Mitt Romney Quotes
I do not think that the social conservative movement have the ability to elect a President but they have the ability to block.
The Evangelicals and other social conservatives had much more influence over the Republican candidate since without the social conservatives voting in large numbers for the Republican Presidential candidate, at the time, it would be hard to win the general election, but Democrats had won without them. However, at the time, the social conservatives had a virtual veto over the Republican candidate selection.
Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts (Republican), Candidate for the Republican Presidential Nomination, Speech, February 21, 2005
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was perceived as an attack on social conservatives and a particular sleight to Robert Bork who had previously used part of the phrase as a book title.
He had invited Ted Kennedy to also give a presentation at the library, and this was part of the introduction. The President rarely “jumped” on anyone, but he was referring to the common practice of his fellow Republicans of using Kennedy as the villain in fundraising and partisan attacks.
So far as he was concerned, Republican moderates—his own party members—were liberals. Anyone who did not support the extreme Conservative agenda, was an enemy and a liberal. He and the Tea Party drove almost all the moderate Republicans out of the party.
He was reacting to the Republicans in Congress passing a special law for a single right to die case in Florida. Ironically Danforth himself had always been considered a conservative and he also was an ordained Episcopalian minister.
Over time, this has been a good description of the difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Willard Mitt Romney is an American politician and businessman who has served as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in the 2012 election.
