RSS Feed MenuA friend sends this tough editorial from the Boston Globe denouncing Mitt Romney’s stance on the lower Manhattan mosque.
[Romney] has been far quieter on the issue than other potential GOP presidential candidates, leading some people to hope that he might break with the pack. But his spokesman finally came forward to say the former governor opposes the mosque on the grounds that it could be used as a recruitment tool for radicals (thereby pandering to all the falsehoods about the mosque being somehow related to 9/11) and that its presence offends some relatives of 9/11 victims. But there are plenty of relatives of 9/11 victims, among them some Muslims, who support the mosque. In any case, it’s a terrible precedent to curb freedom of religion on the grounds that other people are uncomfortable. The mere presence of Romney’s great-grandparents offended non-Mormon settlers in Utah, whose prejudices eventually drove the Romneys to seek a freer environment to practice their religion in Mexico.
Now wait a minute! Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich have enflamed the mosque into an all-out culture war. Other potential GOP presidential candidates from Tim Pawlenty to Mike Huckabee have had tough things to say about the mosque. Romney held silent, then finally joined the GOP consensus in the most elongated manner possible. Romney may not have been a profile in courage on this issue. But it’s hard to see why he deserves the special scorn of his hometown paper.
This editorial in fact sums up the Romney problem in a nutshell. By any conventional measure, here is an outstandingly qualified GOP presidential candidate. He’s proved his executive skills, he has thought long and intelligently about public policy and he articulates those views forcefully and well.
Yet when he makes the kinds of compromises that politicians sometimes have to make, he attracts unique odium. Romney has had many fewer abrupt changes of mind than, say, Newt Gingrich, who (you may recall) used to be an environmentalist, among other things. Yet Newt escapes the flip-flopper charge, because whatever view he is expressing at the moment, he expresses ferociously. There’s an old Hollywood saying, “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Romney’s problem is that he cannot fake sincerity. When he panders, people always suspect he knows better – and they blame him for it.
abj // Aug 26, 2010 at 4:44 pm
oh wait…are there any non-extremists left in the GOP? nah…I didn’t think so.
Nope. All just a bunch of neo-fascists longing for the day our fuhrer from Wasilla seizes control of the government (by legal or illegal means…whatever works I suppose).
But he lacks character. So he will play to ‘the base’ for support and then they will throw him over for The Pitbull With Lipstick.
Anyone who believes she will be the Republican nominee either doesn’t know much about Republicans or has been reading waaayyy too much Andrew Sullivan.
Telly Davidson // Aug 26, 2010 at 6:32 pm
There’s another problem, which David’s article speaks to in broad stroke — Mitt Romney, while a fine man (for a politician) and easily my first choice compared to Palin/Gingrich, is a Republican version of Al Gore and John Kerry. Elitist, condescending, and stiff — yes — but also without a credible way to appeal to either movement voters (a la Palin/Gingrich) or to the young, especially in terms of “branding” himself via the media.
When Ross Perot was screeching about the (bargain-basement by today’s standards) “daff’cit” and a nearly 70-year-old George Bush (Sr) was puzzling over laser checkout counters, Bill Clinton was chillin’ with Janeane Garafalo, discussing underwear preferences with Tabitha Soren, and jamming with Arsenio. Before the Internet really broke through, Clinton reached out to youth voters and made the other two candidates look like nothing more than out-of-touch, outdated, old rich men who belonged in a gated 55-plus community in Miami or San Diego. In the contest of “who’d you rather have a beer with” between GW Bush and Al Gore — it was no contest. And Barack Obama Tweeted, Friend-ed, and Daily Kos-ted his way to the White House taking advantage of Social Networking and New Media, making Hillary and McCain look like rotary-phone era dinosaurs. As Wanda Sykes might have said, each of them had more than charisma — they had “flavah” — and they branded themselves thusly on TV, ads, campaign films, online….
Palin and Huck and Gingrich already have the “back to the future” vote sewed up, and as said, Mitt can’t “do” downhome or middle-class — so the only niche left to him is to try to play on Obama’s turf as a with-it, current technocrat. Two words on that: Individual Mandate.
anniemargret // Aug 26, 2010 at 10:05 pm
abj: I said Romney will be thrown over for Sarah Palin with the *base.* Do you not think this will happen? I didn’t say I think Palin is national material. She would be creamed in a general election.
He’s from god-awful librul elite Massachusetts, you know where all the hippies still wear birkies. College campuses everywhere. BeanTown. My oldest son was born there and I lived there for almost four years. It’s a northeast state – not ‘real America’ enough for the Republican base. Can you imagine Palin’s ‘base’ voting for Romney over Palin? I can’t.
But she has the lipstick power right now, and Romney’s star has faded. Too bad, because other than his will ‘o the wisp indecision on what he believes or disbelieves, he at least has smarts and governing ability. Especially next to mini-governer, Mini-Me Palin.
As for Andrew Sullivan.. I do read his blog everyday. Don’t always agree with his political views, but on the other hand, he’s a breath of fresh air. Yes, he despises Palin. I don’t think it has anything to do with his being ‘misogynistic’ in any way. I think he despises her for the same reasons millions of us despise her. Because she is a huckster and a phony . She is unintelligent and takes pride in being so. Because she is a divider and not a uniter. Because she can’t talk herself out of a bag unless it’s scripted.
But mainly because she’s a huckster. She left her job in Alaska to seek fortune over duty . Not a good foundation for pretending she can be the ‘leader of the free world.” Hollywood, yes. DC, no.
abj // Aug 27, 2010 at 9:36 am
I said Romney will be thrown over for Sarah Palin with the *base.* Do you not think this will happen? I didn’t say I think Palin is national material. She would be creamed in a general election.
You seem to be assuming her nomination is baked into the cake already, now, in August 2010 – which assumes nothing will change between now and 2012 (or am I misreading you?). The national issues will be different, and the party will recalibrate accordingly, in ways neither of us can anticipate now. Think about it – at this point in 2006, how many people seriously believed Barack Obama could win the Democratic nomination in 2008 – much less that he’d win a decisive victory in the general? At this point four years ago, most observers believed we’d have a Hillary vs. Rudy race.
I have no idea who will be the GOP nominee, but I would wager serious money it won’t be Palin. Or Romney for that matter. Within the party, I think she’s already overplaying her hand – by getting involved in so many contested primaries, she’s starting to annoy some in the party. And her endorsement track record is, at best, mixed. She definitely hasn’t proven herself a kingmaker.
I don’t think it has anything to do with his being ‘misogynistic’ in any way.
No, I just view his obsession with Trig as simply bizarre.
Because she is a huckster and a phony . She is unintelligent and takes pride in being so. Because she is a divider and not a uniter. Because she can’t talk herself out of a bag unless it’s scripted.
We agree completely on this. From the brain-dead tweets to the asinine facebook posts – the woman infuriates me.
I’m no fan of Sullivan though, mainly because he rarely has anything interesting to say these days. In terms of the arguments he makes on behalf of the administration and its policies, his blog is virtually indistinguishable from think progress, daily kos, etc. I’ll read it and think to myself, “hmm, I’ve read all this elsewhere…anything new?”
Too bad, because I used to really enjoy reading his columns.