Romney Hasn’t Earned the GOP Nomination

By Aaron Goldstein (American Spectator):  Notwithstanding the fact that not a single ballot has been cast in any of the Republican primaries, there seems to be a concerted effort by the liberal media to bestow the GOP nomination upon former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

According to the Detroit Free Press, “Mitt Romney’s steady-as-she-goes campaign for the presidential nomination is beginning to look inevitable.” The Washington Post tells us that Romney “is suddenly attracting new support from major donors and elected officials… as people across the GOP grow more accepting of the presidential contender as the party’s standard-bearer.” Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times declares, “It’s beginning to look as if the former Massachusetts governor will win the nomination almost by default.”

Isn’t it peculiar that Romney is “beginning” to look like the inevitable, Republican nominee at the very moment that Herman Cain is resonating amongst conservatives and surging in the polls? Can the liberal media (and for that matter some GOP donors and elected officials) really be this spooked by Cain? Well, he sure does mess up their “Tea Partiers hate having a black man in the White House” narrative quite nicely. It’s kind of difficult for the liberal media to credibly cast Republicans as racist if they nominate a black man. In fact, casting such aspersions against Tea Partiers would look really, really stupid. Without the Tea Party there would be no Cain surge.

As for Romney, let’s just say he has long way to go before he earns the respect of the Tea Party. At best, Romney is tolerated, as was the case when he received a lukewarm reception at a Tea Party Express rally in New Hampshire last month. At worst, Romney is viewed with outright hostility and suspicion. Back in May, FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella group, stated they were looking to thwart Romney’s path to the GOP nomination. Their communications director Adam Brandon said at the time, “Romney has a record and we don’t really like it that much.” In June, a Tea Party group led by former Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller launched a “Stop Romney” campaign in New Hampshire. As Miller put it, “We will never get behind Mitt Romney. On issues like gun rights, gay rights, abortion, immigration, and health care, Romney has flipped more than John Kerry flopped.” Earlier this month, another Tea Party organization (this one led by gospel singer Lloyd Marcus) launched its own campaign to “Stop Romney.” Clearly, Romney has his work cut out for him and it’s going to take more than one speech for Tea Party activists to embrace his candidacy.

But this is hardly Romney’s only problem.

Follow Joe Miller at Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Read more at American Spectator HERE.