Frank rips Romney
The Democratic Party enlisted Congressman Barney Frank today to spindle fellow Bay Stater Mitt Romney in its series of conference calls to skewer potential Republican vice presidential picks.
Romney has been one of John McCain's most enthusiastic surrogates, promoting McCain's positions and blasting Democrat Barack Obama.
Frank, however, called Romney the "most intellectually inconsistent politician" he has ever known, citing the former Massachusetts governor's changes of position on abortion, gay rights, and other issues.
Romney ran against Senator Edward M. Kennedy from the left in 1994, was a moderate as governor, and moved further to the right during the Republican primaries, showing the right wing's "strong grip" on the party, Frank said.
Romney will "say whatever he thinks will win the next election," Frank said. "This man has zigzagged extraordinarily."
McCain was "contemptuous" of what he called Romney's flip-flops when they were rivals, and he was right to be, Frank said.
And as governor, the congressman said, Romney, despite his business acumen, showed "no penchant" and little interest in the job.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom responded: "It shouldn't surprise anyone that bitterly divisive Democrats like Barney Frank don't have anything good to say about Republicans. Fair-minded people look at Mitt Romney and see a strong leader, a man of character and integrity who was elected as governor at a time of job loss and recession and who managed to balance the budget all four years without raising taxes and get the Massachusetts economy moving again."
And the Massachusetts Republican Party used the opportunity to attack Romney's successor as governor, Democrat Deval Patrick.
"It's no wonder the Massachusetts Democrat party wants to change the subject away from America's Worst governor," the party said in a statement. "While Mitt Romney fought for reform and lower taxes, Governor Patrick has raised taxes and has failed to implement any reform. Instead of smearing the last Governor who fought for fiscal sanity in Massachusetts, the Democrat party should set up a conference call with America to explain to why they were the source of such spectacular failures like John Kerry and Mike Dukakis."
John Walsh, head of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, piled on, calling Romney a "disaster" for the state, and describing Romney's "gyrations" on the abortion issue as being of "Olympic proportions."
Romney is among the possible McCain running mates featured on the Democrats' website that argues that they could be the next Dick Cheney, whose popularity ratings are lower than President Bush's.
UPDATE: And fellow Republican Mike Huckabee also sort-of trashed Romney today.
"I think there are better choices for Sen. McCain that have the approval of value voters,” the former Arkansas governor, who also sought the nomination, said on Fox News Network. “The issue is that in many ways, Mitt Romney has had very definite swings of position. Not just on one or two things, but on many of the issues."
Congressman Barney Frank???
Isn't this the same Barney Frank who was reprimanded by his peers (House voted 408-18 against him) for living with a male prostitute who ran an escort service from their home?
Ethically Corrupt Barney Frank has absolutely no right to blast others as being "intellectually inconsistent" when he has a history of being "ethically barren".
He's always had it in for Romney so this "news" is no news at all.
This is a complete endorsement. Anytime Barney Frank criticizes someone, you know they are a "true conservative". Way to go Mitt! Now if you can get Pelosi to go after you, you'll have the veep sewn up.
All this Romney bashing lately just shows me that the Dems are worried that McCain will pick Romney which will give the Republicans a major advantage. Howard Dean was honest and has said that the Democrats thought Romney was their biggest threat so of course they are going to do and say anything to try and get McCain to second guess picking Romney as VP. I hope McCain will be the true Mavrick and go against what the Dems are saying and what Mike Huckabees bigoted supporters are pushing and put Romney as VP. It would bring new excitement and momentum to the ticket!
This is a complete endorsement. Anytime Barney Frank criticizes someone, you know they are a "true conservative". Way to go Mitt! Now if you can get Pelosi to go after you, you'll have the veep sewn up.
All this Romney bashing lately just shows me that the Dems are worried that McCain will pick Romney which will give the Republicans a major advantage. Howard Dean was honest and has said that the Democrats thought Romney was their biggest threat so of course they are going to do and say anything to try and get McCain to second guess picking Romney as VP. I hope McCain will be the true Mavrick and go against what the Dems are saying and what Mike Huckabees bigoted supporters are pushing and put Romney as VP. It would bring new excitement and momentum to the ticket!
The math is easy. The dems are terrified of Romney. A McCain/Romney ticket wins the Presidency in November!
