Romney to Palin: Run for President
Speaking on CNN last night, Mitt Romney said that despite his wife's urgings, he is not sure whether he will run for president in 2012.
Romney, however, did encourage Sarah Palin to run:
I believe she is an extraordinarily powerful and effective voice in our party, that she has generated a great deal of support and attention, that she'd be great in a primary process...She'd bring attention to the process, and frankly, the more people we have on the stage in those debates talking about different ideas and different approaches, the better.
Why would Romney be encouraging Palin to run? Could he be angling to be her VP? I don't think so. More likely, I think, is this: Romney thinks that Palin doesn't stand a chance of getting the official GOP nomination. That's why he carefully chose his words last night: "She'd be great in a primary process." This is clearly Romney's line on Palin. A day before the 2010 midterms, he said of Palin, "She would be a great thing for the Republican primary process."
Supporting Palin is a smart move for Romney. When he stops being coy and finally does announce that he will run in 2012, Romney will have made nice with the Palin crowd--which will play to his advantage when Palin bows out of the race. And this might be a crazy speculation, but what the heck: if Romney gets the nomination, maybe he will bring Palin in as his VP.
So ultimately, in Romney's calculation, he will have a better shot at securing the GOP nomination if Palin runs.
One final point: according to Rasmussen, nearly half of Palin supporters might support a third party candidate in 2012 if she does not get the GOP nomination. In that case, it will be more important than ever for whoever it is that does get the nomination to be a uniter. Could that person be Romney?
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Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
The father and stalwart defender of Romneycare could not possible unite the party. He wants Palin in for the purpose of overshadowing and annihilating the other, genuinely conservative candidates. Then, arguing that Palin cannot win, he might stand a chance in the race for the nomination.
Edited on Feb 2, 2011 at 7:01amRe: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Paul A. Rahe: The father and stalwart defender of Romneycare could not possible unite the party.
Edited on Feb 02 at 07:01 am
Ah yes, Romneycare--for which he isn't apologizing, he'll have you know.
Jun '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Exactly, Paul. It's a very shrewd move on Romney's part.
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Paul A. Rahe: He wants Palin in for the purpose of overshadowing and annihilating the other, genuinely conservative candidates. Then, arguing that Palin cannot win, he might stand a chance in the race for the nomination. · Feb 2 at 7:00am
Edited on Feb 02 at 07:01 am
Yes, I agree with you 100% that this is his strategy.
May '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Romney lost fair and square to John McCain. John McCain lost fair and square to Barack Obama. Why would the Republican party be foolish enough to nominate a loser? It's time for fresh faces and fresh ideas. Mitt's time has passed. He needs to think about in which European country's American embassy he would like to reside.
Sep '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
I don't want to see an Android-American President. Look what happened to Gore.
Nov '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
I'm a big fan of Palin, but I really hope she doesn't try for the Republican nomination. She has done wonders for the tea parties, and she's held up spectacularly well in spite of every awful, hateful thing the left can think of to throw at her.
The problem is that she could be our Obama. A young, attractive candidate, says all the right things, gets the base fired up, but with no resume for the job at all. We just did that, and look at what a Hindenburg of a president we got out of it.
The last thing the conservative movement needs is somebody like that. The left can afford it because the Western news media have turned themselves into Obama's press corps, but we could never get away with a mistake like that.
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Agreed. I'm still holding out for Rick Perry...
Dec '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Romneycare's failure is a cautionary tale for anyone who's willing to look with open eyes. I'm told that's how federalism is supposed to work. One state tries something, it works, and other states try it, or it fails and other states avoid that path.
I can't and won't blame Romney for trying something as a governor that was completely within the powers of that office, even if it was an abject failure.
Defending that failure is a completely different matter.
Romney's playing with fire right now. Not because Palin has any chance to be the nominee. But because the electorate is actually watching this cycle, and Romney seems to want to be seen as a chess player.
We want to remove an Alinskyite. Why would we replace him with someone nakedly Machiavellian?
Nov '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
John Bolton needs to flesh out his ideas on the economy, gun rights, and other domestic issues. Anticipating sound positions on those points, I am ready to give and work for his election. His foreign policy views and experience make me wish that he were in office right now.
There are many others whom I should prefer to Governor Romney. But his tactic of making Governor Palin a stalking horse is a clever one.
Jul '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Jerry Broaddus:
I can't and won't blame Romney for trying something as a governor that was completely within the powers of that office, even if it was an abject failure.
I'd be surprised if it was within the powers of his office.
At least no conservative I know would think so.
AND...it failed...it was destined to fail. Just as every rationing scheme is destined to fail.
Poor Mittens. I think he'd lose in a debate against Palin.
At least she believes in something.
Dec '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Starve the Beast: The problem is that she could be our Obama. A young, attractive candidate, says all the right things, gets the base fired up, but with no resume for the job at all. We just did that, and look at what a Hindenburg of a president we got out of it.
