It was a cold grey pre-spring morning early in 2002, and I was one among the hordes migrating through the Back Bay (subway, commuter rail, and intercity bus) terminal. Suddenly a tall humanoid in an expensively-tailored dark tweed business-capitalist overcoat lunged into my meagre personal space and thrust a dark-gloved hand towards my throat. When I automatically pulled back, he bared his top-quality-dental-hygiene teeth in a primate threat gesture possibly intended to mimic a smile. Two or three much younger, smaller drones in cheap knock-off overcoats immediately rushed over and carefully guided the tall humanoid away from me and towards another potential target. One of the little drones tarried to look back at me, arrange his shiny happy features into a frowny-face, and hiss, “That was Mitt Romney! He’s going to be your next Governor!”
__
Half-awake and running late, I was still sufficiently curious to tarry a few minutes to watch the worst approximation of the standard political grip’n’grin I have ever seen. Even when his entourage of young Mormon missionaries formed an advance guard, every third or fourth innocent passer-by (both genders and a wide range of ages, skin tones, and apparent income levels) shied away from Romney like they’d just read Gavin de Becker. He exuded the polar opposite of charisma.
__
That was my first, and please goddess my only, personal meeting with Willard Mitt Romney. I’ve witnessed equivalent events for both John Kerry and Michael Dukakis, and neither of those famously un-gemultlische individuals inspired the same visceral negativity from random citizens — general or specific anti-political animus, yes, but people weren’t pulling away from Kerry (who was also very tall & expensively dressed) like he’d tried to grope them.
__
It’s not going to be hard for President Obama’s re-election committee to make Romney seem unlikable. He is unlikable. The best his political supporters have been able to manage are variations on Wilde’s quip about GBShaw: “An excellent man; he has not an enemy in the world, and none of his friends like him.” The more time professional politicians and political operatives — not among the world’s most sensitive individuals — spend with him, the less they like him. The Media Village courtiers, however dutiful their attentions to their own paychecks and perquisites, have not been and will never be enthusiastic about their chances to share a non-alcoholic beer or customized-Range-Rover tire swing with “Mitt”. Of course, conventional wisdom is that he gets a minimum forty percent of the votes just by having that ( R ) after his name (although if anyone can break through that floor, it’ll be Romney). And there’s the overlapping twenty-seven percent that won’t vote for an African-American/a Democrat/their own best interests. But making Romney “appealing” to the notorious Low Information Voter is going to cost the Rethug political machine many, many precious millions of dollars… thrown down a sinkhole.
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[…] Anne Laurie tells the tale at Balloon Juice. A nugget: It was a cold grey pre-spring morning early in 2002, and I was one among the hordes migrating throug… […]
WereBear (itouch)
Yep, in their eagerness to install one of their own, the 1% don’t seem to notice that for those of us who have not made a metric ton of money by associating with the man, he has negative charisma.
hildebrand
“he’s got…lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eye. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be livin’. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white.”
Librarian
I wish it were so, but I just don’t think so. No matter how repulsive and disgusting Romney is, the media is going to pull out all the stops and do its damnedest to get him elected, because he’a a Republican and that’s all that matters. IOKIYAR and all that.
Culture of Truth
oh wow
Brachiator
I recently rewatched the Doctor Who episode “The Empy Child.” The monster of the episode, a hybrid of technology and human DNA, reminded me of Mitt.
But then again, maybe the GOP will be able to convince voters that a mechanical man will be able to do a better job with the economy than the Democrats have done. And that’s really all that’s required for a win.
brettvk
I cherish Romney’s habit of awkwardly lying about his wealth about once a week. “Pink slip,” forsooth. Thirty-second spots that compile his out-of-touch statements over images from the Great Recession should run ten times an hour from July through October.
Narcissus
“Here’s to swimmin’ with bowlegged women.”
abo gato
Good. If only they would spend all the money they had. Course, more corporations and stupid people will keep refilling their coffers.
policomic
Anyone here ever heard of Richard Nixon?
dogwood
Here’s a nice story about John Kerry. In 2001 my cousin’s daughter left the boondocks of Idaho and enrolled at Tufts. She immediately signed on to work on Sen. Kerry’s re-election campaign. She was around the Senator a few times in the main election headquarters. In the late spring of 02 her parents visited Boston and they were visiting the Harvard campus with her daughter’s boyfriend who was a student there. As they were strolling around, their daughter spotted Sen. Kerry coming out of a building with his entourage and pointed him out to her parents. About the same time, Kerry spotted her, left the men he was with and came over and introduced himself to her parents. He wasn’t the least bit phony. He admitted that he didn’t remember Jessica’s name, but he knew she was a volunteer and wanted to thank her and her parents. That’s a real class act as far as I’m concerned.
