George Romney in the Nixon Whitehouse

[KurtNYC]

Has anyone done an analysis of the parallels and ironies between Mitt and George?

I was reading through the Wikipedia entry on George and found that he introduced mortgage backed securities in 1970.

Also Nixon couldn't bring himself to fire George so he talked him into running for Senate but George instead forced his wife to run and when she lost he threw her under the bus saying that it was entirely her idea to run. This one reminded me of Mitt saying while in London that he didn't even know when Rafalca was competing and that Rafalca was strictly Ann's horse.

In the ironies department you have Mexican-born George Romney withdrawing from the race with Nixon before the issue of what constitutes a "natural born citizen" was resolved.

Mitt echoes his father's contempt for Americans in need of help which George displayed in this episode:

In August 1972, Nixon announced Romney would inspect Hurricane Agnes flood damage in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, but neglected to tell Romney first. Much of the area lacked shelter six weeks after the storm, residents were angry, and Romney got into a three-way shouting match with Governor Milton J. Shapp and a local citizens' representative. Romney denounced Shapp's proposal that the federal government pay off the mortgages of victims as "unrealistic and demagogic", and the representative angrily responded to Romney, "You don't give a damn whether we live or die." The confrontation received wide media attention, damaging Romney's public reputation. Totally frustrated, Romney wanted to resign immediately, but Nixon, worried about the fallout to his 1972 re-election campaign, insisted that Romney stay on. Romney agreed, although he indicated to the press that he would leave eventually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Romney#Secretary_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development

I think we have a very good idea of what a Romney administration would be like: selfish, gutless and never taking responsibility for anything.

[KurtNYC]

1. btw, for the strong-stomached, was there any mention of George in the RNC

mythical history of "Mitt the self-made millionaire from outside the beltway"?