I don't think people get that this difference makes a difference. As a millennial going through college during the GW Bush years, there was at least a Republican party that cared about America, cared about non political government institutions and the service those members participate in, etc. Since the tea party that shit changed. And I don't think it's hard to believe Mitt Romney actually cares about this country and means what he says on this thing. I feel disgusted defending Romney, but I kind of miss it when it was guys like Romney were the political opponents in power and not these MAGA folks hellbent on destroying democracy and politicizing the institutions critical to America.
I mean, I was going through college when GW Bush was elected, and here's what I remember:
Everyone lying about GW Bush being the "first Spanish-speaking President" (he spoke no Spanish at all), the first of many lies meant to cover up his manifest incompetence and intellectual incapability
Republicans shutting the government down for weeks at a time
A maniac, entirely fictitious scandal invented solely to hamper Al Gore's election prospects (the White House phones scandal)
What was different about that day's Republican Party than today's? We knew less about it, was all.
The thing that I dont think a lot of people like to recognize is that GW Bush had both some of the highest and lowest approval ratings. For months immediately after his approval rating was like 90 percent. Dems are also responsible for going to war then, even if they weren't the party in control.
But the thing is republicans did hold institutions, agencies, and administrative government orgs in higher esteem and weren't trying to destroy and purge. That's very different than trump. There's a difference between Mitt Romneys of the. GOP and the Jim Jordans who have never passed their own legislation and instead only focus on dismantling government and going on witch hunts.
I think the other thing you need to look at is how other elected officials speak about working with him. There's what you say in the public light, and then there's the work that actually gets done.
Also, didn't Romney kind of quietly champion universal healthcare in MA? And despite his own views, accept state Supreme Court rulings to provide gay marriage licenses? This guy actually cared about governing.
Also 2 unnecessary wars. Iraq causing the US to lose focus in Afghanistan. Republicans steered the Medicare part D BS and Bush signed it. The economy melting down then they blamed Obama. Then they questioned Obama’s citizenship. Before that was Reagan racking up debt, and raising taxes all while “states rights” was used as cover for institutional racism.
Yeah…. His usual ethical-adjacent stance. He won’t support the awful but the moderately better are just fine. The pinnacle of GOP integrity is still pathetic.
It's genuinely surprising how low the bar is for a Republican to be considered ethical - refusing to vote in the guy who literally tried to pull a coup on your country shouldn't even be an ethical stance, it should be the stance of literallyeveryone
Romney isn't a politician anymore. That's why I think this carries more weight. He can say what he wants and doesn't have to worry about job security of appealing to the base.
Also, read the article. This is about the Republican primary. He can vote for folks near term still R. But he alluded to that in a general if it's trump, he'd probably vote Biden.
But "the others that are running are acceptable to me and I'd be happy to vote for them," Romney told "Person to Person's" Norah O'Donnell when asked which candidates he "liked" in the GOP field.
I get what you're saying, but that difference can also come from the fact that there hasn't been a single primary yet, let alone a Republican nominee. We can speculate on what that will look like, but speculation is not enough to turn that "would" into a "will"
Id bet against you. You think a retired politician would publicly go against his old party but privately do the opposite? Also, this article is mostly about the GOP primary. Read the article, not just the headline.
The most annoying guy at the Republican debates that no one is watching. He’s 5% in the GOP polls and is basically the adult version of the insufferable kid that got way too into high school debate team.
He fucking does say it. Multiple times across different sources. That’s literally why he’s quitting the senate. You people just don’t read past headlines so you don’t see it.
Yup. 99 percent of comments think this comment is about the general election, when the quotes are about the primary. Of course Mitch isn't voting for trump in a GOP primary. But he still probably won't vote trump in a general either.