Kate O'Beirne:
Romney Scored [Kate O'Beirne]

It seems to me that Mitt Romney's willingness to make specific pledges and outline a platform helpfully moved him beyond the typical GOP platitudes about smaller government. Grover Norquist noted that the former governor was the first in the field to sign his tax pledge and now Romney has married it with a spending pledge. In an effective, ahem, contrast, he noted that when it comes to government spending "I like vetoes." His pointed pledge to fight for the repeal of McCain-Feingold and his opposition to the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill appeared to be big crowd pleasers. So too was his "our people are sovereign" slam on activist judges. In stringing together some of the events he faced upon taking office - the Massachusetts court ordering gay marriage, the scientific community's support for creating embryos for research, and the blackballing of Catholic Charities over gay adoption - he offered a potentially plausible sequence that prompted second thoughts on social issues. [He was just endorsed by Ann Coulter: "I like the fact that he tricked liberals into voting for him."] Romney emphasized the importance and power of an enduring coalition of economic, social, and national security conservatives and he clearly hopes to unite them behind him. Today, he did a convincing job of explaining why they should.

The Turnaround [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Romney's addressing CPAC now and oh boy is this different than the disappointing speech he gave in late January at the NRI conservative summit. A few red-meat lines: "It's time to take government apart and put it back together." Wants to make it "simpler, smarter, and smaller." He said, "I will fight to repeal McCain-Feingold." Talking about the marriage fight he said "It is the people who are soveriegn in America, not a few folks in black robes." He talks confidentally about the war and has a good line about how Pelosi and Reid shouldn't be dictating frontline strategy. He's gotten a ton of applause and has kept a steady beat. This is a speech — ending on a forceful, adamant, ticked-off but optimistic about the future note. "Our traditonal values" are on the line, we're under attack, and the government is a mess and he's not going to stand for it, dammit.

This is the speech he should have given in January at our summit. This is the speech he should have given when he launched the campaign. This speech — this is a rallying speech.

Labels: cpac, speech