Powerline’s John Hinderaker went to hear Mitt Romney in what will be his only visit to Minnesota in this campaign. He has much to say, but this is what struck me as the most important:
As I listened to Romney, I asked myself: what better spokesman for conservative ideas have we had in recent years? I couldn’t think of any. You can go back to Reagan, of course. Reagan’s style was more cerebral, less passionate. He was a great articulator of conservatism, but no better, in my opinion, than Romney. Since Reagan? I can’t think of anyone.
While Romney spoke, I was flanked by two of Minnesota’s most dedicated conservative activists and donors. I asked each in turn, what better spokesman for conservative principles has our movement had in recent years? Like me, they couldn’t come up with any. Romney is as effective on the stump as any conservative I can remember. Of course, most voters will never see him this way. I think the Romney campaign needs to film him before audiences like tonight’s, and edit 30 or 60 second ads of him speaking to a friendly crowd the way he did tonight. Or, as one of my friends suggested, they could emulate Reagan and buy 30 minutes of network time for a more comprehensive speech. One way or another, Romney needs voters to see him unleashed and unedited.
If you doubt Romney as a conservative, you merely have to read his book, No Apology, to find out for yourself.
Encouraging, but the vast number of dependents he has created for himself gives Obama a large advantage
If you want to marvel at ABC leftism and hear a a truly bizzare take on Mitt Romney then watch the Lateline segment interview of former ‘conservative’ ‘W’ speech writer Robert Frum with a leftist spun intro story which spin your head Steve
I think the appointment of Paul Ryan has allayed many fears and has energised the Republican party and Tea Party both.
The very significant fly in the ointment is Akins
You mean David Frum, James? Haven’t seen the doco but I know exactly what you mean when talking about that guy. I would have thought that Romney was his perfect candidate after all the whinging he did about the conservative grassroots from 2009-2011 but now that even though a moderate is the flag bearer for his party he’s found plenty that annoys him about Romney too….
Cant stand the guy.
David Frum is not a representative of American Conservative, this Canadian Citizen is actually more like a wet Tory in GB….he is OK on immigration generally but not on much else.
Romney’s mild joke about birth certificates has the ABC in another lather of indignation, as if they have a dog in the fight.
Perhaps they do, as success there might be closely followed by success here for conservatives.
In any event, the ABC is always trying to paint the Republicans as mad right wingnut tea-partyists, then link that back to our own mild consrvatives as some sort of scare tactic.
As Gerard Henderson amply demonstrates again this week, we have a dedicated propaganda group under the banner of our National Broadcaster. The groupthink is astonishing, and disappointing in the extreme. They just don’t stop. They’re like daleks, wanting to exterminate conservatives wherever they see them.
Why did the Republican Party take so long to realize Romney’s obvious abilities? Why did Steve Kates support virtually all other candidates before settling on Romney when it became a lay down misere he would win?
I don’t think any of us knew beforehand how effective Reagan or Howard would be. They grew in the job, and are now looked back on with approval. Romney was not well known to us until recently apart from being a governor, and his stature remains to be confirmed in the long haul. But seeing someone like that perform effectively as a candidate and to comment approvingly on it is not a failure or judgement, but a modification based on increased exposure.
Increased exposurento Obama and his Chicago cohort has confirmed my early judgement that he was a mistake, and sold to the voters by a media campaign.
Reminds me why I don’t identify as a conservative.
Fair enough, you’re saying he has improved significantly over the last couple of months? That is a big improvement curve.
It will be interesting to see the opinion of him if he loses. Hehas a difficult job to steer a path between the Tea Party agenda and mainstream America. He has to be careful not to polarise and bring out opposition. If he can meet the expectations as a conservative spokesman of the generation he can win, otherwise it will be a very hard task.
Tea Party is becoming main stream America you clown.
Correct Alex.
Akin: I’m Staying In
Reminds me why I don’t identify as a conservative.
Too difficult to spell?
Oh by the way Steve, answering that question is easy and why Hinderaker’s mates couldn’t think of this was funny.
It’s Romney’s running mate.
FTFY
many political leaders are less than universally loved in their own parties even when they are winning.
see http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/presidential-predictions-from-economic.html
Berry and Bickers in “Forecasting the 2012 Presidential Election With State-Level Economic Indicators” predict the popular vote for each of 50 states and the District of Columbia.
They emphasize changes in each state in real per capita income, the national unemployment rate, the state-level unemployment rate, the vote received by that party in the previous election, a variable for whether the incumbent is a Democrat or a Republican, and for how many terms in a row the presidency would be held by a particular party.
they predict Romney will win the 2012 election with more than 52% of the popular vote. Obama will lose almost all of the swing states, including North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida!!
all in all, to close to call, which is a great achievement for Obama by being still in the race despite the great recession, which is the fault of his policies.