YouTube Debate Statement: Sen. Judd Gregg

"I thought this was a really good debate tonight, and I think it showed once again why Mitt Romney is such a strong candidate. He is a person who brings problem-solving to very complicated issues. He understands we need a strong America, we need strong families, we need a commitment to those values which have made our nation great, which is the understanding of entrepreneurship and a belief in the value that America is a special place and holds a special role in this world of defending liberty. Most importantly, he's a problem-solver. This is a guy who gets things done and that's what we need in Washington. We're not getting things done in Washington. He's somebody special. He solved the Olympics problem. He solved the Massachusetts problem, and he's created jobs as an entrepreneur. What else can you ask for and he is a leader and he showed it tonight."

- Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH)
November 28, 2007

It's an election like no other

Tonight, at the CNN/YouTube Republican Debate, Romney for President launched its newest television ad, "Historic Choice."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ4Asjxujss

The ad highlights the challenges confronting our country and the importance of electing a leader who has the experience, vision and values to move America forward. Throughout his career, Governor Romney has had an exceptional record of turning around numerous companies, the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As President, he will tackle the big problems by defending America from foreign threats, making our country more globally competitive, securing our borders and defending our most traditional values.

The ad will be airing as part of the campaign's rotation in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Script For "Historic Choice" (TV:30):

ANNOUNCER: "It's an election like no other.

"An enemy lurks waiting to strike.

"Our main street economy is competing with mainland China.

"Legal vs. illegal doesn't seem to matter.

"Basic values like marriage are suddenly open to debate.

"For these challenges, ordinary isn't good enough. We need the leader who gets the big stuff done. Take charge, demand results, no excuses. Mitt Romney – the right experience, the right values, the right time."

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: "I'm Mitt Romney and I approve this message."

"The Most Successful" Sanctuary City

Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007 08:09 PM EDT

Mayor Giuliani Praises His Policies Of Protecting Illegal Immigrants

Mayor Giuliani Ran New York City With A Sanctuary State Of Mind:

As Mayor, Giuliani Actually Invited More Illegal Immigrants To Come To New York In 1994. "Mr. Giuliani said, 'If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of the people who we want in this city. You're somebody that we want to protect, and we want you to get out from under what is often a life of being like a fugitive, which is really unfair.'" (Deborah Sontag, "New York Officials Welcome Immigrants, Legal Or Illegal," The New York Times, 6/10/94)

- ABC News: "Giuliani Inherited The [Sanctuary] Policy, He Reissued It And Seemed To Embrace It." "New York became a sanctuary city, where illegal immigrants enjoy some measure of protection, through an executive order signed by Mayor Ed Koch in 1989, five years before Giuliani became mayor in January 1994. But if Giuliani inherited the policy, he reissued it and seemed to embrace it." (Jake Tapper and Ron Claiborne, "Romney: Giuliani's NYC 'Sanctuary' For Illegal Immigrants," ABC News, 8/8/07)

A 1997 New York Daily News Editorial Blasted Mayor Giuliani For Not Supporting Federal Immigration Laws. "Mayor Giuliani is actually suing the federal government to be relieved of the requirement that city workers turn over information about illegal immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. At City University, undocumented aliens qualify for the low resident tuition if they've lived here for a year. And just last week, the mayor announced that immigrants applying for marriage licenses couldn't be turned away even if their visas had expired." (Editorial, "Not All Immigrants Are Equal," [New York] Daily News, 3/23/97)

- Daily News: Under Mayor Giuliani, "Illegal" Didn't Have Any Meaning. "But at the same time, federal immigration laws must be enforced strictly. For no nation can allow its borders to be violated with impunity. And state and local governments must help. In New York, that means making the adjective 'illegal' mean something when it appears before the word 'immigrant.' ? In other words, legal or illegal, the law makes no distinction. Then what's the law for? " (Editorial, "Not All Immigrants Are Equal," [New York] Daily News, 3/23/97)

Mayor Giuliani Refused To Do His Part To Stem The Tide Of Illegal Immigration:

Mayor Giuliani Has Defended His City's Sanctuary Policy, Saying, "The Choice Becomes For A City What Do You Do?" "'The reality is that they are here, and they're going to remain here,' Mr. Giuliani said of the children. 'The choice becomes for a city what do you do? Allow them to stay on the streets or allow them to be educated? The preferred choice from the point of view of New York City is to be educated.'" (Eric Schmitt, "Giuliani Criticizes G.O.P. And Dole On Immigration," The New York Times, 6/7/96)