I watched Fox news channel interview with Mike Huckabee and I think it was a pretty good inteview no negative remarks from Mike Huckabee he is just concern of few issues Romney might have changed his position in the past which he Romney already explained on debates during the Primaries why he changed.He did explain the abortion issue very clear in connection with the stem cell issue and most American understand Romneys explanation.The Republican Party will come together in support of John Mccain and whomever he will choose as a viable running mate but I will say this Mitt Romney is a very good choice considering these factors:Economic know how,leadership capabilities,executive strength,oratoral skills,managerial expertise,American family man and an honest husband to his wife and children.These are clear signs of a strong leader especially in these trouble times around the world and what freedom loving citizens of the world are seeking is real freedom with family values.
I live in East Boston and Romney Left me with 2 choices... Pay High healthcare premiums or pay a fine... Its bad enough that i cant afford health insurance but on top of that i have to pay a fine??? If romney is so great in business why did he spend $11,000,000 per delagate while he was running??
Anyone in their right mind wouldnt take this joker serious...
Obama/Biden '08 & '12
If Barney Frank and Hucklebee are against him, Mitt must be doing something right.
How did Mitt change his position of gay rights? This accusation is thrown at him often by the left but I have never seen anything to back it up.
Another useless piece of "Political Intelligence" from Foon. The Globe doesn't even attempt to disguise their liberal agenda but these Republican bashing "News" pieces from Foon are a real joke. The ethically challenged Barney Franke has no clout as far as I'm concerned. I expect any politician who hears evidence proving their opinion to be wrong to change their minds. Only old fossils like Barney Frank will never change their opinions, no matter what.
Barney Frank is one of the smartest (and funniest ) men in government. If you don't believe me then check youtube. I am proud to have him represent me.
The flip flop label makes me so mad. They said the same thing about Reagan. Reagan also had some conversions on the same issues. What's wrong with learning from experience? We are all allowed to change our minds and be enlightened through experience. Why is it that no politician is allowed the same liberty to learn and change? What's important is to see that Romney has never promoted abortion or same sex marriage. While he previously didn't fight for pro-life issues, he certainly didn't promote the opposite. He just didn't think it was government's role to decide for an individual woman until he realized the pro-choice crazies were demoralizing life at such a fast pace. He then realized that people who don't believe in abortion must push for public policy to stop the slide in desrespect for life. It makes complete sense to me. Huckabee supporters who bash Romney obviously either hate him for his religion or hate him because he did a better job than Huckabee. It's not about the flip-flopping at all. Conservatives need to come together and realize we have so much more in common with eachother than we do with Obama. Romney needs to be VP!
The math is easy. The dems are terrified of Romney. A McCain/Romney ticket wins the Presidency in November!
Romney is a loser and a flip flopper. Why would anyone support someone who has no integrity and will say whatever is popular to get elected? He, like Barney Frank, is creepy!
Romney is strong on economics and will bring the conservatives and religious right in for the Republican Party. He'd be a good choice. When comparing McCain and Romney to Obama and any of his vp picks, there is but one choice for America and that certainly is not liar Obama.
Barney Frank has hit the nail on the head: Romney changes his positions like New England's weather. He had no interest in the welfare of Mass. while Governor, his tenure was strickly self-serving. Romney is an elitist who could care less about working class americans.
Barney's just a sore loser, plain and simple. Poor Barney is upset because instead of having John Kerry's Senate seat, he's still representing the moonbats of the 4th district.......
Even though I am no fan of Romney's, being a Democrat , a Bay Stater and a supporter of Barney's, it's not us Democrats that should fear Romney if he is selected by McCain as his VP running mate. McCain should be the fearful one. The conservative base of the GOP, who McCain definitely needs if he has any hope of being elected, dislike Romney even more than us Democrats.
They see that Romney can change his political colors quicker than a chamelion.
Something is very wrong with this picture when there is something that me, a proud LIBERAL, can agree on with the conservatives.
this math is easier:
the republican party is controlled by the religious right.
therefore, mccain must win the support of this base to win the general election.
romney is a mormon, and this was shown to be a crucial impediment to his chances of securing the republican nomination.
therefore, a mccain/romney ticket loses in november.
but don't worry, mccain/superman or mccain/jesus wouldn't fare much better anyway. americans won't be fooled for much longer by grandpa simpson, er, i mean john mccain.
