Mitt Romney Now Wants to Make Being Welcoming on Immigration a Key Part of His Campaign

He's not the most natural standardbearer for the cause of turning around the Trump GOP's animus toward immigration.

Mitt Romney, former failed Republican presidential candidate and former governor of Massachusetts, is officially running for Senate from Utah. His announcement video (see bottom of post) has a lot of rah-rah boilerplate about how great and giving and pioneering Utahns are, but in the middle is an interesting turn for Romney and a gauntlet thrown to the Trump Republican attitude toward immigration.

DonkeyHotey on Foter.com / CC BY

Around one minute into the ad, as Romney is explaining what makes Utah better than Washington (including balanced budgets, yay, followed by an unfortunate emphasis on how apparently great it is that they export more than they import) he throws in how "Utah welcomes legal immigrants from around the world; Washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion."

Mitt didn't always think that front and centering a pro-immigration message was one of his selling points. In 2012 he was anti-Dreamers, and as Matt Welch emphasized, in 2012 Donald Trump was calling Romney's attitudes toward immigration "mean-spirited," "crazy," and "maniacal" for talking about encouraging illegal immigrants to "self deport." Welch further stressed that Romney was the king and founder of the Trumpian trend toward demonizing "sanctuary cities."

Romney seemed confused later on that Hispanics didn't understand what he thought he was trying to say: "make sure we have a legal immigration system that brings, in my view, more people legally to our country."

Romney can and undoubtedly will stress that he's as against illegal immigrants as he ever was. But Trump's reign has brought forward a general animus against foreigners and even legal immigrants such that Romney stressing his admiration for legal immigrants as one of his main substantive selling points in his Senate run can be read as an attempt to change the Party's current spirit toward immigration.

Good luck with that, though his history doesn't mark him as the best spokesman for the value to the U.S. economy and spirit that less restricted immigration brings.

Comments

[Hank Phillips]

Well, well, well... Trump says he likes the LP in 2015, God's Own Prohibitionists pee their pants at the Ross Perot visions and nominate him, the pro-energy, pro-choice LP gets 328% (plus what lying looter fraud conceals) of the vote, and suddenly the bank-loving coathanger abortion prohibitionist for Moroni no longer spurns the Libertarian migration plank, but has actually read it! THAT is spoiler vote clout in action.

[Red Tony]

Your authoritarian mentality, assumes a "right" to aggress, because your authoritarian mind sees NO reason not to ... like Trump, authoritarians (BY DEFINITION) have NO respect for individual sovereignty.

Also by long established definition, you deny any abuse at all.

Verbal hostility, or in other words, verbal harassment or abuse is basically a negative defining statement told to or about you or withholding a response and pretending the abuse is not happening.

Cyberbullying The act of bullying someone through electronic means (as by posting mean or threatening messages about the person online)

Psychopath:
1. A person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior.
2. The Authoritarian Right
3. The Authoritarian Left
4. Bullies who talk like twelve-year-old children.
5. Michael Hihn

I pity your children. Though most kids share your lack of a parent. If you're values these days.

(This is where you bellow, in self-righteous indignation)
((sneer))

lim(x->2) [(Left ? x)(Right + x)]^x = 4818.1531

[SQRLSY One]

You are an utter fool! You have miscalculated and mispalpitated!!!

The REAL TRUTH is that ...

lim(x->2) [(Left ? x)(Right + x)]^x = 4818.1532 !!!!!!

[silver.]

I'm so confused. Is Red Tony parodying Michael Hihn or is he Michael Hihn?

EVERYONE IS MICHAEL HIHN!

[Rebel Scum]

Is Red Tony parodying Michael Hihn

Yes.

[Red Tony]

I'll be honest, I saw that Hank had the top post and decided to add some Hihn to this soup of incoherence.

That is indeed a Hihn quote, though. I have it saved in case I ever need to annoy Hihn by quoting Hihn to Hihn and seeing if he takes the bait. (The only things edited are that Hihn is listed under the psychopath definition and his left right equation.)

[Jerryskids]

Finally, thank God, we have an honest politician who's willing to allow as how Trump might not be such a great guy. How refreshing! It's so rare to hear anybody say anything negative about the president.

Of course, I'm watching CNN where they're bashing the shit out of Trump for responding to the news of Mueller indicting some Russians for meddling in the election by trying to make this Russia investigation all about him. What an egotistical jerk to think this Russia investigation isn't about Russia and only has to do with Trump!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Russians linked to US election interference indicted despite Trump calling probe a hoax
PBS NewsHour

[Ecoli]

Tell me when the Russians/Soviets have not meddled in US elections?