- Mayor Giuliani's Attitude Was That Nothing Could Be Done About Illegals, So You Might As Well Give Sanctuary. "'The reality is that they are here, and they're going to remain here,' Mr. Giuliani said of the children. 'The choice becomes for a city what do you do? Allow them to stay on the streets or allow them to be educated? The preferred choice from the point of view of New York City is to be educated.'" (Eric Schmitt, "Giuliani Criticizes G.O.P. And Dole On Immigration," The New York Times, 6/7/96)

- Mayor Giuliani: Nobody But The Federal Government Should Take Responsibility For Illegal Immigration. "Responsibility for stopping illegal immigration belongs to the federal government and not to cities, states or businesses, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday. Giuliani told small-business owners he would not punish them for unwittingly hiring illegal immigrants. Federal officials are 'trying to put the responsibility for this on employers, on city government, on state government,' the former New York mayor said during a conference call arranged by the National Federation of Independent Businesses. 'The simple fact is, nobody but the federal government can stop people from coming into this country illegally, and the federal government does a very bad job of that,' Giuliani said." (Libby Quaid, "Giuliani: Illegals Are A Federal Problem, The Associated Press, 10/31/07)

Mayor Giuliani Still Supports Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants Today:

Mayor Giuliani, To Illegal Immigrants In 2007: "If You Want To Work, Pay Your Fair Share And We'll Sign You Up." "In response to a question by Richard Pope, 75, about the 12 million illegal immigrants already here, Giuliani said, 'I would say come forward, get your ... tamper-proof ID card, get photographed and fingerprinted, and we will check you out.' He added, 'If you want to work, pay your fair share and we'll sign you up.'" (Tom Brune, "Giuliani Vows To End Illegal Immigration," [New York] Newsday, 8/15/07)

- Mayor Giuliani: Give A Path To Citizenship To Illegal Aliens Who Have Not Committed Other Crimes. " Mr. Giuliani said the rest of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens already here can gain a path to citizenship after a waiting period if they register and learn English . Those key elements generally track President Bush's immigration bill, which was defeated in the Senate earlier this year." (Stephen Dinan, "Giuliani Eyes Citizenship Path For Illegals," The Washington Times , 8/15/07)

- "Rudy Giuliani Would Allow Most Of The Estimated 12 Million Illegal Immigrants In This Country To Stay, Work And Even Become Citizens – Provisions That GOP Hardliners Blast As 'Amnesty.'" (Tom Brune, "Giuliani Vows To End Illegal Immigration," [New York] Newsday, 8/15/07)

You Tube debate information

Go here, for updates from Romney... It is crazy, they have videos almost live...

http://www.mittromney.com/News/Debates/YouTube/index

Interview with Romney Press Secretary Kevin Madden

Pre-Debate Warmup: Turkey Bowl

Gov. Romney Prepares For Youtube Debate

Mitt Romney on education

Romney answers the question: What would you do to help prepare students in Iowa and around the country compete in the global economy? (more)
Added: November 27, 2007
Romney answers the question: What would you do to help prepare students in Iowa and around the country compete in the global economy?

Mitt Romney on ethanol

Mitt Romney on the worker shortage

Huckabee Tries to Gloss Over Ark. Record


Nov 28 12:00 PM US/Eastern By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Mike Huckabee's presidential rivals are pointing to chinks in his record as Arkansas' governor—from ethics complaints to tax increases to illegal immigration and his support for releasing a rapist who was later convicted of killing a Missouri woman.

...his record has rough edges, and Huckabee has a habit of playing fast and loose with it.

"People are starting to contact us and they're saying we want everything on Mike Huckabee," says Graham Sloan, director of the state's Ethics Commission.

What they'll find is 436 pages of documents chronicling Huckabee's various tangles with a commission he's derided as a political tool of Democrats. It's a panel that has held proceedings 20 times on the former governor and lieutenant governor.

But the Ethics Commission files don't cover everything, and this year—anticipating criticism—Huckabee's campaign set up a "truth squad" to push his side of various stories. It often offers, at best, an incomplete account of his record.

On major issues:

_The truth squad says the only finding by the Arkansas Ethics Commission that Huckabee accepted a gift improperly was tossed out by a state court. In fact, the panel investigated 16 complaints against Huckabee and found five violations. Only one, for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola, was tossed out.

Two of the complaints against Huckabee pertain to unreported gifts—the canoe and a $200 stadium blanket received by his wife, Janet. Two stem from cash the governor or his wife received but did not initially report. The panel also ruled in 2003 that Huckabee's campaign violated state law when it used its funds to pay for an event during the summer of 2002 called Gospel Fest

During his tenure, Huckabee accepted 314 gifts valued overall at more than $150,000, according to documents filed with the Arkansas secretary of state's office. (He accepted 187 gifts in his first three years as governor but was not required to report their value.)

_Huckabee has consistently understated his role in the parole of rapist Wayne DuMond, who had been convicted in the 1984 rape of a distant cousin of former President Clinton.

