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Another Perspective
Mitt Romney’s Fundamental Flaw
Good luck in tracking it down.
One was the divorced son of an alcoholic shoe salesman; another, the stepson of an alcoholic car salesman; still another, the self-proclaimed “black sheep” of his family.
The history of the American presidency is a history of men who have suffered — and largely overcome — humble beginnings, immense family hardships, profound personal tragedies, and humiliating public failures.
To put it another way, when considering whom they want to lead them, Americans naturally gravitate toward flawed characters – people whose success is rooted in failure, and whose lives contain the familiar arc of a redemption narrative.
But Mitt Romney doesn’t fit this mold. In fact, he may be the least flawed presidential candidate in recent American history. His main flaw, it seems, is that he doesn’t really have one.
Theodore Roosevelt had bad health and the simultaneous deaths of his wife and his mother. FDR had polio and a terrible marriage.
Like Romney, John Kennedy was born rich, famous and handsome. But JFK was plagued by health problems, including Addison’s disease, a rare endocrine disorder, and chronic and severe back pain. He nearly died fighting in World War II. His sister had developmental disabilities, and he suffered through the deaths of his brother, sister and brother-in-law. His son Patrick died as an infant.
Richard Nixon was born into poverty, and two of his brothers died early in life. He gave up a grant to attend Harvard University in order to stay at home and care for his ailing brother Harold. He suffered a narrow defeat for president in 1960, and the humiliation of a lost election for Governor of California in 1962, before ascending to the presidency.
Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer of humble means who lived for a year as an adult in subsidized public housing.
Ronald Reagan — the son of an alcoholic shoe salesman — was America’s first divorced president. His second daughter, Christine, lived just one day. And it took him twelve years and three tries before he won the presidency.
Like Kennedy, George H.W. Bush was born into a prominent family. But also like Kennedy, Bush was shot down and nearly died in World War II. Many of Bush’s family members were killed in the war.
Bill Clinton’s father died when he was an infant. He was raised by an alcoholic stepfather who beat his mother and stepbrother. When Novelist Toni Morrison wrote that Clinton was the “first black president,” she wasn’t referring just to his liberal policy agenda. As she put it, “Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s and junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas.” Or as comedian Chris Rock put it in 1996:
I like Clinton… because he’s got real problems. You know, he doesn’t have President problems. He’s got real problems like you and me. That’s right, running out of money, his wife’s a pain in the ass. All his friends are going to Jail. I know Bill Clinton. I am Bill Clinton.
George W. Bush grew up as a child of privilege. But he was widely considered a failure — the family’s “black sheep.” He was arrested for disorderly conduct as a college student, and again for drunk driving at age 30. His initial forays into the oil business were a bust. Bush only turned things around at age 40, when he underwent a religious conversion, quit drinking and began to take his life seriously.
Finally there’s Barack Obama, who grew up with an absent father and an often-absent mother. In his new best-seller The Amateur, Edward Klein reveals that after Obama’s humiliating 2002 defeat for a seat in the House of Representatives, Obama “was broke and deeply in debt, and it looked as though he might be finished in public life.”
According to Klein, the Obama’s marriage was on the rocks and Obama confided in friends that he and Michelle were talking about divorce. Michelle even had divorce papers drawn up, one Obama friend told Klein. Obama’s friends said he was so depressed they feared he was suicidal.
About the Author
Daniel Allott is a writer in Washington, D.C.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (140) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Daniel Allott
More Articles From Another Perspective
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/07/25/mitt-romneys-fundamental-flaw
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Appleby| 7.25.12 @ 6:33AM
Romney has always assumed, apparently, that he'll get everything he wants, and if he doesn't, it's not that big a deal. The really irritating thing about him is that he assumes he's going to be elected because the other guy is a failure, and because, well, he pretty much always gets what he wants. It's a kind of entitlement mentality, actually, and Americans don't much like people who just assume they're going to get what they want handed to them on a silver platter. If he's got any fight in him, I've not seen any sign of it.
OP4| 7.25.12 @ 7:49AM
Unlike our current President, Romney seems to cheerfully accept that he will have to put in a lot of hard work to get what he wants. I don't get the impression that he has had anything handed to him since his childhood.
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 8:20AM
Appleby;
Please back up your assertion:
"Romney has always assumed, apparently, that he'll get everything he wants..."
He wanted to be the nominee in 2008 and didn't get that. If it is "not that big a deal..." to him why is he running again.
How do you know what his assumptions are? ESP, telepathy, feminine intuition?
You seem to have some animus towards him based on your inner feelings.
If you haven't seen any fight in him, maybe you didn't watch any of the countless Republican debates last summer, fall, winter, spring...
I heard real tones of "I paid for that microphone" in Romney's response to the feckless One's "you didn't build that" crack.
You should stop "feeling" and start listening, reading, and thinking.
Mitt was not my first choice - but now he's my only choice! And we do agree on 80% - so that's better than the feckless one with whom I agree 1%.
Wise up or shut up, please.
Don't Tread On Me!
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 6:14PM
LOL, That's why I quit posting. I do not want to be the source of further derision among conservatives.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:44PM
Hey, Boar: I disagree with you on THIS ONE ISSUE, but you are a good man.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 8:14AM
SHOULDN'T he get Elected "because the other guy's a FAILURE"?
And, isn't a good characteristic in someone, who, when he doesn't get what he wants, he doesn't Piss and Moan - LIKE YOU - but dusts himself off, and moves on with his life? Like you should.
I sent you that copy of Final Exit. Did you read it?
READ IT!
