Despite his wins on Tuesday in Arizona and Michigan, Mitt Romney
remains the convictionless centrist who simply can’t inspire the
right, or even the center for that matter. Analysts across the
ideological spectrum deem him a dud candidate — a flawed and
wounded frontrunner who pays for his demoralizing squeakers and
empty victories on his debit card.
Even a paltry win in Michigan is a loss, said a few
pundits, noting the erosion of support Romney saw in his home state
since winning it easily in 2008 over John McCain.
Romney’s success in the primaries, to the extent that it
exists, appears largely artificial — a function not so much of his
personality and political philosophy but his fat wallet, SuperPac
assassination team, and the sheer luck of finding himself in a
field of wan and cashless candidates.
“Thank you, Kid Rock,” said Ann Romney not long before
surrendering the floor to Mitt at his Michigan “celebration.” Some
celebration. Is this really the best that the GOP can do? If so,
may God help us all.
Obama vs. Obama lite — this is the race ahead unless
conservatives derail Romney’s candidacy in the Deep South. Newt
Gingrich is quietly biding his time in Georgia. Santorum’s loss may
make the former Speaker of the House relevant again.
Where is the outrage, conservatives? Why would they,
almost two years after the Tea Party restored the GOP to
Congressional power, want to nominate as their head a Northeast
RINO who embodies the antithesis of the Tea Party movement? This
makes no sense, either philosophically or politically. I repeat: a
party that chooses “power” over principle will lose
both.
Romney’s “electability” argument, which already sounded
ludicrous, looks even weaker this morning in light of his struggles
to win Democrats in his home state’s open primary. “Santorum
Democrats” is a phrase I heard from pundits. I didn’t hear any of
them refer to “Romney Democrats.” Some pundits said that Santorum,
despite losing, could end up winning more counties in Michigan than
Romney, owing to the latter’s weak showing.
When will the GOP ever learn? Centrists never win the
center. They lose it and demoralize the right.
Perhaps a charismatic RINO could win a slice of the
center. But Romney suffers from a lackluster personality for a
candidate who aspires to unseat Obama. At times, Romney almost
seems like an acharismatic robot, so fundamentally boring and
plastic even his supporters strain to show enthusiasm for him. Some
pols lack style but boast substance. Others lack substance but
sparkle with style. Romney displays neither.
On top of all these problems lies the most troubling one:
he is not and never will be a conservative and can’t even learn how
to play one on TV. To see him trot off to the Daytona 500 as a
“NASCAR Republican” is laughable — yet another phony moment in the
campaign which he managed to make worse by citing his rich pals who
own some of the cars in the race and by jesting at the expense of
the pancho-wearing hoi polloi.
Liberals pundits, who normally rejoice at the sight of a
RINO reclaiming the GOP from the Tea Party, have had to admit that
Romney is a lousy candidate. Romney isn’t improving on the campaign
trail and is even getting worse, says Howard Fineman of the
Huffington Post. Other members of the liberal chattering
class called his wooden campaigning — in which he praised the
height of Michigan’s trees and enumerated his wife’s Cadillac
collection — farcical. It is never a good sign when your
“frontrunner” generates belly laughs from your
opponents.
Campaign correspondents on Fox News delicately describe
Romney’s frontrunner status as “fragile.” Like Jon Huntsman — the
Obama diplomat who pledged to campaign against Obama diplomatically
(at the start of his nothing campaign, he promised to run a wholly
“positive” race and avert his gaze from the president’s disgraces
and failures) —
Romney leaves the rank and file cold. In fact, he sounds
more and more like Huntsman, particularly in moments of fatigue
when the real Romney — the Bay State liberal who voted for Paul
Tsongas, gave money to Planned Parenthood, and forefathered
Obamacare — comes back out to play.
Romney had one such moment the other day when he
disparaged his opponents for “incendiary” remarks lobbed at Obama.
Apparently that offends Romney’s ingrained moderate sensibilities.
Santorum shot at him and missed in Michigan. But conservatives
better keep firing or they will find themselves stomped by this
RINO the establishment is riding.
