# McCain's 2008 Oppo File on Romney
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [July 16, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430 "2012-07-16T18:34:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/1 "2012-07-16T18:34:59Z")
[In case anybody has an afternoon to kill.](http://www.scribd.com/doc/78582788/McCain-2008-Oppo-File) I’m just starting to look it over.
Looks like their Bain info starts on page 135.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/2 "2012-07-18T11:41:21Z")
Is it just me or is this one terribly formatted web page that is impossible to read?
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/3 "2012-07-18T12:00:16Z")
[Here](http://cdn2.dailycaller.com/2012/01/McCain-2008-Oppo-File-on-Romney.pdf), just grab the PDF directly.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/4 "2012-07-18T12:05:53Z")
> [@cckerberos](#):
>
> [Here](http://cdn2.dailycaller.com/2012/01/McCain-2008-Oppo-File-on-Romney.pdf), just grab the PDF directly.
Much better. Thank you!
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/5 "2012-07-18T15:57:26Z")
Flipping through it, McCain’s oppo file makes me like Romney more then the stuff put out by Romney’s actual campaign does.
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### Author:  [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/6 "2012-07-18T16:20:30Z")
> [@McCain Oppo PDF](#):
>
> Romney proposed increasing excise taxes on vehicles with \*\*high \*\*gas mileage – otherwise known as an “SUV tax.”
:dubious:
The stuff in here is salient. I wonder why the Obama campaign has yet to present some of the details in the file.
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### Author:  [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/7 "2012-07-18T16:25:25Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> :dubious:
> The stuff in here is salient. I wonder why the Obama campaign has yet to present some of the details in the file.
Patience, grasshopper. Timing is everything.
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### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/8 "2012-07-18T16:27:01Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> :dubious:
> The stuff in here is salient. I wonder why the Obama campaign has yet to present some of the details in the file.
Most of it are attacks tailored to make Romeny look bad in a GOP primary. Making him look like a moderate and stressing his more liberal ideas. Doesn’t really work in the context of a general campaign. Obama isn’t going to take Romney to task for supporting Civil Unions, for example.
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### Author:  [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/9 "2012-07-18T16:30:50Z")
> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> Most of it are attacks tailored to make Romeny look bad in a GOP primary. Making him look like a moderate and stressing his more liberal ideas. Doesn’t really work in the context of a general campaign. Obama isn’t going to take Romney to task for supporting Civil Unions, for example.
Still, after perusing the document, it’s clear that Romney had a liberal slant for much of his career. This could wreck havoc with his base.
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### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/10 "2012-07-18T16:33:34Z")
I posted this before I knew that it was actually leaked about 6 months ago during the primary. It somehow is just now getting attention though.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/11 "2012-07-18T16:38:25Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> Still, after perusing the document, it’s clear that Romney had a liberal slant for much of his career. This could wreck havoc with his base.
Where are they going to go? Vote for Obama? Not on your Nellie.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/12 "2012-07-18T16:49:26Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Where are they going to go? Vote for Obama? Not on your Nellie.
I don’t understand why people keep saying this. Elections are 90% about getting people of their ass and 10% about changing minds. The answer is no where, and that’s exactly what Obama would want.
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### Author:  [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/13 "2012-07-18T16:52:25Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Where are they going to go? Vote for Obama? Not on your Nellie.
All right. What about independents?
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/14 "2012-07-18T17:02:29Z")
> [@IceQube](#):
>
> All right. What about independents?
I think the most damaging thing to independents in this report is the constant flipflopping on about every issue. When you get down to it, everything negative about Obama has already been said a thousand times. Every lie that can be made up about Obama has been peddled all over Facebook. There just isn’t any mud that can be flung that hasn’t already been flung at him. The unknown in the race is Romney, and the more is revealed about him, the more it will piss off somebody.
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### Author:  [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/15 "2012-07-18T17:07:19Z")
The most devastating section is the flip-flopping section.
D’oh!
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/16 "2012-07-18T17:22:45Z")
Related to this, another damaging thing IMO was the “defense” McCain made of Romney.
[http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/07/17/john\_mccain\_on\_sarah\_palin\_mitt\_romney\_he\_picked\_palin\_because\_she\_was\_better.html](http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/07/17/john_mccain_on_sarah_palin_mitt_romney_he_picked_palin_because_she_was_better.html)
> [@](#):
>
> John McCain came to Mitt Romney’s defense Tuesday, flatly rejecting the Democratic narrative that the 2008 GOP nominee balked at selecting Romney as his running mate because of something his staff found buried in the former governor’s old tax returns.
>
> But from there, things got a little awkward. The Arizona senator explained that the real reason he went with Sarah Palin was simply because she was the “better candidate” than the current presumptive GOP presidential nominee was at the time.
Looks like Romney is not appreciating all the “help” that he is getting from the Republicans.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/17 "2012-07-18T17:32:36Z")
I don’t know, the slogan “Romney: Almost As Good As Palin” sounds kinda catchy to me.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/18 "2012-07-18T17:42:41Z")
Surely he can see Russia from _one_ of his houses.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/19 "2012-07-19T06:37:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Surely he can see Russia from _one_ of his houses.
Nah, he just outsourced jobs to there.
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### Author:  [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2012, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-2008-oppo-file-on-romney/628430/20 "2012-07-19T10:12:07Z")
I briefly glanced over the health care section. It’s interesting to me to see just how much he championed his MA health care law and how he heralded it as a national model only to demonize the ACA during his current campaign. A big part of me wonders if he would legitimately even TRY to repeal or handicap the national law if (God forbid) he wins the presidency, given his resolute pride for his state-based law during his governorship. He might just be pandering to his GOP base by demonizing the ACA now because Republicans are so adamantly opposed to “Obamacare,” yet given the Oval Office he’d just cement the rest of the law (that hasn’t been enacted yet) into place.
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