Violet
@policomic:
Nixon was certainly unlikeable, but he had a personality. There’s no there there with Romney. It’s creepy. Mean and bad are easier to sell than creepy.
Romney reminds me of Jason Robards’ character in “A Boy and His Dog.”
amk
@efgoldman:
Here ya go.
Naive and Sentimental
How can he not have charisma with a face like this?
Anne Laurie
@efgoldman:
I wasn’t born here, I chose to be a Masshole. Grew up in the Bronx, visited Boston age 5-1/2, decided it was “my city”. Took 30+ years and a long detour in Michigan, but we moved to a cramped rental duplex in Newton in time to vote for Barney Frank, and eventually bought a house in a blue-collar town north of Boston. Still glad I found the place that fits me when I was young enough to do something about it!
amk
Benen nails this lying sack of shit.
“If Romney believes his own garbage, he’s deranged. If he doesn’t believe it, but he’s making the argument anyway, Romney’s a craven con man.
My hunch is that he’s the latter.
One of the problems with lying is how easy it is. When a person wants something badly enough, and knows making stuff up can help acquire it, there’s a temptation to simply ignore the truth, tell the lie, and get the goal. It takes a modicum of strength to see the inherent value of the truth.
And Romney is just a weak man who lacks the courage necessary to have a credible debate over economic policies. Such an argument requires honesty, an understanding of the basics, and a willingness to be consistent and principled — and given Romney’s glaring character flaws, he seems to lack the integrity to engage in such a discussion.”
dogwood
@Librarian:
So I guess the President and the rest of the Democrats should just fold their tent since there’s nothing to be done.
The last thing I want to see is democrats whining about the media. I still remember the 1992 George H W Bush slogan – Annoy the Media, Vote Bush. Lame.
amk
@efgoldman: It works for me.
Anyhoo, the linky
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Shovel-Ready.17DD.htm
hildebrand
Has there ever been a more luke-warm response to a shoe-in nominee? Ever? Everyone knows that Mitt will get the nod and he still polls like a mid-major.
Another point – even though the Village will swing in behind him, there is simply no way that Mitt captures the imagination of the populace. Even at the Republican National Convention do you foresee anyone getting really fired up about Mitt’s big acceptance speech? (Frankly, his family actually hurts him here, because they look like replicants or almost people as much as their dad.)
cmorenc
One of the most truly weird (and revealing) quick meet-and-greet experiences with political candidates was the night in late October ’92 when I attended a Clinton-Gore bus tour rally and got myself a great position in the rope line where first Clinton and then Gore behind him went along quickly introducing themselves and shaking hands with you. Clinton came along, took my hand firmly, looked me straight in the eye as he introduced himself and…for the three or four seconds the brief personal encounter happened before he moved along, Clinton had the eerie talent of making me feel like I was, to him, the ONLY person on the entire earth at that moment. One on one he didn’t merely radiate general charisma, he directly transfused uncountable charisma packets of energy of it personally into the nervous system of his momentary recipient. I’ve never met anyone before or since with that kind of strange, powerful connective talent.
And then thirty or so seconds behind, here comes Al Gore, obviously trying his best in his own earnest way to briefly connect with each person as he went down the line shaking hands, but it was as if he carried a force-field shell of reserve around him that insulated any charisma photons from escaping. His persona reminded me of a preacher who tries to be cheerfully friendly but whose unctious nature overwhelms his efforts to readily connect with people at a personal level.
I could see in Clinton’s eyes that he was exhausted enough for an ordinary mortal to be out on his feet, but nonetheless he was feeding off the energy of the crowd and each individual person he met to remain energetically engaged and alert.
BTW, I once met the late Sen. Jesse Helms aka the original Darth Vader of the GOP right wing on the streets of Raleigh, as we just happened to be walking along the sidewalk in the same direction. Though nowhere near in Clinton’s charismatic class, nonetheless the man did have an astonishingly similar ability to make a momentary favorable personal, intimate connection with people. I say this as someone who absolutely loathed his politics and racism, but objectively, I’ve got to admit he had genuine political talent to favorably connect immediately and personally with people.
