Mitt Romney Announces Senate Run

 

Former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney made it official. Via a campaign video, he announced he’s running to replace Orrin Hatch as the next US Senator from Utah.

In 2012, Romney won Utah’s vote by nearly 50 points. Now at age 70, he’s going to see if he’s still got it. What do you think: are you happy Mitt’s running for office again?

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  1. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    You don’t like the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”?

    You do?

    Let me be perfectly clear:  I love the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”!

    • #151
  2. Matt Balzer Member
    Matt Balzer
    @MattBalzer

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    You don’t like the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”?

    I’m not a fan. However that wasn’t what I was talking about.

    As to the post, I’ll use Tommy Thompson here in Wisconsin as a comparison . I’ll vote for him, but is he really the best we can do?

    • #152
  3. Matt Balzer Member
    Matt Balzer
    @MattBalzer

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    You don’t like the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”?

    You do?

    Let me be perfectly clear: I love the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”!

    Man, you know who else was perfectly clear.

    • #153
  4. Matt Balzer Member
    Matt Balzer
    @MattBalzer

    Django (View Comment):
    Now, I’m off to do something useful. I have this bottle of potentially good Zinfandel I want to open.

    I can do both.

    • #154
  5. Kevin Schulte Member
    Kevin Schulte
    @KevinSchulte

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    You don’t like the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”?

    You do?

    Let me be perfectly clear: I love the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”!

    Gary, I especially loved it after the Great Election of 2016. Romney went to visit the Orange God-King to kiss his ring. After the humiliating ring kiss, Trump told the  Great Dog Persecutor.

    “Your dismissed now”

    • #155
  6. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Kevin Schulte (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    You don’t like the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”?

    You do?

    Let me be perfectly clear: I love the phrase “kneeling before the Orange God-King”!

    Gary, I especially loved it after the Great Election of 2016. Romney went to visit the Orange God-King to kiss his ring. After the humiliating ring kiss, Trump told the Great Dog Persecutor.

    “Your dismissed now”

    I remember it a bit differently.

    You have a flair for turning a phrase, “the Great Dog Persecutor.”

    • #156
  7. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    M1919A4 (View Comment):
    I regret that Mr.. Romney is running for the Senate. I thought that he failed to fight effectively against President Obama in the election and that he threw in with the “soft” wing of the Republican Party afterward.

    Utah needs to send up another, younger man, someone like Senator Lee. I think that Mr. Romney will spend his time hectoring the country about issues more “elevated” than the raw political matters (such as filling the federal appellate bench with sound judges) that are so critical to the country’s preservation.

    Among other reasons, here’s the thing that bugged me the most about Mitt Romney when he ran for president.  Paul Ryan had a plan for reforming entitlements that was so mild it would have taken something like 20 years to balance the budget.  Then when he was named Mitt Romney’s VP candidate, Ryan had to abandon or modify that plan because it was just too harsh for team Romney.

    I get that in a state like Massachusetts a Republican cannot get elected unless they are a watered-down Democrat.  But Utah?  Surely an actual conservative/conservatarian could win there, so why settle for Mitt Romney?

    • #157
  8. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Now they think that Fusion GPS and Perkins Coie can be charged as unregistered foreign agents. I love it.

    • #158
  9. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney.  How sweet it is!

    • #159
  10. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney. How sweet it is!

    Image result for Eye-rolling gif

    • #160
  11. Kevin Schulte Member
    Kevin Schulte
    @KevinSchulte

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney. How sweet it is!

    The Don has not surrendered to the The Royal Dog Persecutor.

    It is an olive branch of peace offered to take him under his fold.

    If The Royal Dog Persecutor bites the Don’s hand. Well then, to bad, so sad, for The Royal Dog Persecutor. ;)

    • #161
  12. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    Kevin Schulte (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney. How sweet it is!

    The Don has not surrendered to the The Royal Dog Persecutor.

    It is an olive branch of peace offered to take him under his fold.

    If The Royal Dog Persecutor bites the Don’s hand. Well then, to bad, so sad, for The Royal Dog Persecutor. ;)

    Can we please stop with this kind of talk?

