Patterico's Pontifications

1/5/2008

Did Romney Campaign Float Rumor of Thompson’s Impending Withdrawal?

Filed under: 2008 Election — Patterico @ 5:34 pm



According to Bob Novak, rumors that Thompson would withdraw after Iowa and endorse John McCain “have been traced in part to Mitt Romney’s campaign, trying to stir up strife between McCain and Thompson.”

9 Responses to “Did Romney Campaign Float Rumor of Thompson’s Impending Withdrawal?”

  1. I know that I don’t consider Mitt Romney a particularly honest or sincere man, so it wouldn’t shock me if true. I think McCain and Thompson are the two I trust most, no strong feelings one way or the other about Guiliani, just don’t know, and not a huge believer in Huckabee’s sincerity.

    Christoph (92b8f7)

  2. I was dead certain that MCcain was behind this, mainly because MCcain stood the most to gain (Rudy supporters were voting for Thompson or Mccain). Bu tit seems so hammy that the rumor said Fred would support Mccain. Obviously, if you are going to stay in temporarily, you don’t disclose who you’re going to support after the defining election until after the election!

    I decided that Mccain’s supporters were just being really clumsy. Now it’s said Romney’s people did this to play me for a fool? If so, bravo.

    I doubt it though. Romney has been pretty damn decent towards Huck, and had every reason not to be. I just don’t see his organization doing something this dastardly and risking pissing off so many folks out there. If Mccain’s people did leak the lies about Fred, they could just as easily leak this too. It seems that, yet again, this leak is timed in a way that helps Mccain the most. He was fighting Fred in Iowa, now he’s fighting Romney. If he’s not behind these leaks, they are amazingly fortunate for him.

    I guess, if anything, this just gives me a slight bit of pause in my conspiracy paranoia. Mccain is a jerk in person, generally, so I guess it doesn’t matter if this leak and the last leak are true or false.

    Jem (29d3e6)

  3. Novak’s been pretty bullish on McCain, so if I had to guess, the same McCain people that were floating this are the ones who told him that it was Romney who was doing it. That way they got to spread some FUD on Fred before Iowa, and that mission accomplished now they get to slime Romney right before NH.

    Skip (c69414)

  4. Other than Novak just saying so, there’s nothing offered by him to suggest there is a tie.

    I really don’t know about Romney. But I know one thing. He’s getting a pretty serious raw deal from the Liberal Media. Also from many republicans who think they need to assassinate Romney to help their personal favorite.

    Mountains made out of molehills, imho.

    So forgive me if I actually want some evidence or at least details, even from Novak.

    jpm100 (b48b29)

  5. i’m glad to see that the republicans have repealed their eleventh commandment, and i look forward to more backstabbing and innuendos as the season progresses.

    assistant devil's advocate (ebed6f)

  6. ADA,

    Are you suggesting this is some sort of change from campaigns of the past? Are you suggesting the democrats aren’t backstabbing and fighting while putting on a facade that they aren’t?

    I agree this is bad stuff for the GOP, but I disagree that this is good for you or the democrats. Do you really want the most devious and cunning republican to prevail? Is good and bad in your world completely based on how it effects the electability of democrats? If so, sad. And for feeling that way you’re a worse backstabber, of your fellow man, than any of these GOP clowns.

    The Dems will only be as ethical as they have to be to beat republicans, and vice versa. When you see that the bar has fallen for one party, know it has for the other as well. That’s why the two party system is actually a great system. Each party is forced to be moderate and play the center, but that emphasizes personal ethics. It’s only a problem when both parties have no ethics, which frankly isn’t the case outside the minds of the paranoid and the gullible.

    Jem (29d3e6)

  7. jem, the democrats’ eleventh commandment is “be sure to lock your office door before you have sex on your desk.” i don’t think we have quite as much self-righteousness and false piety as the republicans, but yeah, it’s a close race.

    assistant devil's advocate (ebed6f)

  8. ADA, less false piety but more self-righteousness.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  9. ADA, I understand your point,

    But Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani are not pious. John Edwards is more than even Mike Huckleberry, Barack Obama probably is as well, or at his campaign is set up that way (Obama is silent on all things, if possible). Hillary can’t be, but I think she has sincerely given it a shot in the past.

    So I think, if you’re mad at the self righteous hypocrites, there’s really no reason to believe that one party has a license on that stuff.

    All that said, I guess there is a point that Romney and Mccain might fit your concept of self-righteous hypocrite more than the democrats. Not in my opinion, but I can understand the idea.

    Jem (29d3e6)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0785 secs.