McCain Veepstakes: Anti-Romney Movement Starts

Influential conservative Republicans, some of them allies of ex-AR Gov. Mike Huckabee, have launched an online and print advertising campaign to convince John McCain to choose someone other than Mitt Romney for president.

The group has launched an iPetition -- http://www.nomittvp.com/ -- that calls on McCain to "reject any consideration of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as a Vice Presidential running mate."

It continues: "We further urge you to only consider for Vice President an individual with a strong and consistent record of support for both the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death, and the amendment of the U.S. Constitution to establish marriage as only between one man and one woman."

McCain opposes such an amendment.

The sponsors of the petition include Paul Weyrich, who endorsed Romney's campaign earlier this year, Janet Folger, president of Faith2Action, Karen Testerman, an influential social policy activist in New Hampshire, Stephen Strang, a prominent conservative who was an early supporter of Mike Huckabee's, and Matt Barber, the policy director of Concerned Women for America.

The group is paying for full-page ads that will appear in newspapers in the cities where McCain is introducing his biography. (See here.)

The ads are designed to counter the popular notion that by picking Romney, McCain would mollify social conservatives.

Romney, the ad says, "would fatally harm your appeal to voters with deep constitutionalist and
social conservative commitments." The ads allege that he lied and flip-flopped about his social conservative instincts, that he sanctioned taxpayer funded abortions, and that he fulfilled a "back door" promise to the Log Cabin Republicans [editor's note: kind of immature, right?] in refusing to order justices of the peace in Massachusetts to not marry gay couples.

Read the full letter after the jump.

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
It is widely understood that to be successful in November you
must unite all elements of the Reagan coalition. Hence, your choice of
a running mate must reassure the Party’s base that their voice and
values will be respected, then 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 choice.
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 are offensive to 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 role
on the state-run health care board for an unelected representative of
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. This was
after his 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 as a so-called "conservative."
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.