Stormzeye| 7.25.12 @ 9:15AM
Appleby, you're wrong! Romney doesn't "get everything he wants" he EARNS it. It's not his fault that his father, who never went to college, became head of American Motors and Governor of Michigan. Romney built on that privileged background by bootstrapping a Brigham Young Univ. education into earning combined degrees from Harvard Law and Harvard Business School in five years....an amazing accomplishment. Then he starts a private equity firm and takes it to the moon while building some of the most successful enterprises in America. This man has succeeded in almost everything by dint of his hard work, determination and character. Look at how he has lead his life and how Obozo has lead his life...case closed!
PolishKnight| 7.25.12 @ 1:59PM
Hello Appleby. No, I don't buy it (your argument.) I remember the Bill Clinton motto (not sure if he said it) was "I feeeel your pain!" where Americans wanted a "caring" president. Didn't matter if they did a decent job or not, they wanted someone who cared. I think this went back to the notion of the old fashioned 1960's hippy liberal. Ironically, Clinton switched that around in that he's now viewed in hindsight as a fun loving rogue (forget about all the people who died mysteriously...) but his economy went well (perhaps because he was too busy fooling around to make a mess of it.)
Heck, perhaps the best thing for all would have been to hand Obama a vial of crack, a carton of pall malls, and the local escort service and he wouldn't have passed his healthcare bill and stimulous and re-election would be a cakewalk.
So "Americans" might perhaps want a businessman, even a ruthless one portrayed by the Obama's carefully and cynically targeted "middle class" narrative if he can get the job done. Literally. Ironically, the failure of Obama's socialism is that not all of us can be in it. Only a relatively few government workers and cronies can enjoy 2 month paid vacations. The rest of us have to work and pay taxes in the private sector to make it possible.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:25PM
Appleby,
I don't think Romney has ever simply been handed what he wanted (unlike Obama).
I'm certain Romney worked very hard to earn all he has (another concept that escapes Obama).
In my opinion Romney's faith trumps everything. Romney simply has no passion regarding any issue in this world. After all, he's going to inherit his own planet and become a benevolent God over millions in a few years. Is any of this really worth getting upset about?
I do wish it were otherwise, as I asked God nicely, but he told me I am not going to be president...ever.
Apparently, the whole nuking mecca, dropping a crap load of MOAB's on North Korea and the sudden disappearance of hundreds (shouldn't take them too long to get a clue) of mal-content liberals is apparently not a viable plan leading up to God's final solution. All of that patient so that none should perish thing and all.
But, Gosh and Golly-Gee, I know Romney can't talk bad about Obama because of that whole Mormon's believing Obama is one of Canes people and all, but can't he at least exhibit some sigh he has a man living inside him?
In his arrogance, Obama fails to realize that when he bows down, he shames all of America. In his humility, Romney fails to understand that when he refuses to stand up for what's right, he also shames us.
spike59| 7.26.12 @ 6:20AM
no, he assumes he'll get everything he EARNS...as opposed to ObaMao, who's had the skids greased for him his entire adult life
tankrtrash| 7.25.12 @ 6:37AM
One of the more idiotic articles that I've read here at TAS
scotchieguy| 7.25.12 @ 7:10AM
Why would you say that? I think it is interesting. Most presidential candidates are serious narcissists--Obama, LBJ, Edwards, Clinton (both of them), etc. Romney DOES seem too perfect, and he needs to wipe that silly-ass phony smile off his face. No on relates to someone who is always grinning.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.25.12 @ 7:18AM
Daniel,
spot on. What a lot of folks don't understand is that the "Presidency" is NOT Romney's ambition.
...Oh no. He wants to earn a spot in the "celestial realm of heaven". (read up on it, Non mormons).
Read the boy scout's pledge and you will get the drift.
Win lose or draw on any issue...we will have a morally straight President.
I can go for that.....as opposed to a communist/muslim predictable liar.
Get ole' betsy oiled up. This may be the most "interesting times" in our history since 1861.
chuck| 7.25.12 @ 7:26AM
We certainly are the most divided since 1861.
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 8:53AM
chuck,
Don't remember the 60's much do you?
The retort 'if you remember the 60's, you weren't there!' only applies to the drug-addled. A lot of people were clear-eyed and clear-headed back then - we just didn't believe that the inmates of the street would ever get to drive the big bus.
chuck| 7.25.12 @ 10:18AM
DTOM,
I was 7 in 1969, and we lived in a rural, conservative area in PA. As such, the protests and riots never impacted me.
I think we are much more divided now. At least the Ds and Rs both still loved the country then, you can't say that is the case now. And the surge in gun sales and gun-ownership rights is certainly not because people are hunting more.
As in 1861, we have some irreconcilable differences between those who want government to take care of everyone, and those who want to be left the hell alone. I fear it is not going to end well.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:25PM
Remember the 60's?
We're reliving it, now.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:32PM
No, were not.
Reagan observed some hippies holding signs that said make love not war and commented that it did not look like they were capable of either.
40 years later they have taken over the country.
We should have started strongly discouraging their behavior a long time ago.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 8:27PM
That's what I said.
BcdErick| 7.25.12 @ 7:44AM
I'm with "TankrTrash". The best one can say about this essay is it's silly and lacks knowledge of history. Our first President, Washington was one of the richest men in America and owned 250 slaves. FDR may have had polio but his family was extremely rich and he was a charter member of the upper, upper class. This idea that Romney is "too perfect" is pathetic. It's pernicious too. Obama is far and away in the worst resident in American history. He’s tearing down our country brick by brick and chortling about it. He is a fool and someone else's puppet. There are probably a whole bunch of really rich guys behind him calling the shots. Compared to these high rollers Romney might as well be their butler. As to the rest of the posters here, what in God's name are you thinking? I'd vote for "Puff the Magic Dragon" before I vote for Obama.
