THE STUMP JANUARY 6, 2012
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From NPR's report today on Mitt Romney's visit to South Carolina (h/t Nathan Pippenger):
ARI SHAPIRO: One way Romney hopes to jump some of these hurdles is by appealing to South Carolina's deep military ties. When a military transport plane flew overhead interrupting his speech, Romney said...
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
MITT ROMNEY: And by the way, that's - oh, isn't that? That's the sound of freedom right there. All right.
Is it the sound of freedom, or maybe just the rustling of a million amber waves of grain?
Speaking of which, I'm glad to see that others are finally catching on to the fact that Romney is not the boring, unflappable straight arrow of established caricature -- that he is, rather, a man of quite unusual temperament who has been arrested for refusing to obey a park ranger's orders; got in a physical altercation with a hip-hop star in an airplane; and thinks it's funny to pretend to have his butt pinched by waitresses. Here's Andrew Sullivan on the "ineffable strangeness of Mitt Romney":
We've been so used to the weirdness of the island of misfit toys that is the GOP primary season that we may have missed the real story: the weirdest man in the whole race might actually be ... the one not supposed to be weird...This is a very weak candidate. Some believe that he has had trouble getting past 25 percent outside New Hampshire because of his flip-floppery or moderation. I suspect many Republican voters just realize he is their John Kerry. Because he is. Without the ideological consistency.
I heard other anti-Romney Republicans in Iowa comparing him to Al Gore. This could emerge as one of the more entertaining questions to be answered over the next year -- is Romney the Republicans' Gore or Kerry?
8 comments
Don't compare that slimebag to either Gore or Kerry. All three were born into privilege but only one weaseled his way out of Viet Nam, spending his days in France without a proper shower, poor baby. The other two did their duty and one in particular was in active combat with the wounds to prove it. Romney is like most of the GOP, a chicken hawk and a privileged jerk who doesn't care one bit for anyone not of his "level".
- tmmats
January 6, 2012 at 5:27pm
tnmats sums it up beautifully. Romney, with all his bluster about building up the military and quoting patriotic anthems exemplifies that old adage about the last refuge of the scoundrel.
- appleton
January 6, 2012 at 5:38pm
Romney makes me think of my wife and I. We moved into five acres of woods. My wife said, "It's to protect us from the neighbors." I thought It's to protect the neighbors from us. If elected President, Romney will be surrounded by well-armed, well-trained Secret Service officers. Will it be to protect him from nutters? Or will it be to protect us, if we happen to be in the vicinity?
- skahn
January 6, 2012 at 7:22pm
Credit where credit is due. I was not attacked by Shell Oil today while reading TNR. I used an italic tag and nothing went out of control. Good job, and thanks to whomever is responsible for things working today.
- skahn
January 6, 2012 at 7:24pm
Romney is neither the Republican Gore nor the Republican Kerry. He is the Republican Romney. His weirdness is sui generis. (Now let's see if this italics thing really works.)
- timteeter
January 6, 2012 at 7:28pm
Romney his awkward, especially when he gets uncomfortable and crosses his legs in an interview.
- Nusholtz
January 7, 2012 at 9:41am
"is awkward" -- too much editing
- Nusholtz
January 7, 2012 at 9:44am
What a dork! Next thing, he'll be pointing at the flag and telling us with a tough-dude grimace "these colors don't run!"
- ironyroad
January 8, 2012 at 1:27am