Tell me what measurable impact the Commie meddling had?

The Commies held rallies supporting Trump, and denigrating Trump. Which rally do you want to emphasize?

This nothing burger keeps getting more and more nothingy.

Get over it, Trump won. You guys sound like whiny little bitches. Have some dignity, or at least pretend to. At this rate, 2020 will be a landslide for Trump.

[MatthewSlyfield]

And the US has meddled in a lot of other countries elections. We are throwing stones from a glass house here.

[I am the 0.000000013%]

Slow down there man. Russians surrounded me in my home and dragged me to the voting booth where I watched my vote being cast by someone on the other side of the planet repeatedly!!!

I was WITH HER too, and it made no difference. It's a vast right hemisphere wing conspiracy!

[Rockabilly]

Putin's puppet exposed - internet bots brainwashed Americans to vote for Trump.

Public Brainwashing System; News Hour

[Don't look at me.]

I had no idea people were so easy to manipulate . You have seen the Facebook shit they put out, right. It is to LOL for.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

The election spent something like $2B. How much did the Russians spend? Are they so clever that their puny amount could outdo that $2B?

Buncha freakin election freak geniuses it appears!

[stuartl]

That's why Putin always wins by such big margins

[JoeBlow123]

The budget of the people Mueller just indicted was one million per month. Small potatoes. Meanwhile we have the Repubs and Dems are spending hundreds of millions in brainwashing...

[MatthewSlyfield]

1. These indictments have no connection to the Trump Campaign and the charges are not being brought by Mueller.

2. "Rosenstein said at the press conference that there is no evidence that any of this behavior actually altered the election outcome."

http://reason.com/blog/2018/02.....russian-na

No one one was brain washed, except maybe the Russians involved in this moronic scheme.

[Ecoli]

"No one one was brain washed, except maybe the Russians involved in this moronic scheme."

The Democratic rank and file were brain washed, you know, the ones who started demanding impeachment on November 9. What an absolute disgrace the DNC has become.

Maxine might have been brain washed, but they couldn't find a bucket small enough.

We live in a topsy turvy world where the Russians have dispatched internet trolls to extol the virtues of the Bill of Rights and the Democrats are denouncing same.

[Fist of Etiquette]

On immigration, like any other single platform topic, a candidate can have as many opinions as voters he's pandering to.

[Don't look at me.]

It pays to be " flexible ".

[SusanM]

That's how they get their heads where they do.

[Hank Phillips]

True of looter candidates, fer shoor. But going that one step further to urge the sacrificing of electrical power plants on the altar of Gaia, complete with penance in the form of Carbon taxes levied on all save Altrurian dictatah-shipu is guaranteed to result in defeat at the polls. Unless, of course, God's Own Prohibitionists just finished re-collapsing the economy in another faith-based asset-forfeiture binge. The Green watermelon planks the Dems copy are the secret weapon that hands power to the Republicans, just as the economy-wrecking mystical fanaticism planks the GOP copies from the Prohibition Party expands and hands that power back across the aisle with every Crash and Depression.

[Ecoli]

The aim of the Russians was to sow distrust and to stir up trouble in the US. That has ALWAYS been their aim.

The only difference now is that the Democrats and the left media are marching in lock-step with their Soviet comrades.

[damikesc]

Marching in lockstep with their Soviet comrades is normal for the Democrats and the media.

[Ecoli]

This last year has hardened my heart.

I thought Hillary should go to prison for her many obvious crimes.

Then she lost the election and I figured it would be bad for the country if she was held to account, hence she should be allowed to take her hundreds of millions and slide into luxurious obscurity.

Now I think the only thing that might heal the country is for her to face a judge and do the perp-walk. Probably Bill and Chelsea as well. They also ought to forfeit their ill-gotten gains and allow Chelsea to "try to care about money" like the great unwashed the Clintons so despise.

[Ken Shultz]

It's amazing if Trump is so powerful, he'll make my fellow libertarians overlook his stances on marijuana and gay marriage--just because he's against Trump.

If Trump walked on water, turned it all into wine, fed 5,000 people with two loaves and five fishes, discovered cold fusion, and cured AIDS, at this point, half of you would still denounce him--because he's Trump.

