Credit where credit is due, within 24-hours of my mentioning Romney, something called C0MM1TT3D to Romney started treacking me on twitter. Kudos for showing that Tim has more organizational issues then Mitt. More tips,

1. Less of this,

Back when he was liberal, Romney supported the Brady Bill, assault weapons bans and Massachusetts' very strict gun control law. Now that he's running as a conservative Republican, Romney has claimed that the NRA endorsed him in previous campaigns. (Oops -- that was easily proven to be a lie. His Democratic opponent actually had a better NRA rating.)

He also claimed he was a "lifelong hunter", though he didn't own a gun, has never had a hunting license and had only joined the NRA in August 2006 -- as a "Lifetime Member" -- just about exactly the moment he started campaigning for President.

When pressed on that, his "lifelong hunting" turned out to be a total of two hunts -- one as a teenager, hunting rabbits with his cousin in Idaho, and one just about the time he started running for president, chasing fenced-in quail at a Republican fundraising event.

His explanation was even funnier -- "I'm not a BIG-GAME hunter. I've made that very clear," he said. "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will. I began when I was 15 or so and I have hunted those kinds of varmints since then. More than two times."


Illegally Impersonating Police Officers

The most bizarre scandal of Romney's campaign involves Jay Garrity, Mitt's director of operations (basically, his right-hand man.) Garrity resigned from the campaign after several allegations that he claimed to be a policeman, and used that authority to intimidate people.

In one case, Garrity pulled over a New York Times reporter, ran his plates and ordered him to stop following the campaign caravan. In another, he allegedly called a plumbing company to complain about one of their employees, whose driving upset him, and identified himself as "Trooper Garrity of the Massachusetts State Police." Garrity denied that allegation, but he was cited by Boston police in 2004 for having police equipment -- including flashing lights -- in his Crown Victoria sedan without authorization. The phone call was recorded because an answering service actually fielded the call, which the person who called himself "Trooper Garrity" apparently didn't notice.

Despite his resignation, Garrity remains under investigation in two states for impersonation of police.

Well, it gets worse. According to three different anonymous sources, one who works for the Romney campaign, Garrity made up fake police badges -- bright silver plates with the seal of Massachusetts on them -- and gave them to several other staffers, who used them to order reporters and other people out of events, get past security guards, and avoid paying highway tolls. In fact, Garrity has been handing out badges since Romney was governor of Massachusetts.

So this was not just one staffer's personal fetish. Sources named at least two other Romney staffers who used the badges -- Mark Glanville and William Ritter. "They knew the badges were fake and probably illegal," the campaign source said. In fact, Garrity was Romney's right-hand man and rarely left his side. It's hard to believe that Mitt Romney himself did not notice the fact that Garrity was constantly flashing a police badge as they blew through security into various events. The Romney campaign has not commented on whether Mitt Romney knew about the badges.

Using fake badges is, of course, illegal.


Hired Illegal Immigrants

Romney makes a big issue of being tough on illegal immigrants. He has pushed for a wall on the Mexican border so hard that Bill O'Reilly offered to call it the "Mitt Romney Memorial Wall."

The only problem is, Romney has hired illegal immigrants to tend his gardens for over 10 years. Three illegal immigrants interviewed by the Boston Globe said they have worked on Romney's lawn for years, that he greets them with a "Buenos dias", and that his wife was friendly and often asks how they are. Two were interviewed back in Guatemala, where they have returned. They made $8 to $9 per hour working 11 hour days. "They wanted that house to look really nice," said one worker, now back in Copado, Guatemala. "It took a long time." The other, Rene Alvarez Rosales (now in Suchitepequez, Guatemala) said it cost him about $5,000 to have a smuggler take him across the border.

They all work for "Community Lawn Care with a Heart," a small company run by legal Colombian immigrant Ricardo Saenz. Asked about his workers' statements that they were illegal immigrants, Saenz said "What you've heard is not my problem. ... I don't need to tell them to show me documents. I know who they are, and they are legal." When Romney was asked about the workers, he said "Aw geez" and walked away. On one occasion, a (real) state trooper with the Romney security detail asked about the workers' immigration status. Saenz said they were legal but forgot their papers that day, and the matter was dropped.


Flat-Out Liar

In this campaign, Romney has simply lied a number of times while trying to reinvent himself. For example:

-- "I have a gun of my own."
(Not true. He was talking about a gun one of his grown sons own.)

-- "I've been a hunter pretty much my entire life."
(He hunted once at 15, and a second time in his late 50s.)

-- "I told you what my position was, and what I, what I did as governor; the fact that I received the endorsement of the NRA."
(No - and his Democratic opponent actually had a higher NRA rating)

-- "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."
(No, they never marched together. They were both in Michigan at the same time once, but Mitt was in France on his mission.)

-- "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."
(even more false...)

This last lie was the funnest because of all the waffling that Romney did trying to explain it. After a Boston newspaper showed that they couldn't have marched together, Mitt's spokesman said that "George W. Romney and Martin Luther King Jr. marched together in June, 1963 -- although possibly not on the same day or in the same city." And Mitt then explained "I've tried to be as accurate as I can be. If you look at the literature or look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of — in the sense I've described. I'm an English literature major as well. When we say I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily mean you were there -- excuse me, the Super Bowl. I saw my dad become president of American Motors. Did that mean you were there for the ceremony? No, it’s a figure of speech."