Two months after taking office, Huckabee stunned the state by saying he questioned DuMond's guilt and that it was his intention to free the rapist, who had been castrated by masked men while awaiting trial. Huckabee said then he had "serious questions as to the legitimacy of his guilt" and acknowledged later that he had met with DuMond's wife about the case while he was lieutenant governor. Two months after ascending to the governor's office, Huckabee met with the woman again.

The ex-governor now blames his predecessor for making DuMond parole eligible—Jim Guy Tucker commuted a life-plus-20 years sentence to 39 1/2 years—but distances himself from his role in DuMond's release. Huckabee met privately with the state parole board, and two members have said he pressured them for a vote.

"He made it obvious that he thought DuMond had gotten a raw deal and wanted us to take another look at it," former board member Charles Chastain said in 2001. "Some board members who were usually very tough about letting people out ... (later) voted in favor of him, and seemed eager to."

On his campaign Web site, Huckabee says the parole board was made up entirely of Democrats appointed by Clinton and Tucker. It doesn't mention that Huckabee reappointed board member Railey Steele days before he voted with three other members to set DuMond free. DuMond was later convicted of killing a woman in Missouri and died in 2005.

_Huckabee likes to say he was tough on taxes in Arkansas, noting a $100 million tax cut in 1997 that until this year was Arkansas' largest. When asked about a fuel tax increase he backed in 1999, Huckabee says incorrectly that he joined 80 percent of Arkansas voters in approving it.

Huckabee in 1999 supported a $1 billion highway bond program, including costs for interest and lawyers' fees, but the question on the ballot was only whether the state could take on the debt, not how Arkansas would pay for it. Huckabee had signed the fuel tax increase two months earlier.

Shortly after taking office, Huckabee took a four-day trip by bass boat along the Arkansas River to tout a 1/8th-cent sales tax increase for outdoor programs. (Two nature centers now carry the names of Huckabee and his wife.) Taxes went up $40 million in the months before the $100 million tax cut Huckabee touts.

Other taxes went up as Arkansas changed its property tax system and made improvements to its school system.

_Huckabee's recent strong stand on immigration, including an intolerance toward companies that employ illegal immigrants, runs counter to the image he crafted in his final years in office. He was battling conservatives within his own party who were pushing for stricter state-level immigration measures.

Huckabee opposed a Republican lawmaker's efforts in 2005 to require proof of legal status when applying for state services that aren't federally mandated and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Huckabee derided the bill as un-American and un-Christian and said the bill's sponsor drank a different "Jesus juice."

That same year, Huckabee failed in his effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges. At the time, Huckabee said he didn't understand the opposition to it.

...

Harsh Words about Huckabee, from Conservatives

In an Illinois Review article Tyler Jones shows some of the harsh comments directed at flavor of the month Mike Huckabee, from conservatives.

“He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas”

“He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal”

“He has zero intellectual underpinnings in the conservative movement”

"Mr. Huckabee was the only GOP candidate to refuse to endorse President Bush's veto of the Democrats' bill to vastly expand the Schip health-care program. Only he and John McCain have endorsed the discredited cap-and-trade system to limit global-warming emissions that has proved a fiasco in Europe."

Mr. Ijaz

REPORTER: Governor, there is a report today that a businessman says that a closed fundraiser in Vegas a couple weeks ago, he asked you a question about having an Islamic person in your cabinet and you said that based on the population of Muslims in the United States that you don't think it would be justified?

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: No. His question was did I need to have a Muslim in my Cabinet to be able to confront radical Jihad and would it be important to have a Muslim in my Cabinet and I said, 'No, I don't think that you have to have a Muslim in the Cabinet to be able to take on radical Jihad anymore than during the Second World War we needed to have a Japanese-American to understand the threat that was coming from Japan or something of that nature.' I just rejected that argument number one, and then number two, I point out that people who would be part of my Cabinet is something that I really haven't given a lot of thought to at this point, but I don't have boxes that I check off as to their ethnicity. It's not that I have to have a certain number of each different ethnic group; instead I would choose people based upon their merits and their capabilities.

REPORTER: So you would be open to having a Muslim person….

GOV. ROMNEY: I'm open to having people of any faith and ethnic group, but they would be selected based upon their capacity and their capabilities and the values and skills that they could bring to the administration. But I don't choose people based upon checking off a box.

MSNBC's First Read has a write up if you'd like a link: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/27/482645.aspx

Additionally, Andy McCarthy at The Corner has interesting and relevant comments on Mr. Ijaz.

Romney Vs. Rudy and Huckabee on Wolf Blitzer

Criminals, Beware - The Romney Massachusetts Record

By: Tim Cruz

National Review Online

Monday, Nov 26, 2007

"From his first days in office as Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney understood that '[p]ublic safety is the single most important job of government.' As governor, Romney demonstrated his commitment time and time again to keeping families and their children safe from violent criminals, sexual predators, repeat drunk drivers and gang violence.

