Mitt Romney Watch: Another New Hampshire Anti-Romney Editorial
Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney speaks at a town hall meeting in Londonderry, New Hampshire December 22, 2007
The old adage of not picking fights with someone who buys their ink by the barrel has bitten Mitt Romney not once but twice.
First, there was the Concord Monitor:
In the 2008 campaign for president, there are numerous issues on which Romney has no record, and so voters must take him at his word. On these issues, those words are often chilling. While other candidates of both parties speak of restoring America’s moral leadership in the world, Romney has said he’d like to “double†the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, where inmates have been held for years without formal charge or access to the courts. He dodges the issue of torture – unable to say, simply, that waterboarding is torture and America won’t do it.
When New Hampshire partisans are asked to defend the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions and see through the baloney. If a candidate is a phony, we assure ourselves and the rest of the world, we’ll know it.
Mitt Romney is such a candidate. New Hampshire Republicans and independents must vote no.
Today, the New Hampshire Union Leader PILES ON:
THERE IS A reason Mitt Romney has not received a single newspaper endorsement in New Hampshire. It’s the same reason his poll numbers are dropping. He has not been able to convince the people of this state that he’s the conservative he says he is.
Like a lot of people in New Hampshire, we wanted to believe Romney. We gave him the benefit of the doubt. We listened very carefully to his expertly rehearsed sales pitch. But in the end he didn’t close the deal for us. Now, two weeks before the primary, the same is happening with voters.
Republicans and right-leaning independents in New Hampshire gave Romney a chance. His events have not been sparsely attended. Nor have they been scarce. He’s made more campaign stops here this year than any other Republican, even John McCain.
And after a year of comparing Romney to McCain, of sizing up the two in person and in the media, Granite Staters are turning back to McCain. The former Navy pilot, once written off by the national media establishment, is now in a statistical dead heat with Romney here.
How could that be? Romney has all the advantages: money, organization, geographic proximity, statesman-like hair, etc.
But he lacks something John McCain has in spades: conviction.
Granite Staters want a candidate who will look them in the eye and tell them the truth. John McCain has done that day in and day out, never wavering, never faltering, never pandering.
Mitt Romney has not. He has spoken his lines well, but the people can sense that the words are memorized, not heartfelt.
Last week Romney was reduced to debating what the meaning of “saw” is. It was only the latest in a string of demonstrably false claims — he’d been a hunter “pretty much” all his life, he’d had the NRA’s endorsement, he marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. — that call into question the veracity of his justifications for switching sides on immigration, abortion, taxes and his affection for Ronald Reagan.
In this primary, the more Mitt Romney speaks, the less believable he becomes. That is why Granite Staters who have listened attentively are now returning to John McCain. They might not agree with McCain on everything, as we don’t, but like us, they judge him to be a man of integrity and conviction, a man who won’t sell them out, who won’t break his promises, and who won’t lie to get elected.
Voters can see that John McCain is trustworthy. Mitt Romney has spent a year trying to convince Granite Staters that he is as well. It looks like they aren’t buying it. And for good reason.
OUCH…….
Being called a PHONY and LESS BELIEVABLE and UN-TRUSTWORTHY will not portend well for candidate Romney.
Stay tuned……
Update:
“We are proud of the endorsements we have received from leading conservative journals and figures, which includes the National Review, Judge Robert Bork and US Senator Judd Gregg. In each case, they recognize that Governor Romney is the best person to unite the foreign policy, economic and social conservative wings of the party into the same winning coalition that carried Ronald Reagan to the White House.â€
Update #2:
Here is a review of New Hampshire newspapers. But, it is NOTEWORTHY that not one New Hampshire newspaper has endorsed neighboring Governor and New Hampshire vacationer, Mitt Romney.
Update #3:
The Romney campaign BLAMES the unfavorable press on the newspapers being too liberal.
Talk about spin……..
Previous:
Mitt Romney Watch: Early State Strategy in Peril
Mitt Romney Watch: The Romney Pro-Life Fairy Tale Ad Now Airing in Iowa
Mitt Romney Watch: Romney Losing Lead to McCain in New Hampshire
Mitt Romney Watch: Romney Campaign PURPOSEFULLY LYING About George Romney and Martin Luther King
Mitt Romney Watch: Concord, New Hampshire Paper Excoriates Romney
Mitt Romney Attacks John McCain for “Failing Reagan 101″
Mitt Romney Watch: Censorship 101
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5 Comments
il parra
While surfing on the Net I found your blog, I stopped at it to have a rest and I explored it. There is interesting stuff displayed. Now I continue my surfing…
Make a stop at my blog, if you wish. Ciao.
tk
The Monitor does a hit piece on Romney – that’s great news for the Romney Camp! The monitor is a very liberal paper, they’re going after the GOP candidate that will be the most difficult for the DNC to compete against.
The Union Leader is a supporter of McCain, so they put out negative statements about Romney….this isn’t news it’s an editorial, an opinion piece. That’s no different then this site’s opinion pieces. There isn’t any true evaluation of the candidates only the meaningless bantering of people who have an agenda.
Flap
Nice talking points.
Do you work in the Romney campaign…..?
Romney was NOT endorsed by any New Hampshire newspaper. NOT ONE. Isn’t that odd?
Not really……
By the way, this is my blog and what does it say below the title?
Robert Skole
By Robert Skole – Myth Romney’s Boston legacy
Mitt Romney — The can-do executive. The tough manager who gets things done. The hot-shot businessman who knows how to run complex operations. He “saved†the Winter Olympics (with a few hundred million in Federal money). He ran Massachusetts and now says he can run the US of A. His TV ads say, “Take charge. Demand Results. No excuses.”