The last thing the conservative movement needs is somebody like that. The left can afford it because the Western news media have turned themselves into Obama's press corps, but we could never get away with a mistake like that. · Feb 2 at 7:17am
First, the Left can't afford that mistake: their Obama won, and has gone on to discredit the Left's ideas.
Second, Palin's resume, thin as it is, looks like the Oxford English Dictionary next to Obama's. As the recent New York Magazine profile pointed out, even Obama's inner circle knows he's never had a real job before.
Romney is being too clever by half. He ought to consider how it worked out for Hillary, as the presumptive nominee, to have a more charismatic candidate appealing to the Party base.
Sep '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Romney's last hope seems to be that his Executive Hair will seal the deal for voters. The response should be:
"We tried the Grecian Formula with RomneyCare and it still left a little too much gray."
Dec '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Jerry Broaddus: ... I'm told that's how federalism is supposed to work. One state tries something, it works, and other states try it, or it fails and other states avoid that path.
I can't and won't blame Romney for trying something as a governor that was completely within the powers of that office, even if it was an abject failure.
Defending that failure is a completely different matter.
Right. Instead of defending Romneycare he should admit it was a failed experiment and merely the best deal he could make as the governor of a very blue state.
Jerry Broaddus: Romney's playing with fire right now. Not because Palin has any chance to be the nominee. But because the electorate is actually watching this cycle...
We want to remove an Alinskyite. Why would we replace him with someone nakedly Machiavellian?
His support of Palin is so transparently and cynically political it may backfire. Voters may see it for what it is.
Romney may be maneuvering to become the compromise candidate -- the second or third choice of a majority. If so, he's going about it the wrong way.
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
I think it's either what Prof. Rahe said or simply that Romney is savvy enough to understand that despite Palin's allegedly high negatives, a bunch of her supporters adore her to the point that saying anything but positive things about her would permanently (and gratuitously) alienate those supporters. What's the point? Romney's verbal support of Palin won't help her at all; she will succeed or fail on her own. And any negative comments about her wouldn't hurt her or help him either. So it's a no-brainer for him to say nice things about this woman who is so adored by however many people adore her.
May '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
It depresses me that Romney might run again. No, he has no chance at winning the Republican nomination, but he would be popular enough to suck votes away from more viable and more admirable candidates.
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Exactly. He's playing it pragmatically when it comes to Palin.
Jul '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
I have trouble believing the bulk of Palin supporters would back Romney in any situation. I'll (likely) be voting for her in the primary and if she loses, I'll be supporting the GOP nominee but if it's Romney...I'm gonna have to hold my nose when I pull that lever and I have a feeling a lot of my fellow Palin supporters won't be willing to do it at all. I don't think we need to worry about this, since I'm pretty certain Mitt's moment has come and gone--Jon Huntsman may personally see to that--but I expect Mitt to put up an ugly fight when the time comes. As the situation in Egypt is demonstrating, sometimes the old guard is the last to realize that they're done.
Jul '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
The Tea Party is not interested in equivocation. They want Principle!
Romney has a habit of 'going political' when asked certain pointed questions. In almost every interview I've seen him in there always comes that one question where he has an opportunity to stand on principle wherein he gives that safe, walk-the-tightrope let's not offend anyone answer. (Something Palin doesn't do.)
This tells me that he is more interested in attaining the office than in accomplishing something in the office.
Aside from Romneycare I also remember the 1994 election. Romney looked like he was going to defeat Ted Kennedy. And then Newt announced the Contract With America. Within hours Mittens was on television explaining that the Contract was for House Members and he, Romney, was running for the Senate.
And the farther Romney distanced himself from the Contract With America, the lower he sank in the polls.
A person unwilling to stand for something will eventually end up falling for anything. I offer Romneycare as Exhibit 1.
There is a lesson in Christine O'Donnell that Establishment Republicans need to learn. Tea Partiers are not interested in same-old same-old in a new package!
Dec '10
Re: Romney to Palin: Run for President
Oddly enough, National Review Online allowed Romney to post the entire revised introduction to his book No Apology on their Corner blog. At 6,000 words, it seems like he posted the whole book: it really seems TL;NR ("too long; not read").
This part seems especially strange in light of RomneyCare:
Among liberals in Washington, there are those who regularly endeavor to substitute government choice for personal choice. Fearing that we might make a wrong choice in the selection of our health insurance plan, for example, they would require every health insurance policy to contain the coverages that they would choose for us. These might include, for example, eyeglass coverage, in vitro fertilization coverage or dental coverage. Rather than let the citizen choose which of these benefits he wants in his insurance policy, the choice is to be made for him by the government. Not only is the individual’s preference frustrated, but the benefits package becomes subject to special interest lobbyists who influence — and donate — to government politicians.