This narrative from The Caucus The New York Times Politics Blog chronicles a reporter’s perspective on families and the Romney campaign.
The part that really stood out for me in the piece is the quote in the title of this message, the following is the exact statement:
Members of the Romney family gathered for a photograph.
(Photo: Elise Amendola/Associated Press)
As a way of building up families, Mr. Romney talked over the weekend about reviving a policy under President Reagan that mandated a “family impact statement” be drafted for every new policy or government program. I wondered what one of those might look like for a presidential campaign.
Check out the entire entry, I found it very insightful about the behind the scenes of Romney’s campaign. I’m so happy that he cares so much about his family that he’s taken each and every one of them along for the ride.
Cross Posted at Elect Romney in 2008.
Nathan Matthew Romney
Governor and Mrs. Romney’s son Matt, daughter-in-law Laurie, grandson Nick, and granddaughters Chloe and Mia welcomed 7 1/2lb, 19 1/2″ Nathan Matthew Romney into their family the day before Thanksgiving.
We at Women for Romney would like to Congratulate the entire Romney family and wish for a lifetime of heath and happiness. Welcome to the world Nathan.
In this race for president there has been a lot of focus on what conservatives don’t want. First on the list is another Clinton presidency. Most of us agree that any of the Republican candidates would be far better for the country than the electing the first female president.
With that conviction comes a number of questions, however. Looking at the past, we can see that it is better to get behind one Republican candidate rather than splitting the vote between several conservative candidates which leaving the liberal with a single, solid base. That said, should we nominate a candidate simply because at the moment he seems to be doing better in the polls than the Democratic leader.
Unfortunately, this is all far from hypothetical. Sean Hannity has dubbed his radio show the “Stop Hillary Express,” and vowed to support whichever candidate wins the Republican nomination. Jim Dobson has commented that he would either not vote or vote for a third party candidate if the Republican nominee is not a social conservative. Many feel inclined to support Rudy Giuliani simply because in current national polls he is ahead of Hillary Clinton.
At this point, the focus should be on choosing the best candidate for the job. Polls can be manipulated or misleading. Public opinion can also change. Once we have a nominee we can focus on closing any gap in the national polls.
Mitt Romney is the more socially conservative than either Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson. He has shown in-site and leadership on such issues as health care and security. He has been successful in many endeavors both professional, political, and personal throughout his life. He has a plan for the future.
Many will argue that he is not “ideal.” Well, I have yet to find an ideal politician. What I have found, in Mitt Romney, is the person who best fits my idea of good government who is running for President in 2008.
South Carolina has been a tough spot for the Romney campaign to get off the ground and it seemed fairly obvious why. South Carolinians are known for being anti-Mormon and distrustful of Yankees in general.
Over the last couple of months, though, Governor Romeny has risen dramatically in the polls. And it makes me smile to see bloggers and reporters scratching their heads over why this is so. You see, I lived and worked in South Carolina for 9 months and I know exactly what happened.
The people I met in South Carolina were honest, church-going folks who lived the golden rule. If their preacher preached against Mormons they mostly assumed he knew what he was talking about. But it didn’t change the way they treated thier Mormon neighbors. For the most part, it didn’t change the way that they thought about their Mormon neighbors.
Many of the people I met didn’t like Yankees. They would talk harshly about “the Yankees up North” but they would always welcome any New Englanders who moved into town. Some fought for years to keep the Confederate flag flying over the state capital even though it was offensive to black citizens. Yet these same people had countless black friends and co-workers whom they respected and admired.
For these people, any bigoted beliefs they held were meant to apply to some distant group of people that they did not know. Anyone they knew that did not fit these stereotypes was obviously an exception to the rule.
That’s the key. As long as the people of South Carolina did not know Mitt Romney, he was just a Mormon Yankee. And, as far as they were concerned, he could have the vote of all the Mormon Yankees living in South Carolina. But then they got to know him. They saw his family. He became a neighbor; a friend. Then they could judge him on his own merits rather than stick him into a pre-determined catergory.
In my 9 months as a South Carolina citizen, I never did meet anyone who was as bigoted as the average South Carolinian is reported to be. Of course, that doesn’t mean they weren’t there. I heard plenty of stories from people who knew them or were related to them. And Mitt Romney will probably never win the support of those people.
But the majority of South Carolinians are simply waiting for him to convince them that he is not just a good guy but a good guy with the right qualifications to be president.
