During a speech in front of conservative activists at CPAC this morning Mitt Romney formally announced he is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
For most of the salutatorian address Romney spoke about values and America's place in the world. The meat of the speech came at the end when he announced his withdrawal from the race.
"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention ... I'd forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I'd be making make it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. Frankly, in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."
Not addressed was the fact that the self-funding candidate was investing millions of his own personal fortune in bid that resulted in second place finishes.
Romney briefly mentioned McCain - to a smattering of boos - but he came short of issuing a full-throated endorsement of the Arizona "maverick".
All of the conventional wisdom now states the road is clear for John McCain's nomination. The national media is already placing the victor's laurel on his silvery mane.
Seems like the perfect time for another Huckaboom who has made a habit of coming up with electoral victories when left for dead.
If there is really this backlash, if a significant number of conservatives would rather vote for Hillary than McCain, one would logically assume that Huckabee will be the final beneficiary should he prosecute this race to the convention.
Extra: There are prominent Romney backers who are living under some serious delusions. Sean Hannity was just on FOXNews repeating the lie that Huckabee split the conservative vote ensuring McCain's victory.
As I wrote below this is not the case. In all the states on Super Tuesday that McCain won he did so by margins greater than Romney and Huckabee put together. And in the Republican South it can reasonably argued that Romney was the one that drew votes away from Huckabee.
A divided conservative electorate is not the reason why Romney did not gain more traction. Nor was it the Mormon thing. The reason he lost is because he was never able to get over the flip-flop Romney tag. The guy came across as phony, too plastic and not sincere.
Furthermore he ran a negative campaign that pointed out the faults of his opponents and did not adequately highlight his accomplishments.
(McCain will be speaking in a few minutes)
Booyah. But question: Why the word "suspended"? Is it just euphemistic for "dropping out"?
Posted by: Cydney on February 7, 2008 11:19 AMWhy, you ask? Easy: To hopefully send McCain a message now to blow off the concerns he's going to get from CPAC this week.
Posted by: Steve in Queen Anne on February 7, 2008 11:20 AMHow do you know we won't see another Nixon? Maybe Dubaya is Nixon II minus impeachment? Guess that make McCain the new Ford.
There may be financial considerations too. Continue to raise money, etc.
Why I won't vote for McCain:
1) Open borders policy and shamnesty.
2) Wants to eliminate waterboarding.
3) Embraces the liberal fake global warming. Take a look at I-90. We could USE some global warming. There is no scientific evidence to support anthropogenic theory of global warming. Those making the claims, such as Al gore are not climatologists and are not scientists at all. Many of the supposed signers of the UN report have asked for their names to be removed. We have seen this chicken little attempt at fear based power grabs before, in 1975 Newsweek published a story that told of the impending global ice age!
4) Unindicted co-conspirator of the Keating 5.
5) Gang of 14.
6) McCain Feingold.
7) McCain Kennedy.
8) McCain has stated Americans are too lazy to pick lettuce for $50/hr.
9) Has snubbed conservatives in his own party every chance he gets - unless of course it is election time.
10) It is a huge insult of my intelligence to think I am so stupid as to forget all the reasons above simply because he say now, in the light of the campaign spotlights, he is for all those things that via his actions he has shown is against.
Posted by: pbj on February 7, 2008 11:25 AMCato- this is supposed to make us feel better about McCain??????
Posted by: Tommy on February 7, 2008 11:29 AMThen look for the pounce where they will start hammering away on his involvement in the Bank scandal from the 80's.
You didn't think they spent the last 2 years painting the Republicans as the party of corruption for nothing, did you? It's all been a set-up from the beginning between the MSM and the DNC.
The only thing that has gone wrong with their plan so far is Hillary was suppossed to have clinched it by now for the Dem's. Terry Macaulliffe spent a lot of time and money for the Clinton's getting the primaries moved early and get the super-delegates in place for the DNC. They never expected that Obama would actually get a following like he has where people are actually donating money to keep his campaign going. But Hillary will get the nomination no matter what dirty tricks they have to play.
And then will come the onslaught of negative journalism against the Republican like never before. I can smell it a mile away.
Posted by: Ken on February 7, 2008 11:33 AMWhat, like the one in WV, which was handed to him by McCain's supporters?
Posted by: ewaggin on February 7, 2008 11:45 AMSee what happens when you play the middle of the road to many times John! (maverick)
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on February 7, 2008 11:49 AMWhy?
#1 Virtually every act of hostile regimes in the middle east since 1988 has been based on the premise that the United States will not retaliate or go against the will of the UN. Saddam was so sure of this that he bet his life on it. This is Clinton's biggest foreign policy legacy and part of a Bush Sr blunder.