The Moar You Know
@policomic: Yeah, and that’s why I’m finding all the self-congratulatory rhetoric at our luck in the GOP electing an android to office a bit unnerving. Richard Nixon was an obviously horrible, vicious, thieving, nasty human being (for those of you who weren’t around, imagine Dick Cheney running for President) and he beat decent, hardworking, likable, electable opponents. Twice.
I think Romney won’t win it because of the evangelical factor, but he could. He’s a white guy with a shitload of money and a horde of racist crazies backing him up, running against a black president. Victory can be ours but let’s not kid ourselves – it will not be easy.
Villago Delenda Est
@dogwood:
20 years later…”Piss off vile fascist scum. Vote Obama.”
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Don’t worry, eventually, Romney will travel to the past, touch his younger self, and he’ll disappear from history.
currants
@dogwood: Kerry IS a class act. A dear friend had trouble getting her father-in-law appropriate care post-stroke and still in the hospital, because Medicare said “No.” Incorrectly, of course, but what does it matter when you have few resources and an elderly in-law in the hospital? As a last resort, she called Kerry’s office, which contacted the appropriate offices, and within a matter of days, her father-in-law was cleared to go to a rehab facility. A colleague of ours said that was the kind of public service people in such offices ordinarily do, but it was my first experience with same, and he’s been high on my list ever since.
Gin & Tonic
@The Moar You Know: This. Call me a concern troll, but I, too, remember Nixon and am old enough to have voted against him once. He was a repellent human being in so many ways, and won the Presidency, twice. Romney is unlikeable, and may have negative charisma, but I do not think he is in Nixon’s class. This will be a long, hard slog, and I am not convinced success is assured.
dogwood
@Violet:
Nixon also had a story. He really was a working-class Quaker kid from rural California. He worked his ass off after losing the Ca. governor’s race and really did come back from the depths. You could hate his guts, but you could never say he wasn’t interesting. Such great potential in terms of intellect and ambition marred by paranoia, resentment, alcohol and insecurity. Mitt has no story to tell. He’s the most uninteresting presidential candidate of my long life.
Yutsano
Oops.
(Hufflepuff warning)
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@cmorenc: That means Strom Thurmond was Emperor Palpatine
lamh35
Black Man Confronts Gingrich On Food Stamps Comments: ‘Stop Using Blacks As A Punching Bag’
“MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended himself today against charges of racial insensitivity by noting that he’s worked with African-American leaders in the past.
At a town hall event meant to appeal to Latino voters at a Mexican restaurant in Manchester, an African-American man confronted Gingrich about recent comments he made that have drawn the ire of the NACCP and other civil rights leader…
At the event today, Yvan Lamothe, a 59-year-old former New Hampshire state employee and small business owner, drew strong applause from the crowd when he told Gingrich that he has never taken welfare or food stamps and was offended by Gingrich’s suggestion that most African Americans do. Gingrich responded with something like the classic “some of my best friends are black” defense, noting that he has worked with people like Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell in the past…
ThinkProgress spoke with Lamothe after the event, who was not satisfied with Gingrich’s response. “He didn’t say some black people, he just said black people. I was incensed by that,” he said. “He didn’t really really address it, he said he didn’t say it, but he’s clearly on tape saying it,” Lamothe added. “He should stop using blacks as a punching bag.” Lamothe concluded: “It was erroneous, it was wrong, and it was not fair.”
Hill Dweller
Willard has once again started falsely claiming Obama made the economy worse.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
The Republicans may be starting to think about lining up behind Romney, but I’m also starting see signs that the Democratic side is not only getting ready to support Obama (David Mizner not withstanding), but beginning to realize that Republicans have to be kept out of office.
phoebes-in-santa fe
You know, I can see why Sarah Palin’s supporters adore her and how Ron Paul’s supporters feel the same about him. Both seem to have a charisma which – while alluding me completely – does seem to work on others.
But Mitt Romney? Is anyone EVER thrilled to see Mitt Romney in person? Are campaign workers working for him because they believe in him with all their hearts? Or, are they all working for him because they’re 1. paid, or 2. Mormons?
I’ve met Obama a few times, and Clinton once, and I was thrilled to do so. They have charisma to spare, while Mitt Romney, though a very handsome man, has absolutely none. Charisma doesn’t make a person a good person, but it’s nice when a politician has some.
dogwood
@efgoldman:
You’re absolutely right. It ain’t 1968.
Chuck Butcher
I met Pres Clinton for a few minutes private time during the 08 Primaries. He knew what camp I was in and took the time to make that “connection” to the voter/activist. He knew the details of everybody from our small town there pre-Hillary speech.
