Now that Mitt Romney has secured the GOP nomination, he is obviously free to be himself. His masquerade as a conservative is over as he has returned to many of the moderate-to-liberal stances he held as Governor of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. He has also returned to being the polite politician who treats his Democratic opponents with respect.
Mitt Romney only gets nasty against other Republicans. In the GOP primary, the Governor eviscerated his opponents with high priced, non-stop, hard hitting attacks. He is not employing the same tactics in his general election showdown against President Obama, who he continues to refer to as a “nice guy.”
At the same time that Romney is playing nice, Barack Obama has been on a rampage, tearing to shreds the U.S. Constitution. On June 15 at the White House Rose Garden, Obama decided to issue de-facto amnesty to 1.4 million aliens who illegally entered the country at a young age. The President evidently decided that standing immigration laws do not apply to this category of individuals, who will now be able to apply for work permits and no longer have to face the threat of deportation. To the 23 million unemployed Americans looking for work, get ready to face more competition for scarce jobs. Romney’s response to this outrageous move is that he wants to seek “common ground” on the immigration issue. During an interview on “Face the Nation” last Sunday, Romney refused on five occasions to pledge that he would rescind the new Obama immigration policy.
Last week, the President issued a questionable Executive Privilege order protecting his Attorney General from congressional investigators and covering up documents that dealt with the scandalous Fast and Furious program. In response, the Governor should be condemning the President’s order, demanding that Holder resign and insisting on full transparency and the release of all documents. Instead, Romney’s response has been non-existent, as he has been “largely silent” on the Fast and Furious debacle that resulted in the death of a border patrol agent.
On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down three of the major provisions of the state of Arizona’s law dealing with illegal immigration. The justices upheld the remaining provision, which allows law enforcement to question suspected illegal aliens about their immigration status. After the ruling, it only took the Obama Department of Homeland Security several hours to rescind agreements with seven law enforcement agencies in Arizona. Thus, the federal government will provide no assistance to Arizona in dealing with illegal immigrants arrests, except those caught crossing the border or with felonies in their criminal history. Horace Cooper of the National Center for Public Policy characterized the administration’s move as “a complete disregard of the constitutional process.” As noted by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Obama told Arizona to “drop dead.”
With the U.S. Constitution, law-abiding Arizona residents, and a Republican Governor under attack, what did presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney say? His spokesman refused to condemn the Supreme Court ruling or offer support for the Arizona immigration law. After being hounded by reporters for an answer and evading 20 questions on the issue, Romney spokesman Rick Gorka offered this meek response: “The Governor supports the right of states, that’s all we’re going to say on the issue.”
When the people of Arizona, the conservative movement, and the GOP needed a champion, Romney hid under his moderate cloak. He did the same disappearing act several weeks ago when President Obama announced his support for gay marriage. This cowardice in the face of controversial issues should alarm conservatives. It does not bode well for a potential Romney administration. It is another indication that the worries of conservatives about Romney were well founded.
Romney masqueraded as a conservative in the Republican primaries. Now he is being his true self, the Massachusetts Moderate. If he is elected as President, he will be another George H. W. Bush who will manage the growth of government, not seriously curtail it. He will work with Democrats, not oppose their socialist agenda. He will use government to “solve” problems and not provide the only real solution, limited government.
So-called political experts claim that any Republican presidential nominee must “move to the middle” to win the general election. Romney is obviously following this advice; however, just the opposite is true. America is thirsting for a conservative alternative to Obama. Voters want a real choice, not an echo. Romney should be clearly differentiating his positions with the President on all issues, not just the economy.
At this time in our history, illegal immigration is a vitally important issue. Millions of citizens along the southern border with Mexico feel overrun with illegal immigrants and are frustrated by a federal government that refuses to take action.
Romney is trying to placate the Latino vote by toning down his rhetoric on this issue. During the Republican primaries, Romney expressed staunch support for the Arizona immigration law. Today, his spokesman goes to great lengths to avoid the issue.
Sadly, Romney does not possess the core conservative principles that the Republican Party and this nation desperately needs.
Governor Romney may become our nation’s 45th President, but as his tap dancing on these issues proves, he will not govern as a conservative.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons)
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Cowardly Obama Suppresses Fast And Furious “Smoking Gun”
Under questioning by Senator Charles Grassley, Attorney General Eric Holder testified that a handful of emails written to Department of Justice officials by former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson are being withheld illegally from congressional committees as a result of Barack Obama’s claim of executive privilege. Kept now under lock and key thanks to the June 20th order, the emails have been described by Melson as “smoking guns” in that–contrary to Holder’s testimony to Congress–they “show senior DOJ officials knew about and approved the gun walking tactics in Fast and Furious.”
Fifteen months ago, Melson began his own investigation of Fast and Furious by reading through the wiretap affidavits sent by the ATF to Main Justice in Washington. He found that the information included in the necessarily detailed documents bore little resemblance to the “facts” that had earlier been relayed to Congress by Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich. In a February 4th, 2011 letter to Senator Charles Grassley, Weich claimed that the ATF had not “sanctioned or otherwise knowingly allowed” weapons to be sold to straw purchasers or walked into Mexico. Of course, that infamous letter was retracted by the DOJ, only after the Department had maintained its assertions for a full 9 months.
The wiretap applications also made it clear that Eric Holder had lied when he repeatedly claimed to congressional committees that the DOJ knew nothing of the tactics ATF employed during the Operation. This is because wiretap applications—forms asking a court’s permission to perform a wiretap—are completed in extraordinary detail and list all previous tactical methods employed by law enforcement to gather evidence in a particular case. And each of the applications had been approved and signed by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, a top DOJ political appointee.
After reading the applications, Melson immediately addressed emails to a NUMBER of DOJ officials telling them to “…back off the [February 4th Weich] letter to Senator Grassley in light of the information in the affidavits (applications).” As Grassley himself later said of Melson “… he was alarmed the information in the affidavits contradicted the [DOJ’s] public denial to congress.” (1)
Sent to the Department in March of 2011, Melson’s emails alerted the DOJ to its false and potentially criminal claims just one month after the Weich letter and 3 months after the death of Brian Terry. The emails exposed lies perpetuated by both Weich and Eric Holder. Yet not only did the DOJ ignore Melson’s warnings; Holder continued his claims of innocence and ignorance on behalf of the Department and its officials—including, of course, himself.
The incriminating wiretaps applications have been sealed by a federal judge, so although copies were leaked to congressional committees, they cannot be released to the public or used in evidence against the DOJ.
And although Ken Melson informed Grassley and Issa of his emails and their content in a July 4th deposition to Committee representatives, the only copies are now sealed under Obama’s privilege order. Prior to that, the DOJ refused to provide them to Congress.
If a bare handful of documents prove the Fast and Furious guilt of Eric Holder and the Department of Justice, what could be revealed by the remaining 80,000 currently in Barack Obama’s “executive” custody? Will the American people ever know?
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