#2 Iraq is recovering faster than ANY invaded nation in the history of the world. Pelosi it up with left wing A.D.D. all you want- this is a fact.
Cato- have your meds kicked in since the surge has been working so well?
Posted by: Andy on February 7, 2008 11:52 AMDon't worry about Duffie. He has enough worries already. His lady is crashing and now out of cash. Well except for Bill's cash he loaned to her. LOL
Hey Duffie can you say OBAMA, bet you can... (-:
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on February 7, 2008 11:55 AMLook -- I believe in Jesus as much as the next guy...but that doesn't mean I have to take a cross to the polling booth.
If McCain is elected president, we'll have a four-year disaster, with the Republicans in Congress co-opted by "our" president, followed by 30 years of Democratic rule.
There's your choice, America.
- Ann Coulter
A sane immigration bill? Only if there are enough Republicans in Congress to stop things like z-visas.
Waterboarding isn't torture, at least not as defined by our own soldiers, some of whom undergo the very same thing in training.
And close Gitmo? Sure, why not. Let's go ahead and appoint those scumbags ACLU lawyers and read them their rights while we're at it.
Posted by: Steve in Queen Anne on February 7, 2008 12:09 PMThere is really only one person that matters in the GOP race anymore and that is McCain. Huckabee's base is pretty much in the South and a few far right wingers sprinkled through out the West. He has no shot at the nomination and will not be the VP candidate either. There are too many people out there, myself included, that he scares the hell out of, especially after his speech in Michigan where he proclaimed that we need to amend the constitution to match "God's Law". Religion should have NO part in politics regardless of political view and it sickens me that this great country that was founded in part on the separation of Church & State has become more polarized on this one topic than just about anything else.
I personally do not declare myself to any party and I always vote for the person that I think will do the best job, regardless of party affiliation. It's too bad that there are so many people in this country that don't do that, and follow the crowd like lemmings. Learn to think for yourself and realize that there is no perfect candidate...no one that is going to match every single one of your beliefs and no one that is going to make you perfectly happy.
I am NOT happy at all with the Final Four that we have, but out of the ones that remain, McCain is probably the most moderate of them all, and probably the only one that is closer to what the "Average American" feels.
BTW, if the Dem ticket ends up Clinton/Obama, don't be surprised at all if McCain tabs Rice as his VP to counter the black & woman Dem vote...
No, not Condi. She needs to run for something smaller first.
A better choice is a younger, more energetic conservative. Think JC Watts.
Posted by: Steve in Queen Anne on February 7, 2008 12:16 PMThis has been one of if not the worst and most polarizing administrations in our history. It has been one lie after another, one clusterf#@k after another and the most costly one in our history when you take into count the world respect that we have lost, the money that this family blood feud has cost us (Iraq) and worst of all the invasion of privacy and loss of freedoms that the citizens of this nation have suffered through in the name of Bush's "War on Terror".
As the child of a retired Army soldier, and a USAF vet myself, I'm all for national security, strengthening our borders, protecting our nation and our national interests, but there is a point when event the most die hard of Bush supporters has to realize that the tipping point of sanity and reason was passed a long time ago.
Bush is an embarrassment and we will have to suffer his legacy for the rest of our lives. If we are lucky, at some point our children will be able to come out from under his shadow, but it most likely will not happen in our lifetime...
Posted by: Kraegarth on February 7, 2008 12:42 PMI see McCain as being a terrific VP, but not a P.
Posted by: Cydney on February 7, 2008 12:44 PMNo religious hatred canard here. Just a question of conscience.
He is certainly the greatest president since Reagan. But given that his competition consists of his dad and Bill Clinton, that's like being "the greatest meal made entirely from shredded tires and glass shards."
Posted by: ScottM on February 7, 2008 12:50 PMYou just know that Huckabee will say something crass and juvenile.
Posted by: John425 on February 7, 2008 12:59 PM You just couldn't resist taking a final shot at
Romney could you. That was such a classy thing to
do. I'm just wondering if your going to take the same kind
of shots at McCain. Now that its just he and your boy Huckabee.
mercifurious,
Would you ever vote for a Catholic for President?
(or any political office?)
No religious hatred canard here. Just a question
of conscience.
Do you see how stupid that sounds? Why even bring it up. The fact you would ask a question like that makes me wonder whats wrong with some of you
people.
No, he realized his campaign was doomed for failure. Why blow the 3.2 billion just to get the big mess Dubya's leaving you. Clearly he realizes a sound investment when he sees one.
I almost feel sorry for the heir apparent. He's going to get a load of crap to sort out and no "true" conservative is going to help him out.
I'm not sure you'll belive me, but the answer is a resounding Yes.