Draft Dodger and Chickenhawk

Mitt Romney, incredibly, was able to avoid serving in Vietnam because he was on his Mormon mission, driving around the French countryside. (The Mormon church defined missions -- which all good young Mormon men go on -- as a form of priesthood.) In fact, not one of Romney's five sons has served in the military either, despite Mitt arguing for U.S. military involvement in Iraq and elsewhere.

Even more outrageously, when he was asked to justify this hypocrisy, Romney claimed that his sons were serving the country by driving Winnebagos around Iowa and campaigning for him.

Sources

"Fake Cop Sources"

"Romney aide, targeted in probe, takes leave of absence", by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe, June 22, 2007

"Romney aide’s bogus badges: Sources detail ‘illegal’ security tactic"",By Casey Ross, Boston Herald, July 20, 2007

"Romney Aide Resigns",By Sarah Wheaton, New York Times -- The Caucus Blog, July 21, 2007

"Liar Sources"

"Romney Aims Again to Explain Hunting -- Republican Presidential Hopeful Romney Takes Second Shot at Explaining His Hunting Experience", by Emily Udell, Associated Press on ABC-News web site, April 6, 2007

"Guns, trust, and Romney, By Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe, April 8, 2007

"The Trail: Romney Claims NRA Endorsement He Didn't Receive," by Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, December 16, 2007

"Did Romney Actually See His Dad March With MLK?", by Scott Conroy, CBS-News website, December 20, 2007, 2:03 PM

"Romney never saw father on King march - Defends figurative words; evidence contradicts story", by Michael Levenson, Boston Globe, December 21, 2007

"Illegal Immigrant Sources"

"Romney aide is the focus of probe - Allegedly acted as State Police trooper", By Stephanie Ebbert and Scott Helman, Boston Globe, June 22, 2007

"Illegal immigrants toiled for governor: Guatemalans say firm hired them", by Jonathan Saltzman, Maria Cramer and Connie Page, Boston Globe, December 1, 2006

"Romney's lawn firm draws new scrutiny: Massport, Chelsea eye workers' legal status", By Jonathan Saltzman and Maria Cramer, the Boston Globe, December 2, 2006

2. You can't be hard right, then pull to the middle after the Bar Scene from Star Wars that is the GOP Primary. You're going to lose Iowa to Palin and/or Huckabee, win NH, but then you're expected to lose South Carolina. Win South Carolina.

3. Propose new, innovative, and politically viable ideas that will solve real people's real problems. It's not enough to blame our democratically elected government or taxes for "being" and/or proposing that a loose network of unaccountable Multinational Corporations supplant the role of government. The Reagan playbook has run it's course and isn't viable given the current demographic state of the US, in other words, you can't run as George Wallace and win the general election, but you may not be able to not run like George Wallace and win the GOP nomination. Therein lies the rub.

Jacob from Minnesota on Tim Pawlenty who along with Romney and Palin will try to run for President in 2012,

Pass-the-Buck Tim has a long list of accomplishments as Governor, if you're going by criteria that impresses Republicans.

1. Under his watch, MN has fallen from having among the best quality of life in the nation (generally top 5) to just about average.

2. Under his watch, our state has fallen from one of the best-funded and best-performing school systems to somewhat above middle of the pack and chronically underfunded

3. He has placated the Christian right whenever and however possible

4. He has slashed health care spending to near-record lows (in MNCare's history) despite the overwhelming opposition of the Legislature

5. He vetoed a badly-needed bill to save the state's transportation infrastructure and punished moderate Republicans who helped override his veto

6. He appointed a partisan hack to head and de-fund the DOT, then stood back and blamed others when a major bridge collapsed

7. His tax cuts for the rich and unallotments have forced local property tax hikes, especially in the larger metro areas, allowing him to blame local Democrats for raising taxes

8. In the midst of one of the state's worst budget crises, he refused to give up on any pet programs or tax cuts and unilaterally stripped funds from social programs without consent of the Legislature; for the rest of the shortfall he borrowed against the state's future

And the list goes on and on. All this from a guy who never topped 47% of the vote or a 1% margin in any statewide election.

more.

The '12 election is starting to shape up like the 1996 race. Because Romney supported Universal Health Care in Massachusetts and because the Evangelicals don't care for Mormon's allows for a possible break in the GOPs tradition of nominating the first runner-up in the previous nomination cycle, but there is a lack of Heavy Weight contenders that makes it likely that the sharps and the money guys stay further away from the GOP then normal. If the economy doesn't continue to steadily get better then Obama might have a problem, but even then the GOP doesn't have anyone who can communicate on his level and/or melds the different factions like Evangelicals and Social Libertarians together. It's getting to the point where half of the GOP thinks people like McCain, Dole, and Bush are too liberal, so in all likelihood they'll nominate a Goldwater, (but without the brain power), level candidate and get plowed.

The Congress in 2010 depends on turning out voters like we did in 08'. That's more doable then people think. Throw away the old model that the President's party will always lose seats in an off year election. The intangibles and demographics have changed but so has the technology around turning voters out. Obama has big coat tails, bigger then Bill Clintons. The voters will be there, because we have better candidates, the fact that the NJ and VA Governor's Races have drawn closer is a testament to the fact that when you match our candidates head-to-head with the GOPs candidate, we offer better choices. The rebuilding that the Democrats did 2000-08, where we decided to better select candidates and use better software to focus on turning out individual voters, works. Barack Hussein Obama won Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and Ohio... it works if you work it. Only the Democrats can stop the Democrats, only we rest on our laurels, only if we fall into the same old traps of entitlement and hubris that Party's in power usually fall in to, can we fail the people. I still think a re-commitment to case work on the Congressional Level would also help the Democrats maintain their majority levels.