    How about Senator Romney vote his conscience whether he agrees with Trump or not?

    Whether or not Romney’s future actions are correct is not determined by Trump alone. This kind of language is the reason Trump supporters are accused of cult of personality behavior.

    • #162
  13. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney. How sweet it is!

    After all the things Romney said about Trump, I think he’d be quite the hypocrite to accept Trump’s endorsement. Yes, I know, it was during the campaign, and therefore, just politics.

    • #163
  14. Kevin Schulte Member
    Kevin Schulte
    @KevinSchulte

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    Kevin Schulte (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney. How sweet it is!

    The Don has not surrendered to the The Royal Dog Persecutor.

    It is an olive branch of peace offered to take him under his fold.

    If The Royal Dog Persecutor bites the Don’s hand. Well then, to bad, so sad, for The Royal Dog Persecutor. ;)

    Can we please stop with this kind of talk?

    How about Senator Romney vote his conscience whether he agrees with Trump or not?

    Whether or not Romney’s future actions are correct is not determined by Trump alone. This kind of language is the reason Trump supporters are accused of cult of personality behavior.

    Having fun with Gary is all.

     

    • #164
  15. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

     

    Can we please stop with this kind of talk?

    I dunno . . . if Gary insists on “Orange God-King,” then I think “Royal Dog Persecutor” is perfectly acceptable (and less obnoxious than “Orange God-King,” and also funnier).

     

    • #165
  16. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Django (View Comment):
    After all the things Romney said about Trump, I think he’d be quite the hypocrite to accept Trump’s endorsement.

    Yeah, he should probably announce that he cannot accept the endorsement. I mean, the President is obviously willing to let bygones be bygones, but Romney should probably refuse to forgive because it would go against his principles.

     

    • #166
  17. Kevin Schulte Member
    Kevin Schulte
    @KevinSchulte

    Just to be clear Umbra.

    I think Romney will make a decent Senator provided he doesn’t choose to be a spoiler in the mold of McCain. I am sceptical about the spoiler part. Utah’s choice though.

    • #167
  18. Matt Balzer Member
    Matt Balzer
    @MattBalzer

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):
    Trump has surrendered to the inevitable and has endorsed Romney. How sweet it is!

    How is that sweet? Trump destroys everything he touches remember? He just hosed Romney’s chances!

    Why are you okay with this?

    • #168
  19. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    Can we please stop with this kind of talk?

    I dunno . . . if Gary insists on “Orange God-King,” then I think “Royal Dog Persecutor” is perfectly acceptable (and less obnoxious than “Orange God-King,” and also funnier).

    The reason Gary says things like “Orange God-King” is Trump’s supporters’ tendency to judge public figures solely by their relationship to Trump. Ben Sasse was an up and coming conservative hero until he expressed displeasure with Donald Trump. Now he’s routinely mentioned in the same breath as John McCain and Susan Collins. Remember when Paul Ryan was added to the 2012 Presidential ticket in an attempt to appeal to conservatives? But, no, he’s uncomfortable with Trump, so now he’s the embodiment of The Establishment ™.

    Donald Trump is not, and should not be the sole measuring stick by which one’s conservatism is measured. Ben Sasse, Paul Ryan, Jonah Goldberg, James Lileks, Kevin Williamson…. No one doubted these men’s conservative bona fides until they said, “No,” to Donald Trump. Now they have been unpersoned. This has got to stop.

    • #169
  20. lowtech redneck Coolidge
    lowtech redneck
    @lowtech redneck

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    Can we please stop with this kind of talk?

    I dunno . . . if Gary insists on “Orange God-King,” then I think “Royal Dog Persecutor” is perfectly acceptable (and less obnoxious than “Orange God-King,” and also funnier).

    The reason Gary says things like “Orange God-King” is Trump’s supporters’ tendency to judge public figures solely by their relationship to Trump. Ben Sasse was an up and coming conservative hero until he expressed displeasure with Donald Trump. Now he’s routinely mentioned in the same breath as John McCain and Susan Collins. Remember when Paul Ryan was added to the 2012 Presidential ticket in an attempt to appeal to conservatives? But, no, he’s uncomfortable with Trump, so now he’s the embodiment of The Establishment ™.

