Mass DUers: Was Rmoney always this much of a douche?

[Stinky The Clown]

I think we can all agree he is a douche.

That having been established, how the fuck did he ever get elected Massachusetts governor?

[Rider3]

1. Yes, Stinky, he's always been like this

As a MA resident all my life, I can attest to this. Also, after becoming governor of MA (I did not vote for him), he left two years into his term, leaving it to his Lieutenant Governor, Kerry Healy, who was nothing more than a pretty face with a wealthy bank account (they like to stick together, don't they?). Meanwhile, he started his run for the presidency by going all across the country and trashing MA and its residents. Nice, huh? The guy is a jerk. Always has been, always will be. He know NOTHING of an average American's working life and what that entails. I'm glad he lost. Now I just wish they'd stop covering him in the media.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. He wasn't this bad,

because he was slowly building a resume that would hopefully carry him to the White House. Now that he's been denied, he's really flipped out.

This guy is on his way to a total breakdown.

When he was governor, he was like Summer's Eve Light.

[GoneOffShore]

30. Not "This Bad?" So, I guess you don't agree with the following?

Romney in Mass.

Wanted to share with you the column I sent to the Denver Post (Colorado is a swing state and virtually tied),

Here I am, a resident of Massachusetts listening to my former Governor speak convincingly and with seeming conviction at the Denver debate. I was startled by my Déjà vu experience and by the assumptions held by my out-of-town friends about Mr. Romney’s governorship. So, as an editor and author of articles and texts about social and political contexts, I wanted to reach out to my distant neighbors in Colorado and share my understanding of Mr. Romney’s governorship and the implications for the Presidency. Massachusetts is known as a liberal state, but we often vote for Republican governors, and the three governors who immediately preceded Mr. Romney were Republicans. Mr. Romney was a one term governor who left office with a 31% approval rating, the 3rd lowest in the entire country. What does our experience in Massachusetts say to the country?

Mr. Romney claims to have experience reaching across the aisle. Maybe he did do some reaching, but not much of it went toward the Democrats. In his first two years of office, he vetoed legislation at more than twice the rate of Republican predecessor Governor Weld. Governor Romney had a record 800 vetoes (most of which were overturned, sometimes unanimously). One example is when the legislature provided a budget amendment to stop contracting with companies that outsource state work to other countries. Governor Romney vetoed the provision. This meant that he supported outsourcing jobs at the expense of U.S. workers. He also started a huge campaign to unseat Democratic legislators, but failed and ended up with even fewer Republican seats than before he took office.

Governor Romney correctly claims that Massachusetts rose to #1 in education—but it was based on former Governor Weld’s education reform plan. Governor Romney moved in the opposite direction--he vetoed bills that would have strengthened preschool education.

However, the issue is not so much how he voted, but that Mr. Romney won the governorship by presenting himself in one way, as a social and fiscal moderate (some saw him as a social progressive), and by the end of his single term, he had acted in an entirely different way. He said during his campaign that he favored stem cell research and then vetoed a bill to fund it. He argued for a lower minimum wage than the state legislature ended up passing (over his veto). He vetoed a bill funding hate crimes prevention, and took back money approved by a former Republican governor for a bullying prevention program. He denied all requests for commutations and pardons, including one from a soldier serving in Iraq whose was convicted at age 13 for a BB gun incident. He vetoed emergency contraception. He raised many fees in my state—even quadrupling the gasoline delivery fees.

Governor Romney certainly approved some pieces of legislation that I did support but that does not change a major problem: Mr. Romney re-created himself and changed his positions during the first Presidential debate in your city because he must sound more moderate in order to win the independent vote. After that, all bets are off. We in Massachusetts know all about that. We elected a governor expecting him to be one thing and then he did something totally different and got on the national stage. He entered the governorship with a 61% approval rating and left with an abysmal 31% and with many of us scratching our heads and wondering whom we elected. The difference between then and now is that you have Mr. Romney’s speeches and positions from this past year and the contradictions during the debate. You can get nonpartisan information from factcheck.org. And, you now know what he was like in Massachusetts. So, I hope the country doesn’t have to go through what Massachusetts went through. Regardless of your political beliefs, this constant turning into something we didn’t vote for is no way to run a state, never mind a country.

Marsha Mirkin,
Wellesley, MA

[NCarolinawoman]

35. Wow. Did this end up actually being published in Colorado?n/t

[GoneOffShore]

36. I believe it was. But I'm not 100% sure.

I searched at the time and found it, but don't have the link any longer.

[JohnnyRingo]

3. Dog on car and cutting the hair of a student...

I'd say he's a lifetime member of the douchebag club.

[Yourmama]

4. Why?

Mitt Romney is a kind and gentle man. Obviously you disagree with his politics. Can you sight one single example when Obama sacrificed is personal time and efforts to help someone outside of what you may believe about his policies? Romney developed a relationship with a dying child and help write his will and did his spoke at his funeral....after the election defeat he had the grace to stream Obama acceptance speech on his campaign website...a douch...what's wrong with you.

[sheshe2]

7. Say What?

Have you been watching the past four years of this President??????

[Warpy]

8. I think you might have wandered into the wrong place, dear.

[Marie Marie]

15. May your delusions comfort you in these trying times.

[smirkymonkey]

16. You're off your meds again, aren't you?

Enjoy your short visit.

[Arugula Latte]

18. One and done.

That's a shame.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

19. You are a scream

I know I shouldn't feed the trolls but this one is so hilarious I can't resist. I bet it's probably a member of Romney's immediate family

Barack Obama was a community organizer before going into politics. He worked among some of the poorest in society to help them and try to improve their lives and he didn't rely on his parents coattails to get him ahead in life. Plus there are numerous instances of him devoting his personal time and effort to help people out.

