Has a major-party presidential candidate ever fallen from grace this quickly? It’s only been ten days since Mitt Romney lost his bid for the presidency, and he is well on his way to becoming persona non grata within his own party.
The reason is Romney’s profoundly stupid comments on a conference call during which he blamed his failure to unseat President Obama on Obama’s alleged penchant for giving away free stuff. Honestly, it’s amazing that he didn’t make reference to the “Obamaphones.”
What Romney really did on that conference call, of course, is demonstrate that his “Etch-A-Sketch” move to the center was pure fiction, and that the real Mitt Romney is the guy we saw in the infamous 47% video. The guy whose disdain for millions and millions of his fellow Americans is so deep that it’s difficult to fathom. The guy who has redefined the old adage about being born on third base and thinking that he hit a triple.
Anyway, Republicans who hope to have some kind of future for themselves and for their party are begging Romney not to let the door hit him on the ass as he exits the national scene. From the ultra-conservative pols like Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker, to the less extreme like Susana Martinez, to the moderate-ish like Chris Christie, to the pundits like Joe Scarborough, nobody is rushing to defend Romney’s idiotic remarks. Well, almost nobody. Oh, Bill. Jon Stewart utterly humiliated you last night. You really should just stop before it gets worse.
What this reflects, I think, is the degree to which nobody in the GOP ever really liked Romney very much. Yeah, they voted for him, and they said they wanted him to win and all. But if this was a guy who had a big reservoir of good will built up inside the party, a dumb remark on a conference call wouldn’t have this immediate and dramatic effect. In contrast, look at what always happens with Joe Biden’s various gaffes. Nobody is saying “oh, that’s just Mitt being Mitt.” These guys all know who the real Mitt Romney is, and they can’t get him off the stage fast enough.
pogo says
I hold a generous view of Romney, in that he will say anything to curry favor. I don’t think he’s an A-hole who believes that half the country votes for candidates that gives them free stuff. I think he as no moral compass and says what he needs to say. The context of both his “47%” and “gift” gaffes are that he was speaking (confidentially, he thought) to big GOP fat cats and he thought the rhetoric of “Dems create a dependent class of voters” is what they wanted to hear. And I think he’s right, that is the kind of BS they eat up.
To buy into the argument that Mitt believes half the country votes to maintain their welfare check, implies that you believes that Mitt Romney believes what he says. I don’t.
fenway49 says
is that he lives in a super-rich-guy (and Republican) bubble, has no clue about average Americans’ lives, hears certain statistics thrown about, and assumes that’s how it is these days.
Mr. Lynne says
… and I think I probably agree that it is difficult at best to know what private equity deal and pitch man actually believes…
But man oh man am I tired of giving the man the benefit of the doubt – and its at least plausible that this is what he really believes, given his background and history. Others have been propping up his stature and expectations for him his whole life. Combine that with his 1% venture capital accomplishments and a very reasonable resolution to the cognitive dissonance of being both a great white hope and a robber barron is that his robber barron behavior must be moral. Thus robber-barron attitudes aren’t immoral.
Mr. Lynne says
Ezra:
The man’s ‘out-of-touch-ness’ isn’t an act.
Yglesias on ‘Shellshocked’ Romney:
Laurel says
in the next MA gubernatorial election, lol.
Mr. Lynne says
Part of me wants him to run so the beat-down can be epic.
mike_cote says
He definitely is loony enough, and has never met a LGBT person in a loving long-term relationship that he didn’t hate.
perry41 says
One of Obama’s “gifts,” according to Romney, was $10,000 worth of health insurance per family, even – horrors – those earning $20-30,000 per year. He called that a huge sum. I seem to recall Mittens making a spontaneous casual bet for that amount during the primaries, as if it were pocket change. Roll on, oh mighty Bus of State.
Jasiu says
… the blimp, please??
mike_cote says
John Tehan says
…or was that Hume-Hannity?