"According to Department of Justice crime statistics, violent crime went down during Governor Romney's tenure. In 2006, the FBI violent crime rate ? which includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault ? was 447 per 100,000 inhabitants. This was a decrease of almost 8 percent from 2002 when the rate was 484.4. The violent crime rate was consistently below the national average. Assault and rape in particular fell roughly 15 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Other crimes likewise fell during Governor Romney's term in office, including motor vehicle theft, which fell 32 percent, and larceny, which fell 6 percent."

...

"Under Governor Romney's leadership, the total number of State Police grew by nearly 200 Troopers from 2,333 members to 2,524 ? the highest in the agency's history. He also doubled the size of the State Crime Lab, championed 'Melanie's Law,' the toughest drunk driving law in the commonwealth's history, and signed legislation to publish the most dangerous sex offenders' photos and addresses on the Internet. Governor Romney worked to expand the definition of sexually dangerous persons to make it easier for prosecutors to file civil petitions to keep the worst sexual predators off of the street after their criminal sentences were concluded.

"This year, as one of his proposals to protect our children, Governor Romney has called for a new 'One Strike, You're Ours' law. This crime initiative will impose new, tougher federal penalties for first-time offenders who use the Internet to sexually assault children, including stiff mandatory jail time to be followed by lifetime tracking by Global Positioning Satellite (GPS). As a prosecutor who pursues online sexual predators, I would certainly welcome these penalties."

...

"Governor Romney has been a consistent supporter and advocate of the death penalty for convicted killers."

...

"While serving as district attorney for Plymouth County in Massachusetts, I was thoroughly impressed by the Governor's consistent high level of commitment to law enforcement, victims, and public safety. Governor Romney should be rightly proud of his record in fighting crime and protecting the citizens of Massachusetts. It seems equally clear that he would bring this demonstrated commitment to being tough on crime to Washington to help protect all Americans."

Tim Cruz is the district attorney for Plymouth County in Massachusetts and served as president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association during Governor Romney's term. He is also a recipient of the Outstanding Local Prosecutor's Office Award.

View Entire Article

Mitt on the Hugh Hewitt Show

Mitt Romney responds to judicial nomination questions, and checks in from the campaign trail.

Monday, November 26, 2007 at 8:41 PM

HH: Joined now by Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts. Governor, welcome back, hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

MR: It was a great Thanksgiving. A little touch football and a lot of turkey.

HH: Excellent. Now Governor, a lot of ground to cover. There's a controversy about Judge Tuttman, one of your appointees. Can you tell us how you came to appoint her, and your reaction to her decision to release the man who went out and murdered two young, wonderful people in Washington State?

MR: Yeah, as a matter of fact, I've appointed some sixty judges. And in each case, I wanted to find people who would be law and order judges and follow the law. This judge had served 17 years as a prosecutor, putting bad people away, and so I had every reason to believe that the judge would be a law and order judge. And ultimately, I believe she made a very bad decision. This is a person who had been in jail, he'd served his term, but was up for assault, and she let him go on personal recognizance, and he ended up killing someone. And in my view, she made a very bad judgment, and as a result, she should step down from the bench.

HH: Was it your choice entirely to put her on the bench? Or are you limited in the candidates brought to you?

MR: No, actually, there is a process, a judicial nominating council, which selects people and forwards them to me, and then I interview them. And if I want them, I nominate them, and then there is further a Governor's Council made up of eight Democrats, elected, who decide yes or no on these people. But there's no reason to think that this person would not be a law and order judge. And so I'm not embarrassed about this selection of her. I think she made a very bad choice.

HH: Okay, this judge issue, Mitt Romney, is it going to plague you in New Hampshire, is it going to hurt you in Iowa?

MR: You know, there'll be an attempt by some to suggest that all of the judges that someone appoints or votes for are somehow, that their decisions are somehow your responsibility. I just don't think that's the case. If you select somebody who is a known liberal, and they do liberal things, why, that's maybe a different matter. But you have people in the United States Senate that voted for Ruth Bader Ginsberg that would certainly not want to be responsible for all of her decisions. And I don't think it rises to that kind of level. And frankly, it was Mayor Giuliani who tried to do that. And of all the people who might have raised a question of judgment on selecting someone, Mayor Giuliani was not the one to do it, given the fact that he nominated someone to be the secretary of Homeland Security, who he knew was under investigation, and who has since pled guilty to crimes, and is under federal indictment on sixteen other potential crimes.

