Fred Martinez's Monitor

Conservative Activists: "We Can’t Support A McCain-Romney Ticket”

Conservative Activists: "We Can’t Support A McCain-Romney Ticket”

*”We can’t support a McCain-Romney ticket,” say conservative activists*
*including **nationally prominent Weyrich, who previously endorsedRomney*
PRESCOTT, Az. — A coalition of over two dozen leaders of state and National social conservative organizations will run a full-page ad Saturday in the Prescott* Daily Courier, *telling presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Az., that they cannot support his candidacy if he selects former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his vice-presidential running mate. McCain is scheduled to appear at a campaign rally in Prescott Saturday on the steps of the courthouse where Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona launched his 1964 presidential bid.
The ad — formally sponsored by Government is Not God PAC (*www.gingpac.org*) — reprises social conservative activists’ primary season criticism of Romney’s record of passionately supporting abortion on demand and the so-called “gay rights” agenda both before and after Romney claims to have reversed his positions on such issues.


“For us the bottom line is this,” the ad states. “The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts make him utterly unacceptable as a Vice Presidential running mate. …If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party.”
Most prominent among the ad’s over two dozen signers is Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, a founder of both the economically conservative Heritage Foundation and the socially conservative Moral Majority, and a national leader among conservative activists for nearly four decades.
Weyrich’s is indisputedly the most striking signature on the ad because of the dramatic change of heart it signals. Six months ago, Weyrich endorsed Romney’s presidential candidacy. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/11/06/romney_wins_backing_from_paul_weyrich
*Full text of ad:*
We can’t support a McCain-Romney ticket. Here’s why.


An Open Letter to John McCain:
*NO Mitt*
We are conservatives who believe strongly in the sanctity of human life and of marriage and we recognize that the issues at stake in this upcoming election are serious and profound.
Indeed, we believe the very future of America’s security, against threats both foreign and domestic, will be determined by whom America elects as President in November. Because we have invested our lives in securing a prosperous America that honors life and liberty, we must state our grave concerns regarding your pending choice of a running mate.


*Securing and uniting the GOP Base*
To be successful in November you must unite all elements of the Reagan coalition. Your choice of a running mate must reassure the Party’s base that their voices and values will be respected if you are to ignite and excite the grassroots to work hard for your election in November.


For us the bottom line is this: The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney’s record as governor of Massachusetts make him *utterly unacceptable* as a Vice Presidential running mate.
A very large (and growing) number of social conservative voters who have become aware of that record are likely to abandon a GOP presidential ticket on which Romney’s name appears. Governor Romney got no traction during the primaries simply because his recent “conversion” to conservative and pro-life principles is not credible. To be clear, we all welcome anyone who has come around to the cause of life and family. However, Romney’s actions as governor flatly contradict both the
values widely associated with his faith as well as his pro-life and pro-traditional marriage campaign rhetoric.
As late as December (before carefully selected audiences) he stated anti-life and anti-family positions inconsistent with his previous statements. His actions as governor betray well-timed conversions as mere political opportunism, and offend those who demand “straight talk” from their leaders.
*Mitt Romney created $50 taxpayer-funded abortions*
The proof is clear. He claimed to be pro-life, but by establishing taxpayer-funded abortion on demand as a “healthcare benefit” Romney achieved what no pro-abortion Massachusetts Democrat ever had!
He unconstitutionally established a permanent government seat on the state-run health care board for an unelected representative of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. This was *after* is pro-life conversion. Is it any wonder we question his political integrity?
*Mitt Romney illegally ordered same-sex “marriage”*
Governor Romney also claimed loudly to support traditional marriage. But he went far beyond the notorious Goodridge court opinion that, in brazen defiance of a state constitution which blocks judges from even hearing challenges to marriage law and policy, urged the Legislature to legalize homosexual “marriage.”
The Legislature never did…but Romney didn’t wait. Fulfilling a backdoor campaign promise to the pro-homosexual Log Cabin Republicans, he illegally ordered justices of the peace to perform same-sex “marriages” in direct violation of the Massachusetts Constitution and the Legislature’s constitutionally binding statute. Is it any wonder we question his political character?
(See: www.undergroundjournal.net/igroops/theunderground/adminpages/Letter-To-Romney-JAN-07)
*Mitt Romney is unfit to be a ‘heartbeat away’*
This goes directly to the heart of our concerns over Romney’s fitness to be a ‘heartbeat away from the presidency.’
When a chief executive can violate multiple articles of the oldest functioning constitution in the world and disobey statutes he solemnly swore to defend and execute faithfully, then blame judges who never even asked him
to intervene, he mocks the principle of limited government and the separation of powers. He robs Americans of their unalienable right to self-government, for which so many soldiers, sailors and airmen have died.
These are just two issues (there are more) that absolutely disqualify Mitt Romney as a viable Vice Presidential option. He would fatally harm your appeal to voters with deep constitutionalist and social conservative commitments.
*The Base CAN help you win*
If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party and either stay away from the polls this November or only vote down the ticket. For the sake of your election, the health of your party, and the future of America you must not allow the obvious electoral consequences of that to occur.
*The Base WILL stand on principle*
As citizens, activists, and leaders with our feet on the solid ground of real world Republican and Independent voters, it is our duty to alert you that the grassroots is nearing a point of breaking with Republican Party leadership on many issues, not the least of which is the relentless whitewashing of Mitt Romney’s social liberalism.
On this we cannot be silent.
Senator McCain, despite the proclamations of your surrogates we hope you will act to earn the support of the conservative grassroots in November, unite the Republican Party, and lead it to victory. However, Willard Mitt Romney is a deal breaker.
*NOTE: Organizations are listed for identification purposes only*
Matt Barber
Policy Director
Concerned Women for America
Dr. Ted Baehr
Author of Culture Wise Family
Michael W. Calsetta
Conservative Democratic Alliance
Brian Camenker
President
MassResistance
Janet Folger
President
Faith2Action
Gary Glenn
President
American Family Association of Michigan
Thomas Glessner, J.D.
President, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates
James Hartline
Founder and Publisher
California Christian News
John Haskins
Parents’ Rights Coalition and UndergroundJournal.net
Linda Harvey
President, Mission America
Michael Heath
Executive Director
Christian Civic League of Maine
Gregg Jackson
Author/Radio Host
Judge Ned Kirby
Former Assistant Minority Leader
Massachusetts State Senate
Peter LaBarbera
President
Republicans for Family Values
Jan M. LaRue, Esq.
Jan LaRue Consulting
Dr. Scott Lively, Esq.
President
Defend the Family International
William J. Murray
Chairman
Religious Freedom Coalition
Troy Newman
President
Operation Rescue
John O’Gorman
Board Member
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
Sandy Rios
President, Culture Campaign
John Russo
President
Marriage and Family Massachusetts
Stephen Strang
Chief Executive Officer
Strang Communications
Karen Testerman
Executive Director
Cornerstone Policy Research
Randy Thomasson
Campaign for Children and Families
Paul Weyrich
President
Free Congress Foundation
Philip Zodhiates
President
Response Unlimited, Inc.

posted by Fred Martinez @ 9:59 AM