I watched Fox news channel interview with Mike Huckabee and I think it was a pretty good inteview no negative remarks from Mike Huckabee he is just concern of few issues Romney might have changed his position in the past which he Romney already explained on debates during the Primaries why he changed.He did explain the abortion issue very clear in connection with the stem cell issue and most American understand Romneys explanation.The Republican Party will come together in support of John Mccain and whomever he will choose as a viable running mate but I will say this Mitt Romney is a very good choice considering these factors:Economic know how,leadership capabilities,executive strength,oratoral skills,managerial expertise,American family man and an honest husband to his wife and children.These are clear signs of a strong leader especially in these trouble times around the world and what freedom loving citizens of the world are seeking is real freedom with family values.
Posted by skmj
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dkmj, you end with ".....and what freedom loving chitizens of the world are seeking is real freedom with family values. Granted Mr. Romney has great family values; however McCain does not; His return from VietNam was to a once bealutiful wife who, due to a nearly deadly accident, walked with a pronounced limp and was five inches shorter due to the surgeons having to shorten her legs to save them from amputation. Carol is pretty much put together with metal rods, plates, and pins. In McCain's mind she was no longer "good enough" for him; so he became a "Don Juan" playing and romping around and having multiple affairs with multiple women, finally settling and shacking up with 22 year old Cindy---McCain was 40 years old! Talk about robbing the wealthy cradle!! McCain had abandoned his wife and children, bought a marriage license before divorce was final and married his Wealthy Barbie Doll five weeks later. Since McCain is USING his POW status as his major vehicle to gain the White House, his MANY affairs and outrageous behavior, shall we say like a "male rabbit" , needs to be scrutinized and criticized just as much, if not more, than Edwards. Both committed adulty (McCain many, many more times) and both were/are running for president!! Both exhibited poor character, poor judgement, and POOR FAMILY VALUES!! As a matter of FACT, McCain is even more TARNISHED that Edwards, yet everyone is saying Edwards is not fit for political office anymore!! What about McCain?? He should have NEVER been fit for political office and running for president to begin with. AMERICA is HOLDING THESE TWO GUYS TO DIFFERENT CHARACTER STANDARDS AND THAT IS ABSOLUTELY UNFAIR AN UNDEMOCRATIC!!
this math is easier:
the republican party is controlled by the religious right.
therefore, mccain must win the support of this base to win the general election.
romney is a mormon, and this was shown to be a crucial impediment to his chances of securing the republican nomination.
therefore, a mccain/romney ticket loses in november.
but don't worry, mccain/superman or mccain/jesus wouldn't fare much better anyway. americans won't be fooled for much longer by grandpa simpson, er, i mean john mccain.
The flip flop label makes me so mad. They said the same thing about Reagan. Reagan also had some conversions on the same issues. What's wrong with learning from experience? We are all allowed to change our minds and be enlightened through experience. Why is it that no politician is allowed the same liberty to learn and change? What's important is to see that Romney has never promoted abortion or same sex marriage. While he previously didn't fight for pro-life issues, he certainly didn't promote the opposite. He just didn't think it was government's role to decide for an individual woman until he realized the pro-choice crazies were demoralizing life at such a fast pace. He then realized that people who don't believe in abortion must push for public policy to stop the slide in desrespect for life. It makes complete sense to me. Huckabee supporters who bash Romney obviously either hate him for his religion or hate him because he did a better job than Huckabee. It's not about the flip-flopping at all. Conservatives need to come together and realize we have so much more in common with eachother than we do with Obama. Romney needs to be VP!
Romney is as fake as the make up he wears on the campaign trail... He's NOT a true conservaitve, in fact that's what Frank's point is.
Non of this news... Just a weak attempt by Frank to blast Romney while his name is being thrown around as a pobbile VP candidate.
And the math is easy, the dem's are scared? The math is this.... we have a large contingent of shook white people who live in the middle of this country and are deathly afraid of having a black president, so rather than voting on morals, issues or ideas, they're voting based on biases, prejudices and overall ignorance. That's why the Dem's are scared!!!!! Because the propsect of having another 4 years of this crap is scary!!!