Jack in Wi| 7.25.12 @ 8:00AM
Tell me what Romney is going to do that Obama hasn't? They are both peas from the same pod. Both are bought and paid for by the banking elite, military industrial complex, Israeli Lobby, and plutocrats in general. Neither Obama or Romney cares who wins. If Obama loses he will go on like Clinton or Gore and make 10's of millions of dollars. If Romney loses he will retire to his 35000 square foot house on the southern Californa coast. The train just keeps rolling to disaster.
BcdErick| 7.25.12 @ 8:24AM
Easy. Romney is competent. At worst he won't make things a lot worse. At best he may actually cut spending like he says he will. He's had success all his life. Obama is an incompetent fraud. His past is sealed and we know almost nothing about him except he's a petulant narcissist. Incredibly, being President is the first real job he's ever had. When he leaves. I'd advise to do something he's intellectually qualified for. Like open a lemonade stand. He's not going to rake in the big bucks. Did Carter?
BcdErick| 7.25.12 @ 9:19AM
What? I think you should:
a) Read my first comment, which defended Romney;
2) Read the "Jack in Wi" reply;
3) Read my reply which again defends Romney;
3) Then tell me what the heck you are writing about.
I don't disagree with the points in your post but I am curious why this was directed at me.
Thanks
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 8:31AM
Oh Jack, that's rich! Obama in the tank for Israel?
Maybe in the Mike Dukakis sense, aiming at Netanyahu asking 'how do I fire this thing?'
You completely discredit yourself with such a ridiculous assertion.
Go back to worshiping the do-nothing Ron Paul. The Fed HAS been audited many, many times - RP has just never bothered to read the audits!
Back under your rock, please, sir.
DTOM
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:26PM
He's not gonna eat his dog.
Satisfied?
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:46PM
Yes, Obama is definitely a tool of the Israeli lobby. Right, right. Jack, I AM the israeli Lobby---I belong to AIPAC. Obama is NOT our tool.
R Martin| 7.25.12 @ 8:13AM
"But a redemption story lends a candidate the air of authenticity."
But what about when a story is...just a story?
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 8:32AM
Is a story better than a composite?
It's hard to keep it straight...
DTOM
Anthony| 7.25.12 @ 8:19AM
Sorry Mr. Allott your article is a bit of a trite reach, to say the least. Your article should read Romney, a man at history's brink.
.I must say that it appears Romney is "finding his voice", as they say in the new parlance, and is taking it to Obozo big time. I am most grateful to see this from a man I suspected to be a McLame or Bohener lite. The biggest challenge to America is on the line, NOW.
That said, if Romney loses this election, he and his R party are finished. If Romney loses this election, America is finished. That Mr. Allott will be one huge flaw that history will never let Romney live down.
We are indeed at a tipping point in American history, and Obozo has led America's demise with rapid speed.
We, the American people, have no choice but to hope Romney comes of age and suprises us all into being a true leader ready to save America from the brink of Obozo's Marxist hell hole.
Fiscal| 7.25.12 @ 8:25AM
Romney's perfect background leads to a lack of perspective on what most of us face on a day to day basis. This lack of perspective means that he doesn't value those policies that might help the middle class and is totally ensconced in trickle down economics which simply doesn't work.
Obama understands the middle class better, but he is an inept leader that holds to the notion that Government can solve these problems and thus he will never present economically viable programs.
We have no good choices this year and neither will move this country in the right direction. But we have a better chance with Romney that at least Government will be managed better.
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 8:48AM
Fiscal,
OBama's better understanding of the middle class?
Oh, yeah, that's right, I was so busy what with my bitter clinging, hating Al Sharpton because of his skin color, not because he's a liar, an opportunist, and a scaliwag in the sense that he has multiple legal judgements against him which he just doesn't feel he has to pay.
Wise up! "Trickle down" is a euphemism that Keynsians routinely use to disparage sound FISCAL polies, Fiscal. Thinking that Obama believes in it shows how uninformed you are.
And in point in fact if the "trickle down" didn't work, where the hell did the economic growth of the 80's and 90's and early 00's come from? Cause we were doing big time "trickle down", then, and it WORKED.
No, what Obama believes in is "trickle up poverty." Not my term, but it is precise. IT only took him four years to bring back poverty levels from 50 YEARS ago. (That's how long ago the mid-60's were, for you math-challenged types)
Get some facts, get some understanding, and then let's hear from you. Now you just look like a...
Dolt!
Do better!
DTOM
DTOM
Fiscal| 7.25.12 @ 9:54AM
While I agree that Obama's views are skewed towards government largesse, he still understands the middle class better than Romney. That is not to say he is, by any means, the best choice as I indicated.
While "trickle down" is a euphemism, the economic concept of giving tax breaks to the wealthy to help the economy just doesn't work when you analyze the economic data. There are numerous reasons for this, but the major two are that the extra money provided is invested globally, not nationally (so it really doesn't help the U.S.) and that most people don't understand that business invests capital to meet demand -- they don't invest capital just because they have it. So giving them tax breaks doesn't increase GDP over the normal increase we've seen in the past.
To counter your argument, the long term trend in GDP is fairly independent of marginal tax rates. Just look at the graphs. Much of the growth in the 80's was due to inflation. You need to normalize the data for inflation.
After years of study, I've come to the conclusion that the government should stay out of the incentive business and flatten the tax rates and get rid of preferences for the wealthy -- and everyone else. But this won't happen because of lobbying, Citizen's United, and legislators having re-election as their top priority.
Now, perhaps, you need to do some economic study.
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 4:15PM
Phiskal,
I've already done my economic study, thank you, at a couple of top tier schools. You need the schooling, Keynsian!
You cannot assert that Obama is a supporter of "trickle down" and retain $.02 worth of credibility.
