Contact: Bob Sturm, 703-396-6974; after 6 PM Eastern & on weekends, 703-307-8176

MANASSAS, Va., July 13, 2012 /Standard Newswire/ -- Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, issued the following statement in reaction to news reports that Condoleeza Rice is near the top of the list of Mitt Romney's potential running mates:

"It appears presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney just doesn't get it -- conservatives and many independents are not going to vote for the third term of George W. Bush.

"Yet that seems to be exactly where Romney is headed by floating the name of former Secretary of State and Bush national security advisor Condoleeza Rice as topping the short list of his choices for vice president.

"Or maybe Condoleeza Rice is just a stalking horse to make some other establishment Republican, like Ohio Senator Rob Portman or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, look better to conservatives.

"Floating these names is a wake-up call to conservatives, who should pick-up the phone and call Governor Romney at (857) 288-3500 to let him know that we demand he choose a real conservative as his running mate.

"We want someone who conservatives recognize as one of their own, not some nominal Republican who the news media thinks of as a conservative because he or she has an 'R' for Republican beside their name.

"And that describes the pro-choice Condoleeza Rice all too well.

"While there is no doubt Condoleeza Rice is well grounded in the ways of Washington and her intelligence and experience in the Bush foreign policy and national security apparatus make her look qualified to be vice president to the establishment Republicans who surround Governor Romney.

"But that's exactly the problem. Surrounded as he is by establishment Republicans from the Bush era, Governor Romney doesn't seem to grasp that the Republican defeats of 2006 and 2008, and the Tea Party rebellion of 2010, were in some measure caused by the policies Condoleeza Rice advocated and carried out on behalf of George W. Bush.

"Condoleeza Rice is no movement conservative. Given her association with some of the worst neo-con inspired policies of the Bush era, putting Condoleeza Rice at the top of the VP short list is an insult to the conservatives, Tea Partiers, and independents that are looking for a break with the old establishment Republican Washington that Rice represents.

"The time for conservatives to take a stand is now. I'm asking conservatives to pass this message along to their friends, family, members of their church, and others who are committed conservatives."

NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation) and one of the "conservatives of the century" (Washington Times). He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.