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The Spectacle Blog
In his column today, Bob Tyrrell expresses hope that Mitt Romney won’t become one of those presidential hopefuls who jog to gain attention. I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that, not if we keep in mind this anecdote from Jonathan Cohn’s lengthy profile of Romney, which ran in the July 2, 2007 issue of the New Republic. Cohn is describing a key event in Romney’s prep school career at Cranbrook, the sort that offers an early preview of his subject’s doggedness and toughness, however awkwardly manifested. For this section, Cohn has interviewed a former classmate of Romney named Eric Muirhead. Let them take it from here:
Muirhead admits that he didn’t think much of Mitt’s mettle, either—until senior year, when Mitt suddenly seemed a lot more serious about himself and decided to go out for the cross-country team. Although Mitt had never run track before, Muirhead, who was the team’s captain, and the rest of the team were quickly impressed with Mitt’s work ethic—so impressed, in fact, that when Muirhead fell ill before one of the season’s first meets, he told the coach Mitt should take the open slot.
The race began and, as expected, Mitt fell behind the pack. Muirhead figured it wouldn’t affect the end result. Given the strength of Cranbrook’s top runners, the team would still win, just as long as Mitt actually finished. But, as Mitt neared the end, he was gasping for breath. And, as he staggered through the final stretch, along a track circling the football field, he fell onto his hands and knees. The crowd, there for the homecoming football game, stood up as one—including Lenore Romney, who’d come to see her son’s first race. Muirhead ran out to help, but Mitt refused. “He got up, staggered, and fell again,” Muirhead says. “He kept getting up, kept falling, but kept shouting at us—kept telling us not to touch him. I don’t know how many times he fell, but he finished, he made his way around that track, and he got an ovation like I never heard. He won a lot of people’s respect that day. … In all my years, I never saw a guttier performance.”
Sen. Santorum, still think you can outlast him?
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More Blog Posts by Wlady Pleszczynski
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/05/a-race-to-the-finish
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ncatty| 4.5.12 @ 5:20PM
I guess he came in last.
k. bourg| 4.5.12 @ 6:16PM
If he had been working hard in practice he could have finished the race easily. Unless he has asthma, in which case it would have been foolish to join the cross country team. That story sounds as fake as the man himself.
Clint| 4.5.12 @ 6:34PM
Moral Of The Story:
Don't Touch Mittens.
The Tea Party Rebellion Steps Over Mittens.
Simon Templar| 4.5.12 @ 6:48PM
The question is can he knock down the hurdles the MSM and Obama will be placing in front of him or will he continue to fall down, pant, and finish last.
Can he win?
Bob K.| 4.5.12 @ 7:07PM
Like it or not, he is in it for the "long" run.
Dee T.| 4.5.12 @ 7:50PM
Unprepared -- yeah that's just what I want in my President! -- NOT!
Bill| 4.5.12 @ 10:15PM
Romney's VP list:
1. Pat Toomey
strength: PA is a swing state, a Tea Partier, former Club for Growth leader.
2. Marco Rubio
strength: FL is a swing state, name recognition, a Tea Partier, the Latino votes.
3. Mitch Daniel
strength: IN is a swing state, a great "fiscal conservative" and pro free-market governor, helped passed the "Right-to-Work" law.
4. Kelly Ayotte
strength: NH is a swing state, a Catholic, crime fighter litigator, Tea Partier, and the women votes, ............"Lady in Red" factor.
5. Chris "Great" Christie
strength: NJ will turn blue,name recognition, former litigator, a fiscal hawk governor,........the "Rock-star" image.
6. Paul "Genius" Ryan
strength: WI will turn blue, name recognition, a fiscal hawk legislator,........the "Rock-star" image.
My pick: Gov. Chris Christie
Obama will be forced to campaign in a "safe" blue state, NJ, while Gov. Christie will be favourite to deliver NJ for GOP. Gov. Christie will help fix the economy and never surrender to the big-labors or bureaucrats. Recently, he traveled Israel and vowed to thwart Iran's fascist regime and its nuclear threat.
President: Mitt Romney
VP: Chris Christie
PCP Smoker| 4.5.12 @ 10:25PM
Here's how your mind works, and this is the mind of a conservative: "Latino votes, fiscal conservative, Catholic, women vote, rock star image.
With people like you in our midst, no wonder we ended up with Romney as the nominee.
PCP Smoker| 4.5.12 @ 10:22PM
Here are two more moments where he showed "toughness: " (1) some NH leftist asked him about "global warming," and he accepted the notion. (2) When it came time to support socialist healthcare in Ma, his compatriot, publicly acknowledged, was Ted Kennedy.
Perhaps you and Tyrell can list all of the "moments in courage" demonstrated by old flip flopper. And no, the polls has him down to Obama by 7 points.
Marco2| 4.6.12 @ 6:28AM
Keep smokin' that PCP, though it's effects are becoming obvious. As old man Bush put it, you gotta know when to fold 'em, and some of y'all just don't.
johnd2| 4.8.12 @ 9:42AM
All successfull politicians tell people what they want to hear at the time. Ditto Romney. If Republicans can win the congress, they will have little trouble rolling back the worst of the last 3 years with Romney. If not, he will still be better than Obama.
the_dumb_oxette| 4.6.12 @ 2:01AM
How did you get "Chariots of Fire" to automatically play in the background like that?
The American Hagiographer| 4.6.12 @ 9:03AM
Inspiration on the cheap!!
Chris| 4.6.12 @ 9:50AM
"For this section, Cohn has interviewed a former classmate of Romney named Eric Muirhead. " This is funny; I have never seen anyone quoted about Mr Obama and college.
tresor paris jewellery | 4.6.12 @ 1:07PM
Exactly.
The narrative is collapsing.
Frank Bitzer| 4.6.12 @ 2:02PM
Smells like B.S. I seriously doubt this happened or Mitt would have made certain we all knew about it.
No matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney.
Dave Varner| 4.9.12 @ 8:01PM
O.K., so Romney isn't a 'dream' candidate. If there is such a person, he's nowhere in sight...for either party.
Romney for 4 is way better than Obama for 8.