Actually, on second thoughts maybe you were a member of Mitt's campaign team. If so, if your efforts there were as sadly laughable as your efforts here, no wonder he lost

[MannyGoldstein]

29. And he destroyed tens of thousands of jobs, grabbed worker pensions

And lied about how much he pays Leon for his haircuts.

Feh.

[WinkyDink]

26. A "kind and gentle man" does not scorn the poor nor deem food "an entitlement." You're typical. Let

a Right-Winger do a good deed for an individual and he's a saint, even while attempting to harm a vast number of people whom he will never meet.

[renate]

27. Romney may have his good points

Although I suspect kindness and gentleness aren't among them, considering he finds it amusing to suggest people might get tired of his wife, cancel campaign workers' credit cards on election night so they had to pay their hotel bills etc themselves, trip his daughter-in-law during a race and push his sons' faces into butter as a practical joke and, oh, fire hundreds of people and move their jobs to China.

But I do not deny that it was nice of him to help write a kid's will and to stream Obama's acceptance speech on his website (I will take your word for it that he did that--I'm not going to go look).

I think you're being a little dismissive of Barack Obama's work as a community organizer--someone smart enough to eventually graduate from Harvard Law School magna cum laude was a good and kind enough person to postpone law school to help low-income people improve their lives. I think that's very nice, too.

[etherealtruth]

28. Oh honey, it appears you are a moron

Bless your heart

[deutsey]

32. Thank you for the laugh!

You should really take this shtick on the road...

[MannyGoldstein]

5. He ran as a Weld-esque Republican

Our former governor, Bill Weld, was Republican in name but would have been considered a Democrat in any other state. Me even in Mass, had he claimed he was one.

Romney had run against Kennedy as a Weld-ish lefty, actually claiming he was to the left of Kennedy on many social issues. Look up the Romney-Kennedy debate on YouTube, you'll see what I mean.

As soon as Romney became governor, he did a 180 and turned into a lunatic.

[CoffinEd]

13. Bill Weld is the only Republican I've ever voted for...

And that's because his Democratic opponent (John Silber) was, in my opinion, a mad man. Funny, I've asked some of my Democratic friends in Massachusetts if they have ever voted for a Republican, and to a person -- and without any coaching or prompting from me, they all said they had voted for Bill Weld.

As one friend summed up the general feeling of all of us, "what else could we do, our backs were against the fucking wall," referring to why we didn't support Silber. Anyway, the second time around I voted for the Democrat, Mark Roosevelt. I think most resident of Mass are painfully aware of how that election turned out.

[polmaven]

31. I am right there with you.

Silber was not someone I could vote for. He was much to the right, IMO, of Weld. Weld was, at least, somewhat moderate, and did actually carry that through as Governor.

I now say "confession is good for the soul...I did once vote for a Republican, but only because the alleged Democrat was to his right".

[Jennicut]

24. He ran as a typical New England Republican.

But he did turn into a nut, or just showed his true colors. Bill Weld reminds me a bit of Jodi Rell, who was my Gov in CT before retiring two years ago. We used to get moderate/liberal Republicans in New England but they either became Dems or were voted out in favor of Dems.
I felt sorry for the people of Mass when Mitt was their Gov. Then again, our Gov went to jail (Roland, the guy before Rell took over).

[MannyGoldstein]

25. I think Romney might have ruined it for any

future New England Republicans. I don't think Bay Staters would do it again. Although I guess Scottle Brown did win once.

[sheshe2]

6. Oh Yeah!

However don't ask me.....I didn't vote for him! He ran against Shannon O'Brien, state treasurer.
Their was also a Green and Libertarian running

He was an AWOL Governor to the great state of Ma! Clearly he hated us. Just used our backs as a stepping stone for his political hopes!

LOL on that one....he lost here big time on 11.06!!!

[Siwsan]

9. Willard is the quintessential political whore

He will do, be and say anything if he thinks it will help him win. He never wanted to BE President. He wanted the title so he could out-achieve his Daddy. I have zero doubt he would have been almost as big of an embarassment as W.

[deutsey]

33. I think he would've been worse than W

Which is as hell to ponder...

[graywarrior]

10. Yes, he makes it easy to despise

[reformist2]

11. He only won because his opponent offered in a debate to show everyone her tattoo.

[CoffinEd]

12. Yes!

And let me say again, yes. But yet he received 50% of the vote. One explanation may be that he shape-shifted into a moderate Republican and a lot of people were deceived. However, after he became governor, he began to reveal his true repugnant self and became pretty much despised by everybody.

However, I can sleep peacefully because I voted for Shannon O'Brien.

[bluestate10]

23. I voted for Shannon also. She was the better choice. nt

[lillypaddle]

14. Yes, he was

and will be forever more.

[yardwork]

17. Follow up question - how did Romney end up in Massachusetts?

Since he seems to have been running for president most of his adult life, why did he choose MA to become governor? It doesn't seem very strategic.

[bluestate10]

22. He went to Harvard and ended up staying. nt

[yardwork]

34. I know. And he went to work for Bain in Boston later. But....

it implies to me that he wasn't thinking about running for president back then. Obviously he used his connections at Bain to help get elected governor of Massachusetts. I see all that but it doesn't seem very strategic for the presidency...

Then again I'm trying to figure out rationality and we're talking about Romney.

[bluestate10]

20. Yes. He did something like 800 vetoes, 3/4 of them over-ridden. nt

[Marrah_G]

21. yes