    Donald Trump is not, and should not be the sole measuring stick by which one’s conservatism is measured. Ben Sasse, Paul Ryan, Jonah Goldberg, James Lileks, Kevin Williamson…. No one doubted these men’s conservative bona fides until they said, “No,” to Donald Trump. Now they have been unpersoned. This has got to stop.

    Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan lost support among the conservative base long before Trump came into the picture (the former didn’t have a whole lot to begin with).

    Incidentally, I’m a fan of Mike Lee and would love to have another Trump skeptic like that in the Senate.  I don’t understand why conservatives (Trump supporters or not) should be happy about wasting an opportunity for another Mike Lee or Ted Cruz in favor of someone like Romney.  Utah is not Delaware, or even Ohio (though I would hope we can do better in Ohio than people like Kasich-another person who lost conservative support before Trump came along).

    • #170
  21. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):
    Ben Sasse, Paul Ryan, Jonah Goldberg, James Lileks, Kevin Williamson…. No one doubted these men’s conservative bona fides until they said, “No,” to Donald Trump.

    All of these guys are plenty conservative and plenty entitled to say anything they want about Trump.

    My issue is with the Moralist Rockefeller Republicans that just want “good government” + “civility” and don’t really give a damn about the regressive economy and cultural Marxism.

    • #171
  22. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    Can we please stop with this kind of talk?

    I dunno . . . if Gary insists on “Orange God-King,” then I think “Royal Dog Persecutor” is perfectly acceptable (and less obnoxious than “Orange God-King,” and also funnier).

    A fellow Ricochetti asked that I stop using the name “Orange God-King” so I have.

    • #172
  23. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Funny names aren’t a big deal.

    • #173
  24. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Uh oh. National Review is publishing anti-Romney pieces, too!

    Mitt’s back. The former governor of Massachusetts and occasional native son of Michigan has a new persona: Mr. Utah. He’s going to bring Utah conservatism to the whole Republican party and to the country at large. Wholesome, efficient, industrious, faithful. “Utah has a lot to teach the politicians in Washington,” he says in announcing his Senate campaign. Maybe.

    There’s always been something unstable about Mitt Romney’s political identity. In fact, Romney could give Trump a run for his money on political inconstancy. In his first run for the Senate, against Ted Kennedy, he tried to stake out a position on abortion to Kennedy’s left. Then Romney debuted his “severely conservative” persona in 2012. The political transformations reflect Trump’s own: Trump used to defend late-term abortions but started talking about the violence of abortion when political expediency demanded he do so.

    . . .

    Some political observers are hoping that Romney will save the Republican party from Trumpism. He was the man who tried to torpedo Trump’s 2016 campaign, calling Trump “a con man” and a “fake.” Romney has a real fortune and real grace in his deportment. Others point out that it was Romney who helped to legitimate Trump by dropping everything but his wife to receive Trump’s endorsement in 2012.

    What is constant about Romney is his civic-minded desire to serve in office and his confidence that he can do a good job. He is probably right that he would do well in office. He is wholesome, efficient, industrious, and faithful. But he combines all this with a barely concealed panic; he has no idea how to make a majority of voters choose him for the job. And so each new persona seems like a new attempt to condescend to us.

     

    • #174
  25. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):
    Uh oh. National Review is publishing anti-Romney pieces, too!

     

    But… but… The Establishment!

    • #175
  26. Matt Balzer Member
    Matt Balzer
    @MattBalzer

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):
    Uh oh. National Review is publishing anti-Romney pieces, too!

    But… but… The Establishment!

    I was going to say that article only came out after the Trump endorsement, but I see it was yesterday. I’m not going to compare timestamps.

    • #176
  27. Majestyk Member
    Majestyk
    @Majestyk

    Umbra Fractus (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin (View Comment):
    Uh oh. National Review is publishing anti-Romney pieces, too!

    But… but… The Establishment!

    Muh Establishment!!

    • #177
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