Related: Will Romney Run in 2016?
Answer: Mitt Romney will not run for president in 2016
Globe says it is the right call, meaning the front-runner is now Jeb Bush, one of the Bush brothers!
"Yeah, Jeb "smoked a notable amount of pot — as many did — and sometimes bullied smaller students." Let's hope he didn't stuff firecrackers up frogs' butts like George W.
No sense spending much time on this filler then:
"Mitt Romney outlines economic, foreign policy vision; Goes casual as he tests new themes" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff January 28, 2015
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mitt Romney staged a campaign-style swing Wednesday through a Deep South state that spurned him in the 2012 Republican primary, calling for a national war on poverty, testing a few attack lines directed at Hillary Rodham Clinton, and declaring his fondness for pulled pork.
It was the first opportunity for Romney to show off a new, somewhat looser stump style as he weighs whether to seek the White House for a third time. He appeared more at ease than he typically did when he was the 2012 Republican nominee, joking about his personal wealth and discussing his Mormon faith.
He told offbeat tales of his failed presidential bid and quipped about advice he got during the last campaign from a man who urged him to grow a little stubble to appear “more sexy.”
“As if I needed that,” Romney deadpanned.
In a trip to the poorest state in the union, Romney also renewed his call for a national fight against what he calls “chronic generational poverty,’’ and began elaborating on the kinds of policies he would push if he mounts a third presidential campaign.
Top Republican activists and donors have been eager to hear Romney provide a clearer rationale for why he thinks he deserves another shot — and how this campaign would be different.
How Reaganesque.
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He batted down repeated questions from reporters about his intentions for another White House campaign. When a moderator asked him how his campaign would be different from his failed campaigns of the past, he said, “That’s another question I won’t answer.”
But he did begin sketching out some of the ways he would attempt to combat poverty, after blaming the growing disparity in income on a failure of “liberal policies.”
“The rich have done historically well,” he said. “I’m concerned about the middle class and the poor in this country.”
If he runs, Romney said he would push for more and better high school educational opportunities, including charter schools, and incentives for businesses to hire people who haven’t had a job before. One of the areas he grew most passionate about was placing more emphasis on two-parent families as a way to alleviate poverty. He also urged students to have a “life coach.”
OMG!
“We have to make sure our government programs aren’t creating incentives for people not to get married,” he said, citing housing vouchers and other federal programs. “And they do right now.”
But the most striking aspect of the performance was that Romney, often charicatured since his days as Massachusetts governor as robotic and programmed, made a greater effort to appear to be more comfortable in his own skin....
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Time to go back home, Mitt:
"Romney built expensive homes after 2012 loss" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff January 27, 2015
LA JOLLA, Calif. — On a recent weekday, a half-dozen construction workers crowded onto a small plot of land in this pricey community, banging away on an 11,000-square-foot house with expansive oceanfront views that will soon replace one a fraction of the size.
There’s a large master suite, a room for all the beach gear — and a car elevator. Outside, scrawled in graffiti on a wall separating the property from the beach, was a message touting Mitt Romney for president.
Two years ago, Mitt Romney didn’t think he would run for political office again. And in the aftermath of his bitter defeat in the presidential campaign, he embarked on something of a real estate spree. He simultaneously began building two multimillion-dollar homes, one here on the Pacific Ocean and another outside Salt Lake City. He also bought a third, a slopeside ski chalet in Park City, Utah.
For the first time in more than a decade, unencumbered by political considerations, the two-time presidential candidate and former private equity executive was free to spend his many millions without concern of how it might look. But now that he’s considering a third presidential bid, the monuments of his wealth could become a political inconvenience, particularly as one of his key themes has been America’s growing income divide.
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Romney, whose last presidential bid was hampered by his image of excessive privilege and insensitivity, may recognize the trouble his real estate holdings could cause in another campaign.
He is taking steps to shed some of his property, including retaining a broker who is currently showing the La Jolla home to potential buyers, according to a Romney aide. The aide would not disclose the asking price or explain why the former Massachusetts governor and his wife, Ann, want to sell the home after more than four years of city permitting, hearings, and construction.
In all, Romney has four homes. All of them are at least twice as large as the average home in the United States. They contain spas and hot tubs, and garages to hold up to four cars. They’ve built kitchens and dining rooms large enough to accommodate their large, sprawling family (5 sons, 5 daughters-in-law, and 23 grandchildren and counting).
“He wants to be close to his family,” said Ron Kaufman, a longtime Romney confidant. “There’s nothing more important to him than his kids and grandkids. . . . And if you could afford a house, and you’re as close as the Romneys are to their kids, that’s what you do.”
Romney’s plans to tear down and rebuilt his home in La Jolla were already underway during his last campaign. But since he lost the 2012 election, Romney has also purchased a six-bedroom home that was listed for $8.9 million in Park City, Utah, and he’s built another 5,900-square-foot home 30 miles away near Salt Lake City.
He still has his New Hampshire vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee, but last year sold his condominium in Belmont for $1.2 million, cutting his remaining ties to Massachusetts and raising questions about whether his 2016 campaign would again be headquartered in Boston....
The new home in California includes an infamous “car elevator,” first reported in 2012 by Politico and used by Romney’s opponents to cast him as out of touch....
Well?
Building the home was the culmination of a long battle, which at times became heated with neighbors who said Romney’s new home — much larger than his former one — was out of character with the neighborhood. Some neighbors complained....
“It was contentious,” can you believe it?
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They both skipped Iowa, but someone is Bolton to New Hampshire:
"Former UN ambassador Bolton still weighing presidential run; Wants GOP race to focus on US foreign policy" by James Pindell, Globe Staff January 27, 2015
Former UN ambassador John Bolton says he is still considering jumping into the Republican presidential primary field with the intention of making foreign policy the top agenda item discussed among his potential rivals.
In an interview previewing his trip to New Hampshire next week, Bolton said he wants to make sure the GOP still stands for strong, interventionist foreign policy.
The last thing we need is another war monger.
This view from Bolton, who served under President George W. Bush, has been increasingly questioned by a war-weary electorate and by some in his own party.
We are not just weary of them, we f***ing hate them.
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When he began exploring a run for president last year, Bolton said he wasn’t sure how many Republicans wanted to pull the United States back from conflicts around the globe, but now he believes that group is small.
“Inside the party the neo-isolationists strand is pretty thin.” Bolton said.
BULL!
“To me Rand Paul looks increasingly isolated on foreign policy. There may be a pretty decent libertarian segment of the party when it comes to economics and social policy, but not when it comes to foreign policy. I think people will increasingly pull away from him based on his national security views.”
You war-criminal psychopaths are the isolated ones.
A Paul spokeswoman declined to respond.
Many inside the party viewed Bolton’s potential campaign as a reaction to Paul’s likely candidacy. But Bolton said he would make his decision independent of Paul’s. “If Rand Paul were to announce today that he wasn’t running I would still be interested,” Bolton said.
Yeah, right. This is about stopping Rand Paul much like Adelson funded Gingrich in 2012.
He said last fall’s elections, particularly some high-profile contests for US Senate, proved pundits wrong when they claimed that voters don’t care about national security.
“In fact voters in the last election cared a lot about national security, ISIS in particular,” Bolton said.
Bolton is scheduled to address business leaders in New Hampshire next week before visiting a local conservative think tank and a lunch in Concord.
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Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Rand Paul is on Koch
Thus leaving us with no one to vote for.
