WILL FLIP FLOP MITT BE THE FIRST GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE TO ABANDON BUSH ON IRAQ?

Although in the end who will ever know who stands for less among the flip-floppin' crew of bland white old men running for the Republican presidential nomination, it doesn't take much to pin the empty suit award on Mitt Romney. In the corporate board rooms he's inhabited it may be thought of as "agility." In politics his blowing in the wind from position to position-- to meet the needs of the market-- are more likely to be viewed as a symptom of no core values, especially among the ideologically driven Republican base that dominates the nomination process. And Romney has flip flopped on so many issues that voters barely even know what his real name is. Don't worry about that though; people just call him "Flip Flop Mitt."

And this weekend he seemed to be preparing for the ultimate flip flop of the campaign (so far). "Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said Saturday he is willing to change course in Iraq-- as some Republican senators have now done-- and is keeping an eye on the recent troop surge there. But it is too early to judge whether the surge is a success or failure, he said. Romney spoke before about 100 people at an 'Ask Mitt Anything' campaign event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center."

Bush has been suffering a gigantic loss of support in Congress for his catastrophically failed Iraq policies. Previously rubber stamp senators like Richard Lugar, George Voinovich and even senile Pete "Sneaky Pete" Domenici have come out against his endless war agenda. Republicans desperate to save their jobs-- from criminal elements like Rep. John Doolittle to the fake "moderates" like Susan Collins, John Sununu, Gordon Smith and Norm Coleman-- are coming up with strategies for disassociating themselves from the Regime. Today's NY Times reports than even officials in the White House are coming up with contingencies for how to distance Bush from the Bush Cheney agenda!

White House officials fear that the last pillars of political support among Senate Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq strategy are collapsing around them, according to several administration officials and outsiders they are consulting. They say that inside the administration, debate is intensifying over whether Mr. Bush should try to prevent more defections by announcing his intention to begin a gradual withdrawal of American troops from the high-casualty neighborhoods of Baghdad and other cities.

Mr. Bush and his aides once thought they could wait to begin those discussions until after Sept. 15, when the top field commander and the new American ambassador to Baghdad are scheduled to report on the effectiveness of the troop increase that the president announced in January. But suddenly, some of Mr. Bush’s aides acknowledge, it appears that forces are combining against him just as the Senate prepares this week to begin what promises to be a contentious debate on the war’s future and financing.

With Bush's puppet Iraqi government teetering on the brink of collapse and unable to meet even the scaled back "benchmarks" Bush was willing to spoon-feed it, it looks like no one but McCain, Lieberman, Graham and Cheney is still singing stay the course (ah, and Huckabee). Even Susan Collins, as rubber stamp a supporter as you'll find and a protege of Lieberman, is starting to wonder if something might be wrong in Iraq.

It isn't Susan Collins or Sneaky Pete or Norm Coleman or any of the rubber stamp Republicans in this short clip. But it just as well could be. ANd they must be held accountable:



But when it comes to flippin' and floppin' no one beats the well-practiced Romney. Romney did manage to buy himself a straw poll win at the Young Republicans convention.

Romney 163
Thompson 103
Giuliani 37
Huckabee 14
Hunter 14
Paul 11
McCain 5

But the credibilty-- among Republicans-- is right around zero. Instead of thinking of him as the man who can inspire the young people of the country, Romney is viewed as a flim flam man willing to spend millions to claw his way into the White House. If he breaks with Bush on Iraq, no one will think he's brave or visionary, just craven and calculating.


UPDATE: MITT BUSSED IN OLD MORMONS TO POSE AS YOUNG REPUBLICANS

I see the cheating is starting early this year. Take a look at this absurd video of the straw poll voting at yesterday's Young Republican Convention in Florida. Mitt bussed in lots of old folks-- which is how he "won." Some of those young Republicans looks around 70 or 80.