Executive Summary (warning: may contain sarcasm):
Senator Mitt Romney was asked to define the term flip-flop: “Voters in Utah elected me to the Senate four years ago, but I couldn’t get elected as dog catcher in Utah now. You see, the voters have flip flopped on me. I blame Donald Trump. He has challenged the media and other politicians; we are forced to admit what we really think, and Republicans like me can no longer get away with pretending not to be just like the Democrats. It’s just not right. Doggone flip-flopping voters. A good politician should not have to explain everything. Voters just don’t understand what it takes to be a crafty politician. They look at what we said before and what we said today. Gee whiz! My father got away with some whoppers. Why shouldn’t I? I saved the Salt Lake Olympics. People need to remember that.”
When reminded politicians make commitments and voters trust they will do what they promised, Romney added: “Hey, I am 75 years old. I could be retired by now, but I am in the Senate doing the people’s work–and with guys even older than me. The Senate is where all good politicians go to die. I attend cocktail parties and pretend to listen to all they have to say. It is how things get done in Washington. I fly between Utah and DC all the time. Do you know how far that it is? I am highly qualified for the job, and I have the experience. Please trust me. You don’t understand how hard the job is. Hey! Why are you asking me these questions anyway? Are you an age-ist? Maybe you’re one of those Trump people. Golly gee! They are just the worst! Remember I saved the Salt Lake Olympics twenty years ago. “
“Sorry. My massage therapist has arrived. I wish I had more time for questions, but I must prepare for tonight’s functions . . . Hey! Did I ever tell you I saved the Salt Lake Olympics? Don’t you forget that! That was a heck of accomplishment twenty years ago. Ciao!”
Regrets
I voted for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, and I was disheartened he and Paul Ryan lost to Obama/Biden; today I wonder about that vote. What did I know about Mitt Romney back then? What did I understand about politics or how corrupting an influence it truly is? I thought Obama was an awful president, but would Romney have been any better? We need leaders with better character and fortitude than he showed during that race or has shown since.
Maybe I thought he would do better than his record indicated to that point. Romney brought socialized medicine to Massachusetts a few years before the unpopular Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). He criticized Obama’s version of a plan quite similar to his own. Was it even possible to run against ObamaCare with Romney at the helm? He pretended his plan was different, but it was not enough to matter. He wanted to repeal and replace ObamaCare when the real solution was (and still is) to simply repeal it; we didn’t need something just as bad from Republicans.
https://obamacarefacts.com/romneycare-romneyhealthcare/
Romney could have and should have won that election. He clearly won the first presidential debate, but then lost an argument to a reporter during the next debate–even though he was 100% right on the matter and the reporter was way out-of-line. The Left back then was still figuring out how to steal elections, and this was a good beginning for them.
The real problem in 2012, however, was Romney’s inability to defend himself or his positions during the campaign. Romney was mocked for warning about Russian imperialism, but he has been proven right about that also. Romney made an innocuous claim about hiring women in his cabinet. He said he had “binders of women’s names”, trying to highlight his diversity and inclusionary instincts, things the Left typically hails, but the Leftist media turned it around and attacked him for minimizing women and treating them like floozies in his address book. He had no good response to the media’s total exaggerations. The media also went on incessantly about his dog strapped to the top of his car in a carrier during a family vacation as if this incident demonstrated his bizarrely cruel instincts. Romney should have easily countered, but he let the media define him on minor issues. He also sensed he had early momentum and grew cautious, letting Obama off the hook. His failure to stand up for much of anything and defeat a president still reeling from an unpopular health care bill should have told us much about him in 2012.
Since making a comeback as Utah senator in 2018, he has alienated himself completely from his constituency. In 2022, he refused to endorse the campaign of fellow Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee, one of the few actual conservatives in Congress. A few years back, Romney was on Team Trump, and he begged to be Secretary of State.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Republican Mitt Romney made an impassioned statement in support of President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to try to erase doubts about him among Trump’s supporters and remain in contention for U.S. secretary of state.
Four years later, he voted to convict President Trump; maybe he was still upset with the earlier snub. Some think it was a principled vote, but he offered an unserious explanation. His vote was the typical flip-flop that has defined his entire career, a pattern that can be traced back to his father, another rotten politician: https://www.businessinsider.com/14-bald-faced-mitt-romney-flip-flops-that-were-dug-up-by-john-mccain-2012-1#12-tax-pledges-are-beneath-romney-until-the-presidency-was-in-front-of-him-12
The eight years Obama was president, Democrats lost more than a thousand seats in the House, Senate, Governorships, and State Legislatures, but how badly would Republicans have done if Romney had won instead? Senator Romney has never shown the fortitude or courage to stick with principles once they lose some public support. Trump was wise to take a pass on him for Secretary of State.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-many-seats-did-democrats-lose-under-obama-over-james-barrett.
Romney’s father was governor of Michigan and served in Nixon’s cabinet; he also put his hat into the presidential ring a couple times. In 1964, he was the “moderate” opposed to the founder of modern conservatism, Barry Goldwater.