Obama HATES trickle down and would audit 10 years of your IRS returns with malice if he knew you said that.
Using "trickle down" as a pejorative highlights your OWS pedigree, no matter how civil you are, for the moment.
Your assertion that reducing marginal tax rates does affect GDP is WRONG. Anyone who lived and worked through those times knows.
Explain this: Kennedy cut the top marginal rate from 90%. GDP in the 1960's was phenomenal. Inflation was about 1% - mortgages were 5-6%.
Then explain '83 -00 GDP numbers after Congressional Democrats cut marginal rates as demanded by Ronald Reagan. Inflation in the 1980's peaked in 1983, and was in single digits a year later.
Yours are all Faux Facts - they're false; as are you!
I call you out as Troll - trying to rewrite history in an admittedly civilized tone in an effort to convince the under-informed that taxes on the high income people who create most of the jobs will NOT reduce their job creating activities in the face of increased taxation. Complete TRIPE-complete LIE.
Your discomfort with the Citizen's United case is the indelible mark of the liberal!
Be gone troll!
Peddle your crap elsewhere!
Are you a useful idiot or an unrepentant communist?
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:29PM
He understands the Middle Class?
Then why is he so Hellbent on DESTROYING it?
Take your hand outta your pants, and THINK before you write such Stupid Sh*t.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 8:31PM
That wasn't meant for you, DTOM?
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:39PM
I think your spelling it wrong I believe the correct spelling is fecal.
spike59| 7.27.12 @ 6:39AM
'the extra money provided'
=======================
oopsie, you've let your mask slip; you're nothing more than a typical OWS-oriented rocket scientist who insists that a tax break is money GIVEN to those who earned it in the first place...go away, collectivist tool
BcdErick| 7.25.12 @ 8:50AM
"We have no good choices this year "
I have some breaking news. "The never ending search for perfection is the enemy of finding the good". Obama is an embarrassment. I don't think that finanancially America can withstand four more years of incompetence and stupidity. I'm going to vote enthusiastically for Romney. I am well aware he may not win. My first choice for president would have have been Paul Ryan. It was hard to vote for him since he wasn't running.
Fiscal| 7.25.12 @ 9:58AM
Obama is not an embarrassment, he's just incompetent like Bush. Remember that Bush, with unfunded government programs and unfunded wars also decreased tax rates to bring us from a surplus to a huge deficit. As I've said, we have no good choices this year so vote for the lesser of the evils.
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 4:16PM
TROLL ALERT!!!!!
Are you a useful idiot or an unrepentant communist?
Which is it?
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:34PM
He's not incompetent.
He's done everything he promised to do.
And, it's all turning out, just as he wanted.
He is in the process of Fundamentally Transforming us in to Zimbabwe.
You're just too Stupid, to pull your head outta your @ss, and ADMIT IT.
joinamerica| 7.25.12 @ 8:44AM
Daniel, you are correct. In fact, it is exactly what I find sort of (perhaps, subconsciously) irritating about Romney. (Being absolutely horrified by Obama, of course I will crawl uphill both ways to vote for Romney).
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 9:00AM
Unfortunately, the Romney's feel entitled to the Presidency ... leading a charmed life has led them to believe things like "I like to fire people..." and "You people have gotten all your going to get from us" which hardly endears them to the public. Car elevators, multiple homes and 100 million dollar IRAs along with Cayman Islands tax havens, Bermuda Tax Avoidance Companies and shadiness about their tax returns does NOT an inspiring leader make.
Saddled with Romneycare, flip flopping on every issue and a robotic mannerism turns off many to sit out the election with the "Why Bother, he's no different" attitude.
By all accounts with the economy in the state it's in, RomBot should be far ahead, but he's not. Why not?
Truth to Power| 7.25.12 @ 9:30AM
Romney is not perfect by a long shot but he is a long shot better than the big O in office right now. The big O is getting campaign kickbacks from his Solyndra cronies and his gay porn money bundlers. How pathetic.
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 3:04PM
A useful truth to power idiot speaks ... with nothing but trash lies.
Truth to Power| 7.25.12 @ 3:18PM
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po.....a-scandal/
http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....48937.html
Nothing but the truth. The big O is pathetic. His followers are brain dead or corrupt. In Purp's case there is both.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:36PM
You really have to learn to IGNORE Mr. Perp.
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 5:28PM
I'm shocked, just shocked that some program didn't work out in competition with China and it's highlighted by Romney's surrogates. Shocked, I tell you, just shocked. Duh. News orgs have ALL the truth.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:40PM
Yip Yip YipYip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 9:01PM
Suheeee, suheeee .... boareeeeee... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... oink oink
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 9:17PM
LOL, Not an original thought in your empty head.
Just yipping and yapping to hear your own voice.
paintbrush| 7.25.12 @ 11:06AM
So in the your politically correct handbook, progressive ideology can win by dehumanizing people, as it pits various groups of people against one another by cultivating envy and grievances. Since this ideology denies moral absolutes, it assumes the moral authority in the name of a delirious utopia. This trick works so long as the wealth has not been totally obliterated and there are still surpluses to redistribute…Once these have been squandered the feeding begins on the citizenry…. history has provided enough evidence….
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.12 @ 11:11AM
Please do not feed the troll
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 3:05PM
Enjoy talking to yourself Drunk-Boy? Do you answer yourself? Do you win the argument? What are you afraid of?
Truth to Power| 7.25.12 @ 3:28PM
Mr. Sailor doesn't realize that you come here for our entertainment and to raise conservative morale. Heck of a job perpie.