Romney is strong on economics and will bring the conservatives and religious right in for the Republican Party. He'd be a good choice. When comparing McCain and Romney to Obama and any of his vp picks, there is but one choice for America and that certainly is not liar Obama.
I hope to God the Republicans are stupid enough to put Romney on the McCain ticket. Talk about a guy who stands for absolutely nothing. Is there an issue he HASN'T reversed since leaving this state? The guy is an absolute joke.
Poor choice on attack dog though - Barney Frank is spot on, but has no credibility with independants. They should have a moderate slamming Romney for the absolute weasel he is. This doesn't go far enough in showing how much of a flip-flopping cynic Romney is.
Barney the cartoon character has more credibility than Barney Frank. When are the people of Massachusetts going to wake up and stop letting a bunch of loud mouth special interest groups run the State?
Romney is the perfect candidate for VP because the VP doesn't traditionally do anything except for posing for pictures. Thats all he did as Gov. of Massachusetts. He accomplished absolutely nothing as he was out of the state prepping for his presidental run for most of his term. His political resume: 2 years coasting through his job as Governor and 2 years spent touring the country raising funds for his presidential campaign. Go Romney, you're just the snake for the job!
The 'Republican brand' is toast. Picking Flip-flop Romney would be the perfect highlight to flip-flop McCain. Can the Dems re-run all the vicious Romney ads against McCain without a copyright violation?
But hey! It's a free country where Romney can spend all the 'McBain' money he got by screwing workers, supporting yet another losing cause.
BTW...anybody who thinks that Romney was an anti-tax darling hasn't looked at the screwing that we got on nearly EVERY FEE; or how he dumped the state burden on the cities and towns...
No doubt Mitt is a good guy personally, but politically, he was the pits!!
Just ask a majority of people from the state of MA what they think of Mitt...you will most likely get a lot of negative responses. This man did no favors for the state. He used his position as governor as a stepping stone to the white house. he was out of the state more than he was in it. Fortunately he slipped on that stepping stone! Bad, bad choice for VP or President
Oh boy! It feels like a stoop but if I don't say it, I may just burst.
Mike Huckabee needs to shut his self-serving, narrow-minded, Bible-thumping, bigoted pie hole and show if but one ounce of the dignity that Romney has displayed in spite of Huck's rants and defamation. Huck's coy insinuations and holier-than-thou attitude makes my skin crawl.
Do we support a candidate who is considering someone whose religious views are against Christ? Mormonism is not a Christian religion. It was started by Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, and Joseph Smith. What the average citizen doesn't know is that these guys started the Mormon religion, not just Joseph Smith. Sidney Rigdon was a Baptist pastor who was desposed from the baptist denomination because he was unwilling to work with its leaders. He later joined the Campbellites, but also he was unwilling to work with its leader. He then decided to make his fame and fortune by starting his own religion-Mormonism. He then enlisted Pratt and Smith; Pratt to propagate this scheme and Smith provided the cunning and marketing skills to commericalize it.
The Book of Mormon itself was a counterfeit of the true Christian Bible and also much of it was also plagiarized from a book by Solomon Spaulding. Rigdon condemned polygamy, but he had a major conflict with Joseph Smith And Pratt because they condoned and practiced it. Brigham Young also strongly and vigoriously supported polygamy. Pratt later died having been shot to death by an enraged husband whose wife he had induced to leave her home and children to follow Pratt to Utah to be one of his plural wives. Joseph Smith led a decadent and immoral life as well.
In the Book of Mormon, when they use the word "God", they are referring to Adam. Adam was a polygamist. In the Journal of Discourse, one of the major books of the Mormon faith, it says, "Whenour Father Adam came into the Garden of Eden, he came into it with an celestial body, and brought Eve, one of his wives with him." they teach that Christ was born, a child of Adam and Mary. it also teaches that Christ Himself was a polygamist. it was He who was married at Cana, and was married to the Marys and to Martha.
