Romney, a/k/a the Weathervane, is a lousy politician. I do not mean that in a pejorative sense but in a descriptive sense. Being a politician is a job that requires a certain set of skills and abilities. The Weathervane is giving every sign of not being very good at being a politician. Current evidence of this includes the following:
1. The Bain Mess-The Weathervane had to know that the Obama campaign would use his work at Bain Capital against him, but he seemed completely flat-flooted when Gingrich raised the issue. The responses from the Romney campaign thus far have been lacklustre.
2. Tax Returns-Did the Weathervane really think that he could go through this campaign without releasing his tax returns? Now he says that he will release his current tax return sometime in the Spring. He has also sheepishly stated that his tax rate is around 15% due to his income largely being from investments. His tax returns should have been released months ago. By now they would be an old issue and harmless to him. Instead, his stubborness about releasing the tax returns has transformed a non or minor issue into one that could hurt him badly. Idiocy.
3. Out of Touch-Talking about his speaking engagements in 2010 and early 2011 the Weathervane said that he made very little money on them. The very little money was 374K. Romney might as well hang a sign from his neck stating “out of touch rich guy”.
4. Passionless-Romney’s stiff and cold debate performances are a fair sample of the dullness that normally attends any Romney speech. I have never thought that Obama is a great orator, but he certainly is better than the dull as cold dishwater attempts by the Weathervane.
5. Cayman Islands-It came out yesterday that Romney has millions invested in investment funds sited in the Cayman Islands. The average taxpayer hears Cayman Islands and he thinks crooked tax shelters. This is probably all perfectly legal, but once again it is something that should have been disclosed months ago. Romney obviously has no one in his campaign who can tell him that when a very wealthy man is running for office he has to fully disclose everything about his finances early, or he will be subject to the death of a thousand cuts throughout the campaign through leaks and media investigations, at least if he has an R after his name.
The GOP has an excellent chance to unseat Obama. If Romney is nominated I fear that he will do his level worst to blow this opportunity.
On the other hand, he is not Barrack Obama. That is all I need.
If it is the Weathervane against the Worst President Ever T.Shaw, I will vote for the Weathervane, but Romney is giving off signs of being in the Bob Dole-John McCain school of Republican losers who get the nomination and then proceed to spend the campaign attempting to lose gracefully.
I did not notice it, because it is not true. If he were a lousy politician, his career in politics would look like this man’s:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Checchi
He is a politician who makes mistakes. People do.
Romney is giving off signs of being in the Bob Dole-John McCain school of Republican losers who get the nomination and then proceed to spend the campaign attempting to lose gracefully
You need to stop drinking that Kool-Aid. The federal elections in 1992, 1996, and in 2008 were depressing in that they revealed that lounge lizards and verbose dillettentes were neither screened out by primary voters nor regarded as unfit by a decisive corps of the general public. However, in the latter two campaigns, economic conditions and ambient views of the incumbent rendered the result more-or-less baked in the cake, whatever the Republican candidate did.
“I did not notice it, because it is not true.”
Romney’s sole success thus far Art is becoming governor of Massachusetts for one term. That sounds mildly impressive until one realizes that Massachusetts has a surprising history of electing Republican governors on a fairly regular basis for such an icy blue state. He achieved that office by running as a moderate to liberal Republican, completely contra his born again conservatism today, a decade later. He was so unpopular with the electorate in 2006 that he decided not to run again. If elected, Romney would have less experience in elective office of any President since Herbert Hoover with the sole exception of Dwight D. Eisenhower, and unlike Ike Romney has won no wars. Also unlike Ike Romney was bitten with the political bug fairly early, and except for his single term as governor of the Bay state, he has to show for it an unsuccessful Senate run in Massachusetts in 1994 where he attempted to run to Ted Kennedy’s left on social issues and his unsuccessful run for the Presidential nomination in 2008.
I could not agree more. The naysayers are so anti-Obama they sidestep every critique of Romney. The anti-Obamists add nothing to discussion.