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 5:29PM
Glad you happy your guy is losing ... good morale boost in your world. LOSER thy name is Romney the Mormon Cricket.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:42PM
Yip Yip YipYip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip YipYip Yip YipYip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip Yip
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 9:02PM
Suheeee, suheeee .... boareeeeee... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... oink oink
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:48PM
To get a six point edge for Obama, your WSJ pollists had to overweight Dhimmicrats by ELEVEN POINTS. What does this tell you?
CJW| 7.25.12 @ 5:19PM
Obamaboy purpie
Romney will win by a landslide. Make sure you get paid up front for your troll job.
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 3:05PM
And, yet the Founders were the progressives of their time, and you have a problem with them?
Truth to Power| 7.25.12 @ 3:21PM
You don't get the Founders at all.
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 5:30PM
Oh, please explain how only YOU understand the American system. Tell me how you follow the Founders' principles. Please ...
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:43PM
Talk about gay bath houses or hot oil rubs or filtching or something you know about dog
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 9:04PM
Seems you have those topics covered, with your vast knowledge of those morally bankrupt ideas. Kinda like a Romneyesque economic plan.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 9:18PM
Tell me again why you hate Palin?
DTOM| 7.25.12 @ 4:17PM
Progressives are people who KNOW that they KNOW better than you do what is good for you.
The prototypical fascist is a know-it-all progressive.
spike59| 7.26.12 @ 6:34AM
progressives are people too stupid to understand the depth of their own stupidity
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:49PM
It was a Conservative revolution, led by landowners and capitalists, purp. Hello.
spike59| 7.26.12 @ 6:33AM
the founders-progressives? give me a break! can you imagine, FOR A MOMENT, the founders agreeing to ANY of these 'progressive ideas:
-campus speech codes
-affirmative action quotas
-banning plastic grocery store bags
-banning soft drinks
-banning kiddie toys in fast food meals
-the cradle to grave welfare state
-abortion-ESPECIALLY government funded abortion
-government subisidies for 'artists'
i'm sorry, but you couldn't be more divorced from reality if you had a team of consultants help you; you are in the 'debbie wasserman schultz/meghan mccain/snooki range of 'weapons grade stupid'...and the really sad part is, you're just to effing stupid to realize it
darcy| 7.27.12 @ 5:10AM
I haven't heard that before: "weapons[-]grade stupid." I like it.
spike59| 7.27.12 @ 6:41AM
thanks for the [-] correction!
CJW| 7.25.12 @ 5:17PM
Obamaboy purpie
Are you ready to explain how Michele got a raise from $100,000 to $350,000 per year as a "community relations lawyer" for the Chicago hospital that got a million dollar earmark courtesy of Senator Obama?
Are you ready to explain the Rezko land deal where the Chicago crook Rezko paid for Obama's property?
Romney has earned his money, he is not an affirmative action hire like Michele or Obama.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:43PM
No yipping in response?
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 9:05PM
Yawn..
CJW| 7.25.12 @ 9:16PM
Obamaboy
You are not earning your $10 per hour with a reply like that even if it is your best response.
Can't answer, right purpie?
spike59| 7.26.12 @ 6:38AM
From the Progressive Lexicon
"Yawn...": "i have no response because A) I'm too ignorant, B) as a progressive, I feel compelled to just babble on in the hopes that no one figures out how stupid I am, or C) as a progressive, I never though about it; thinking's just 'too hard and stuff'
Teflon93 | 7.25.12 @ 9:15AM
Gee, I dunno, for starters how's about: "Mitt Romney is a to-the-manor-born plutocrat with a daddy complex who has embraced every liberal statist meme and surrounded himself with every Establishment liberal in the GOP but finds himself within striking distance of his dream just as the polar opposite ideology is required."
In other words, he's Algore without the environmentalism.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:37PM
What's your point?
He's not The Muslim.
That's good enough for me.
CJW| 7.25.12 @ 5:17PM
He has no point.
Purp| 7.25.12 @ 9:06PM
Naw, he's the Mormon.... Hmmm Mormon or Muslim - what to do. Brilliance isn't your strong point Tillapia.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 9:18PM
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
spike59| 7.26.12 @ 6:38AM
no, it's 'mormon or moron'
Teflon93 | 7.26.12 @ 7:58AM
My point is it's not very hard to find the flaw in Mitt Romney if you're not a Republican jersey-waving Ruling Class apparatchik.
Get it?
TLP| 7.26.12 @ 9:12AM
Yeah.
I get it.
You're a Dumb@ss.
What's not to get?
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:44PM
So your going to vote for him?
vince| 7.25.12 @ 9:17AM
What is the author's political affiliation? This article looks like another fishing expedition looking for a way to disqualify Romney as a presidential candidate. Life is tough. Everybody who lives has tough times. The fact that Romney and his wife thru luck and hard work raised five stellar kids doesn't disqualify him. The fact that he is competent at business doesn't disqualify him. The fact that he is not divorced and has what looks like a great marriage does not disqualify him. The fact that he doesn't drink, smoke or curse does not disqualify him. The fact that he is running against the most unprincipled, corrupt, cynical, self-serving, incompetent anti-American president to serve in my lifetime (and I have been around awhile) and perhaps in the entire history of this nation does not disqualify him. But this article tries to. This article is perhaps weakest and the biggest waste of my time of any article I have read in TAS. What a bunch of baloney.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:38PM
Finally.
Someone who Gets It.
Thank You, Vince.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:50PM
I like the guy. He actually is a flinkin' hero who has done heroic things, and he's modest.
PJ| 7.25.12 @ 9:34AM
Everyone has flaws & experiences adversities. It's how we accept &/or overcome them that makes us who we are.
Seems to me that the life & struggles that Romney experienced gave him a steady normal personality. (He certainly doesn't behave like Donald Trump or acts like self-righteous Warren Buffet.) The current prez publically displays more & more often forms of neurosis, maybe psychosis.