Yeah, sure. We in Massachusetts know different. We’ve seen Mitt as he really is: “Myth†Romney.
Cambridge Street in Boston is an excellent example: a minor street job that his state highway department couldn’t finish in four years.
When Romney took office in Massachusetts, the first thing he tried to do was combine the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (which runs Boston’s infamous 15 billion dollar Big Dig boondoggle) with the Massachusetts State Highway Department. This would put the Big Dig directly under his control, via the Highway Dept. He’d take over and clean up the Big Dig mess. He’s a tough executive. He could handle it. The legislature said, “No, thanks.â€
At the same time, a few blocks down Beacon Hill from the State House, a project was underway, run by Romney’s State Highway Department, to re-pave and gussy up Cambridge St., a busy commercial street. The 7 million dollar job was contracted to a well-connected construction company. The job meant new paving, center islands with greenery, new brick sidewalks, new traffic lights, new street lamps.
Romney was in office for four years. His State Highway Department never completed the job. It’s Romney’s Boston legacy. A street piled with junk for Romney’s four years in office. (Romney’s successor, Democrat Deval Patrick, has been in office for one year, and he’s following Romney’s tradition. The job still isn’t finished.)
Cambridge St. is a half-mile-long state street, extending from Government Center (with the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and City Hall) at one end and the Charles Street Circle at the other. The Circle is a busy traffic circle, and has a subway station at the foot of a vehicular and subway train bridge over the Charles River to Cambridge. Cambridge Street has the main entrance to famous Massachusetts General Hospital. Along the street are retail shops, restaurants, a fire station, offices, public library and Old West Church, whose steeple was burned by the British in the Revolution to prevent signaling.
Cambridge St. is a few blocks down Beacon Hill from the Massachusetts State House. Romney certainly drove down it hundreds of times when he was Governor. If he ever looked out the window of his limo, he might have wondered, “Hey, why is this street job never finished?†And being a hot-shot executive, he would have taken charge, demanded results, ordered his Highway Commissioner to finish the job and finish it pronto, and no excuses.
Today, five years later, the job is still not finished. I have photos of the street mess, taken in May, 2007, a few months after Romney left office.
The photos shown construction junk piled at one end of the street, the center islands not finished, traffic lights a hazard to pedestrians, sidewalks unfinished, aand there are two large trailers parked on a sidewalk plaza — one proudly marked “State Highway Dept. Field Office.â€
The unfinished Cambridge St. is Mitt Romney’s “can-doâ€, hot-shot, big business executive legacy in plain sight.
And now, Mitt Romney, who can’t manage to fix a street, wants to be President.
Robert Skole
By Robert Skole – Myth Romney’s Boston legacy
Mitt Romney — The can-do executive. The tough manager who gets things done. The hot-shot businessman who knows how to run complex operations. He “saved†the Winter Olympics (with a couple hundred million dollars in Federal money). His TV ads say, “Take charge. Demand results. No excuses.” He ran Massachusetts and now says he can run the US of A.
Yeah, sure. We in Massachusetts know different. We’ve seen Mitt as he really is: “Myth†Romney.
Cambridge Street in Boston is an excellent example: a minor street job that Romney’s State Highway Department couldn’t get finished in four years.
When Romney took office in Massachusetts, the first thing he tried to do was combine the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (which runs Boston’s infamous 15 billion dollar Big Dig boondoggle) with the Massachusetts State Highway Department. This would put the Big Dig directly under his control, via the Highway Dept. He’d take over and clean up the Big Dig mess. He’s a tough executive. He could handle it. The legislature saw a power grab and said, “No, thanks.â€
At the same time, a few blocks down Beacon Hill from the State House, a project was underway, managed by Romney’s Highway Department, to re-pave and gussy up Cambridge St., a busy commercial street. The 7 million dollar job was contracted to a well-connected construction company. The job meant new paving, center islands with greenery, new brick sidewalks, new traffic lights, new street lamps.
Romney was in office for four years. His State Highway Department never completed the job. It was Romney’s Boston legacy. A street piled with junk. (Romney’s successor, Democrat Deval Patrick, is maintaining the Romney tradition. Patrick has been in office for one year and the job still isn’t finished.)
Cambridge St. is a half-mile-long state road, extending from Government Center (with the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and City Hall) at one end and the Charles Street Circle at the other. The Circle is a busy traffic circle, and has a subway station at the foot of a vehicular and subway train bridge going over the Charles River to Cambridge. Cambridge Street is the main entrance to famous Massachusetts General Hospital. Along the street are retail shops, restaurants, a fire station, offices, public library and Old West Church, whose steeple was burned by the British in the Revolution to prevent signaling.
Cambridge St. is a few blocks down Beacon Hill from the Massachusetts State House. Romney certainly drove down it hundreds of times when he was Governor. If he ever looked out the window of his limo, he might have wondered, “Hey, why is this street job never finished?†And being a hot-shot executive, he would have taken charge, demanded results, and ordered his Highway Commissioner to have the job finished
pronto, and no excuses.
Today, five years later, the job is still not finished. I have photos of the street mess, taken in May, 2007, five months after Romney left office.
The photos show construction junk piled at one end of the street, the center islands not finished, traffic lights a hazard to pedestrians, sidewalks unfinished, two large trailers parked on a sidewalk plaza — one proudly marked “State Highway Dept. Field Office.â€
The unfinished Cambridge St. is Mitt Romney’s “can-doâ€, hot-shot, big business executive legacy in plain sight.
And now, Mitt Romney, who can’t manage to fix a street, wants to be President.