The bit about the speaking engagements is just alarmingly tone deaf. To say that an amount that is roughly 8x the amount of money that the average person makes is “very little money” is simply dumb. Sure, his defenders are going to play the capitalism card, and I agree that there is nothing wrong at all with earning money this way. But use a little common sense before speaking, will ya?
Yeah. Here is the way it should have been handled. “I earned over 374 K speaking and I was worth every penny! I wish I had earned more! Now we are all going to give President Obama a chance to earn a lot of money making speaches after we send him packing in November!” This isn’t rocket science. All it takes is a little imagination and a bit of style. What it does not need is Romney’s deer in the headlight reaction to obvious avenues of attack against him, followed by hemming and hawing, followed by truly lame comments that help the attack succeed against him. This is politics 101.
Romney’s sole success thus far Art is becoming governor of Massachusetts for one term. That sounds mildly impressive until one realizes that Massachusetts has a surprising history of electing Republican governors on a fairly regular basis for such an icy blue state.
Not one of those six Republican governors stated views on public policy in tune with the mode of the Republican Party as it has been during the last 35 years.
Also unlike Ike Romney was bitten with the political bug fairly early,
His father was a politician. I do not believe Eisenhower’s was. He made his first run for political office when he was 47 years old.
and except for his single term as governor of the Bay state, he has to show for it an unsuccessful Senate run in Massachusetts in 1994
Everybody lost to Ted Kennedy, sad to say. Romney did better than anyone bar the Lodge scion Kennedy ran against in 1962.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Ted_Kennedy
his unsuccessful run for the Presidential nomination in 2008.
He is one of 18 individuals in the last 40-odd years who have made a competitive run for the Republican presidential nomination and one of 11 who have done so more than once. You do not get from here to there by being a globally lousy politician, though you may be perfectly lousy in various aspects of the political vocation. (Contrast Gov. Perry’s career with Gov. Perry’s campaign).
Dollar Bill,
Here is some more nothing:
Obama doesn’t want America to have gasoline or jobs: Keystone Canada oil supplies denied; EPA requires $700 million in added costs to upgrade an oil refinery: it closes down;
Investors Business Daily, “President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL oil pipeline sums up his presidency. When it comes down to well-paying new jobs and cheaper energy vs. his political base, guess which wins.”
Instapundit: “For all his populist rhetoric, whenever it comes to a choice between the interests of working people and the values of the gentry class, Obama chooses the latter.
“Related: Obama Kills Keystone Pipeline Plan: Why He Did It. ‘After all, who needs a secure energy source from a best friend when you can pay a fortune to buy it from unfriendly people in faraway unstable places?’”
I will hit you with more sleek nothings, once an hour: next one 1015 hours EDT, if I complete my 1000 hours annoy-my-clients telephone call.
What this post says about Romney are the reasons why the Obama supporters want Romney to win the GOP nomination. Herman Cain’s candidacy is destroyed. ABC News is about to release an interview with Gingrich’s ex-wife that will go far to destroy his candidacy. The electorate doesn’t take Rick Santorum seriously, and Dr. Delusional (as Don M. calls him) isn’t a viable candidate either except for the vociferous libertarians who drink his koolaide. Geez, and I write that as a person who like much of libertarian thought. Boy, I must be slipping!
“Not one of those six Republican governors stated views on public policy in tune with the mode of the Republican Party as it has been during the last 35 years.”
Including Romney when he ran in 2002, as opposed to the 2012 version of Romney, hence my calling him the Weathervane.
“He made his first run for political office when he was 47 years old.” Indeed, and he had been contemplating a run for public office years before that. He always planned to emulate his father: succeed in business first and then go into politics.
“Everybody lost to Ted Kennedy”
Every other Republican did not attempt to run to Ted Kennedy’s left on social issues.
“He is one of 18 individuals in the last 40-odd years who have made a competitive run for the Republican presidential nomination”
I don’t think the Weathervane was ever much of a threat to McCain, even with the Huckster acting as Romney’s pawn in that contest. That Romney lost, and decisively, to the inept McCain is futher evidence of his low level political skills.