George Romney ran for president again in 1968, during which he made this outlandish comment:
https://absolutemichigan.com/community/george-romney-a-brainwashed-candidate/
Responding to a question about an earlier visit to Vietnam, the Michigan governor said that he “had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get when they go over to Vietnam.”
The use of that one word changed Romney’s life – and the course of American history.
In mid-1967, George Romney was running for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. At the time, all presidential aspirants faced questions about the war in Vietnam. Two years earlier, after touring Vietnam, Romney had declared that American involvement in the Asian war “was morally right and necessary.” But as domestic opposition to the war grew, Romney began questioning U.S. policy in Vietnam.
According to presidential historian Theodore H. White, at the beginning of 1967 the press focused on Romney “as the only visible candidate” to challenge LBJ. Owing to Romney’s frontrunner status, and the dominance of the war as the issue in the race, the media outlets sought interviews aimed at clarifying his position on Vietnam.
My own father, a career military officer who spent two tours in Vietnam, blamed politicians like Romney for losing that war. The military, in his opinion, needed to be allowed to do the job they were trained for, but political leaders intervened with silly rules and useless programs that confused soldiers. George Romney was the prototypical vacillating politician who lacked the courage to support the military who knew how to win the war. He was for the war when it was going well and the American public supported it. After the Tet Offensive in early 1968 (which ironically was an overwhelming military defeat for our enemies despite initial Viet Cong territorial gains), American public opinion turned against the war, and Governor Romney shifted his opinion as well. The war went on for several more years with many more programs and many more bureaucrats pouring into Saigon, but it was a foregone conclusion after public opinion turned. We had no stomach for doing what needed to be done, in large part, because of wavering politicians like George Romney.
George Romney and his son Mitt were both politicians who held their fingers in the wind, changing views depending on the audience. The Republican Party today (and past) is chocked full of folks like the Romneys, politicians who lead us nowhere and stand for nothing not popular at the moment. They don’t care about the image of their own party as long as they get re-elected. The Democrats have many crummy politicians as well, but they tend to hold the party line and get things done. It is hard to know what many Republicans today truly believe.
Last week, I watched former Republican House Speaker John Boehner honor out-going speaker Nancy Pelosi. He actually cried while honoring his past nemesis’s accomplishments, and sent her warm wishes from his own daughters, who apparently are Democrats. This was all so embarrassing, but no surprise. Our own two senators, Thom Tillis and Richard Burr (retiring in 2022, thank God), are similar, Republicans who campaign one way and govern in another. I often can’t distinguish them from Democrats.
After more than sixty years, I have finally realized my vote has been given away too freely. I could never vote for a Democrat candidate; the party is morally and intellectually bankrupt–and has been for many years. Democrats are increasingly hostile to religion and basic Constitutional principles like freedom of speech. They have nothing to offer. On the other hand, every year the Republican Party looks increasingly like the “Democrat Light” Party. The Republicans who I once thought shared common ground with me have repeatedly let me down. I am not certain which is worse.
I said those I voted for were better than Democrats, but I wonder: should I have just voted for a third choice? These folks counted on votes like mine to maintain their racket, and their calculations were often dead on. I realize now so many political leaders actually hate the good people who trust them to represent us. This is no exaggeration; so many show an actual disdain for the views of the unwashed; they think they know best and vote for their own best interest–and then lie to us about what they truly believe. We need better.
Fortunately, I see a bit of hope on the horizon.
Compared to Trump
People on the Left continually criticize folks like me for supporting Trump. They find him the worst of all politicians. They say we are all bigots for supporting him; they claim there is no other reason to support him. We’re not bigots, and neither is Trump. Their analysis is far too shallow, but it seems to be all they can muster. They can’t possibly fathom the real reasons for his appeal.
Trump is not our messiah by any means. We will not follow him off a cliff as Democrats so often claim. After all, he gained support because he is not like Romney and so many past Republican leaders who have actually led us off many cliffs. Democrats don’t understand how thoroughly disappointing the Republicans who came before Trump were. Trump is far from perfect, but a big step up from Romney and the rest of the crew.
Trump’s ability to expose his opponents and the media’s true intentions were unbelievably good. Unlike Romney, Boehner, Burr, Tillis, and company, he did not show disdain for the average Republican voter. Somehow, this mega-rich man has not come across as a rich snob despite being even wealthier than Romney. Trump effectively identified with and appealed to the average American, and he did this more consistently than almost any other politician. He was a lightning rod for controversy, and he alienated many, even supporters at times, but I blame our corrupt media’s lies for the hatred of him. Nobody in American politics has been so unfairly treated and misaligned.
The Tea Party made a difference in its day, but it was sabotaged from within the Republican Party. The Bushes were popular for a while, but they were too political and couldn’t inspire folks or sustain a movement–and they have lost much of that capital the last few years. Trump showed Republicans they didn’t have to compromise with Democrats in order to win, something the Bushes and others since have done far too often. Trump showed conservative policies could be clearly articulated and actually win. Trump respected his voters and earned their loyalty for it. He made promises and actually kept them, a refreshing change. Trump’s rhetoric might have been lacking at times, but his policies were good. He had many meaningful accomplishments. Republicans have had a taste of success, so they are not going back to tiresome Republicans like Romney.
