Obama advisor: Romney has no ‘core’
Mitt Romney would support “Partnership Agreements” not marriage equality
At a town hall in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney was asked 4 separate times his views on same-sex marriage. Romney was unwilling or unable to make the case for why he would not recognize families with parents of the same gender, even as he spoke in a state that has permitted gays and lesbians to marry since 2009.
“I can say look, there are a lot of folks who are raised by one parent, through divorce through death or through having a child out of wedlock,” Romney replied. “But my view is a society recognizes that the ideal setting for raising a child is when you have the benefit of two people working together and where one is male and one is female. I happen to believe that and that’s the reason that I think as a society we say, ‘You know what? We are going to call marriage what it has been called for 6,000 years.'”
So why not support civil unions?
“What I would support is letting people who are of the same gender form, if you will, partnership agreements,” he replied. “If they want to have a partnership with someone else and have, as a result of that, such things as hospital visitation rights and similar benefits of that nature.”
In separate news, it was announced that NJ Gov. Chris Christie will be supporting Mitt Romney for President.
Herman Cain wins Florida straw poll
From the StarTribune: Business entrepreneur Herman Cain shocked the political world by winning the Florida GOP’s influential presidential straw poll Saturday, while Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann finished dead last in the field of eight candidates.
Cain, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO who appears to have caught fire in recent weeks, topped the GOP field with 37.1 percent of the 2,657 votes cast.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the current leader in most polls, finished second with 15.4 percent of the delegates’ votes in Florida, edging out former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won 14 percent.
Michele Bachmann’s poor showing in Florida – receiving only 40 ballots, or 1.51 percent of the vote, seemed to further diminish the fast-waning luster of her campaign.
Unlike the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, nearly all candidates running were included on the Florida ballot, and delegates representing counties throughout the state paid their own way to the event. The last three Florida GOP straw poll winners have become their party’s nominee.
Among the rest of the field, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a perennial favorite among grass-roots GOP activists, came in fifth behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, each receiving a little more than 10 percent of the vote.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich finished sixth at 8.4 percent, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman finished seventh with 2.2 percent.
Mitt Romney – “Corporations are people” a la Streisand
Yes, yes, corporations are people. The luckiest people in the world…
Mitt Romney will not sign anti-gay Iowa pledge
In a move that instantly outclasses his GOP competitors Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney has announced he will not sign the conservative Iowa Christian group’s pledge opposing among other thing marriage equality.
The Family Leader’s “pledge” calls on conservative candidates to oppose marriage equality, pornography, open service in the military and forms of Islamic law.
While Bachmann and Santorum raced each other to be early signers, Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney, told The Associated Press in a written statement Tuesday that Romney “strongly supports traditional marriage,” but that the oath “contained references and provisions that were undignified and inappropriate for a presidential campaign.”
Romney supported marriage equality in Massachusetts.
While I’m certainly no Republican, I can honestly applaud Mitt Romney for taking the high road on this issue.
The Family Leader, formed last year to position itself to be influential in the 2012 Iowa caucuses, said they stand by their anti-gay positions.
In addition to Romney, GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is not campaigning in Iowa, citing his past opposition to farm subsidies, although he also supported rights for same-sex couples as governor of Utah. According to campaign aides, Huntsman has said he will not sign any pledges as part of his campaign.
Dear Mitt Romney, those things in front of you are cameras… they record what you say
Mitt Romney denies he said (over and over and over again) that Obama made the recession worse.
Somewhere he is being screamed at by his campaign manager asking why he would say such a thing when it can’t possibly be “spun” into something else?
This man flips on everything he says. And I’m guessing he thinks those boxes in people’s hands must be presents and not cameras – THAT RECORD WHAT HE SAYS.