[creech]

If Jesus had done all of that, and was a coarse narcissist to boot, no one would have heard of him today. But I think Trump is saving up the miracles for the second term. So far, I must admit, his policies as amended from his campaign rhetoric, are better than I had feared.

[sharmota4zeb]

Narcissist is becoming a popular buzz term. How do you define it?

[esteve7]

I am way more concerned with the far left hacks 'interfering' in our elections than the russians. When russian 'interference' is launching some fake memes and fake facebook posts. How is that different than what far left outlets do every day?

[Joirep]

Hello vlad

[Cy]

You could always go stand out in front of voting booths with steel bars and baseball bats... to 'keep the peace' as they say. I'll warn you though, it's only ok if you're black.

[Joirep]

>yay, followed by an unfortunate emphasis on how apparently great it is that they export more than they import

This made me lol because his belief that it is good that you export more than you import is akin to believing that spending more and getting less is a good thing. Lol nationalism is retarded

[sharmota4zeb]

In the long run, it is good to buy less than you sell in the average year, so you have a surplus for wealth accumulation. Utah managed to do this without raising tariffs.

[Joirep]

>In the long run, it is good to buy less than you sell in the average year

Selling more=paying more

Jesus fucking Christ are all trumptardian intellectuals this retarded.

[Joirep]

>In 2012 he was anti-Dreamers, and as Matt Welch emphasized, in 2012 Donald Trump was calling Romney's attitudes toward immigration "mean-spirited," "crazy," and "maniacal" for talking about encouraging illegal immigrants to "self deport."

Lol then the Russians homework on us was actually pretty easy to do. All they had to do was study Romney's politics and have a famous celebrity run with that in 2016. Clever ruskies.

[Joirep]

>But Trump's reign has brought forward a general animus against foreigners and even legal immigrants

Its not a general animus its just that you got alot of paid and unpaid altright trolls in your comment section.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Poor Joirep, still cuddling that Hillary waifu at night.

[Sprague Pond]

Really? Or is it that Trump is upsetting your personal rice bowl, and deservedly so? Seventy years of traditional conservatives in Big Agriculture and the Chamber of Commerce exploiting an unlimited flow of illegals to keep labor costs down, competing right up there with the Clintons in their pious immorality. It's illegal; it's immoral; it forces them to commit identity theft to survive; it hurts the rest of the nation's wage-earners; it's grossly unfair to the exploited; it's expensive, and it ends now. Trump may be a vulgarian, but he's spot-on here. Be careful of that door on your way out.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Where da binders of wimmen at?

[hello.]

Romney was LARPing as an immigration hardliner in 2012 to try to appeal to the Republican base since he had to think of something to distract from the fact that he was the progenitor of Obamacare in an election that was all about how much Republicans hated Obamacare. He's never been an immigration hardliner any more than any other Massachusetts Democrat has been, and Republican voters saw straight through it and sat at home. Trying to turn Mitt fucking Romney into a poster boy for American Nazism just makes you look like an even bigger joke than you already did.

[sharmota4zeb]

In 2012, Obama's campaign advertisements attacked Romney for offshoring businesses. Romney is committed to free trade. I think it's good that he's open to legal immigration and ready to crack down on illegal immigrants.

[Libertarian]

You had me at "Mitt Romney, former failed Republican . . . "

[Hank Phillips]

If Romney can round up enough televangelists to cinch the nomination, the Republican motto may change from Gott Mitt Uns to Mitt Uns Gott! He can surely carry Utah, Alabama and Iowa, especially if the 1976 Coathanger Abortion Amendment proposal is still in their platform at election time.

[Ecoli]

Romney is Mormon. Most Christian fundies think Mormons are not Christians. I doubt televangelists will be interested.

Hank, you are odd.

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[Ecoli]

Dude, put a little effort into it. Tell us how your aunt sat on her fat ass pecking on a keyboard and now drives a Maserati.

[Red Tony]

Your FACE is a Maserati. It's a Maserati. It's a Maserati.

[ahohen]

What a shame. Mitt Romney would do anything to get elected! He DEFINITELY would NOT get my vote!

[sharmota4zeb]

Romney's campaign shows the benefits Republicans reap by electing Trump. Six years ago, Democrats thought Romney was evil. Now, they hope he wins a Senate seat. Trump reset the definition of a moderate Republican by showing Democrats how confrontational Republicans can be when they get tired of compromising with Democrats without getting anything in return.

[D.A. Ridgely]

Isn't Romney *still* a failed Republican presidential candidate?