Trump started a movement, and it has not ended, nor will not end any time soon.
Enter The New Folks
Trump showed Republicans a new strategy, but now we have several younger leaders following in his footsteps, so he needs to step aside. Trump was the catalyst for politicians like Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis, politicians who have taken courageous stands, showing again how policy can be done, but with better messaging than Trump. Times are changing.
Without Trump, Governor DeSantis’s political career may have already been over. But today, DeSantis does one good thing after another; he talks about his accomplishments afterwards, a complete reversal of the standard political model. Governor DeSantis also makes converts as evidenced by his overwhelming 2022 victory (a sharp contrast to his 2018 nail-biter). Kari Lake, who also hitched her wagon to Trump, is perhaps the best politician we have ever seen; she speaks with such clarity and sound logic. The fact that she lost her race to the political JV candidate who hid from voters and passed on 1-on-1 debates is an immense travesty (arizona-trial-will-justice-ultimately-prevail). She still has a political career ahead of her despite being cheated in Arizona. She is pressing ahead with a lawsuit disputing the Arizona election, one that at least initially appears to have legs. She too appears to take action and speak about it second.
Another bold politician is one you may have never heard of: North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. Governor DeSantis has effectively promulgated policies, but he doesn’t have the pizzazz of Mark Robinson. As Lieutenant Governor, Robinson doesn’t yet have the record of DeSantis, but he has the message, a fiery and charismatic message, one badly needed in American politics today. I could listen to Robinson all day. He is bold and unapologetic, yet also sensible, no-nonsense, easy-to-understand, and to the point. He takes on opponents with directness and exposes them, but without the vitriol.
Robinson is the perfect contrast to ever-so-cautious, vacillating politicians like Mitt Romney. Romney was only slightly better than Obama, never inspiring, and never consistently with us. Robinson dares to say what should be said; he shows it can be done in an appealing, sensible, and logical manner. He appears genuine, and there is no doubt what he believes. I hope he will soon be our governor (replacing the ever-so-dull Roy Cooper), and perhaps a future national leader.
Robinson too is not a messiah and may eventually disappoint, but today he is showing how politics can and should be done. He is attempting to stem the moral rot and turn us back to a more sensible, thought-provoking, principled, and God-fearing agenda. It is about time. More will follow his example as he shows how it is accomplished.
Robinson got started in politics just a few years ago. In 2018, as an unknown attending a Greensboro city council meeting, he laid into city representatives on gun control. The video of his complaint went viral and elevated him immediately. Just two years later, he became Lieutenant Governor.
Robinson-at-Greensboro-city-council
Please listen to this short clip. This is how a politician should speak. We have settled for crummy 21st century politicians like Mitt Romney because we thought that’s all there was, but DeSantis, Lake, and Robinson (among a few others) show us we can have better leaders. We should demand it. I hope they inspire even more such folks.
The Left is already launching the standard attacks against Robinson. They call every effective Republican politician a bigot, and they increase the rhetoric for anyone who they perceive as a threat to their power. Robinson is compelling, so he is a big threat. Yet, I hear no bigotry or hatred in his speeches. I hear clear, level-headed thinking. The media lies about him just as they have about so many others.
Robinson speaks positively for Christianity, family, and American founding values. He addresses issues: education, race, transgenderism, police and justice, and more. His directness on such topics are why the media hates him; it is why we like him. The media says these words are non-inclusive, hateful, and other such nonsense. What do they know?
Too many politicians say their private beliefs don’t carry over into their public stances. They may be pro-life personally, but they don’t want to impose that view on others as a government representative. Life doesn’t work that way. I can’t be an authentic Christian and stand up for Christian principles only part of the time. As Robinson says himself: imagine someone holding that view with regard to slavery. It wouldn’t make sense. We need politicians who are the same publicly and privately. Mark Robinson in his inimitable style makes this point in the speech below. Robinson’s words start at around the 4-minute mark and continue for 30 minutes. Please listen.
This next video surely offends the equity, diversity, and inclusion crowd, but Robinson challenges all Americans in the way they should be challenged: “Stand up and do extraordinary things.” He adds: “When they get mad, I know I am doing it right.” Amen.
He begins this next speech like he does everyone giving thanks to Jesus. He covers more issues and gives inspiration and hope yet again: “The American dream is not dead.”
This final clip is entitled “one of the best GOP speeches, you’ll ever hear”.
With leaders like Robinson and people like us willing to speak up and defend what we know is right, we have an opportunity set America on a good path again. Please join in; don’t be afraid to stand up for what is good and true as Robinson has done.
Dave (https://seek-the-truth.com/about/)
For more on elections: https://seek-the-truth.com/category/elections/
Seek the Truth 