“Well there’s no question in my view that one of the ways you instill family values is by having the White House be a place that demonstrates family values,” Romney said earlier this week.
At a forum hosted by the George Bush Presidential Library earlier this year, a young man began the question and answer portion by energetically praising Romney’s values and integrity. Romney responded with the quip, “That’s my son, by the way.”
Anyone who comes within arms length of the Romney campaign will notice the prominent role that his wife and sons play in his life. It is also apparent to anyone willing to scratch the surface that they have the kind of love and respect for their father that makes them willing to be an enthusiastic part of his bid for the presidency. What parent doesn’t want their sons, or daughters, to have that kind of confidence in them?
Romney continued his comments by saying, “And… I think during the last Clinton presidency the White House did not demonstrate that in a way that was helpful to our nation’s culture.”
Almost anyone old enough to vote will remember the nationwide refrain in the late 90s that went something like this: “Well, maybe he isn’t a good person in his private life but he’s doing a good job as president. And his personal life is none of our business anyway.”
I heard this sentiment repeated so often that I wondered if people were actually trying to convince themselves. After all, Clinton’s personal life caused him to commit perjury, encourage others to perjure themselves, obstruct justice in a case against him, and be impeached by the Congress of the United States. It has also been suggested by commentators like Rush Limbaugh (actually, he’s the only one I know of first hand but I believe he makes a valid point) that the lack of personal integrity in Clinton’s life both before and during his presidency made it difficult for him to aggressively command the armed forces and counter the terrorist threat against our nation. *
These serious consequences were in addition to the fact that the Clinton escapades were reported with lavish detail throughout the nation, leaving a trail of disgrace and depravity surrounding the White House where we once had thought to shelter dignity. Romney, of course, realizes the enormity of leading a nation by example. He continued in his remarks, “you’re gonna be under a microscope and at least during the time you’re in the White House you ought to live by a high standard, because the world is looking at you, you’re representing not only yourself but your country. And the kids of America are looking at you.” In this election we can decide much about the future of our nation’s families. How will we define marriage and family? What will we teach our children about morality and personal responsibility? What limits will we place on the sanctity of life? With these issues at stake, we couldn’t do better than to elect a man who has pledged to lead the crusade for family values by example.
*This is in reference to commentary done on the Rush Limbaugh show around the time the film “The Path to 9-11” aired on ABC in 2006. Comments were based on information quoted from Richard Clarke’s book “Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror.”
Ann Romney blogs on The Five Brothers Blog, and offers up her family Meatloaf Cakes Recipe…
You can head on over there and see it, but for the sake of archiving purposes I’m going to copy and paste it here as well…(side note: they said they’re going to be adding more family recipes over time).
Meatloaf Cakes Recipe
Loaf Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs ground beef
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 egg
- 4 slices of white bread broken into pieces or bread crumbs
- ¼ cup onion, chopped
- 2 tsp seasoned salt
Sauce Ingredients
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp All spice
Instructions
Mix together loaf ingredients, shape into 6 individual loaves. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Mix together sauce ingredients and spoon on top of loaves. Continue baking at 350 degrees for 30 additional minutes.
Sure beats Andrew Giuliani Dishes on Problems With Dad, or Noticeably Absent From the Giuliani Campaign: His Children.
Blog by Presidential Candidate’s Five Sons Reveals G-Rated Details of Former Governor’s Family Life
Wholesome does not really begin to describe the five adult children of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who for the past few weeks have been sharing such details on Five Brothers, their blog and the most popular feature on the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign Web site. The blog is yet another medium to convey the image of dedicated family man that is an essential part of Romney’s identity as a candidate. Earlier this week, while most of his opponents introduced themselves during the Republican presidential debate by highlighting their résumés, Romney started with, “I’m a husband, a father, a grandfather . . . .”
Jen Romney (Tagg’s wife), Ann Romney (we all know who’s wife she is [smile] ), and Ande Romney (Ben’s wife)
Awesome to see one of the wives doing some blogging over at the brother’s site.
Here’s a snippet (click the above link to read the entire piece and for an additional picture):
Hi, this is Jen, Tagg’s wife and Governor Romney’s daughter-in-law. On Friday I attended my first Women for Romney event. I am normally a quiet, rather shy person and so these things fill me with a ton of anxiety. Tagg and I have been married for nearly 15 years, remember, and I had no idea when we said, “I do” that politics would be such a big part of my life.