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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRomney Under Pressure: Not A Pretty Sight
from Alec MacGillis at TNR: http://www.tnr.com/blog/99900/romney-under-pressure-not-pretty-sight
January 21, 2012
. . .Im not sure the agitated ghost of George Romney can take much more of this. And no, Im not referring to Mitts refusal to follow his fathers lead and release a dozen years of tax returns. Im talking about his attempt to ratchet himself and his rhetoric ever higher to satisfy a sullen GOP electorate.
. . . Romney is doing his level best to catch up, and the result is hard to watch. Of course, hes been going on about Barack Obamas European welfare dreams for a while now. But the Romney I saw Friday night at a rally here was distinctly harder-edged than the one I saw in Iowa and New Hampshire. For starters, his introductions in South Carolina have been coming from Gov. Nikki Haley, the Tea Party favorite (a title she may have lost by endorsing Milquetoast Mitt after he gave her $60,000 for her 2010 campaign.) Haleys intro was built around describing in dark terms her states endless battle with the Obama administration, and declaring that his conflict would end once Mitt was in the White House. The fronts of this battle? The National Labor Relations Boards Boeing ruling, the Department of Justices fight against South Carolinas immigration law and against its voter ID law. The first two more or less fit in with what Romneys been talking about elsewhere (though I only heard him rail about right to work here in South Carolina.) But voter ID? Yes, the son of the Republican governor who was such a strong supporter of the civil rights movement that he arranged a Detroit march in coordination with the one in Selma, Ala. stood there and grinned as Haley declared that President Romney will say thats our right, to determine who can and cant vote in South Carolina. Sorry, Pop -- hey, hes running for office, for petes sake.
Then came Romney himself. Gone was his token concession that Obama is a good man who is just in over his head. Instead, he launched straight into his attack on the president, who had a plan to fundamentally transform America when what we should do in this country is to restore the values that made us the greatest nation on earth. He added a sarcastic line that I hadnt heard in Iowa and New Hampshire about how Obama think its better to create jobs through top-down ventures like Solyndra because he is so very, very intelligent. And he went on a caustic riff about Obamas pretty please request to Irans Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the downed drone. The crowd ate it up, with especially loud applause coming from the 100 Virginia Republicans that Gov. Bob McDonnell had brought down with him to announce his endorsement of Romney. Their raucousness seemed to buoy Romney -- this was what had been missing for him all week. We Need Mitt! they chanted. You know what? he shouted. Youre going to get me!
They probably will, but not yet. Amid todays relentless downpours here, Mitts coronation will in all likelihood have to take a rain check. Hell go on to Florida and will, presumably, ramp the rhetoric up further, talking in ever more stark terms about how Obama is transforming the country into a place we dont recognize. The question is how well he (and the ghosts of Romneys past) will recognize himself when its all done.
read: http://www.tnr.com/blog/99900/romney-under-pressure-not-pretty-sight
Romney, campaigning with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Liberal Veteran
(22,239 posts)And I refuse to comment on those blue jeans.
MjolnirTime
(1,800 posts)NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)MjolnirTime
(1,800 posts)NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)spanone
(135,861 posts)highplainsdem
(49,028 posts)He added a sarcastic line that I hadnt heard in Iowa and New Hampshire about how Obama think its better to create jobs through top-down ventures like Solyndra because he is so very, very intelligent. And he went on a caustic riff about Obamas pretty please request to Irans Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the downed drone.
Childish sarcasm.
The crowd ate it up, with especially loud applause coming from the 100 Virginia Republicans that Gov. Bob McDonnell had brought down with him to announce his endorsement of Romney. Their raucousness seemed to buoy Romney -- this was what had been missing for him all week.
Yes, cheerleaders trucked in from out of state. They won't impress the locals or the media.
bigtree
(86,005 posts). . . he uses the same types of immature comments to punctuate his own lies about the President.