Where Do They Go
July 21st, 2007The impression I get from Mitt Romney is that he’s a jerk but a prettyboy meaning that he’ll run his mouth about you and fight you with his friends but back down when you meet him at Dairy Queen on a warm summer’s night, which doesn’t bode well for a Romney Presidency as it implies that he’d be the type of President who’d make a lot of enemies but find himself incapable of fighting them off or winning over enough supporters to defeat them as he’d spent so much time making enemies. People don’t generally associate James Earl Carter with this type of President, but he was, as has been relayed by Tip O’Neill in his autobiography, and that is the vibe I receive from Mitt Romney, a vibe reinforced by his willingness to take a picture with a woman waving a sign that reads “No to Obama Osama and Chelsea’s Moma”. And then, after he’s shown meandering with the worst of the Republican Party, his campaign takes shots at his fellow Republicans and rival Democrats by calling his wife a “starter wife and trophy wife” all in one.
Let me tell you — if Romney got elected, he’d fall into quite the world of pain because nobody wants to work with someone as arrogant and brash as he is unless he’s from someplace Western, because then they have a valid excuse (see: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada). Romney, of course, is nothing of the sort, despite his taste for varmint, and he is, in fact, a lilly man from Massachusetts.
Recently, I’ve spoken to a variety of Democratic Party officials, grassroot volunteers, consultants and observers and have asked them all, “Who do you believe to be our biggest threat on the Republican side? I can’t figure it out. They are all terrible — all of them, and not necessarily from a policy standpoint, but I can’t figure out which of them is electable. Hell, I don’t think any of them can win a national election unless we run, oh, Michael Dukakis.” But then I think, “Well, the Republicans have got to nominate someone, so let’s think — who will be the nominee?” and I can’t figure that out, either. Romney’s a Mormon from Massachusetts, and that’s quite the handicap in the Republican field; Giuliani’s a Liberal and a hack, which surely won’t appeal to Republicans, and he’s bound to be destroyed by the Firefighter’s Unions; Fred Thompson is a bad actor and he’s old, but we’ve definitely been down that road before; John McCain is effectively out of the race, but his issues are: he’s crazy, grassroot and Conservative Republicans hate his guts, and he’s old; Tommy Thompson, Brownback and Huckabee are unknowns with little money, but they are interesting darkhorses, at least, but there’s a reason they’re darkhorses and not serious Presidential candidates at this moment and that’s due to a lack of internal support.
They’ve got to nominate someone, right? Hard to choose who. Hard to see, too, how we can possibly lose the next election, but I assure you it can be done.