I like normal!!
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:39PM
It's Narccissism, pure and Simple.
But, you were close.
PJ| 7.25.12 @ 8:23PM
Narcissism is classified as a neurosis & taken to the extreme would then be psychosis. Obama has more psychological problems than just narcissism.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 8:33PM
You'll get no argument from me.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:52PM
Obama is a high functioning psychopath, from the data I can accumulate. Precise diagnosis requires interview and review of medical record, as well as interview with collaterals.
SusyQue| 7.25.12 @ 10:05AM
Daniel, this is one of the most unrealistic articles I have read on this site. There is nothing wrong with living a clean and decent life. Everyone suffers in some way with tragedy in their lives, including Mitt Romney. I do not find Romney bland nor boring. We need a Mitt Romney instead of the nightmare president we have now. Let decency and honor reign once again on November 6, 2012! It will be a great day of celebration!
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:40PM
Indeed.
Controse| 7.25.12 @ 10:40AM
So Mr. Allott you really believe that Greyhound bus vacation story do you. Might want to check your dictionary under "gullible." His "family" flew from Hawaii to ride around in a bus for a couple of weeks?
Goldwater Girl| 7.25.12 @ 11:07AM
I had the same thought when I originally heard that statement. Sounds like some BS story his campaign dreamed up to make him sound like a common man, and of course, there's no media to do any fact-checking. Very unlikely, that "grandma", the typical white person, rode a greyhound bus, and stayed in HoJo's. Odd that he doesn't give specifics about towns or places they visited.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:41PM
Does anyone know if his Make Believe Girlfriend was on that Bus?
spike59| 7.27.12 @ 6:43AM
maybe it was a composite family on a composite vacation; his 'autobio' is full of them
Who Knows?| 7.25.12 @ 10:43AM
2012’s either-or is Obama-Romney.
Choices must be made, and they are. Any present reality is the Absolute expression of previous choices, which must be taken into account. Even not making a choice---non-voting—is truly a choice: choosing to ignore politics is a choice.
It’s fine and randy, ‘er dandy, to do a historical roundup of flawed presidents and contrast Mr. Perfect Romney.
However, this either-or election is truly all about Obama. Imagine almost any of the possible GOP nominees, sans “Less” Paul---if someone other than Mitt was running, it would still be true that IT’S OBAMA, STUPID!
Voters elevated B Hussein Obama to # 1, who then got to daily make many choices, starting January 20, 2009. Since that infamous day, try to contemplate how many ruinous and rueful choices he and his chosen minions have made!
The only question facing any voter is---has the sum total of choices made by BHO for the 1,281 days he’s been in power been good for me, or not? Clearly, poll after poll show that even the least aware voters are feeling his chosen pain.
Ah, but they still “like him”! And, Intrade has it at almost 60% for Obama winning.
My guess-60% want BHO gone. They just need to find out that Romney isn’t an ogre.
Mark my words---Romney in a landslide.
Petronius| 7.25.12 @ 10:57AM
Mitt has very prominent flaws that are going to cost him dearly. He is irresolute and verbose to a fault. If that doesn't finish him his campaign consultants will find a way to screw things up.
From now on he should make all his public remarks brief and totally explicit. He can say anything, but what people hear and Understand is always something else, media editing not withstanding.
satan| 7.25.12 @ 11:08AM
Romoney perfect? Hahahahahaha. through the looking glass.
George Collins| 7.25.12 @ 11:10AM
Whether or not Romney can connect with "average" voters or not, most American voters are going to vote on economics in 2012, and President Obama will lose big. He will lose Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and probably New Hampshire. I believe Pennsylvania will be in play.
There is a lot of bad polling in the news right now, and the numbers will continue to move towards Romney.
Another factor rarely mentioned in the conservative press is the extensive anti-McCain vote in 2008 that helped Obama to victory. Mea culpa, I was one of them. I could not pull the lever for McCain. That mistake won't happen again.
Many of my colleagues, friends and family did the same. They won't make that mistake again.
Does Romney connect? Maybe not. But he is an eminently-qualified, decent human being, and will bring a level of competence to the office that we haven't seen in many years.
John Navratil| 7.25.12 @ 12:01PM
George Collins,
I'd have to be bound, gagged and chained to a post not to vote for Romney. I just wish he were one-tenth and enthusiastic about my vote as I am compelled to be about him.
George Collins| 7.25.12 @ 3:11PM
Agreed, but he's a different type of candidate than anyone is used to, at least in our lifetime: He is a very successful business person. Who could compare in recent decades: Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, or Kennedy were ever successful business people before entering politics. And we know that Harrison Bounel, or whatever his name is, couldn't run a lemonade stand.
The Federal Government is so bloated now, I don't think we need an idealoque but a manager. Certainly, we need to get back to the smaller government framework and more freedom to exercise our God-given rights, but we need someone that can rationalize the bureaucracy, the agencies, and the system of handouts.
He is far from being an empty suit, reference below. Some people are torn up by jealousy.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:54PM
Johnson was a very successful businessman, but he may have used crooked means. Carter wasn't, really. The others, no---well, Ronnie, I think, invested well.
satan| 7.25.12 @ 11:58AM
Yes, what America needs is another empty suit who was born on third base while shouting that he got a triple.