Whatever one may think of Clinton policies, the man is an absolute pro at campaigning. Most of those people were well left of Clinton Admin policies and there wasn’t one he didn’t charm. He didn’t change anyone’s orientation, but he sure left warm feelings behind.
I’ve watched films of Joe Biden doing retail politics, another real pro.
Mitt is not going to get there, no way. I sat twenty feet (VIP section) from Primary candidate Obama making his stump speech and then Q/A – it isn’t possible for Mittens to match. He doesn’t have the personal presence for the audience to connect to and he sure doesn’t have the quick thinking and broad intellect to pull off that sort of Q/A.
I don’t know that retail politics will decide the GE, I doubt it, but getting people out to work does require that. People on the ground who care is huge.
amk
@dogwood: This. mittens’ unctuousness and lies will be his non-electable factors.
dogwood
@Hill Dweller:
If that’s the best he’s got, it’ll be a long 10 months for the Mittster.
hildebrand
@Gin & Tonic: Success is never assured. Obama could be running against a David Duke/Alan Keyes ticket and I would still worry.
That said, and this is a weird admission, Romney simply isn’t in Nixon’s league. Romney has no political instincts, none. He is going to win the nomination because he is running against the worst clowns ever assembled on a stage. If even one of them had an ounce of skill, charisma, smarts, or even a good stump speech, Mitt would be in serious trouble. He almost lost to Rick Santorum for god’s sake. He was lucky that Cain self-destructed. Even Newt has neutered himself and therefore doesn’t represent a true threat. The one guy that had a chance, Huntsman, has been drilled by the Republican electorate because he has Obama cooties.
Romney is going to win the nomination by default. Why? Because he is a nearly perfect, but not quite, copy of an actual politician (which is why he only has four years of actual government experience under his belt). People felt passionate about Nixon, especially the ones who hated him. No one feels passion about Romney. I don’t hate the man, I am just weirded out by him. No one loves him, no one hates him – they either tolerate his ‘almost people’ status or they don’t.
I really don’t think we have seen his like before on the national stage. While that doesn’t insure Obama’s reelection (because we are still dealing with bigots and anti-Democratic types will always vote against their economic self-interest because they are dupes who have been led around by the nose, and because great wealth seems to blind people to just about everything), the more people listen to Romney the more they will find him…odd. Odd doesn’t get people to the polls. Odd gets people to think that maybe they will sit this one out.
Anne Laurie
@The Moar You Know:
Agreed. But one of the leading concern-troll Media Village courtier themes is going to be “How can a mere not-even-white Demon-crat incumbent win over the immense-on-paper advantage of Romney’s highly advanced MBA talents?“… although, if his MA/Olympics tenures are any indication, the more time individual mediadrones spend inside the Romney bubble, the less we’ll hear about his “likability”. Even mean, stupid, crappy campaigners like McCain, Dubya, or Perry at least seem to come off as human to their press followers. Romney combines Gore’s unfortunate lack of affect with Cheney’s “gimme the money/power & fvck off, whoever you are” vibe.
We here in the reality-based community need to counteract the “But Romney (unlike That Man in the White House) is so approachable, so like one of us” argument early and often. An important part of the low-information voter demographic are the Bandwagon Jumpers looking for the next hot fad (“Obama is sooo 2008, y’all”) and we want to point out that Romney is physically incapable of being The Next Cool Guy. He’s a creep, and he’s not even a creep with an interesting backstory or a personable narrative. He’s just… Mr. MBA, that nameless guy who laid off your old man and hundreds of your old man’s co-workers, and who doesn’t even have the basic primate awareness of why this might make him unpopular with them.
stickler
Nixon is so strange on so many levels, that I’m not sure how relevant he is to this discussion. He was breathtakingly cynical in ways Romney hasn’t even approached, for one. (Really!) The most conservative Republican who could possibly have been elected in the 1960s shortly thereafter proclaimed, “We are all Keynesians now!” He established the EPA. He went to Red China (and wasn’t condemned for that, as many pointed out, because Richard Nixon wasn’t in the Congress or on the TV Red-baiting him every day for doing it).
The man’s re-election committee in 1972 was named “The Committee to Re-Elect the President.” Acronym: CREEP. If you were old enough to vote in 1972 (I was not), you knew damned well what you were going to get if you voted for Tricky Dick.
