Why Mitt Romney is so anal retentive - yet another father-son GOP story.

[grantcart]

There is a very clear reason why Mitt Romney appears to check everything he does and says with an internal voice and tries to mimic a charachter from 'Leave it to Beaver'.

In 1968 Mitts father was Governor of Michigan and was an affable centrist politician, a Republican who supported civil rights and was against the Vietnam war. Polls showed that he was 8 points ahead of Nixon and if he went to the GE 8 points ahead of Johnson.

And then a comment got out that he said that he thought he had been 'brainwashed' by the military on a tour there. This comment, made a year before, crippled his campaign. It probably cost his father the White House.

At 21 Mitt learned that lesson very well and has endeavored never to slip and let an offhand remark keep him from the WH. That is why he is wound so tight and appears so plastic. It has made him into the most insincere appearing candidate ever to have a chance of becoming President in recent years. And the deeper he goes the more wound he appears until he now offers cringe worthy recitations of America the Beautiful.

Ironically George Romney's offhand comment about being 'brainwashed' could end up costing his son the WhiteHouse too.

For DUers under 55 here is the wikipedia version of George Romney's implosion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Romney_presidential_campaign,_1968

The wide margin of victory in Romney's November 1966 gubernatorial re-election in Michigan cast him to the forefront of national Republicans.[4] In addition to his political record, the tall, handsome, graying Romney looked like a president.[5][6][7] Republican governors were determined not to let the 1964 Barry Goldwater disaster recur, and neither fellow governors Nelson Rockefeller nor Bill Scranton wanted to run again; the governors quickly settled on Romney as their favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in the 1968 U.S. presidential election.[2] Former Congressman and Republican National Committee chair Leonard W. Hall became Romney's informal campaign manager.[2] A Gallup Poll after the November elections showed Romney as favored among Republicans over former Vice President Richard Nixon for the Republican nomination, 39 percent to 31 percent,[8] and a Harris Poll showed Romney besting President Johnson among all voters by 54 percent to 46 percent.[9]

snip

However before his campaign had officially began, Governor Romney made a statement that practically ruined his chances of getting the nomination. In a taped interview with Lou Gordon of WKBD-TV in Detroit on August 31 1967, Romney stated, "When I came back from Viet Nam [in November 1965], I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get." He then shifted to opposing the war: "I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia," he declared. Decrying the "tragic" conflict, he urged "a sound peace in South Vietnam at an early time." Thus Romney disavowed the war and reversed himself from his earlier stated belief that the war was "morally right and necessary."

The "brainwashing" reference had been an offhand, unplanned remark that came at the end of a long, behind-schedule day of campaigning.[25] By September 7 it had found its way into prominence at The New York Times.[15] Eight other governors who had been on the same 1965 trip as Romney said no such activity had taken place, with one of them, Philip H. Hoff of Vermont, saying Romney's remarks were "outrageous, kind of stinking ... Either he's a most naïve man or he lacks judgment."[26] The connotations of brainwashing, following the experiences of American prisoners of war (highlighted by the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate), made Romney's comments devastating,[8] especially as it reinforced the negative image of Romney's abilities that had already developed.[13] The topic of brainwashing quickly became newspaper editorial and television talk show fodder, with Romney bearing the brunt of the topical humor.[8] Senator Eugene McCarthy, running against Johnson for the Democratic nomination, said that in Romney's case, "a light rinse would have been sufficient."[15] Republican Congressman Robert T. Stafford of Vermont sounded a common concern: "If you're running for the presidency, you are supposed to have too much on the ball to be brainwashed."[8][26]

[Blue Owl]

1. Well ain't that some Mitt

n/t

[zbdent]

2. I recall reading something where

Mitt was actually on record questioning his father's "mental health" ... as he cheered on the war from the safety of educational deferments ...

[Major Hogwash]

3. I don't remember his dad at all.

Do you still think the GOP will have to go to their convention to pick their candidate since Santorum did so well in Iowa?
I read your comment about it the other day, but didn't respond to it.

[grantcart]

4. That's my guess and here is my reasoning

1) Despite our opinion of them the GOP is actually not THIS stupid.

2) The likelihood of any party unseating a competent President is not very good, and this President is an excellent campaigner. When you add his killing Bin Laden and his removing troops out of Iraq and the general improvement of security there is almost no chance that he could be unseated. For the GOP then it is a question of having a candidate that will excite the base so that they don't get swamped in the House and Senate.

3) Romney is an absolutely terrible campaigner. He puts the base to sleep when he's not pissing them off.

4) Romney hasn't built any kind of alliance with the Republican establishment. The Bushes, Fox news, Rush Limbaugh, nobody really cares for him personally.

5) None of the other candidates including Santorum are going to fit the bill.

6) For any one candidate to actually get it done before the nomination it requires the others quitting, especially now that they haver proportional primaries.

7) Things have reversed the incentive to give up and join the team. Before you dropped out to try and get a cabinet position, now you stay in to try and get a better deal with Fox.

8) Look how deep the 2008 Democratic race went when there were only two candidates. If there are three or more it is almost impossible to get 51% of the delegates unless somebody is winning by landslides.

9) The primary process has pulled the party way to the right.

10) As the number of Any But Romney candidates decreases the more they are going to start going after him.

A draft at the convention would wipe all the negatives away and give them a bright new start, the media would go crazy over it.

They could run a couple of their governors that aren't completely nuts.

More and more commentators are starting to agree;

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/Ken-Walshs-Washington/2011/12/21/gop-nightmare-scenario-a-brokered-convention

With the Republican presidential field as fractured as ever, talk of a brokered GOP national convention is increasing in Republican circles. And a big reason is that Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is positioned to, at minimum, earn a large enough bloc of delegates in next year's caucuses and primaries to be a real force.

A senior GOP strategist who is neutral in the current race says it's very possible that no candidate will have a majority of delegates on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in Tampa next summer. "A brokered convention is a real possibility," he says.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who has a solid base, a large campaign treasury, and a good organization, is favored by establishment Republicans to win the nomination, even though his support hasn't risen above the 25-to-30 percent range. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is considered likely to fade even more than he has in the past two weeks, but not drop out. Other candidates, including Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, are expected to gain some delegates and use them to influence the policies set at the convention.


More speculation along the same lines

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/12/four_brokered_convention_prospects.html

http://www.fcnp.com/commentary/national/10830-gop-headed-to-a-brokered-convention.html

http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2012/01/perfect-storm-for-brokered-republican-convention-ron-paul-may-play-kingmaker/

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/286566/getting-brokered-convention-brian-bolduc