Is it important that we know what people believe? Absolutely!! If candidates choose people whose religious beliefs are against Christ, then the people need to know that. I know nowadays it is considered rude and intolerant to put down one's religious views. And that is what is wrong with the world today. Discernment has gone down the drain; few people care about the words of Christ, and we have many, many false prophets springing up almost daily. People like Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Robert Schueller, Brian McLaren, John Piper, Chuck Swindoll, Marc Driscoll, Leith Anderson, and many others like these are leading people astray. We, unfortunately, live in the Laodicean age, when it is the spirit of man that is running the church, not the Spirit of God. And Christ said, "If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you." This is the time that we live in where we can see both "gates" clearly--the wide gate that leads to destruction or the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. Political people don't care about eternity--they only care about getting the votes. God made the road to destruction wide for a readon...
There is only one perfect choice John Mccain can make for VP is Mitt Romney.Romney is everything we can ever hope for a Vice President given his greater understanding how we can sustain ourselves economically as a nation like we use to fifty years ago.There is only one way this country will ever regain its economic superior like it use to many years ago and that is free markets solution and personal accountability.Any other ideas and system is just wouldn't work because America is America we are not Europe or any other country it is that simple.Trying something new something we never use to economically is just putting a robe around our neck like the Democrat Party did with many welfare money sucking dispicable programs we will all end up for decades paying higher taxes beyond our personal incomes.Republican of all type will support Mccain and Romney ticket.
This Flip Flop joke is now Obama to own what a lot of bull.
I love how Romney's people - who are paid to come onto these sites and make positive comments - laud him as the greatest thing this state has ever seen.
Sure Romney made millions as a Senior Partner in his firm - yet what people dont know is that firm has shipped tons of jobs overseas in the name of profit. These firms use smoke and mirrors to make companies look better than they really are. I've seen Romney up close and he has appeared to me to be someone who wants power above all else. And someone like that in a position of power is dangerous.
Fact. Within 2 weeks of taking office, the Patrick administration came forward and said that the State's fiscal condition was a lot worse off than Romney's people had publicly stated. The extent of that smmoke and mirrors show is now evident.
Fact. Romney was out of the state trashing it every chance he could.
Fact. The Republicans - especially Romney are experts in character assassination and deception. We have the biggest deficit we've ever had. The lowest consumer confidence since... hey! Since right before the Democrats took the White House from the Republicans and balanced the budget and eliminated the Trade Deficit.
The Repbublican party has touted smaller Government and fiscal responsibility since Regan. Yet... they never practice what they speak. Their sound biites and slogans still resonate with people who don't bother to actually take the time to learn about and analyze the issues.
Romney was up against two loaded Democrat Houses the entire time he was Governor and still managed to keep taxes from spiraling up. For all you complaining about his Universal Health Care plan, just take a look at all the legacy health care costs for the hundreds of thousands of retired Democrat Party hacks in this state and then take a look at the long term demographics for MA. The short story is that in about twenty years the Democrats will have to confiscate 20% of the income of anyone still working here or the state will go broke. We are losing taxpayers and becoming a welfare state of hispanics and retired party hacks. MA is one of only two states in the Union that has a declining population except for hispanics (up 18%) and chinese (up 38%). Universal healthcare was one way to lower the health care costs for the welfare cases and all those retired hacks. And what does Cadillac Deval have to say about this.......? We're still waiting for a plan, Mr. Patrick. At least a plan that doesn't include raising taxes and fees on everything we do. I think the only thing we can do is get behind Carla Howell and vote to abolish the state income tax. That's the only way to bring these tax n' spend Democrats back in line and save the state from fiscal disaster.
Romney was up against two loaded Democrat Houses the entire time he was Governor and still managed to keep taxes from spiraling up. For all you complaining about his Universal Health Care plan, just take a look at all the legacy health care costs for the hundreds of thousands of retired Democrat Party hacks in this state and then take a look at the long term demographics for MA. The short story is that in about twenty years the Democrats will have to confiscate 20% of the income of anyone still working here or the state will go broke. We are losing taxpayers and becoming a welfare state of hispanics and retired party hacks. MA is one of only two states in the Union that has a declining population except for hispanics (up 18%) and chinese (up 38%). Universal healthcare was one way to lower the health care costs for the welfare cases and all those retired hacks. And what does Cadillac Deval have to say about this.......? We're still waiting for a plan, Mr. Patrick. At least a plan that doesn't include raising taxes and fees on everything we do. I think the only thing we can do is get behind Carla Howell and vote to abolish the state income tax. That's the only way to bring these tax n' spend Democrats back in line and save the state from fiscal disaster.
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