HH: Should the Bernie Kerik…or when Rudy urged Bernie Kerik on President Bush, should that a be a concern about his judgment for other people? And will that raise a question about whether or not you'll get Soutered if can't pick judges in Massachusetts?

MR: You know, I didn't make any comment about Bernie Kerik's connection to Rudy Giuliani. I made no comment about Rudy Giuliani's judgment in that regard. But when he came out and attacked me for a decision of a judge, that was a very different setting, and I responded that he was the last person I would have expected to make that kind of a statement. And I agree with Senator McCain on this, that it showed very bad judgment on Mayor Giuliani's part to have somebody who had been implicated for political corruption being recommended to the President of the United States as the Secretary of Homeland Security.

HH: Here's what Rudy had to say just earlier today on Fox News.

RG: I think Mitt has a record, he's got to defend his own record, and I don't think his record is going to be a record that he's going to talk about very much. We talk about our record a lot, and we talk about the things I did in New York, and I want to do them for the rest of the country. And he kind of runs away from it. So there is a difference.

HH: Your response, Governor Romney?

MR: (laughing) Well, I talk about my record in my stump speech everywhere I go, and I'm very proud of it. I came into the state when we had a $3 billion dollar budget gap, and I worked together with people across the aisle, and we were able to close that gap in the first year. I balanced the budget every single year. And at the end of four years, I left a $2 billion dollar rainy day fund. Now compare that with Mayor Giuliani's. He came in and faced a $1.5 billion dollar budget gap, but at the end of his tenure, he left a $3 billion dollar budget hole which the new mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, said was an economic mess, which he would not pass along to his successor. And by the way, the tax rate in Boston when I left office, was 5.3%. The tax rate in New York when the Mayor left office was over 10%. So I'm happy to talk about my record. I also put in place a health plan that gets every citizen insured. Those that didn't have insurance now get free market insurance, and that's the right course for America.

HH: You know, Mara Liasson said on Fox today that your health plan is the same as Hillary's.

MR: Who said that?

HH: Mara Liasson said that on Fox News, Brit Hume's Special Report today.

MR: Oh, you know, I don't know her, but I can tell you this, which is I want to get everybody to get insurance. I don't want people to worry about losing their insurance. But Hillary has a very different plan than mine. Hers cost $110 billion dollars more. Mine costs no more at all. Hers gives people government insurance. I instead help them get private free market insurance. And hers is a one size fits all plan, dictated from Washington. Mine, instead, says let's let each state create their own plan that is consistent with getting people insured. So we have similar objectives, which is helping people to get inside the health care system, but we approach it in a very different way. Mine is a free market way, hers, government.

HH: Former Massachusetts GOP Chairman, Jim Rappaport, blasted you today when he endorsed Rudy, and called you untrustworthy, blah, blah, blah. What's Jim Rappaport got against Mitt Romney?

MR: Well, Jim Rappaport wanted to be my lieutenant governor, and worked very hard in a campaign to become lieutenant governor, and I endorsed his opponent, and worked hard for his opponent, and that opponent became my lieutenant governor. Her name is Kerry Healey. She served very well, and Jim is obviously very bitter about that choice.

HH: The Annapolis Conference gets underway tomorrow, Governor Romney. And a lot of conservatives are skeptical that this is a good idea. What's your assessment of it?

MR: Well, you know, I have very limited expectations from this conference. The President originally outlined a roadmap for peace in the Middle East, and in Israel. And the first phase of that was that the Palestinians would have security arrangements and governmental institutions which would allow them to make certain commitments that they could follow through on. And that has not happened. As a matter of fact, it's gotten worse, not better. And so calling this conference at this stage, is of potentially very limited value. Of course, it's fine for people to talk with one another, but because on the Palestinian side you really don't have anybody who can make any commitments for which there could be follow through, you have to be very skeptical about the outcome.

HH: And Governor Romney, yesterday, the Times of London published a story about the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, blasting the United States, heaping scorn on "the chosen nation myth of America," meaning that what happens in America is very much at the heart of God's purpose for humanity, and saying that we had lost the moral high ground since September 11 ^th. One of the jobs of being president is to respond to attacks like this, especially when they come from quarters which are surprising, like the Archbishop of Canterbury. How do you respond to such a broadside from a Church leader like this?

MR: You know, it does point out that we're very fortunate in our country not to have a state-sponsored religion…

HH: Yes.

MR: …because it would be a very difficult thing to have political leaders standing up and saying things of that nature if they were also religious leaders. And you know, I think you have to go through piece by piece, and say with him, he's entitled to his opinion, but he's certainly not speaking for God, and that this is a nation which has sacrificed more than any nation in the history of the Earth to preserve peace, and certainly has saved the bacon of people in Great Britain, and people in Europe generally, and the entire world doesn't speak German today because of the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of Americans. So it's not a great place for him to be making that kind of comment, and today, we are one of the nations that's taking the lead to keep the spread of violent, radical jihad from developing nuclear weaponry, and potentially threatening the existence of great civilizations.