I refuse to believe that Mr. Romney being a Mormon causes him to change his position over and over again on, not only issues I care strongly about but, most issues.
In fact, early on when I did not know anything about him, I was interested and would have backed him. But as I learned about his changing positions, I became underwhelmed.
Quite frankly, I'm not sure how we could give John Kerry a hard time for changing positions on one--albeit big--issue and give this guy a pass after shifting on many.
Take it or leave it, but it's the truth.
Posted by: Lynnwood Evangelical on February 7, 2008 01:11 PMSigh, I know. And I really don't agree with his choice.
As for Condi, she's an academic, and policy wonk and has never shown any inclination toward elected office. She's had a tough row in her job, hasn't been very successful influencing policy within the administration; and perhaps unfairly, she can easily be called a promulgator of the very unpopular Bush foregn policy. Her career is another tragedy (along with Colin Powell's and others) of this disastrous administration.
You and I obviously disagree on the disaster part, but we agree on Condi. She hasn't exactly been the world-beater at State I for one thought she'd be. Some of that is because she's not angling for the cameras as much as previous SecStates would have, some of that is the lack of traction for a mideast peace plan.
For the former, even if she was successful behind the scenes, if no one knows about it it might as well be a failure.
Was going to caucus on Saturday, but no reason now.
Was considering contributing to the RNC, but also no reason now. Will, however, contribute to Dino.
Kraegarth @ 34: This question has been asked before when other simple-minded trolls whined about "loss of freedoms", but I'd still like to ask you to name some specific freedoms you have lost in the last seven years. None of the other trolls have responded previously, but let's hear what you have to say....
Posted by: Saltherring on February 7, 2008 01:15 PMI would assume that since that is the only thing in my post that you seemed to have an issue with, that you must agree with everything else in at least some fashion :-)
In regards to your question concerning what rights have been lost, here are examples of freedoms which under President Bush have already been expunged as reported by the AP...a CREDIBLE News service...
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION: Government may monitor religious and political institutions without suspecting criminal activity to assist terror investigations.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: Government has closed once-public immigration hearings, has secretly detained hundreds of people without charges, and has encouraged bureaucrats to resist public records questions.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH: Government may prosecute librarians or keepers of any other records if they tell anyone that the government subpoenaed information related to a terror investigation.
RIGHT TO LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Government may monitor federal prison jailhouse conversations between attorneys and clients, and deny lawyers to Americans accused of crimes.
FREEDOM FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES: Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation.
RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial.
RIGHT TO LIBERTY: Americans may be jailed without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them.
One more thing, I tend not to think of myself as "simple-minded troll" that stumbled across your private soapbox, but a rather concerned citizen of this country, and veteran on the military who served proudly & honorably, that had never heard of this site until today.
My apologies if my reason and logical way of thinking are not in line with your extremist POV, but then again, Freedom of Speech, and Association are one of the things that made this the greatest country in history!
Oh, that's right, we don't have those anymore...my bad...
Try to come up with something about the topic and not some little personal agenda. The other readers will appreciate it.
Posted by: Don Ward on February 7, 2008 01:51 PMRecently, Lysander was complaining about the screwjob the Louisiana Republicans did to his candidate.
Now, it appears the Democrats may also retroactively change the rules to allow Michigan and Florida non-voters and delegates to cast votes at their convention if things go head-to-head the rest of the way. Holy mackerel Batman, it's the Shade of Clinton, since the rules Obama said they didn't count.
Posted by: swatter on February 7, 2008 01:52 PM"In all the states on Super Tuesday that McCain won he did so by margins greater than Romney and Huckabee put together."
The reality is that John McCain won 9 of the 21 Super Tuesday contests: California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri, Arizona, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Delaware.
In 4 of these 9 contests, Romney and Huckabee put together out-polled McCain:
California: McCain 42% Romney 34% Huckabee 12%
Missouri: McCain 33% Romney 29% Huckabee 32%
Oklahoma: McCain 37% Romney 25% Huckabee 33%
Delaware: McCain 45% Romney 33% Huckabee 15%
In two additional states, McCain received less than 1/2 of the Republican primary vote: Illinois 47% and Arizona 48% (his home state, which he has served for over 1/4 century in Congress).
McCain only won a majority of the popular vote from 3 of the 21 Super Tuesday states: New York 51%, New Jersey 55% and Connecticut 52%.
However, due to the winner-take-all-by-state and winner-take-all-by-district Republican delegate rules in most of the states, McCain ended up with nearly 2/3 of the Super Tuesday delegates: McCain 627, Romney 202, Huckabee 157.
