Mitt on Netflix, a deeply disturbing documentary.

[grantcart]

Reviewed it here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251350783

[cbayer]

1. I had really mixed feelings about it.

While I appreciate your review and agree with some of it, my overall impression was quite different than yours.

But DU being what it is, I'm going to keep my thoughts to myself.

(I'm still waiting for your review of Sharknado, though.)

[grantcart]

2. I found it telling that the Romneys controlled access so that it was

family only and omitted time with the professional handlers and advisers who I assume were paid to give more objective and informed opinions of the current situation.

[cbayer]

3. At one point I said, "Does he have no advisors"?

I also wondered what the relationship between the family and the filmmaker was. They seemed comfortable with him and much of the filming was so amateur.

But I am really glad I saw it, though my take is more sympathetic than yours.

[grantcart]

4. OK I am watching sharknado.

Plot holes? what holes.

Well I was more sympathetic to Anne Romney. MS is a terrible disease and if you are going to subject your wife to a possible life threatening complication with all of the additional stress, then you should have a compelling non personal interest in doing so, and I don't think he did.

The oldest son seemed to be more aware but adult children seemed rather stunted intellectually.

My harsher opinion of Mitt is justified, I believe when you add two factors to it: Mitt was a permanent part of his father's Presidential campaign and saw how an unscripted moment was taken and ruined his political career, he wasn't the neophyte he tried to play.

My second factor is that as CEO of Bain he spent years in objectively analysing companies and their situations, and I believe, was very good at tearing apart complex situations and reducing them to relevant facts. In the role he played in documentary he carried forth with this 'aw shucks' persona and, at least with his family, appeared never to apply the objective numbers to the campaign, which I doubt.

I went to K-12 with his cousin Rick Romney, a perfectly authentic and nice Mormon boy. I know too many authentic Mormons and none of them wear that "oh my oh me life is just so unfair to me" shtick that Mitt has down pat, I just think it is a phony affectation.

Back to the sharks.

[cbayer]

5. I hope you appreciate it for the masterpiece it truly is.

I was also sympathetic toward Anne. Some of the moments they caught made me terribly sad.

I recently saw the documentary about the Louds. I don't know if you watched An American Family when it first came out, but I was riveted at the time. The documentary was intensely painful and poignant. I felt similarly watching Mitt.

No fan of Mitt Romney, but I think he, like so many others, get roped into taking on things by people much more calculating and evil than he is. It almost happened to me in another political arena, so I may have had some personal resonance here.

I don't buy the "Aw, shucks" schtick either. No one gets as far as he does by really being that naive.

Well, maybe except W.

Don't forget to tell me what you think of Sharknado.

[grantcart]

6. All of his professional life he was the roper not the ropee

He has a particular skill set that allowed him to objectively look at all of the players involved in different companies, patiently figure out the critical weak point and attack that and leverage a financial windfall.

Such vulture capitalism isn't all bad, it is necessary to take floundering companies and cut off the unworkable parts to save the main body, but he went beyond that, he would take companies that already had been restructured and destroy them to eat up the assets. I wouldn't call it evil necessary but very calculating, and he was good at it. And he had been through it with his father.

So if he is a master calculator then what could have been his real motivation?

I think that my original assessment almost 2 years ago still stands and is consistent with the guy in the video who is trying so hard to become part of the elevated Mormon iconography of Smith/Young/Grant he wants to be known as the guy who finally brought Mormonism in from the cold.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002436216


John Heard should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his outstanding use of a bar stool.

Will have to finish it when I get back from an appointment (ironically with one of my many Mormon clients).

[cbayer]

7. You know him and his history much better than I.

I enjoyed your old post on this, particularly the idea that his goal was really grandiose.

And he may have been somewhat successful in that sense. I think the prejudice against Mormons decreased with his run, as they were able to somehow associate him with christian fundamentalists.

That whole process was fascination.


------------

The barstool sub theme is pure genius. Glad that you were able to see it's deeper meaning, lol.

[cbayer]

8. I find something disturbing about your gd thread on this.

And that is how many people say that they won't watch this and thank you for watching it for them.

There is something very unsettling about that to me.

What do you make of it?

[grantcart]

9. I didn't think I would be able to watch it.

I have most Republicans on a time clock.

Rush Limbaugh is on about 2 1/2 minutes, after that I am so angry I cannot listen to him.

The same is true for the Republican talking heads on CNN and all of Fox News. I usually cannot go more than a few minutes. I get angry and just don't like being so angry.

Rather than getting angry I just don't watch much TV anymore, Rachel, ODonnell and the Daily Show are about all I can handle, so I think its just like that.

Its interesting because I could watch William Buckley or folks on that generation, but it is the denial of basic known facts that make it so frustrating to try and watch.

[cbayer]

10. I agree about the talking heads, but a documentary?

It wasn't really a propaganda piece, imo, so I didn't have any trouble watching it.

I like to watch things that are contrary to what I generally think.

I'm in Mexico and get very little TV in english, but tend not to watch much anyway.

But I am a huge fan of documentaries of all kinds, as long as it's not propaganda.

I don't even like propaganda from the left.

Hope your meeting went well and that you have a warm and quiet night.

[grantcart]

11. meeting was good.

My client, a Mormon, made a funny comment about his Dr. who is a big Ron Paul supporter.

I don't find people fitting into the boxes that DU constructs.

When I was in Thailand in 1978 I taught English at two different college campuses and then on the weekends had 9 hours of private groups on both Sat and Sun.

My work would end at 8 pm on Sunday where I would sit for my one TV show of the week, the Rockford Files, which had the English soundtrack broadcast on an FM channel.

I would fight to stay awake but fall asleep after a few minutes due to exhaustion.

There would be no English TV for about 9 years and then micro wave cable came with a dozen channels. We were the first in our suburbs to sign up.

The technician hooked it up and I sat on a chair two feet away waiting for the picture to come to life.

When it did I was shocked to see the beet red face of my 10th grade PE teacher yelling through the TV right at me, just as he did the last time I saw him some 20 years before.

The blood drained out of my face as we were waiting for the sound to catch up with the picture. I thought I had entered into a real version of the Twilight Zone.

I asked my wife if the beer that was put into the fridge a couple of months ago was still there and it was retrieved.

As the sound came on line I realized that his career had progressed and he was the head coach of the NFL farm team in Barcelona and was yelling at them just as he had with me.

My wife asked why I was turning white and unable to explain the surrealistic feeling of falling into some weird time/space vortex I simply said that the shrimp noodles for lunch were a little spicy.

Such are the adventures of simply watching TV when you are outside of the US.