Mitt Romney knew his audience today: his speech was crammed with references to conservatism and included notably more attention about social conservative matters than his speeches generally do.
“I fought against long odds in a deep blue state, but I was a severely conservative Republican governor,” Romney said at CPAC. The “severely” was not included in the prepared remarks his campaign sent out.
He briefly sketched his own journey to conservatism, noting his parents’ influence. “Not everyone has taken the same path to get here,” Romney said, according to his prepared remarks. “There are college students at this conference who are reading Burke and Hayek. When I was your age, you could have told me they were infielders for the Detroit Tigers.”
Romney, who is under fire from the White House, the DNC, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich for various decisions he made while in office that relate to contraception, talked about how he had promoted pro-family and pro-life views while in Massachusetts.
“I vetoed a bill that would have opened the door to cloning and embryo farming,” he said. “I vetoed a bill that would have allowed young girls to gain access to abortion-inducing drugs. I fought for abstinence education in our public schools. And I defended the Catholic Church’s right to serve their community in ways that were consistent with their conscience through adoption programs that placed children in a home with a mom and a dad.”
Discussing how he had worked to make sure out-of-state gay couples couldn’t get married in Massachusetts, Romney added, “On my watch, we fought hard and prevented Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage.”
“Mine will be a pro-life presidency,” Romney said toward the end of his speech. “On day one, I will reinstate the Mexico City policy. I will cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which supports China’s barbaric One Child Policy. I will ensure that organizations like Planned Parenthood get no federal support. And I will reverse every single Obama regulation that attacks our religious liberty and threatens innocent life.”
Either Romney actually believes this whopper, in which case he is deranged, or he doesn't, in which case he is caught pandering again.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHere's a question for you: what is the connotation of the word "severely?" Try the phrases "severely intelligent," or "severely good," or "severely inspired." Now try "severely retarded," "severely misguided," and "severely limited." In normal English usage, the adverb "severely" is used almost exclusively to intensify a pejorative. So why does Mitt Romney call himself "severely conservative?" Answer: because anyone who believes he's a real conservative is severely mistaken.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd the detail that it was not in the prepared remarks is dispositive. Talk about a Freudian slip. He might as well have just admitted that he thinks conservatism is a bad thing.
Perhaps you just need to consult a dictionary before you go off in anger? Understanding what people mean by their word choice is a fairly useful skill to have in life.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd if you don't believe he's "severely conservative", he's willing to come to your house, baby sit your children, wash your car and swear on a stack of bibles that he's"really, really, really, most sincerely severely Conservative". And if you still don't believe him, he'll pull out his checkbook and ask you how much?
My advice is hold out for the big bucks. He's running out of options.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOn the one hand, he gives a speech claiming to be severely conservative.
On the other hand, in every other election he has stressed his moderateness.
On the other other hand, the same people who elected and elected and elected Jungle John Kerry and Edward "Teddy" Kennedy and Barney Frank, also found this guy, who also did Romneycare, acceptable.
I'm not buying the sales pitch.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUnfortunately, he *still* thinks that Burke and Hayek are infielders for Detroit.
He also suspects that Milton Friedman owns the team and that Ludwig Von Mises is the person whose bust is on Shroeder's piano.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'd like him better if he was himself and didn't try and convince me he's something else. That's his problem with authenticity.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, there are somewhat positive meanings for that word also, maybe he just has habit of using less common words like epithet or words in their less common meaning occasionally.
SEVERE,* adj. (2) “Marked by or requiring strict adherence to rigorous standards or high principles.” —severely, adv.
SEVERE,** adj. (II) “Conforming to a rigorous standard;” —severely, adv.
“4.a. Extremely strict in matters of conduct or behaviour; rigorous in self-discipline and self-restraint; austere with oneself; shunning laxity or self-pleasing.”
“4.b. Of habits, etc.: Dictated by strict and austere principles of living.”
“5.a. Of intellectual operations, thought, etc.: Conforming to an exacting standard of mental effort; rigidly exact or accurate; grave, serious, not light or recreative; not shrinking from what is toilsome or difficult.”
*From “The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.” Fourth edition, 2000.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse**From “The Oxford English Dictionary.” Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011.
Romney's "severely conservative" gaffe has been met with a "severely cynical" response ad airing in Michigan this week.
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