DW - If you had read what I wrote (with yesterday's numbers) you would have noticed that I included Giuliani numbers into some of those equations. Because, you know, the man actually endorsed McCain.
But then, basic reading comprehension and grasping complex facts like, arithmetic, has never been one of your strong-points Pope. Take a walk.
Posted by: Richard Pope on February 7, 2008 02:15 PMPosted by John Bailo at February 7, 2008 11:57 AM
And nobody's asking you to, John.
I most certainly don't 'take a cross to the polling booth', but I would like to have the opportunity to vote for someone who hasn't spent most of the last 10 years kicking me in the teeth and basking in the MSM praise for doing so. See: McCain, John.
As far as Romney dropping out? I didn't much care for him in the first place. It was already less and lessor with those two.
The good news is, I'll no longer have to wade through Eric's incessant cheerleading here and KLO's non-stop adulation of all things Romney at The Corner.
And Huckabee? Please. If you liked GWB's spending habits along with Clinton's penchant for granting himself personal favors, you'd love Huckabee.
Fact is, the GOP's candidates stink and for the first time in the 26 years I've been able to vote, I shall not cast a ballot for POTUS. If that means an Obama or Clinton presidency, so be it. I've lived through worse.
Posted by: jimg on February 7, 2008 02:36 PMGee. Let me take a wild guess. Ron Paul supporter?
Posted by: jimg on February 7, 2008 02:39 PMYou ain't so hot at winning elections, either.
Posted by: jimg on February 7, 2008 02:44 PMNo, as a matter of fact I am still undecided on my pick for this years POTUS election. The only two that are out for sure in my mind are Hillary, because I don't trust her in the slightest and Huckabee because I actually respect the separation of Church & State and do NOT want to see any attempts to change the Constitution to reflect "God's Law". I say again that religion has NO place in politics, especially National politics in a country of over 300 million with various religions and personal beliefs.
As for your comment on not voting for the POTUS in 26 years, if you really do take that path and not vote for anyone in the General Election, I will expect you to not criticize which ever person is elected. Even if you have to write in a candidate, you should do that.
If you do not vote you have no reason to complain or bitch about the direction of the country or the policies that are put into place by the new administration.
Guess I'm going to be voting for the Constitution Party candidate come November.
Thanks for the response @ 46. Sorry I lumped you in with the no-response trolls. And yes, those are serious examples of compromises in our rights, especially if you're a terrorist. And in peacetime, I would never have supported the Patriot Act, but in wartime, most countries (yes, even constitutional republics) take measures to root out those who would do the mother country harm. We haven't been attacked on U.S. soil since 9/11/01, so I'd like to think the Patriot Act provisions have helped. In any case, I do sympathize with your concerns.
Posted by: Saltherring on February 7, 2008 04:54 PMYou are free to say, "go ahead, I deliever up to you, nanny state, all of my rights. In exchange, I want you to take care of me." A lot of people are like this. They seem to be saying that they have nothing to hide, and so they are happy to have the government investigate them and search them without a warrant. They trust the government in spite of the fact that government programs have a long history of not working. You sacrifice your essential liberties for nothing.
But you and these others have NO right to rescind MY rights. They are MINE, and not yours to throw away just because YOU are afraid of terrorists.
Samuel Adams is apropos:
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your consul, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen."
This part of the age-old fight for liberty against those who would rule us and subjugate us. People who don't care about the losses of liberty so well listed @ 46 deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Posted by: Bruce Guthrie on February 7, 2008 06:06 PMHAHAHAHAHA!!!! What final shot? You, my sir, amuse me. All did was ask if "suspend" was euphemistic, as in, Romney is trying to sound like he's dropping out but not entirely...toning down the term for his supporters. I wouldn't call that a "final shot".
Welcome to politics, Phil.
Posted by: Cydney on February 7, 2008 07:36 PMJust a '45 second "poll" said the recording.
Went negative really quick when I answered No about supporting Huck now that Romney has dropped out. Calling Romney a flip-flopper on the topic of 'life. Idiots.
What a moronic waste of money by POLDATRES 703-263-9092. Huck I hope even with Romney out of the race that he still gets more delegates from WA state than you do!!!! :P
Posted by: Matt on February 7, 2008 08:17 PMJust a '45 second "poll" said the recording.
Went negative really quick when I answered No about supporting Huck now that Romney has dropped out. Calling Romney a flip-flopper on the topic of 'life. Idiots.
What a moronic waste of money by POLDATRES 703-263-9092. Huck I hope even with Romney out of the race that he still gets more delegates from WA state than you do!!!! :P
Posted by: Matt on February 7, 2008 08:18 PMAmerica can't stand another Dope from Hope,AR
Posted by: Rick D. on February 7, 2008 09:06 PM