But Tricky Dick had the “Silent Majority,” the non-Hippies, to run against (ed — for? with? whatever). Who are Romney’s Hippies? Tricky Dick also promised to end the Vietnam War (“with dignity,” but who cared?), and he did, though a few years later than he could have. Romney’s talking about starting a war, not ending one. Though Nixon hated campaigning, he was pretty good at it and obviously could connect with a crowd. Romney … well, any evidence available on this point?
Librarian
Ok, then how on earth did Romney ever get elected governor of Mass.?
trollhattan
Less Mittens, mo Vermin Supreme!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d_FvgQ1csE&feature=player_embedded
MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson
I am sure some knee-pads with the Bain logo in gold will enable them to achieve a certain enthusiasm for the head-bobbing contest.
Anne Laurie
@hildebrand:
I can see the Atwater ad now: “Vote Mitt! The chances of the police discovering that underground bunker full of dead hitchhikers and tortured puppies before Inauguration Day is vanishingly small!”
As Democrats, President Obama’s team is of course far too honest & above-board to go full Atwater, but IMO Romney is the best of the current GOP candidates for a somewhat more sophisticate version of this. Discouraging potential GOP voters should be as important to us this year as discouraging potential Dem voters always is to the Rethugs.
Southern Beale
Yes. He repels people. This is not a quality you want in a politician.
For me, it’s his voice. (I mean, above and beyond the truly heinous policy positions on everyting … I’m talking about just my visceral response to the man himself.) There is something so .. false about his voice. Something I really can’t articulate except he just screams “phony.” Every word out of his mouth sounds like a lie.
Cacti
@policomic:
On his worst day, Richard M. Nixon had more political savvy in his pinky finger than Willard M. Romney has acquired in 18 years of running for office.
MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson
@Southern Beale:
I think it’s the unmoving smile accompanied by the dead fish eyes. That boy Willard just ain’t right.
amk
It’s youtube moments like this that will sink willard.
Chuck Butcher
I’ll be a bit surprised to see much MSM love for Mittens. Mittens is a bit stuck because where he belongs is where Pres Obama already is so he’s stuck with this stupid narrative. He’s as charming as a bucket of rocks and he’s not the source of stories, which is the media’s bread and butter.
The media is left with an empty suit, no personal warmth and no stories for the masses to consume. You have to ask what they’re going to do with that, regardless of leanings. His back story is so damn bland that there isn’t anything there – unless he mis-remembers it…
That’ll have zero effect on the BoBos, but what would?
dogwood
@Anne Laurie: @Anne Laurie:
I did have to laugh at this a bit, because the idea that Mitt (Who Let the Dogs Out) Romney could ever be the next hot fad is pretty hysterical.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned here is just how insulated the entire Romney family seems to be . That birther comment that one of the sons spewed out made it pretty clear that they’re almost a year behind the news cycle. I’m sure none of the Romneys watched or know a thing about what happened at last year’s White House Correspondent’s dinner. They are culturally illiterate. “Know thy enemy” is a pretty good primer for any political candidate. It’s obvious that Mitt and the little Mittsters know absolutely nothing about the President except what they hear on Fox or read at WND.
I’m actually looking forward to the President and Mitt performing at the Al Smith dinner.
Anne Laurie
@Librarian:
Main reason: He threw tons of money around. (Buying the presidency is way more expensive than buying a mere governship.) Other reasons: Massholes have a bad habit of “counteracting” our Democratically-controlled legislature with a Republican governor. And the blue-collar Catholics who make up a disproportionately large part of that Lege (MA is officially something like 50% Catholic) are mostly old-school misogynists. Shannon O’Brien was the “most qualified” woman then available in the Democratic party, but the same traits that made it possible for her to rise as high as the Treasurer seat made it impossible for her to win an office where she actually had to campaign instead of surfing the punch-the-straight-D-ticket vote. Much like the more recent choice of Scott “Cosmo Boy” Brown over Martha Coakley — poor choice of opponent, secondary to Dem infighting, plus the novelty factor for the voters.
But Romney couldn’t buy a second term as governor, and President Obama is not a crappy, grudgingly no-better-choice candidate.
Cacti
@Anne Laurie:
And in a familiar story, Willard’s millions could only buy him 49.7% of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial campaign.
Southern Beale
Heard on one of those NPR quiz shows that 2% of voters think “Mittens” is Mitt’s REAL first name. Which is sad but also scary. Mittens are warm, fuzzy things that bring back fond memories of my childhood. Totally the antithesis of the Romney-Bot.
It’s still his voice for me. So hyper-smooth, he could be reading the fucking dictionary and it would send chills up my spine. Someone needs to get him to say the name “Clarice” just for shits and giggles.
kdaug
@hildebrand:
“Ah, then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’.
