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Throw Mitt Romney Out
Mitt Romney has voted with the Democrats to convict President Donald Trump on the first of their BS articles of impeachment. This comes after Romney voted for more witnesses, which the House could have called but chose not to, because he didn’t think there was enough evidence. My tolerance for squishy Republicans is pretty much limited to Susan Collins, who at least has the benefit of coming from a squishy state. But Mitt didn’t vote to convict because he’s squishy, rather because he has a personal dislike of Trump. Mitt is beneath contempt. He should be expelled from the Senate GOP conference and stripped of all his committee assignments.
The Democrats, with Mitt’s help, tried and failed to impeach Trump. The House didn’t even pretend to accuse Trump of an actual “high Crime or Misdemeanor,” as required by the Constitution. Their contempt for the Constitution is only surpassed by their contempt for Trump, which is to say their contempt for you, the voters. They didn’t impeach Trump. Trump was not impeached. His acquittal voids the impeachment. They impeached you. But Mitt was fine with that because he doesn’t like Trump.
Published in Politics
Agree 100%.
Concur.
You sure it was both?
Speaking of Secretary of State Mitt Romney, why was he at the SOTU last night? Shouldn’t he have been in a bunker somewhere as the “designated survivor”?
He only voted “guilty” on the first article of impeachment – Abuse of Power.
He voted “not guilty” on the second article – Obstruction of Congress.
“He should be expelled from the Senate GOP conference and stripped of all his committee assignments. “
ABSOLUTELY. Great idea.
No, it wasn’t both. He voted for Article 1 (Abuse of Power) but voted against Article 2 (Obstruction of Justice).
If you want me and others to vote a straight Democratic ticket in 2020 go right ahead and expel Mitt Romney from the Republican Caucus. If Romney cannot follow his conscience, this would be a very sad day. I am a Republican, not a Trumplican.
His conscience told him to kiss Trump’s ring for that sweet SoS gig.
His conscience also told him to break Ronald Reagan’s (Greatest President Ever!™️) Eleventh Commandment.
This reminds me of a long ago trip to jury duty. A young, naïve twenty-something – while on the verge of tears – held up a vote on one of the charges because she “just wasn’t sure.” When the foreman insisted on continuing with the vote I insisted on another short pause while I looked down the table, right at her, and clarified: “You do realize that if you are not sure then the proper vote is ‘not guilty’?” She nodded…and then, less than thirty seconds later joined the other eight “guilty” votes around the table. (If ever given the choice of judge or jury, I’m going to jump out the nearest window. But I digress.) Shallow, scared, afraid to think for herself…I’d still rather have her as a United States Senator that Twitt.
His conscience told him to run to the left of Ted Kennedy on abortion.
His conscience told him become the Father of ObamaCare.
Mitt’s voting his conscience here can also be seen as zero-consequence virtue signaling, in that the vote make him seem like a ‘thoughtful, but not willful’ Republican Senator to the conventional-wisdom Beltway crowd. They don’t care that he voted against the second count of impeachment, only that he was with the Democrats on at least one, and he gets to claim that he made a statesmanlike decision in splitting his vote, even though the vote itself had no bearing not simply on Trump being impeached, but whether or not Trump would reach the 51-vote majority threshold on acquittal.
The other number here is 57, which is the number of months Romney has remaining in his current Senate term. Susan Collins’ votes to acquit were far more consequential for her political future because her term is up nine months from now — as fast as the news cycle goes nowadays, Romney’s bet here is people will be mad for the moment, but by the time he has to run again we’ll be into the 2024 presidential election cycle, and any vote in February 2020 will be a distant memory.
The idea that this was a conscience vote on the merits is highly questionable. Romney was incapable of separating his personal feelings about Trump’s “morality” aside and apart from the issue before him, and used this opportunity to express himself. I believe that he should have recused himself and made it clear that he was unable to reconcile his faith with an objective position on the merits before him. That might have been a conscience vote.
Yep, these weasels like Romney and John Roberts – who the hell do they think they are? They should get down on their knees and pray to develop the integrity and steadfast character of the noble Trump!
Max,
I agree with you. This is really a stab in the back. At this point, considering how well Trump has performed and how ridiculous both the Russia hoax and the impeachment farce have been, I think tolerance for this sort of treacherous behavior needs to end. Romney isn’t dumb enough to actually think Jerry Nadler understands anything about the constitution. This is pure appeasement.