Perry is dropping out according to Drudge. Probably good news for Gingrich in South Carolina if he can stand up to the battering that he is about to receive from scorned ex-wives and his unfailing ability to allow his mouth to land him into trouble when he is rising in the polls.
The federal elections in 1992, 1996, and in 2008 were depressing in that they revealed that lounge lizards and verbose dillettentes were neither screened out by primary voters nor regarded as unfit by a decisive corps of the general public.
Awesome. I demand a line-item “like” feature.
I was just starting warm up to the idea of Romney being our nominee than I saw his terrible performance at the S.C. debate.
The guy couldn’t even answer a simple question about when/if he was ever going to release his tax returns. I almost felt sorry for him as I saw him try to mumble through his reply.
*hasn’t read the comments yet*
Yes, he is, in both meanings.
“Romney’s sole success thus far Art is becoming governor of Massachusetts for one term.”
My guess is that most voters would be ok with his level of experience, between that one term, the business background, and the Olympics. Recall that the 2008 winner had four years of high-level experience on his resume, and the 2008 loser’s VP had two years. I don’t think anyone is going to choose between Obama and Romney on the basis of either one’s political experience. And anyway, it’s very difficult to campaign against an incumbent by claiming that you have a better resume.
I don’t think that Romney spent the last three years well, though. Between November 2008 and November 2010, his party could have used a spokesman, particularly someone with a specialization in health care. Various past and/or future candidates found forums – Huckabee, Palin, and Bachmann come to mind. But Romney wasn’t on the radar. I’m sure that he was building his organization, but he would have been better off giving future voters a reason to remember him.
No way!
Romney has $$$ millions stashed overseas. The traitor . . .
Maybe he’s as smart as Apple which keeps $$$$ Billions away from Obama and Geithner.
How come Romney must give everyone copies of his pay checks from speakling engagements? Obama doesn’t have to produce any document.
Mitt Romney reminds me of John Kerry, the Brahmin
Mitt Romney reminds me of John Kerry, the Brahmin
Kerry’s mother was a Brahmin (and not personally wealthy though her collateral relatives were). His father’s family was Jewish (and severely deracinated) and also not wealthy. His father was in the Foreign Service, so he did not grow up any place in particular. He was sent to boarding school on the dime of his great aunt. He grew up around the patriciate but was never quite one of them.
“He grew up around the patriciate but was never quite one of them.”
He solved that problem by marrying an heiress and then marrying one of the richest women in the nation.
[…] Anyone Else Noticing that Romney is a Lousy Politician? – Donald R. McClarey, TAC […]
And anyway, it’s very difficult to campaign against an incumbent by claiming that you have a better resume.
Part of the incumbent’s resume is his performance in office. This one’s makes the challenger’s look much better.
What it does not need is Romney’s deer in the headlight reaction to obvious avenues of attack against him, followed by hemming and hawing, followed by truly lame comments that help the attack succeed against him. This is politics 101.
Exactly! One thing I readily concede to Romney are his organizational skills. The fact his campaign was not prepared for this painfully-obvious line of questioning and attack makes the electability argument all the more dubious.
Even the tax return issue, if he really is worried about it, has an obvious parry: “Sure, I’ll be happy to release them. When the President releases his collegiate and graduate transcripts. I’ll even throw in mine in the bargain.”
If he can’t offer up a credible defense to the “corporate out of touch rich guy” offensive, he’s done like a TV dinner.
Romney is acting precisely as a man who, having garnered a large war chest, expected to be handed the nomination and was never psychologically prepared for other hopefuls to put up credible fights for it. His lackeys and apologists keep talking as though he were the only one who could beat Obama — who, I keep saying, is not an 800-pound gorilla — and yet he acts as though the whole nomination process is pro forma. Even Hillary put up a better fight against Obama’s astroturf campaign! Frankly, Mitt’s campaign is an insult, and the sooner the free delegates figure it out the better.