The ocean turns red.
And in spite of all the poundin’ and the hollerin’, they all come in and rip you to pieces.”
Yutsano
Mitt wants your vote. Dammit.
dogwood
@Chuck Butcher:
I mentioned this at the end of another thread, so pardon me if anyone read it. The only interesting story that Mitt has to tell is the one he won’t discuss. And that’s the compelling story of his Mormon ancestry. I see some news stories have already appeared about the Romney family in Mexico, and I understand why reporters are interested. It’s pretty fascinating stuff. Two of the smartest things Barack Obama ever did were to write Dreams from My Father, and make that trip to Africa early in his Senate career where he was filmed with his step-grandmother at her humble abode. He owned his past and he told his own story. People have been trying fuck around with the story ever since, but they haven’t been as successful as they would have been if Obama hadn’t got his licks in first.
gene108
@MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson:
The man’s 65 and doesn’t look it, which is unnatural.
The Just-for-Men Touch-of-Grey he has in his hair, plus the tan and whatever else he has going on, just doesn’t come off like a normal 65 year old man to me.
Seems like he’s trying too hard to come off like someone in his 50’s.
WereBear (itouch)
Yes, weird things happen, but that’s why they are weird things. They are not reliable, usually not repeatable.
Whether a person’s charm/charisma/mojo works on us or not, they gotta have some. Nixon was the perfect mechanism to express grievances. W was a Good Ol’ Boy to those who love such. Even McCain has the backstory that generates forgiveness whether he deserves it or not.
Mitt’s biggest backstory involves a family vacation featuring a terrified dog coating the car in fear-diarrhea. And they tell it as though it’s supposed to be heart-warming!
I see product problems ahead.
rikyrah
@lamh35:
First with Santorum and now with Newt…
Gotta hand it to the 10 Black people that live in NH….They don’t seem to be letting the GOP candidates alone…LOL
Roger Moore
@dogwood:
Obama can get away with talking about his family because part of the story is that he isn’t a Muslim like his father. He can get away with talking about his father’s sordid marital life because he rejected that part of his ancestry for something more Middle American. Romney, OTOH, has stuck by his ancestors’ Mormonism. He doesn’t want to talk too much about the more sordid parts of their stories because it will bring up some very awkward questions.
Put another way, Obama really owned his story because he chose his own, different course. Romney doesn’t completely own his story because he’s following his ancestors’ course. That makes it easier for Obama to talk about the unpopular things his ancestors did than for Romney to do so.
rikyrah
This entire thread has been HILARIOUS, but this just continues to make me LOL.
Kay Shawn
Anybody else ever slip up and say “Newt Romney”? I’ve done that a couple of times…
John M. Burt
Yeah, but Nixon couldn’t possibly win, nor could Dubya….
Indeed, much of the harm done to this country over the last half century has been done by people who were obviously unqualified to be President.
rikyrah
I believe Willard is the most phony piece of plastic to ever come around the bend, and don’t go around insulting Tricky Dick like that. I was too young to remember Nixon -my first memories of politics was my parents watching the Watergate hearings on tv while coloring, but I’ve read up on the man. The man was a pure scrappper, in every since of the word. Paranoid, cynical, mean, insecure, but a scrapper.
Willard Romeny is the personification of entitled, rich, White boy. It reeks from every pore of his being.
Maybe Dubya was better at hiding it, but Willard smells of it, and has never done ANYTHING that would remotely put himself at risk…hell, even Bush 41 was a pilot in WWII and could have gotten his ass shot at anytime.
WereBear (itouch)
Utah consistently surveys with high depression rates. That’s the dark side of Mormonism that doesn’t get talked about much.
I am bashing the religion: it doesn’t regard People of Color or women to be really people whose rights should be respected. I’d regard an Orthodox Jew running for President with the same trepidation.
phoebes-in-santa fe
@rikyrah: Yep, this thread is hysterical. “Bucket of rocks” and “that boy just ain’t right” are the two best in a long line of great posts.
Actually, when I really think about Mitt, the thing that hits me the most – other than his complete lack of non-robotic affect – is his voice. I never thought I’d hate a voice in public life more than I Bush, jr, but Mitt Romney’s voice is like the proverbial fingernails on a blackboard.
