but I was driving home, going through the Fresh Pond rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I heard it on the radio, and I pulled over and, and literally wept. Even at this day it's emotional, and so it's very deep and fundamental in my, in my life and my most core beliefs that all people are children of God. My faith has always told me that. My faith has also always told me that, in the eyes of God, every individual was, was merited the, the fullest degree of happiness in the hereafter, and I, and I had no question in my mind that African-Americans and, and blacks generally, would have every right and every benefit in the hereafter that anyone else had and that God is no respecter of persons.

The Republican candidate evaded the question on the morality of the church's historic exclusionary doctrine against blacks and instead discusses their full membership in the hypothetical "hereafter." Interesting that the governor invoked the spirit of his father, George Romney, who went out of his way to rebuke the anti-civil rights and racists of the Goldwater era. Mitt, of course, has shown no such courage in opposing the far-right, anti-gay and quasi-racist base within the Republican Party.

Mitt Romney has not answered that question with a clear and unambiguous answer—and probably never will. "He'll alienate a lot more Americans if he says that, prior to 1978, dark skinned people were cursed by God and were unfit to enter Mormon temples or to serve on the mission field," notes Frank Lockwwod at Bible Belt Blogger. "But he'll also alienate a large number of supporters if he says that his church's pre-1978 bar on blacks in the priesthood was immoral."

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"National Review" Endorses Mitt Romney for President

The faltering campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney receives a much-needed shot in the arm from the National Review. The literary grande dame of the conservative movement endorsed the former governor of Massachusetts for president, praising him as "a natural ally of social conservatives" and describing the airbrushed gazillionaire as "a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest."

It's certainly accurate to describe "multiple choice" Mitt Romney as a "full-spectrum" conservative: The newly-found conservative has taken positions across the entire spectrum of possibilities. Pro-choice for much of his career, now he is anti-choice. Pro-gay rights, then pledged not to oppose same-sex marriage, now, totally opposed to gay concerns. Long opposed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," now supports the failed policy. Once opposed to handguns, now ...

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