HH: Governor Romney, fifteen seconds, the absentees start getting cast in New Hampshire on the 10^th of December. Are you feeling good about the Granite State?

MR: You know, we're making progress in the Granite State, and in Iowa. I'm pleased. It's going to be a real battle, it's going to be real close before this is finished.

HH: Mitt Romney, always a pleasure, catch up with you soon again.

Hugh Hewitt

and Mitt Romney

Hugh Hewitt and Governor Mitt Romney

Hugh Hewitt and Governor Mitt Romney Interviews:

09-14-2007; Romney reacts to Moveon and the immigration debate
09-06-2007; Mitt Romney on the campaign trail
05-05-2007; Mitt Romney a day after winning the GOP presidential debate
04-02-2007; Mitt Romney on his campaign's $20 million dollar quarter
03-21-2007; Governor Mitt Romney 3-21-07 Interview
02-09-2007; Mitt Romney from the presidential campaign trail
01-15-2007; Mitt Romney on the presidential race, Iraq, Iran, education
12-27-2006; Mitt Romney year end thoughts
11-02-2006; Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on John Kerry's slander of the military
09-06-2006; Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney comments on the Khatami visit to Harvard

Take Charge

Today, Romney for President launched its newest television ad, "Take Charge."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpBqg6sKYB0

The ad highlights Governor Romney's record of enforcing our immigration laws and opposing efforts to increase the benefits for illegal immigration. As President, Governor Romney will work to secure our border, reform our immigration system and fight sanctuary policies.

The ad will begin airing as part of the campaign's rotation today in Iowa and New Hampshire. Script and viewing links are below.

Script For "Take Charge" (TV:30):

ANNOUNCER: "Illegal immigration – we need smart, tough solutions, not just talk.

"What will it take to fix it? Technology, new ideas, guts, values – Mitt Romney.

"He said no to driver's licenses for illegals; no to in-state tuition; fought for English in the classroom.

"The only candidate with a proven record of fixing the big problems.

"From day one: Mitt Romney will do what he does best – take charge, demand results, no excuses."

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: "I'm Mitt Romney and I approve this message."

The False Conservative

The False Conservative

By Robert D. Novak
Monday, November 26, 2007; A15

Who would respond to criticism from the Club for Growth by calling the conservative, free-market campaign organization the "Club for Greed"? That sounds like Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards, all Democrats preaching the class struggle. In fact, the rejoinder comes from Mike Huckabee, who has broken out of the pack of second-tier Republican presidential candidates to become a serious contender -- definitely in Iowa and perhaps nationally.

Huckabee is campaigning as a conservative, but serious Republicans know that he is a high-tax, protectionist advocate of big government and a strong hand in the Oval Office directing the lives of Americans. Until now, they did not bother to expose the former governor of Arkansas as a false conservative because he seemed an underfunded, unknown nuisance candidate. Now that he has pulled even with Mitt Romney for the Iowa caucuses and might make more progress, the beleaguered Republican Party has a frightening problem.

The rise of evangelical Christians as the force that blasted the GOP out of minority status during the past generation always contained an inherent danger: What if these new Republican acolytes supported not merely a conventional conservative but one of their own? That has happened with Huckabee, a former Baptist minister educated at Ouachita Baptist University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The danger is a serious contender for the nomination who passes the litmus test of social conservatives on abortion, gay marriage and gun control but is far removed from the conservative-libertarian model of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan .

There is no doubt about Huckabee's record during a decade in Little Rock. He was regarded by fellow Republican governors as a compulsive tax-and-spender. He increased the Arkansas tax burden 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes. When he lost 100 pounds and decided to press his new lifestyle on the American people, he was hardly being a Goldwater-Reagan libertarian.

As a presidential candidate, Huckabee has sought to counteract his reputation as a taxer by pressing for replacement of the income tax with a sales tax. More recently he signed the no-tax-increase pledge of Americans for Tax Reform. But Huckabee simply does not fit within normal boundaries of economic conservatism, such as when he criticized President Bush's veto of a Democratic expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Calling global warming a "moral issue" mandating "a biblical duty" to prevent climate change, he has endorsed a cap-and-trade system that is anathema to the free market.

Huckabee clearly departs from the mainstream of the conservative movement in his confusion of "growth" with "greed." Such ad hominem attacks are part of his intuitive response to criticism from the Club for Growth and the libertarian Cato Institute about his record as governor. On " Fox News Sunday" on Nov. 18, he called the "tactics" of the Club for Growth "some of the most despicable in politics today. It's why I love to call them the Club for Greed, because they won't tell you who gave their money." In fact, all contributors to the organization's political action committee (which produces campaign ads) are publicly revealed, as are most donors financing issue ads.