John Galt | 7.25.12 @ 12:57PM
Better that than someone who doesn't know anything about playing baseball who got inserted into the game in the middle innings with a 12-1 lead who then spends the next two innings apologizing to the other team for beating them with a superior system employing superior players and coaches, telling his star hitters that they didn't earn their .300+ batting averages, someone else did that for them, instructing his pitcher to not be so dominating and maybe walk a few people to make things more even, convincing the umpires to maybe take a few of his team's runs and put them on the other side of the scoreboard, changing the rules so that the superior team only gets 2 strikes and 2 outs, while the inferior team gets 6 strikes and unlimited outs, ignoring the rulebook that's been in place for 150 years, and then finally writing his own set of rules that allow him to tackle baserunners, put opposing players in a penalty box without the umpires reviewing it, and eventually just taking the ball that belonged to someone else and going home, ending the game for all who loved it for so long.
George Collins| 7.25.12 @ 3:12PM
Galt, you got it!
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:42PM
Of course.
He's John Galt.
obewan| 7.25.12 @ 4:47PM
Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle. (LOL I would but in the midst I am of trolls.
spike59| 7.26.12 @ 6:40AM
as opposed to the current empty suit who was carried around the bases by white guilt and crossed home calling everyone racist
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 12:33PM
The Man's WIFE was CRIPPLED by MS for awhile.
His Business Partner's teenage daughter was missing, possibly dead in a drug abuse related runaway incident. He CLOSES DOWN BAIN for a week, mobilizes every resource, calls in favors, finds kid.
He's relaxing on a beach one day as Gov, with his family. A boat on a lake suddenly starts to sink, with the family in desperate shape. He jumps on his Jet-Ski with his kids, goes out and rescues the family, the families' friends (six people in toto) and their DOG. (So much for canine cruelty)
George Washington didn't have a lot of flaws, either. Nor did William McKinley. It's OK.
Obama is a profoundly screwed up ass, as were Clinton and Carter.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:43PM
You said it all.
See what The Great Society has wrought.
John Galt | 7.25.12 @ 12:47PM
Nobody begrudges Romney his fortunate upbringing, his professional success and, especially, his exemplary personal life?
Are you insane? Almost EVERYbody begrudges Romney his fortunate upbringing, his professional success and his exemplary personal life!
Did you miss that little bit of news recently about the Occupy protests? Those were ENTIRELY about envy. Unbridled, debilitating, unhealthy ENVY.
Our new world is one in which the generations born after 1970 -- which I gotta figure is half of the adult population -- have been brought up to hate success, hate successful people, hate commerce and business, envy everyone who appears to have some perceived edge on them whether in income, bling, BMW vs Lexus, or basketball shoes, and believe that hard work is for chumps because eventually mommy, daddy, or the government will hand them everything.
You bet your life they all begrudge Mitt Romney his place in life, earned or not.
George Collins| 7.25.12 @ 3:18PM
Right on again Galt. You better bet that the Chinese, Pakistani, Indian, and Botswanan kids for that matter, going to college with my kids are absolutely busting their asses to get ahead, and it's the entitled, aristocratic dopes who vacation in the Turks and Caicos at their parents place who despise Governor Romney. There is oportunity everyone but most people choose not to see it or work to get it. Obama is making it harder, but it's there. No excuses.
Teflon93 | 7.26.12 @ 8:01AM
I begrudge him his liberalism and his lying about his conversion---at age 62 no less---to a conservatism he can't even describe without a teleprompter.
It's liberal vs liberal this election cycle when America desperately needs a conservative in the White House.
I begrudge him that---that he would sacrifice this country's future on the altar of his own ambition and his need to please his dead old man.
wareagle| 7.25.12 @ 1:17PM
it is beyond tiresome. The right, like the writer of this piece, remains butthurt that one of its allegedly conservative champions did not win the nomination. Instead, they have a candidate with genuine business experience who seems to be a good guy but has the faults of not breathing so-con fire and being a Mormon.
It is understandable that the left would be awash in envy at someone's success. It is hugely disappointing when conservatives fall into the same trap. If you want to find faults with Romney, there are policy areas where disagreement can be had. But nothing in this piece touches on that.
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 4:45PM
I like to call this Phenomena, Blowing their Heads off, to spite their Hats.
It's Red Pill, Blue Pill.
Period.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:47PM
LOL you are a dork!
TLP| 7.25.12 @ 8:35PM
Coming from you?
That's a Compliment.
Truncheon| 7.25.12 @ 2:22PM
I didn't know that Ronald Reagan had any hardships in his life until many years after I voted for him.
From my vantage point, *anyone* who runs for president has a charmed life compared to mine. I vote for the person I think will advance my political agenda, nothing else concerns me.
Boar Hunter| 7.25.12 @ 7:48PM
As it should be.
SilkyWiley| 7.25.12 @ 2:27PM
I have never understood the American love of the underdog (read messed up people). My advise to my daughter and others, underdogs bite. Mitt Romney is the guy you want for a son-in-law. Sturdy, industrious, optimistic. And I am sure that other Mormons that I know personally, he has great quiet depths. I have sure had it with losers and louts for Presidents, can we please have a winner?
Joe D.| 7.25.12 @ 2:35PM
He is not perfect. Since he believes in Mormanism he is in an accult and truly lost. That being said we have a choice, a morman or a socialist. And don't tell me obama is a Christian. He has been the most anti-Christian president of all time. And no we are not voting for a pope or head of the Church. These are just observations and truths.
Goldwater Girl| 7.25.12 @ 2:47PM
I'll take a Mormon anyday of the week, over a Marxist, likely Muslim sympathizer.
George Collins| 7.25.12 @ 3:21PM
Mormons have been tremendous contributors to this great country, and many embody the American Dream. Go Mitt!
Dilbert| 7.25.12 @ 4:56PM
The only problem I have, with relating to Romney, is that I am a Republican and he doesn't represent me in any way.
He should consider changing to the Democrat Party, then at least I can understand his politics.
