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Scenes from a Mitt Romney surrogate conference call, brought to you by Dave Weigel: So the Romney campaign held two surrogate conference calls today, giving Idaho's Gov. Butch Otter and Missouri's former Sen.
So the Romney campaign held two surrogate conference calls today, giving Idaho's Gov. Butch Otter and Missouri's former Sen. Talent (and others) space to trash Santorum. Talent did what he'd refused to in January: He criticized Santorum for supporting Medicare Part D. And then a reporter on the call pointed out that Talent had supported the same bill.
For the record, Butch Otter voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act as well. So it's anybody's guess how the Romney campaign allowed Santorum's support for this to even be broached as a topic on the conference call is a complete mystery.
Talent clarified that he didn?t mean to say that Santorum's (and his own) votes for bills like Medicare Part D can't "be explained or justified, because they can" but that Santorum's self-described image as a true conservative doesn't reflect the truth.
"Today, he's running in Missouri anyway as a kind of Jim DeMint conservative, which suggests that during his service he was actually much stronger on those issues," Talent said. "So what he's suggesting is misleading on two levels. He wasn't, even for Republicans at that time, he took a more liberal position on these issues, and then if you look at how the party's judging those things now, it's just hypocritical of him to suggest to people that he?s the conservative they can trust year in and year out, regardless of where the winds in Washington are going."
The Standard's Michael Warren followed up by asking, "But is this a mantle to which Romney himself could lay claim?" and cited Romney's "support for an individual health insurance mandate." Talent offered, "The mandate didn't bother Rick four years ago when he endorsed Gov. Romney [for president]."
But four years ago, the mandate didn't bother a lot of Republicans, including DeMint! (You may have noticed that time in 2008 when "Mitt Romney" ran for "president" on the strength of his novel "Massachusetts health care reform.")
'Severely Conservative'1 of 18FIRST SLIDEPREVIOUS SLIDENEXT SLIDESHOW After a rough week, Mitt Romney headed to Washington to prove his conservative bona fides at CPAC, stressing his upbringing and his history as a governor and business leader:
Mitt Romney gave one of the most important speeches during his second turn as a presidential candidate on Friday at CPAC, and instead of just defending his credentials to the audience of grassroots activists, he suggested that he is the most authentic conservative in the Republican primary. The presidential hopeful said he "fought against long odds in a deep blue state" while serving as governor of Massachusetts and that he was "severely conservative" during his tenure. Romney acknowledged to the crowd that he did not come to conservatism as a young activist, telling them that if he had heard the names of foundational authors Friedrich Hayek or Edmund Burke when he was a young man, "you could have told me they were infielders for the Detroit Tigers." "My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said. "Those aren't values that I just talk about. They're values I live every day." "I know conservatism because I have lived conservatism," Romney said.
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After a rough week, Mitt Romney headed to Washington to prove his conservative bona fides at CPAC, stressing his upbringing and his history as a governor and business leader:
Mitt Romney gave one of the most important speeches during his second turn as a presidential candidate on Friday at CPAC, and instead of just defending his credentials to the audience of grassroots activists, he suggested that he is the most authentic conservative in the Republican primary.
The presidential hopeful said he "fought against long odds in a deep blue state" while serving as governor of Massachusetts and that he was "severely conservative" during his tenure.
Romney acknowledged to the crowd that he did not come to conservatism as a young activist, telling them that if he had heard the names of foundational authors Friedrich Hayek or Edmund Burke when he was a young man, "you could have told me they were infielders for the Detroit Tigers."
"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said. "Those aren't values that I just talk about. They're values I live every day."
Mitt Romney gave one of the most important speeches during his second turn as a presidential candidate on Friday at CPAC, and instead of just defending his credentials to the audience of grassroots activists, he suggested that he is the most authentic conservative in the Republican primary. The presidential hopeful said he "fought against long odds in a deep blue state" while serving as governor of Massachusetts and that he was "severely conservative" during his tenure. Romney acknowledged to the crowd that he did not come to conservatism as a young activist, telling them that if he had heard the names of foundational authors Friedrich Hayek or Edmund Burke when he was a young man, "you could have told me they were infielders for the Detroit Tigers." "My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said. "Those aren't values that I just talk about. They're values I live every day." "I know conservatism because I have lived conservatism," Romney said.
Scenes from a Mitt Romney surrogate conference call, brought to you by Dave Weigel: So the Romney campaign held two surrogate conference calls today, giving Idaho's Gov. Butch Otter and Missouri's ...
Scenes from a Mitt Romney surrogate conference call, brought to you by Dave Weigel: So the Romney campaign held two surrogate conference calls today, giving Idaho's Gov. Butch Otter and Missouri's ...
Dave Weigel notes that Mitt Romney's new ad had him back behind the wheel of his car, straight up sentimentalizing about Detroit and the economy...
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Dave Weigel notes that Mitt Romney's new ad had him back behind the wheel of his car, straight up sentimentalizing about Detroit and the economy...
BOISE, Idaho. ? The latest Republican to surge in polls, Rick Santorum is trying to turn his newfound strength into something lasting. Curious Republicans now...
Mitt Romney hit back against Rick Santorum's suggestion that he rigged the CPAC straw poll, telling Fox News Radio's Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday that the...
AUGUSTA, Maine ? Pressure is on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state?s caucuses....
Over at Buzzfeed, Ben Smith gets a Mitt Romney adviser to detail the coming two-pronged attack that the Romney campaign and its affiliated super PAC...
AKaczynski1 Mitt Romney defends 2008 NY Times op-ed today with op-ed saying auto bailout "was crony capitalism on a grand scale.'" http://t.
MichiganDems Be sure to check out @GranholmTWR tonight at 9 pm. I'll be talking about how Mitt Romney turned his back on... http://t.
GlobalPost Demonstrators (and their pets) protest Mitt Romney's treatment of his dog, Seamus, outside the Westminster Dog Show: http://t.
rkref So Romney says Obama did "a classic Obama retreat, which is no retreat at all." Good to see you recognize you're out of your league, Mitt.
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