NYT: Romney aide: Mitt is 'weird'

[kpete]

Aides searching for signs of distress from Mr. Romney find them difficult to discern, to their amazement and their puzzlement. “Weird detachment,” was how one of them described it.

Tom Rath, a Romney adviser, summarized the candidate’s reactions to losses: “There’s not a lot of recrimination, but obviously he feels things.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/us/politics/romney-takes-analytic-approach-to-campaign-setbacks.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

[Enrique]

1. good quality in a president

all the best presidents are weirdly detached.

[aquart]

2. Kinda like a Star Trek episode where Data tries to be human.

[HockeyMom]

3. ALL the Republican candidates are weird

Saint Rick makes Romney look like a "wild and crazy guy".

[snooper2]

4. Can you imagine how he is in bed

probably thinks it's a good time to play "stiff as a board, light as a feather"

[KamaAina]

6. And yet he has five kids

Go figure.

[unblock]

5. this "weird detachment" is totally familiar to anyone who knows hedge fund managers and the like.

the guys who manage ginormous portfolios, whether it's stocks, bonds, commodities, companies, whatever, rely on diversification over a sizable number of positions and also over a decent period of time in order to see the profit in their decisions.

they have to be sanguine about losses because you can't play that game properly without having a few big losses, but you have to trust that the wins will outweigh the losses over the long haul. you'll go nuts berating yourself over every loss. in fact, the argument goes, if you don't have a few spectacular losses, you're not being aggressive enough.

which is one thing when you're gambling with your own money, but it's another thing when you're gambling with other peoples' money, and still another thing if you're gambling with otherwise viable businesses where your failures may mean the loss of many jobs and a competitor in the market.


i find this characterization of rmoney totally consistent with his previous business endeavors.

[Inspired]

7. That is how I describe him. Weird and robotic. n/t