He always just sounds so nervous. Like if he just keeps talking, people WILL believe him. It’s not working. In all, I don’t think there’s ever been a more distasteful candidate in my lifetime, and I’m almost 61. Nixon, for Christ’s sake, was more human…
hildebrand
@John M. Burt: Nobody doubts for a second that Romney could somehow find a way to win. What people doubt is his humanity. (Ok, a smidgeon extreme – but follow along nonetheless.) The title of this post is apt – Romney is truly someone who triggers the uncanny valley response – something that looks human, sounds essentially human, and it just human enough to make us engage it as human, but there is something dead about the character that repels us.
See: The Polar Express (the movie). Roger Ebert has the best explanation about the uncanny valley in cinematic terms.
Mitt triggers the sense that he is too plastic. This leads many to reason that he will have an exceptionally hard time motivating the masses to vote for him. And this has been born out in the run up to the primaries – why can’t he crack 25%? Because no one can find the passion to really get behind him. He is everyone’s second choice – the safe one that they will settle for because, well, he has money, he sounds almost exactly like a good politician, and he isn’t a black-soshulist-Kenyan-Muslim usurper.
It’s not that he can’t win. It’s that everyone finds him…odd. And not the in strangely lovable eccentric way. Just, well, somewhat off. He is a replicant. An almost person. He is Data with better make-up and worse jokes and empathy circuits. (And he wouldn’t get any of my nerdy jokes I just made – whereas Obama most certainly does, so that wins him geek points.)
The Fat Kate Middleton
@phoebes-in-santa fe: Met Obama twice – the first time was the first day of his campaign for president. I was … underwhelmed. Later, saw him speak to a crowd of ten thousand, after being introduced by Oprah. What a difference – for the better, of course. And Joe Biden? Best. Campaigner. Ever. I will never forget the speech he made the same night that Obama spoke. Wish I had a video of him.
Finally – relatives of ours actually travelled here to Iowa from the South, with the intent of “meeting every Republican candidate.” They managed to meet all but Mitt. I commiserated with them, asking if they were disappointed. They just shrugged their shoulders, saying ‘Not really.’
Frankensteinbeck
Nixon is not a good comparison for Romney. Not at all. I’ve seen recordings of him speaking, and he’s not a likable man, but he’s a hatable man. He seeps venom. I’m not aware of a real word for the trait, so I’ll grab Terry Pratchett’s ‘charisntma’. You can be such a horrible person that people are drawn to you. Newt Gingrich has that trait, but not enough of it and not enough brains to leverage it, and in particular he’s too damn lazy and entitled.
Romney does not have that trait. There are many ways to be appealing to the masses. Romney doesn’t have any of them. He won’t pick up the low information undecided voter, because he hasn’t got any charm. He won’t pick up the crazy insular fuckhead voter, because he’s not ‘one of them’. He’ll do okay with ultra-rich entitled prats, so at least his campaign will have money, but they don’t actually have many votes. All he’s got are the ‘We will swallow our pride and vote for any Republican because Democrats are pure evil’ voters. There’s a goodly number of them, but they’re not enough by themselves, and they like him less than anybody does. That’s not good, because he needs them to turn out in a frenzied mass just to be in the game.
Anything is possible in politics. Romney may not even have it sewn up yet, if the crazies can pick a Not Romney and stick with him (I think he’ll win by being the only person with an organization). But Romney is a B list back bench candidate and his only virtue is that he’s not a D list ‘Are you shitting me?’ candidate like the others. I’m delighted that at this moment when we really, really need the GOP to swing and miss they’re sending Romney up to bat.
Hurling Dervish
Mitt reminds me of the slimy boss in Office Space: “Yeah, I’m going to want you to work this weekend. Thanks.”
AA+ Bonds
He is the sort of guy who they used to be able to sell from balconies and stages.
The only place reeking shit like that works anymore is in the Scott-Brown beige-o-fascist centers of Mass., where every man wants a yappy-dog-lugging dyed-blonde wife to leave home while they assault a babysitter (or pool boy) in the back of their Yukon
AA+ Bonds
@Frankensteinbeck:
pfffffffffffffffffftHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Delia
@WereBear (itouch):
As someone who grew up as a Utah Mormon, I know you’re right about the high rates of depression. But Mitt doesn’t come across to me as anything like a Utah Mormon. I expect because most Utah Mormons are middle and working class or rural people, and, um, Mittens doesn’t relate well to those life styles. I’m sure he’ll pick up the votes there with no trouble. But believe me, the mentality of many Utah Mormons is not that different from that of many Kansas Baptists.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@trollhattan: All right. That one got sent to all my relatives – Democrat, Repub, and agnostic.
eemom
Count me among those who think comparing Romney to Nixon is a ridiculous joke and a disservice to Nixon.
