GOP Candidate Mitt Romney Finds Peril As He Works Through 2008 Presidential Checklist

[Omaha Steve]

http://omaha.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8O3B3J00&_action=validatearticle

GOP Candidate Mitt Romney Finds Peril As He Works Through 2008 Presidential Checklist

03-25-2007 12:29 PM
By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (Associated Press) -- As Mitt Romney transitions from one-term governor to presidential candidate, he has been ticking through a presidential checklist, sometimes with perilous results.

Where he lacked foreign policy experience, his staff arranged one-day visits to Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Check, check, check.

Where there were questions about Second Amendment issues, he enrolled as a "lifetime" member of the National Rifle Association.

Check again.

But this month, Romney scratched when he tried to wade through the cauldron of Cuban-American politics during a speech to South Florida Republicans.

"Hugo Chavez has tried to steal an inspiring phrase _ 'Patria o muerte, venceremos.'" Romney said, referring to the Venezuelan president and persistent U.S. critic. "It does not belong to him. It belongs to a free Cuba."

In truth, the phrase does not belong to free Cubans. It has been the trademark speechmaking sign-off of their most despised opponent, Fidel Castro. And unlike Romney, Castro would switch to English to declare, "Fatherland or death, we shall overcome."

The mistake pointed up Romney's newness to the scene and the freshness of some of his positions.

FULL story at link.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Mittens! Get better staff! Hey, if you're gonna make mistakes,

do it now while hardly anyone is paying attention to your learning curve.

[napi21]

6. Yea, he can work through his learning curve,but my guess is

he will never be able to get the Fla. Cuban vote...EVER! If he had said this in NH, or OH, he probable would have been able to let it slide, but Mr. Idiot was speaking in So. Florida! He may have learned, but it was a very expensive lesseon.

[Ian David]

2. Professor Harry Higgins made a bet with Colonel Pickering that he could turn anyone into a President

They're making a play about it called, "My Fair Romney."

"Now, repeat after me, Mitt... 'The gays in Maine wear flannel to the game...'"

[youngdem]

3. Mitt is an empty suit. A power hungry WHORE with no morals and no internal compass

He exists to chase power on behalf of his corporate masters. What a piece of shit this 'man' is.

[skipos]

4. I would LOVE Mitt to be the Repub nominee, or Newt.

He will be much easier to beat than Rudy or McCain.

[saltpoint]

5. For me, the yuck factor with Mitt Romney is extremely high.

I hope GOP voters have enough sense to reject his candidacy from the outset.