Talk:Mitt Romney

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To-do list for Mitt Romney: edit · history · watch · refresh
  1. Add facts about how he acquired wealth.
  2. Add facts about his support of Bush's policies. Not2plato 17:01, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
  3. Add information and establish a link his Illinois Campaign Chair (Dan Rutherford).
  4. Add that he is Fluent in French. Sources are listed below in the notes section. Thanks!
  5. Add campaign finance sources "Serving on the Finance Committee are Romney for President National Finance Co-Chairs Boca Raton developer Mark Guzzetta and former Ambassador Mel Sembler of St. Petersburg, Florida" (User:Mel Sembler) [1]MelSembler (talk) 02:56, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Who Deleted my Josh Romney section and why?

I made a Josh Romney section, and someone deleted it. I think this man is noteworthy, he's been in the news because of his possible congressional run. I made section, citing my source as Deseret Moring News, and it was deleted, without explanation. Also, I put up a picture of Josh Romney on his wikipedia page, and that was deleted as well. I know people want to merge these articles, so why do you want Josh Romney not under the Mitt Romney page? Who keeps doing this and why? I feel as if my work is going down the drain. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cooman456 (talk • contribs) 05:59, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Battlefield Earth (novel)

How come the article doesn't mention Mitt Romney's favorite book? Cirt (talk) 04:09, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sources citing and/or discussing Mitt Romney's favorite book, Battlefield Earth:

Here are some sources:

  1. Heslam, Jessica. "Mitt's new flip-flop is out of this world", Boston Herald, May 2, 2007. 
  2. Sarasohn, David. "Romney Regales: The lure of a candidate who might say anything", The Oregonian, June 8, 2007, p. C04. 
  3. Smith, Adam C.. "Romney Builds Image as Front-Runner", St. Petersburg Times, August 18, 2007, p. 1A. 
  4. Jones, Tim. "Smartest guy in the room - He's a perfectly packaged overachiever with all the answers, but one question remains: Who is the real Mitt Romney ?", Chicago Tribune, October 9, 2007, p. 1. 
  5. Miller, David. "Pure Horserace: Image Accomplished: Casting Politicians In A Good Light Is Essential, But It Can Easily Backfire", CBS News, CBS Interactive Inc., May 1, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-19. 
  6. Staff. "Favorite novel? For Mitt, its Scientology founder's bizarre sci-fi classic", The Salt Lake Tribune, May 4, 2007. 
  7. Barnett, Dean. "Battlefield Earth and Other Faves: Presidential candidates and pop culture.", The Weekly Standard, News Corporation, May 21, 2007, p. Volume 012, Issue 34. Retrieved on 2008-02-19. 
  8. Brand, Madeleine. "Romney Reveals Favorite Novel: 'Battlefield Earth': Mitt Romney's favorite novel is by controversial Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard", Day to Day, National Public Radio, May 3, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-19. 
  9. Rutenberg, Jim. "Romney Favors Hubbard Novel", The New York Times, The New York Times Company, April 30, 2007, p. The Caucus: The New York Times Politics Blog. Retrieved on 2008-02-19. 
  10. Beggy, Carol; Mark Shanahan. "Candidate Romney talks tomes", Boston.com - your connection to The Boston Globe, The New York Times Company, May 2, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-19. 
  11. Glenn, Joshua. "Pulp affection: What Mitt Romney's taste for science fiction really means.", Boston.com - your connection to The Boston Globe, The New York Times Company, May 13, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-19. 

[edit] Mitt's enthusiastically supporting (and, so, his metaphorically "marching with") his dad

Despite its 2007 NYT citation, I'm posting

He has been involved in politics from an early age, having joined (proudly supported) his father ('s participation) in civil rights marches.[1]

---here to the talk page (with my blue-penciled, off-hand emendations).

The following is sourced somewhere, I'm sure, in (either this article's?--or the campaign one's) talkpage archives:

It is romantic to think Mitt "marched" with his dad, who did march, but what is suppported in the historical record is that what Mitt actually did as a youth was proudly LEARN of his dad's civil rights marching. What the New York Times has done was incorrectly rely on a one-time statement Mitt made years before, prior entering politics, where in one interview Mitt misspoke and say he'd "marched" with his dad---when what Mitt had MEANT to signify by this construction, that he at no other time has been known to repeat, was that in his youth he'd been an enthusiastic supporter of civil rights "alongside" his father. --Justmeherenow (talk) 11:01, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Not sure what it means that he "proudly supported" something as a kid. Either he marched with him (and it now appears that he didn't) or he didn't march. Lot's of people watched others march for civil rights. That doesn't mean it belongs in their biographical entries. I say delete the whole thing.Notmyrealname (talk) 16:40, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
Do we have any reliable source that contradicts the NYT?Ferrylodge (talk) 16:59, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
There are a couple of issues here. First, it seems a stretch to say that joining a civil rights march as a kid (assuming for the sake of argument that he did) means that he was "involved with politics at an early age." There's no indication in the NYT's brief reference when or where these marches took place, or what they were about. Second, I have serious doubts about the NYT claim. The quote from the article is "Mitt Romney had walked in civil rights marches with his father and said he shared his concern for racial equality. But neither publicly questioned the church’s teachings." Again, there are no details. The article was published on Nov 15, 2007. Shortly afterwards, it was shown that Romney's claims that he saw his dad march with Martin Luther King were false (his Dad didn't march with MLK and Romney was isolated on his mission in France. I would argue that we remove this claim altogether unless some other more specific corroboration can be provided.Notmyrealname (talk) 17:28, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
Looking into it a little more, Romney had previously claimed that "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit." This has been proven false. Given this history of Mitt Romney misremembering what he did, we should definitely not include this statement. Furthermore, by ignoring the well-publicized matter of his misstatements on the MLK marches, it gives the reader a false impression of that controversy.Notmyrealname (talk) 17:38, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I concur, by ignoring the matter on the MLK marches; it does give readers a false impression the whole thing. --DavidD4scnrt (talk) 06:13, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Romney's $100 laptop photo

There is currently one photo of Romney in the section relating to his governorship. It is him posing with a $100 laptop. The caption reads "Governor Mitt Romney checked out the prototype of a one hundred dollar laptop in September of 2005, after filing education reform legislation." According to news reports, he proposed spending $58 million on these laptops in an education bill. The idea never went anywhere. Neither the caption nor any accompanying text explain this. A casual reader will likely (falsely) assume that Romney had something substantial to do with the computer project. If this image belongs anywhere, it would be in his governorship page, where it could be described with more complete context (although I don't think it merits even that). If a photo is to appear on this section, it should be related to something more substantial that Romney did in fact do while governor. I would suggest him signing the health care bill, for example. A photo of something that he put in a budget but that was never approved does not belong on this biography page.Notmyrealname (talk) 18:36, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Put it on the Governorship page, with citations to failed legislative effort. -- Yellowdesk (talk) 00:53, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
The photo looks okay in the present article. The caption has been expanded: "Governor Mitt Romney poses with a prototype of a one hundred dollar laptop in September of 2005, after filing a proposal to give every public middle and high school student in Massachusetts one of the machines. The legislation did not pass." So, the photo can be left as-is (at least until better photos are proposed).Ferrylodge (talk) 01:23, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Mexican-American

Mitt Romney is a Mexican-American.

(Mitt Romney's father, George W. Romney, was born in Galeana, Chihuahua, Mexico.)

The article should be editted to include this fact.

72.82.198.10 (talk) 03:25, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

George was born to American parents in Mexico. He is also NOT a Christian! He is Dark Sided! Entire house is dork sided too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.172.156.137 (talk) 05:07, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

While I don't want to start this discussion, we cannot allow "he is not christian" kinds of comments to pass by without disclaimer. Romney has served as clergy for most of his life in the US' fourth largest religion, a religion which most consider Christian. There are competing churches who say otherwise, but those are almost without exception the same churches that say Catholics or Jehovah's Witnesses aren't Christian. It is appropriate to mention such in the article, as most analysts consider his Mormonism the overwhelming reason he is not now the presumptive nominee, but that is not the topic of this section of the Talk Page, and unsourced throwaway insults by unregistered trolls is not the way to grow this article in keeping with Wikipedia standards.--Mrcolj (talk) 12:08, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree (with the Mexican thing, not the dark-side thing) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.218.145.112 (talk) 04:04, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

If you're born in the US, that makes you a US citizen. Romney's father was not born on a military base, or serving as an ambassador--they had moved to Mexico some 20 years before he was born. Whatever his skin color or whatever country he felt like he was culturally a part of, he was still by definition a Mexican. People protested George's running for President because he wasn't born in the U.S. Mitt Romney is half Mexican, there's no question. --Mrcolj (talk) 20:10, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
George Romney was born a US citizen. Bytebear (talk) 22:16, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
Agreed, but does his citizenship answer the question? I mean, every "African American" I know has two parents who are US citizens. And almost every "Asian American" I know is the same. Romney was not "temporarily" in Mexico, his family had permanently escaped to Mexico when the US (again) declared war on his ethnicity. I agree that people I've met from "the Mormon Colonies" act pretty American, and their skin is often pretty white, but what do either of those factors mean to this discussion? Romney was simply born in Mexico, and so were his parents, and it seems that may be worth mentioning. --Mrcolj (talk) 11:55, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Why is this page being automatically archived?

This is being done by a bot. However, the bot's page says that consensus should be reached first before the bot is activated for the page. I would prefer that we don't archive this page automatically, as we often come back to the same contentious issues.Notmyrealname (talk) 03:48, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I removed the bot from this page. Please discuss on this talk page before reactivating the bot.Notmyrealname (talk) 18:59, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
man why did you left campaign? you couldve been a good candidate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.230.5.116 (talk) 22:48, 10 June 2008 (UTC)