And AGAIN, for fuck’s sake, the present is not the past.
And an election is NOT a mathematical formula of white plus rich minus black president equals republican win.
Srsly, you doom-mongers need to stop whining. It’s getting tiresome.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@Hurling Dervish: Ha!! Yes. Perfect. I have to say, though, while I, too, loathe just about everything Willard stands for and ‘professes’, I am puzzled by the visceral loathing he elicits among so many. It goes beyond anything I’ve seen before (and I’m one of those who had the honor to vote against Nixon twice). All I can say is, I’ve never seen anything like it.
Canuckistani Tom
@Kay Shawn:
It’s cause ‘Newt Romney’ sounds very much like ‘Knute Rockne’, and that sounds a lot better that either of those two
MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson
If Mitt Romney isn’t deeply familiar with the waters off Innsmouth, I shall be extremely surprised.
RalfW
Via N.Y.Mag’s Daily Intel:
AxelFoley
@The Moar You Know:
Nixon had the fortune of running against weak Dems. Romney won’t have that option in the general.
dogwood
@Roger Moore:
Well said.
Stranger
I’ll go with those who cite his voice as the deal-killer.
I heard part of his stump speech on the radio the other night where he was calling Obama a ‘job-killer,’ saying ‘He doesn’t mean to be that, he just is!’
I’ve never heard a politician sound so completely desperate. Hell, John McCain in the last days of his campaign, when everyone from his advisors to his wife knew it was over, sounded nowhere near as desperate.
It’s like he knows you’re not going to believe what he’s saying and he feels like he’s got to sell it to you. Maybe good for a vulture capitalist, not so good for a presidential candidate.
Delia
@Stranger:
Seriously? That’s one of those psychological projection moments. Or in technical language: “I know you are but what am I?”
Stranger
Delia – That is verbatim. And his tone was that of a kid saying ‘Well, he started it!’
Sounded like Amateur Night to me. He better raise a few mountains of money, because that’s the only thing that’s going to keep him in the game.
rb
@stickler: Who are Romney’s Hippies?
Why, Hippies, of course.
But I agree with you about the rest …
AA+ Bonds
Why would white-wing Evangelicals not vote for Romney when they consider it a race between two non-Christians and one of them is . . . . . . white?
mclaren
The definitive rebuttal?
Dick Cheney.
Polls of likely Republican voters showed Cheney quite high in esteem even after the 8 disastrous years of the Drunk Driving C Student’s reign of error.
If Repub imagemakers can make Dick Cheney appealing to voters, they can make anyone appealing to voters.
This is your next Republican presidential nominee.
pluege
its not the plutocrats’ harpies selling romney that will count. Its how successful they are at disparaging obama – its where their hundreds of millions and all their disgusting, indecent psycho-minds will be focused.
hildebrand
@mclaren: They didn’t need to make Cheney appealing – Dick Cheney is an asshole, the Republicans simply needed to let people know that he was ‘their asshole’. He was the bad cop to Bush’s good cop. Being second on the ticket allows you to be said asshole. Works like a charm. Nobody, but nobody, likes Dick Cheney, but they respect him, or feared him.
Nobody likes Mitt, nor fears him, nor respects him. They tolerate him.
Also, Mitt is not a monster, he is simply a unctuous millionaire salesman with no spark of humanity – different thing altogether.
JR in WVa
Maybe we could start a write-in for Darth Cheney?
I well remember the Saturday Night Massacre when, starting at the Attorney General, they worked their way down the Justice Department, until they reached Robert Bork, who was willing to fire the Special Prosecutor.
We were at a party, and went to the newspaper (where we worked at the time) and read the news coming over the AP wire from DC. There were bulletins every few minutes as another honorable appointee resigned rather than be the person to kill off the Watergate Special Prosecutor.
Nixon was EVIL in public… puppydog killing evil. Willard is just inhuman. Killing puppydogs for him wouldn’t be evil, just routine. Look at his history of strapping the family dog to the car roof. Routine. What you do.
“Darth Cheney for nominee!” Williard for President! I dunno.
RobNYNY1957
I think the work you are groping for is “ungemuetlich.”
Mino
Perhaps to sell Mitt to the base they should just admit he’s the anti-Xist and all the enders will flock to hasten the apocalypse.
Though they may have thought Cheney was him in 2000 and been disappointed.
Emma
@MildlyAmusedRainbowPerson: You owe me a monitor. Well done, sir or madame!