Romney's K Street Cabinet

Mitt Romney is the most, shall we say, adaptable of political candidates. He ran as a liberal Republican against Ted Kennedy in 1994; as a moderate Republican for Governor of Massachussets in 2002; and as a born-again hard right warrior in his campaign for the presidency, claiming to represent the "Republican wing of the Republican Party." By the time he got to Michigan, Romney had become, of all things, a populist (!), claiming the much-ballywood buzzword of "change."

In Michigan and afterwards, Romney railed against "Washington politicians and all those K Street lobbyists and the way business is done there." No matter that of all the Republicans running for president, Romney gathers the most support in terms of endorsements from registered lobbyists, and is second in collecting campaign cash, behind John McCain. (The Washington Post did an excellent piece recently on McCain's K Street army.)

In South Carolina yesterday, Romney declared: "I don't have lobbyists running my campaign." That was too much for AP reporter Glen Johnson, who finally injected some fact into Romney's fiction. "That is not true," Johnson responded, bravely interrupting Romney's press conference by listing the lobbyists who play a central role in his campaign.

Here's the clip:

Moments like these are increasingly rare in presidential politics--and deserve to be cherished. No wonder a Romney spokesman warned Johnson after: "Don't be argumentative with the candidate."

Comments (21)

1. Most interesting is Romney's communications director's contention that professional journalists should never point out discrepancies between factual reality & what a candidate says. In other words, a professional journalist should be a conduit, recording whatever the candidate says - don't argue, no matter what The Candidate says. Which brings it very close to how the Bush Administration & the Pentagon view the media, particularly in the run-up to invading Iraq, the role of compliant, incurious, unanalytical conduit having been played so well then -- & with such disastrous results -- by the likes of the NYTimes Judith Miller & many others.

   Posted by Lit at 01/18/2008 @ 11:23am

2. Is a person who advocates to a politician for a change in public policy a "lobbyist"?

   So....folks doing that for ....the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council...

   are "lobbyists"....right?

   Posted by Mask at 01/18/2008 @ 12:34pm

3. It was fun to see this reporter hit a nerve and see Romney almost lose his cool. C'mon Mitt, break a sweat, let your hair down, we want to see your human side. BTW more important than the lobbyists in your life is your reaction to the Confederate flag. Now there are some true colors!

   Posted by Hernova at 01/18/2008 @ 1:07pm

4. hmmmmm.

   someone here recently scoffed at my scoffing of romney's contention that he wasn't a d.c. "insider".

   looks like "d.c." has a way of finding the money, no matter where it supposedly hails from.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/18/2008 @ 1:15pm

5. mitt owns staples. think about that the next time you buy paper clips.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/18/2008 @ 1:16pm

6. I guess the easy button he was pressing at the beginning of that conference didn't do much to help him deflect that question.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 01/18/2008 @ 1:39pm

7. Posted by JOMAMMA 01/18/2008 @ 1:29pm

   I don't think his point was that he's a bad person for owning staples Jom. Leash your attack dog and recognize a joke.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 01/18/2008 @ 1:40pm

8. And Kennnedy owns Cutty Sark, Chicago Merchandise Mart...Hillary is into Walmart...

   Think libs....it is not a crime to own property of make money...profit is not a dirty word..it funds all the crap you demand.

   Posted by JOMAMMA 01/18/2008 @ 1:29pm

   well, wal-mart was crossed of the list a long time ago.

   and i am serious. i will not finance the campaign of this lunatic. if he weren't running, well as a last resort i'd shop there if i couldn't find my paper clips at mom'n'pop.

   but now, no way!

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/18/2008 @ 1:58pm

9. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/18/2008 @ 1:58pm

   Yeah wal-mart kinda has the worst practices in their company. Look Jom I'm all for making a profit. As long as you do it ethically. Wal-Mart harms people left and right.