Quin Hillyer, a former Arkansas journalist writing in the conservative American Spectator, called Huckabee "a guy with a thin skin, a nasty vindictive streak." Huckabee's retort was to attack Hillyer's journalistic procedures, fitting a mean-spirited image when he responds to conservative criticism.

Nevertheless, he is getting remarkably warm reviews in the news media as the most humorous, entertaining and interesting GOP presidential hopeful. Contrary to descriptions by old associates, he is now called "jovial" or "good-natured." Any Republican who does not sound much like a Republican is bound to get friendly press, as Sen. John McCain did in 2000 (but not today, with his return to acting more like a conventional Republican).

An uncompromising foe of abortion can never enjoy full media backing. But Mike Huckabee is getting enough favorable buzz that, when combined with his evangelical base, it makes real conservatives shudder.

fuzzy math from Rudy

Last night, Howard Nemerov at the Media Research Council's NewsBusters blog reviewed Governor Romney's record on violent crime and found that "the overall [violent] rate dropped 7.8% from 484.9 in 2002 to 447.0 in 2006." He concludes, "No matter the comparison––total incidents or rates per 100,000 population––Giuliani was wrong to state that Massachusetts saw a violent crime increase while Romney was governor."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/howard-nemerov/2007/11/25/who-s-tougher-crime-romney-or-giuliani

And this morning, in an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Mayor Giuliani distorted Governor Romney's record again. While Mayor Giuliani has apparently recognized his earlier error and dropped any reference to overall violent crime, Mayor Giuliani did claim that "aggravated assault … went up while he was governor."

RUDY GIULIANI: Boston Herald had a big piece on this about two months ago; crime, murder, aggravated assault, burglary all went up while he was governor. In the case of robbery, it went up 12%. And those are all areas in which while I was mayor of New York, those categories went down by 70%. So there's a big difference in his record as a governor, which in the area of these violent crimes was very poor as the Boston Herald pointed out, and my record as mayor was one of the best records from the point of view of safety and security in the country.

On the contrary, as the same NewsBusters post points out from FBI data, "aggravated assault decreased 14.8%" during Governor Romney's term. Just another example of Mayor Giuliani's "fuzzy math."

Mitt Romney and the Veto

The Romney Record: Governor Romney's Top Ten Line-Item Vetoes

"I had the line-item veto. We ought to have that in Washington. It allows you to pick out the pork and pick out the waste and to zero in on it." – Governor Romney (Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes," 4/4/07)

VETO #1: More Than 800 Budget Line-Items:

For All Four Of The Fiscal-Year Budgets That Crossed His Desk, Governor Romney Used The Line-Item Veto Power More Than 800 Times. Over the course of four budgets, Governor Romney made over 300 line-item reductions, 350 line-item eliminations and struck language 150 times. (Chapter 26 Of The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Acts Of 2003, Governor's Veto Message, 6/30/ 2003; Chapter 149 Of The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Acts Of 2004, Governor's Veto Message, 6/25/2004; Chapter 45 Of The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Acts Of 2005, Governor's Veto Message, 6/30/ 2005; Governor Mitt Romney, Memo To The Senate And House Of Representatives Of The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts; Fiscal Year 2007 General Appropriations Act Veto Items: Line Item Accounts, 7/8/06)

- Beacon Hill Institute Executive Director David Terck: "He Vetoed Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars In Spending." WALL STREET JOURNAL'S PAUL GIGOT: "Was Governor Romney willing to use his veto pen to do that in Massachusetts?" BEACON HILL INSTITUTE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAVID TERCK: "He most certainly was. He vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars in spending." (Fox News' "Journal Editorial Report," 3/31/07)

VETO #2: In-State Tuition For Illegal Immigrants:

In 2004, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed In-State Tuition For Illegal Immigrants. "Romney also vetoed a number of outside sections of the budget, including: ... A plan that would have permitted illegal aliens to pay the same in-state tuition rate at our public colleges and universities as Massachusetts citizens." (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Signs $22.402B Fiscal Year 2005 'No New Tax' Budget," Press Release, 6/25/ 2004)

VETO #3: A Moratorium On Charter Schools:

In 2004, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed A Moratorium On Opening New Charter Schools . "Romney also vetoed a number of outside sections of the budget, including: ... A moratorium on the opening of five new Charter Schools in North Adams, Lynn, Salem, Marlborough and Cambridge." (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Signs $22.402B Fiscal Year 2005 'No New Tax' Budget," Press Release, 06-25-2004)

VETO #4: A Tax On Prescription Drugs:

