Andrew Sullivan relays the most insightful political commentary yet seen on last night’s GOP results:
A reader writes:
I was in a bar tonight watching the results come in and a pundit came on the TV and said “the people of New Hampshire have two very different candidates.” This was followed quickly by a native Bostonian in the bar who blurted out “Yeah, one’s a wah’r hero and the other’s a douchebag.” I think he hit it right on the nose.
đŸ˜€
Please share widely!
It seems like all McCain has to do nowadays is speak quietly and look a little sad while Romney and Giuliani take care of enthusiastically burying themselves in manure. If McCain gets the nomination, the Democratic nominee should only talk about themselves and their qualifications. Any negative campaigning against McCain would probably be a bad idea, IMO.
elected Governor Douchebag?
(I did not live in Massachusetts back then, so I really do wonder how he could win in one of the bluest states)
Boston proper always votes reliably for Democrats. It was suburban voters who went for Romney.
<
p>Also, Romney ran as a moderate, and given his previous campaigns, I think more people were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Of course, as soon as he won, he took a quick turn to the right to prepare for his Presidential run.
I’d say he stayed pretty moderate in office, going along with same-sex marriage, campaigning for Patrick, etc.
proving himself a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” so to speak. An unsuspecting, gullible electorate voted Mitt Romney into office as governor of the Bay State, not realizing until too late that they’d been royally screwed by him. That’s how lots of today’s Republicans are, which makes them more dangerous.
Because Romney’s opponent was terrible on the issues, terrible as a candidate, and terrible in general.
<
p>One of my least favorite moments during that campaign was watching her go after Romney for supporting additional taxes on gas guzzling vehicles. Great Shannon, way to play to your base.
I voted for O’Brien myself, but my parents voted for Romney partly because of what they saw as O’Brien’s overly “liberal” stance on abortion. I guess they knew something that I didn’t know, because at the time Romney himself was being billed as pro-choice, making any difference on that issue appear unsubstantial. Another thing I’ve sometimes heard people say in explaining their votes for Republican governors is that they thought it appropriate to have a “fiscal conservative” in the executive office to counter the potential excesses of a democratic dominated legislature. Some people really disliked Tom Finneran, and felt that he had too much power, which they hoped could be countered by guys like Weld and Romney.
Romney gives us so many different choices on which Mit Douchebag to vote for.
It’s somewhat complicated. For one thing, it was November 2002 and substantially more people showed up for Republicans in general. There was even a referendum to remove the income tax on the ballot. (Mitt still didn’t break 50%.) The left half of the spectrum split indecisively between Shannon O’Brian and Jill Stein, and a few percent went to very minor candidates.
<
p>In retrospect it was all a referendum on Tom Finneran and the remaining set of conservative/older ethnic Democrats that really ran the state government then.
<
p>Shannon O’Brian didn’t realize it and didn’t respond to Romney’s charges that she was tied in to the Finneran crowd. She didn’t even clue in to the relative importance of taxes as a campaign issue, it was exasperating to watch her not take it seriously. Jill Stein pretty much took over as a protest candidate “Independent” (or was it Green?) to the left of O’Brian where Robert Reich left off when he was defeated in the primary.
<
p>Romney’s approval held in the mid/low fifties until Finneran abruptly resigned in September 2004. Romney was trying to run him out, but the feds got there first (from a probe requested by liberal Democratic House Reps). With Finneran and his conservative cronies gone, all of Romney’s various partisan initiates collapsed and his approval fell to 35%. Republicans lost badly in the state level elections in November. He fished around, but in December 2004 he realized he wasn’t wanted or needed in any capacity anymore on Beacon Hill. And that getting Finneran and his crew out put the moderate liberal plurality of voters and state legislators in complete control of the Legislature, who knew to treat him as a hostile power-greedy bloviating animatronic obstacle with interesting hair. The veto proof margin Travaglini and DiMasi had made him redundant and weak in day to day business. There was no true public safety emergency or corruption issue to indulge in, so as Governor there was almost nothing left to do and no one cared a whit what he did.
<
p>So in January 2005 Romney became the bitter absentee governor setting up his Presidential run, choosing to rarely even to show up for the power-drained position there was so little point left to occupying.
I didn’t know Romney serve in the military!
but his five sons are serving the country by going across Iowa in a Willardmobile with a dog strapped on top.
he didn’t literally “serve” in the military. It’s a figure of speech, if you will. He was thinking about the troops in Vietnam and longing to be with them while he was going door-to-door in the French countryside.
<
p>Remember, he’s an English major, so he can use words in a fancier and more metaphorical way than the rest of us literalists.