He has made a career out of saying things that the audience was speaking to wanted to hear.

Check out below:

In the end, what difference does it make if we elect a marxist from <strike>Kenya</strike> Chicago or a marxist from Massachusetts.

That much ballyhooed "-r" after his name doesn't amount to squat given his record to date.

• support of illegal aliens.

• squeamish support of Second Amendment rights.

- Oh yeah, and his signature achievement: Romneycare.

He truly loves this country, and is one of the most loved by the troops who eagerly joined the services to defend our way of life against the islamic onslaught on the West.  A great commander to be sure.

One thing GWB did however that set this country back, was to take away the moral authority that differentiated Republicans from Democrats.  He showed that no amount of principle was sacred when authorizing the use of taxpayer dollars to be given to private enterprise.  It paved the way for the current usurper to do the same repeatedly, leaving us holding a debt that our kids will never be able to pay.

Republicans cannot say easily to the public that they are so very different from leftist Dems as long as Bush's, Hoekstra's or Camp's votes to support TARP are in memory.  Part of our argument of principle was taken (ripped) from us.

Mitt Romney has enough history to destroy what little is left of the Republican differences if allowed to face Obama in 2012.  No debate would be complete without Obama claiming that the Massachusetts health care plan was the basis for the health care debacle we find ourselves fighting today.

He could have no argument other than the weak 10th amendment argument he has tried already.  Obama would OWN HIM.

Add to this the insincerity he holds for core conservative values such as Abortion, and gun rights, and he doesn't represent what I view as a strong constitutional platform.

now..

Having said all that?

He is a good family man, and I could give a rats behind whether he is a Mormon.  It doesn't matter.

He doesn't represent me or my core principles anywhere near Cain, Santorum, Bachmann, or Palin.

Newt being the architect of RomneyCare will seal his fate.

And, no.  I do not want to hear about that video from 1995 being out of date and Newt has changed his opinion.  Newt always slithers on a "variation" of his opinions.

But let's cast all of that aside and focus on what matters to conservatives. I would argue that conservatives, at their core, demand two things from our next president:

    Repeal Obamacare
    Restore capitalism and fiscal sanity

Why would Romney repeal something that is in essence he signed?

Fiscal sanity? Romney raised taxes and fees as MA governor. Then there's Romneycare.

Even that aside, why would I believe a thing he says? I know his record in Massachusetts. He campaigned as a center-left candidate. He tried in some cases to out-left Ted Kennedy in rhetoric. He was pro-abortion until he ran for president. He says he's pro gun now but signed a gun ban as governor.

Romney's problem isn't his Mormonism (most don't care and every Mormon I've met is good people) or even his liberalism on things. It is that I can't trust him. Talk is cheap. You don't become a conservative at the moment you decide to run for president.  This isn't Reagan, Bachmann, or even Perry. He's insulting my intelligence. I was born at night, but not last night.

As far as electability, how is this guy electable? Romney has a ton of money and elite level organization. Yet, he can't beat McCain? Someone disliked by both grassroots and establishment? He's struggling in the polls against everybody? There's a reason for that. Trust. Newt Gingrich is more trusted than Mitt Romney. Cain and Perry led Romney in the polls. He can't break 25%, and he's starting to falter even in New Hampshire.

How is Romney going to beat Obama?

Thus far your blog offering has not persuaded me one iota to consider Romney.

Perhaps I can offer some help with at least convincing me.  Here's what you're up against.  You need to convince me that a guy who's lived in Massachusetts since 1971, then shows up in Michigan whenever he's running for Office claims to be a "Michigander," who by his own volition campaigned on the Left side of the spectrum since the mid 1990's in an east coast liberal blue-blood state presenting himself to the left of Teddy Kennedy, then as governor decided to circumvent law with legalizing gay marriage, erode the Second Amendment, and by his creation owns what is the template for Obamacare with the guidance of Newt Gingrich's decades long individual mandate agenda.

There it is.  Now, work it, archiespeck.  At the very least, convince me as to why I'd vote for this guy.

Oh, and here's an added benefit for you.  There is not a chance in hell that I will vote for Newt Gingrich in the primary or the general.  I am not for a slower form of Socialism, in other words, Teddy Roosevelt Democrat-lite.  That path that Republicans have chosen since George H. W. Bush is worn out with me.  No more.   If the Republican challenger is watered down to an Obama or bust candidate...  Speaking for myself, it will be bust.

So, again, there it is.  Convince us.

Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said Romney and the nation's 41st president are friends, but added that the visit doesn't mean Bush will endorse Romney.

Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said the meeting was a courtesy visit, noting that Bush has met with other GOP presidential hopefuls, including Jon Huntsman.

I must give credit to you, as this thread has garnered quite a few comments.

Romney Declines Lincoln-Douglas Debate Against Gingrich

Mitt Romney spent nearly $100,000 in state funds to replace computers in his office at the end of his term as governor of Massachusetts in 2007 as part of an unprecedented effort to keep his records secret, Reuters has learned.

The move during the final weeks of Romney's administration was legal but unusual for a departing governor, Massachusetts officials say.

The effort to purge the records was made a few months before Romney launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He is again competing for the party's nomination, this time to challenge Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012.

Five weeks before the first contests in Iowa, Romney has seen his position as frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates whittled away in the polls as rival Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has gained ground.

When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers to keep for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor's staff had emails and other electronic communications by Romney's administration wiped from state servers, state officials say.

Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney's four-year tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.

Republican and Democratic opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of emails - and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure - hinder efforts to assess his performance as a politician and elected official.

As Massachusetts governor, Romney worked with a Democrat-led state house to close a budget shortfall and signed a healthcare overhaul that required nearly all state residents to buy insurance or face penalties.

Massachusetts' healthcare law became a model for Obama's nationwide healthcare program, enacted into law in 2010. As a presidential candidate, however, Romney has criticized Obama's plan as an overreach by the federal government.

Rest here

Yup.  Just another slimy, Big Government, Center-Left politician cloaking himself in elephant hide.

Expect the One Tough Nerd to do the same...