In 2003, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed A Provision That Would Have Renewed A Prescription Drug Tax. "Specific vetoes include language that would have: ... Renewed the ill-conceived $1.30 pharmacy tax levied on every prescription filled, which has a disproportionate impact on senior citizens and others who live on fixed incomes. This tax was scheduled to be reduced to 65 cents on July 1, 2004, but with Romney's veto will no longer be imposed." (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Signs No New Tax Budget In Time For New Fiscal Year," Press Release, 6/30/ 2003)

VETO #5: A Provision That Would Have Weakened Massachusetts' English Immersion Program:

In 2003, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed A Provision That Would Have Created "A Major Loophole" In Massachusetts' English Immersion Law. "Specific vetoes include language that would have: ... Changed the English immersion ballot initiative to permit 'two-way' bilingual programs, creating a major loophole in the new law." (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Signs No New Tax Budget In Time For New Fiscal Year," Press Release, 6/30/ 2003)

VETO #6: $150,000 To Study The Winter Moth:

In 2006, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed $150,000 For The University Of Massachusetts To Study The Winter Moth. (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Vetoes Wasteful Spending, Cites Need To Maintain Fiscal Discipline," Press Release, 6/24/06)

VETO #7: $4 Million To Research The Efficiency Of The Internal Combustion Engine:

In 2006, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed $4 Million To Research The Efficiency Of The Internal Combustion Engine. (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Vetoes Wasteful Spending, Cites Need To Maintain Fiscal Discipline," Press Release, 6/24/06)

VETO #8: $100,000 To Build A Gazebo In Braintree:

In 2006, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed $100,000 For A Gazebo On Sunset Lake In Braintree. (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Vetoes Wasteful Spending, Cites Need To Maintain Fiscal Discipline," Press Release, 6/24/06)

VETO #9: A Provision Watering Down The Welfare Work Requirement:

In 2003, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed A Provision That Would Have Weakened The Work Requirement For Welfare Recipients. "Specific vetoes include language that would have: ... Allowed education and training to substitute for the 20-hour per week work requirement for able-bodied welfare recipients. This veto saves $8 million and preserves the cornerstone of welfare reform, which has been the work requirement. Romney signed into law a provision expanding the work requirement to recipients who have children between the ages of two and five." (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Signs No New Tax Budget In Time For New Fiscal Year," Press Release, 6/30/ 2003)

VETO #10: Retroactive Pay Increases For State Employees:

In 2004, Governor Romney Line-Item Vetoed Retroactive Pay Increases For State Employees. "The largest veto was $32 million to pay for retroactive pay raises for state employees at public colleges and universities. Romney noted the labor contracts are funded on a going forward basis, but said: 'Taxpayers who are trying to make ends meet, and who have been denied the tax cut they voted for in 2000, should not be asked to pay for retroactive salary increases for state employees.'" (Office Of Governor Mitt Romney, "Romney Signs $439 Million Supplemental Budget Bill," Press Release, 9/17/ 2004)
YESTERDAY I vetoed a bill that the Legislature forwarded to my desk. Though described by its sponsors as a measure relating to contraception, there is more to it than that. The bill does not involve only the prevention of conception: The drug it authorizes would also terminate life after conception.

Blogs about Mitt Romney and the Veto

http://illinoisans4mitt.blogspot.com/2006/08/mmmm-bacon_11.html

http://www.mass.gov/eoaf/fy06gov_veto_docs.htm

Governor's FY04 Budget Vetoes
Governor's FY05 Budget Vetoes
Governor's FY06 Budget Vetoes

Google Search

http://reason4romney.blogspot.com/search/label/Veto

"I Like Vetoes"
Gov. Romney's second Campaign Ad

Script For "I Like Vetoes":

GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY: "If I'm elected President, I'm going to cap non-defense discretionary spending at inflation minus one percent.

"That would save $300 billion in 10 years.

"And if Congress sends me a budget that exceeds that cap, I will veto that budget.

"And I know how to veto. I like vetoes. I've vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations as Governor.

"And frankly, I can't wait to get my hands on Washington!!

"I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message."

2007

Apr 04, [2007] Romney For President Launches New TV Ad, " I Like Vetoes"

2006

06-24-2006; Governor Mitt Romney vetoes wasteful spending, cites need to maintain fiscal discipline
06-30-2006; Governor Mitt Romney vetoes needles bill

2005

11-21-2005; Governor Mitt Romney stands up for consumers, vetoes wine bill

2004

05-05-2004; Governor Mitt Romney vowscharter school moratorium veto
06-23-2004; Governor Mitt Romney to veto charter school moratorium
07-23-2004; Governor Mitt Romney; decrying politics, vetoes senate vacancy bill

http://www.vote-smart.org/official_veto.php?can_id=CNIP7799