The Picture of Mitt Romney

And while I'm in captious mood, I've just realised who Mitt Romney reminds me of.  It's Dorian Gray, the man in the Oscar Wilde novel who retained his pefect good looks into old age but found that the portrait he kept in the attic revealed the ugly corruption of his soul.

Somewhere in an attic in one of Romney's many houses, I think there's a picture of the man that's a lot less pleasant to look at than the real thing.

It's hard to recall a more cynical, more dishonest campaign. (And there's been a lot of competition). I've commented before on his tendency to abruptly reverse course on almost every issue and then vigorously attack those who hold the position he held five minutes ago. We have also seen plenty of his sickening pandering to the ugliest tendencies in the electorate - see his promise to deport all 12 million illegal immigrants. 

Now we have another gem: his claim that only he and not John McCain can beat Barack Obama because - wait for it - Obama proved in Iowa that he beats senators in contested elections.   Mitt, you lost to Mike Huckabee in Iowa by more than Hillary lost to Obama. And you outspent Huckabee by ten or twenty to one.  Now you're trying to tell us you're uniquely placed to beat one of the most dynamic politicians to set foot on the national stage in 20 years or more - just because you distinguished yourself by not being a senator!  Having spent the last year explaining why you are the reliable candidate of the conservative status quo, now you're the candidate of change.

How does he get the sheer nerve to come up with this stuff? And how stupid does he really think the voters are that they will fall for it? The sooner the voters eject this unprincipled man from the Republican field, the better.

Comments

[Richard]

To paraphrase Alex Salmond, Romney is the sort of politician who would boil his granny down for glue to become president. As the Fox News debate showed, he's unctuous, glib, supercilious, and condescending.

That said, Romney's views on illegal immigrants will go down extremely well with many Republican voters, and he scored very well with Frank Luntz's focus group (just as Cameron did with a Luntz focus group before he won the Tory leadership). So, while it would be nice to see him out of the race as soon as possible, he may yet win the Republican nomination.

[Rowland Manthorpe]

It hate the fact that I think things like this, but don't you think his appalling managerialism and sheer cynicism could make Mitt an effective President?

Yes, he deports, yes he doesn't abort; but he would push an agenda through and control the detail - crucial skills, given the foreign policy situation.

Obama will be hamstrung by the weight of expectation and spend eight years getting nothing done.

http://reheated.wordpress.com/

[Rick, Boston, MA USA]

It is depressing to watch Mitt Romney in this new incarnation. He used to be a talented, moderate leader with a great gift of organization and administration.

The people of Massachusetts eagerly elected him their governor in 2002. That Mitt Romney would have made an excellent candidate for President of the USA.

Then some change came over Governor Romney. He stopped being our leader and instead moved on to try to organize a crusade against the court decision here to allow same-gender marriage in Massachusetts.

He seemed to try to become a clone of what he imagined the Republican Party religious right wing wanted him to be. Then he started going around the country and talking down our state and people because we are not like those kind of Republicans.

The strangest change is that Mr. Romney now criticizes and disowns his quite good plan for universal health care in Massachusetts. That plan actually seems to be working out better than anyone could hope.
And now he has thrown away all the goodwill of the people here, and spent the last year making himself an object of national derision.

Harsh words like "phony" ring out at him in NH newspaper editorials. And his all Republican opponents gleefully attack his hypocritical and two-faced rhetoric.

All of this reinforces my fundamental belief in democracy - that even Republican voters in these first two major primaries are showing him the door off the national stage.

[MC]

If the Saturday debate was any indication, it's clear the rest of the Republican field holds a similar sentiment to yours, Mr. Baker. They all seemed eager to get Romney out of the race.

I agree wholeheartedly. After spending the past 4 years laughing at John Kerry, a distinct portion of the American conservative movement has been riding his Republican equivalent in Romney. I found this simply befuddling. The sooner he's gone the better.

[Tom Burkard]

The world has a surfeit of people who think they can 'manage', but in fact are only good at draining the lifeblood out of the organisations they control. They are just as good at thinking up 5-year-plans as any old Soviet commissar, and just about as destructive of individual initiative and enterprise.

Organisations that work have leaders who can delegate authority to the lowest possible level, giving their subordinates the tools and the authority to do the job. Reagan was such a president. Mitt Romney most definitely isn't.

[James]

Gerry,
I usually respect your writing, but as a supporter of Governor Romney, and as someone who has come to know Governor Romney well, I think that your characterization is way off and downright offensive. I have read Dorian Gray, and he is a man with an evil heart--this is not Governor Romney. Your paper had an interesting interview with Governor Romney which produced a classy article, however your utter rudeness in all matters pertaining to the Governor and the obvious support of John McCain and Mike Huckabee on this blog shows a lack of journalistic character and frankly lacks class.