   Posted by Cccomfo1 at 01/18/2008 @ 2:00pm

10. Where Mitt's mitts are ... his latest:

    ''Today, the president took an important step forward to jumpstarting our economy by laying out his principles for an economic stimulus package. We must immediately cut taxes on both individuals and businesses, and address the housing crisis to help American homeowners. Permanent reductions in both individual and corporate tax rates are vital to strengthening the economy in the long term. ... It is critical for every American that Washington quickly debate, pass and sign into law a pro-growth stimulus package.'' -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in a written statement.

    Mitt: yet another reason why the GOP will lose.

    Posted by Lit at 01/18/2008 @ 2:56pm

11. Think libs....it is not a crime to own property of make money...profit is not a dirty word..

    Posted by JOMAMMA 01/18/2008 @ 1:29pm

    hmmmm . . . you did not have that opinion a few weeks ago when the topic was John Edwards and his large house.

    Posted by Hman23 at 01/18/2008 @ 3:08pm

12. Just curious, but do you say Mitt's raised more from lobbyists than any other Republican candidate because you don't know how to read a graph, or because McCain isn't really a Republican?

    Posted by supernovia at 01/18/2008 @ 3:09pm

13. Wal-Mart harms people left and right.

    Posted by CCCOMFO1 01/18/2008 @ 2:00pm

    Possibly, but it also saves "working families" upto $2500 a year.

    And none of the anti-WM folks, have figured out a short-term way to make up for that if WM is shut down or priced up.

    Posted by Mask at 01/18/2008 @ 4:08pm

14. Posted by MASK 01/18/2008 @ 4:08pm

    It also tries to pave over hardworking business owners businesses in order to make room for itself. Getting them tossed out of jobs and into low income jobs like working for wal-mart and being treated like crap. Thats why recently Inglewood stopped the building of a new one to avoid a bunch of small business owners from losing their businesses

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 01/18/2008 @ 6:38pm

15. Possibly, but it also saves "working families" upto $2500 a year.

    Posted by MASK 01/18/2008 @ 4:08pm

    they need it after losing their jobs because of wal-mart mandated madeinchina.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/18/2008 @ 6:43pm

16. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/18/2008 @ 6:43pm

    But they get to work for wal-mart after making 1/4th as much money!

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 01/18/2008 @ 6:47pm

17. ....Inglewood stopped the building of a new one ....

    Posted by CCCOMFO1 01/18/2008 @ 6:38pm

    Take it Inglewood is your town and is that the Inglewood by LAX?

    Posted by Happy at 01/18/2008 @ 7:07pm

18. Posted by HAPPY 01/18/2008 @ 7:07pm

    No leimert park area.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 01/18/2008 @ 7:12pm

19. ....because of wal-mart mandated madeinchina.

    Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/18/2008 @ 6:43pm

    Cause Wal-Mart has gotten to be the biggest in the world, it becomes the lightening rod for the madeinchina whinnings! Long before W-M became big--passing Woolworth, Monkey Ward, Sears, and finally, K-Mart--much of the `stuff' sold in mass-market stores were already imports. Back in the my teens growing up--the `60s-- very middle class, everyday `stuff' like beach thongs, towels, air mattress, sneakers (long before endorsed Air Jordans), etc....were already coming from Hong Kong, Korea, Central/South America. It's likely then, the upper income classes' `stuff' were American-made...I can't say.

    I'll say that back then, almost ALL cars driven by mortals, were American......Chevelle SS, Roadrunner, Firebird, Vega, Maverick, Grambler, Gremlin, Pinto, Mustang (my first wheels)....but hippies drove VWs....:~)

    PS: As I recall, perhaps wrongly, Woolworth, Monkey Ward, Sears, and K-Mart didn't sell cars!!

    Posted by Happy at 01/18/2008 @ 7:22pm

20. Worse is Romney's private equity connection to Clear Channel / Repug Attack Machine.

    Posted by Obama at 01/19/2008 @ 11:56pm

21. HAIR control, message control, Romney's clan owns Limbaugh and all those haters.

    Posted by Obama at 01/20/2008 @ 12:05am