Can You Feel the Romney Euphoria? It Tastes Like . . . Like . . . Tap Water!
Looks like another ringing endorsement for Mitt Romney, this time from the Ace of Spades!
Mitt Romney
Vote for the candidate who appeals to downscale white voters in the middle . . . even if the candidate in question does not, in fact, appeal at all to downscale white voters in the middle.
It’s confusing, but trust us. We’ve prevailed in two elections or primaries before this year (out of 17), so seriously, we know what we’re doing.
That weird, uneasy vibe you get off Romney? Telling you not to trust him? Don’t sweat it, we’ve heard that a million times. And it’s just you, anyway. No one else has that, except for everyone else.
And that in no way will play any role in this election. Because this election will be decided on ISSUES and principles. You know — Romney’s strength.
So it’s not like that whole lack-of-charisma or can’t-identify-with-him-at-all background will hurt him at all. Nope! It’s all smooth sailing from here, on principles and ideas, and trust us, we’ve got big plans to have some of those, sometime down the line.
What’s that? You sense sarcasm in that? Oh. Well, Andy McCarthy is defending Romney . . . sort of . . . or at least declaring himself appalled by the tone of the big “documentary” that purportedly showcases the greed and cruelty of managerial decisions at Bain Capital. McCarthy writes:
I finally got around to watching the Mitt-Bain movie today. It is disgusting — something you’d expect from Michael Moore or Occupy Wall Street. It plays on every juvenile prejudice in the book (Romney heckled, hands counting wads of cash, Romney speaking French, Romney statements out of context repeated again and again). It is wildly inaccurate even in what little it tells us about Bain (two of the four companies were not under Romney’s direction when the job losses occurred). Moreover, we learn very little even about the four companies profiled (like whether they would have survived had Bain not intervened) — all we hear is that, because of Mitt Romney personally, parents had to raid the college funds and skip meals so their children could eat. I’m surprised there wasn’t a Romney look-alike pushing a wheelchaired granny off the cliff — maybe she could even have landed on the Paul Ryan wheelchaired granny.
I realize that Romney started the attack ads and ran a lot of them. This is not a paean to Mitt, whom I like but about whom I have concerns — especially in an election in which Obamacare is so central to our case. But I’ve given a very hard time to people around here when I thought they were being unfair to Newt and Rick Perry. I don’t think I was wrong to do that, because I still think it was unfair. But I have to confess to feeling pretty embarrassed right now.
Like me, McCarthy’s a Jet fan. We don’t embarrass easily.
some of us don't need to be transported but rather prefer competence
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAll of that unease is fine, and doubtless perfectly genuine. To be honest, I'd guess that a lot of real RINOs are probably uneasy with Romney. What a shame Reagan can't come back from the grave and run again. Look at the GOP's nominees since then. Two Bushes, neither especially conservative. Dole, definitely not a movement conservative (although far better on the deficit than any other nominee, in that he saw it as a REAL problem) and McCain. Am I missing anyone. No, I don't think so. So is Romney really much worse than any of these. You could, in fact, make the case that on the economy he's to the right of the two Bushes (compassionate conservatism, anyone?).
The thing is, Romney is the worst candidate out there, apart from all the others. NRO has nailed its colours to the mast on Gingrich, and I think this is wise. Santorum, although I frankly sympathise with his stances on social conservatism, is unelectable. An election cycle spent explaining his position on contraception is not one likely to end well for Republicans (I say this as a conservative Catholic who agrees 100% with the Vatican; I'm talking electoral politics here.) Perry? Paul? Huntsman? Please.
I think I've said this somewhere before on a comment thread on this site. I'll say it again: No knight in shining armour is going to get into the race and rescue the GOP from the current field. (Personally I'd have liked to see Mitch Daniels get in, but then again he was a RINO for many conservative gatekeepers too, as I recall) The party is going to war with the army it has. Sorry 'bout that. All the bellyaching in the world isn't going to change that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe attacks from Perry and Gingrich are horrible, and I'll never vote for them, but if in the general election Mitt has to be defensive about his business record, and his Massachusetts record mirrors Obama, what can he run on?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn today's Jolt you cite this finding:
"Political ideology in the U.S. held steady in 2011, with 40% of Americans continuing to describe their views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal."
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To your caveat -- "How many people call themselves conservative but vote, and think, in ways that you or I might not find all that conservative?" -- I'd add this: Most people I know who consider themselves moderate, or centrist, or mainstream, vote Democrat. So, if my experience holds broadly, most of that "moderate" 35% belongs in the "liberal" column.
No idea what inference to draw concerning the GOP candidates. I'm happy to leave that kind of analysis to you who get paid for it.
(Apologies if this is double-posted.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHonestly, I think there's a bit of group-think going on among conservative bloggers and pundits these days regarding Romney. Yes, he's far from the ideal candidate and grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth, but I don't get the sense that Romney is nearly as objectionable to Republican voters as the talking heads are making it sound. There was a poll released earlier this week in which Romney was by far the most "acceptable" candidate among all GOP constituent groups, including conservatives. I think most people are rational enough to realize that there is no perfect candidate in almost any election, and that the vast majority of presidential candidates aren't really going to identify with the average middle-class American.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell said...
The fashion has become quite tired.
Not conservative, fails to focus on substance, just stuck on image.
They all just want to belong.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseProtein Wisdom/Jeff Goldstein has something to say too (including about you) and it seemed appropriate to update this post...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou know I really used to enjoy ACE, but then I realized he is just another weak fashionable product, who is actually quite lackluster in insight.
This is someone who looks really quite foolish having endorsed Rick Perry, who is a typical Public Sector Product who is busy sounding like a very ignorant Democratic Partisan attacking the Free Market. ACE actually endorse Perry not so long ago, after he was running those mindless populist Ads attacking Wall Street - as if this was some way to get at Romney. It is a sign ACE simply isn't too savvy about these things, and was missing vivid contradictions with non 'conservative' behavior.
ACE should be embarrassed, instead he offers more stereotypical sophistry, which masks a rather ugly bias. And all of it, all of it is stuck on image - "white"?
it would not surprise, someone like ACE never bothered to even study Romney's record, perhaps cannot recognize the conservative nature in a true Free Market Capitalist like Mr. Romney.
But seeing someone like Mr. Geraghty promote the weak offering makes one wonder. Placating fashion?
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