T| 7.25.12 @ 6:48PM
And why would anyone want the leader of any country to come from a dysfunctional life? Perhaps benefitting from a functional life is the very thing that enables them to be good leaders and to be FUNCTIONAL. Something stark from this administration.
vigilant| 7.25.12 @ 7:00PM
The author doesn't say he agrees with the perceptions people have about candidates, only that those perceptions exist. Nor does it say he believes everything Obama says, but, unfortunately, many do--he's had considerable success with constructing a "just one of the folks" persona. Of course, it's all smoke and mirrors. That's what skilled narcissists/con artists do. Study Obama carefully and you'll get a great education on textbook Narcissistic Personality Disorder in action. I wish people would take the time to seriously consider the merits of statements they may disagree with, instead of launching knee-jerk "you idiot" salvos. I've been wanting to say that I respect the courage of a number of posters on this site who routinely brave the inevitable insults and name-calling (which some consider pithy and effective, but would never impress me if I were undecided) to voice unpopular opinions. Appleby, you are intuitive, for a lot of reasons, I expect. Al Adab, Boar Hunter, Derek, Dilbert and others--you are true patriots, and I recognize that, even though others clearly don't. It takes great love of this country to probe her wounds deeply in search of long-term cures rather than short-term palliative soothing. Keep up the good fight and shrug off the slings and arrows. What we have is precious and we're fighting to keep it alive. There are different ideas as to the best strategies in this war, but troops attacking each other is not my idea of a brilliant plan.
Marina| 7.25.12 @ 10:20PM
http://m.ahalmaas.com/phrases/narcissism
Occam's Tool| 7.25.12 @ 11:56PM
The majority of psychopaths, in my extensive clinical experience, are also narcissists.
SeattleMark952| 7.25.12 @ 7:03PM
From what I can tell, Romney has worked hard all of his life. That's what I care about. I've known very respectable persons (both rich and poor). Character is not always in one economic class. At least he has not addled his brain or integrity with addictions or by taking advantage of women. Romney's entire life in successful business is exactly what we need right now to bring our economy back from the dead.
Marina| 7.25.12 @ 10:15PM
"According to Klein, the Obama's marriage was on the rocks and Obama confided in friends that he and Michelle were talking about divorce. Michelle even had divorce papers drawn up, one Obama friend told Klein. Obama's friends said he was so depressed they feared he was suicidal."
Too bad for us he didn't act on it.
PolishKnight| 7.26.12 @ 10:15AM
I'm sure others were thinking that too, Marina, but it's still something that shouldn't be said in civilized forums. Now that you blurted it, let's run with it:
If Obama wasn't the candidate, someone else would have been. I'm guessing it would have been Hillary. While she's a softie now going around the world kissing the feet of foreign dignitaries, if she had won office she surely would have tried to reanimate Hillarycare and it would have been similar to Obamacare. She'd have Bill Clinton as a spouse, now a likable president in retrospect (because the economy was good under him, not that he deserves credit for it but half of success is showing up) and likely could win re-election. Ironically, what made Bill likeable (his inability to blow the economy because he was chasing after tramps) is the opposite for Obama: He got a blank check and spent it, poorly. He's now easy to beat because as Clinton pointed out, it's the economy stupid. Crony capitalist socialism/fascism isn't working for Obama AND what propelled Obama to the WH in 2008, his half black ancestry, is now spent as independent whites now can say "we did it, he got his nobel prize, time to move on." It's David Dinkins all over again!
So believe it or not, I think we're better for having him in there. McCain would have been an embarrassment and we would possibly be seeing Obama run for election in THIS term!
Ralph L| 7.25.12 @ 10:53PM
One small error: Roger Clinton is Bill's half-brother, not his step-brother.
njcommuter| 7.26.12 @ 4:00AM
There is a basic flaw in this analysis: some of what you call flaws are actually hardships. They are hardships imposed by other people's flaws, to be sure, but any businessman who is a turnaround expert is well-accustomed to dealing with flawed people. Mitt Romney's worst problem as President will be all the people whom he can't fire because of Civil Service protections and such. My solution: send them to work where the public can see them. If the federal gov't had a DMV, that would be just the place.
ReaganConservative| 7.30.12 @ 1:59AM
Romney's serendipitous comfortable fairy tale life is something most Americans only read about in fairy tales, who knows that real life, aka reality, is far different. But in Romney's case, he is like having a fairy tale character come to life. We Regan Tea Party Conservatives do want a fairy tale President. We want a real Reagan Conservative who knows, understands, and applies real life conservative values and principles of putting Freedom, Liberty, the US Constitution, Democracy, and Equal Justice for all, along with supporting Free Market Capitalism, lower tax rates across the board for all individuals and businesses, stop and cut the wasteful govt spending into oblivion bankruptcy and insolvency, and reduce govt back to wear it belongs- responsive to the will of the majority of the American people, back to adhering to the US Constitution as the law of the land, ie; stop the Obama gestapo govt tyranny tactics that are now being employed against the people and businesses of America- all to be applied to his governing administrative policies as US President.
ReaganConservative| 7.30.12 @ 2:02AM
With that being said, Romney's persona as we the people see and perceive him to be-
Quotes from the article by Robert Shrum- and just listen to message before you attack the messenger, which even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Mitt Romney is the Dorian Gray of 2012
"Romney's image is set in his own stiffness, reflective of his remoteness, and nearly irreparable."
"This guy (Mitt Romney) is like the Earl in an English period piece who doesn't understand why everybody doesn't summer in the south of France. "
" FDR and JFK were wealthy, but Americans thought they got it and they cared. In contrast, Romney now stands there as of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich."
"No wonder he's the first presumptive nominee in either party with higher unfavorable than favorable ratings "in the [last] eight presidential primary seasons,"