No more benefit of the doubt. Act like a snake you are a snake.
Regards,
Jim
FIFY
George Romney must be spinning in his grave.
I don’t think we should be too hard on Mitt Romney. He is, after all, the NeverTrumpers emotional support animal.
The Democrats are the party of voter fraud and incompetence. Just take a look at usually squeaky-clean Iowa and the weeks that it takes them to find enough votes to flip all of those Orange County congressional seats which were won on election night.
In 2016, “Democrats in California legalized ballot harvesting. Paid activists can now go door-to-door in favorable neighborhoods, picking up votes. Last November Orange County’s registrar said there were ‘people dropping off maybe 100 or 200 ballots.'” — wsj.com, February 22, 2019
You really think your vote counts anyway?
So now we’re allowing emotional support weasels? What is this world coming to?
I totally agree. Mitt is like McCain. He has not learned a thing.
Follow your heart and do it.
So we effectively throw people out of the party for not bowing before Dear Leader now?
I don’t agree with how Mitt Romney voted, but the only ones who have any right to talk about punishing him are the people of Utah. Donald Trump is not our king, and he has no right to demand unreciprocated loyalty from anyone.
It’s interesting the amount of commentary Romney has drawn out on this site. Interesting that it touched such a nerve.
Is there any doubt that, if the parties in this scandal were reversed, if were Obama threatening to withhold aid to get an investigation into one of Trump’s kids, or the kids of any other Republican challenger – nearly every one of those Senators, Democrats and Republicans alike – would have had the opposite take? And is there any doubt that a huge number of those voices on this site defending Trump would be demanding impeachment if Trump were in Biden’s place? Is anyone embarrassed by that?
But here is Romney – at least immune from that criticism, even if open to others. If Romney’s still around when there is inevitably another Progressive President who abuses his power, at least there will be someone around on our side with some credibility. If I were one of those Republican senators who voted to acquit knowing deep down they’d have voted to convict a democrat in the same spot, or vice versa with a Democratic Senator who voted to convict I’d be jealous of him.
An interesting question.
What if Mitt lost all of his committee assignments, Susan Collins is re-elected, but Republicans Martha McSally, Cory Gardner, Thom Tillis, & Joni Ernst and Democrat [Edit.] Doug Jones were all defeated for election? And what if Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney created the “New” Republican Caucus. The Senate would be 49 Democrats, 48 Trumplicans (Trump Republicans) and 3 “New” Republicans.
You say that could never happen? About 35 years ago, the Arizona State Senate was 16-14 Republican, and was going to be dominated by Maricopa County. And then 3 Republican State Senators from Pima County broke free and demanded that their members be named as the State Senate President, and Chair of the Appropriation Committee or they would caucus with the Democrats who were willing to accede to their demands. The rebels won.
It is one thing to strip a Steve King of his House committee assignments due to racist statements. It is altogether different to strip the last true Republican Party Presidential Nominee of his Senate committee assignments for a vote of conscience.
I agree with you as to this. If McCain had not died, I think that he would have voted to convict Trump. At a minimum, McCain would have taken the Lamar Alexander–Susan Collins—Kisa Murkowski position that what Trump had done was wrong.
I see no basis in Romney’s remarks to the Senate for this assertion.
He laid out a case for impeachment that makes sense to me. I disagree with Romney’s conclusion, but I respect how he got there. It was not a personal attack on Donald Trump. It was a well-reasoned opinion on the intent of the impeachment wording in the Constitution and on the legality and advisability of the president’s asking a foreign country to investigate the activities of a political opponent. I agree with Alan Dershowitz on this, and I would absolutely have voted with the rest of the Republicans in the Senate. But I can understand Romney’s point of view, and I respect his opinion, and I am glad he stated it for the record.
It wasn’t a vote of conscience (see#13 above) but rather an abrogation of his responsibility to be impartial. That said, I wouldn’t turn him into a martyr by doing anything drastic.
Gary, read this Twitter thread:
There’s your Mitt. Saying whatever he needs to say to get elected. Flip-flopping on a dime whenever the winds change. Saying nice things ab0ut the President when he needs him, then stabbing him in the back when he doesn’t.
Mitt has one principle: Power and Money to Mitt.
Are there two “Doug Jones” in the Senate? I know Doug Jones, the junior Senator from Alabama, is a Democrat.
Sounds like a cult of personality to me.