Farewell, Mitt Romney

Since the last time I tried to write about former Massachusetts Gov. Romney I censored myself, let's turn to others for insight:

* Gail Collins in her Times op-ed column today: "Other than repeatedly offering to give up any civil liberty the Bush administration felt it might need, Romney never talked all that much about the war on terror as a candidate. He was more interested in denouncing illegal immigration. Until he got to Michigan, where he became Friend of the Workers Mitt. If that primary had gone on any longer, he’d have been picketing with the writers’ union."

* Jason Feifer, a good Boston reporter, at his blog: "Here’s a guy who...looks like he decided to run for president 40 years ago and then assembled a family to fit that."

* Peter Canellos in what the Globe thankfully dubbed a "news analysis" considering how it's a harsh assessment for a reporter to write: "As Romney pushed conservative issues on the campaign trail, he only invited critics to point out ways in which he had veered from that course in the past. In the end, all those inconsistencies combined with a somewhat plastic presence on the stump made Romney seem inauthentic and opportunistic - a meat-and-potatoes car guy in Michigan who morphed into a Pollo Tropico lover in Florida. Romney furthered those impressions by changing his emphasis in state after state, from being a social conservative in Iowa, to an anti-Washington crusader in New Hampshire, to an economic nationalist in Michigan, to the one true Reaganite who played to right-wing talk shows in the days leading up to Super Tuesday." (OK, that was a long excerpt, but worthwhile.)

All I'll add is: Remember the time Romney, at a Jacksonville, Fla., parade on Martin Luther King Day told a kid, "Oh, you've got some bling-bling here," upon seeing his necklace? Or how that was only a few minutes after he said "Who let the dogs out?" while posing for a photo with teenage girl? If this doesn't summarize the gulf separating much of America, what does? (His top flak explained that Romney "had responded to someone who asked, 'Who let you out?'")

Update: Here's an edited YouTube version. The "bling-bling" kid looks to be about 3 years old, which makes it all much better, i.e. "Candidate joking around with cute kid," but the other exchange, not so much.




And why did Romney keep referring to Europe during his farewell speech as though there are no water or sewer systems there? (Link to full text here, though it seems to be the prepared comments, and I remember a few Europe tangents in the actual thing.) One could easily argue its political, economic and health care health are better than the U.S.'s these days.

On a related note, why did President Bush, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, one day after Romney used it to leave the Republican presidential primary, seem to indicate the Republican message in this year's race will be it is the better party on national security?

Among other reasons, it came three days after Director of Naitonal Intelligence Mike McConnell told a Senate Committee that Al Qaeda is now better poised to attack the U.S. again. Doesn't Bush administration, i.e. Republican, policy have something to do with that?