The former MA Gov. must feel he is in a really bad position for the 2012 repub nomination if he thinks he needs to take shots himself at his Alaskan rival this early. As part of an attempt to land a backhanded attack against Sarah Palin, former Gov. Willard Mitt Romney went on Jay Leno and told one of his biggest whoppers yet: that he loved being Governor of MA and couldn’t imagine quitting on a job like that. HA! From the Boston Herald:
The truth is Romney doesn’t need to imagine anything, he can just remember what actually happened. After getting crushed in the 2004 State Legislative election, Romney quit on the Commonwealth and dedicated himself to running for President. Does anyone who was living here even doubt the fact that Romney checked out for most of the second half of his one term? It’s certainly justifiable to criticize Palin for resigning, but that was (at least) a a far more honest form of quitting on a job than what Romney did. Who can forget our governor traveling all over the country bashing MA, whining to any repub group that would listen how he felt like a cattle rancher at a vegetarian jamboree (or something)? However, that feeling of alienation from those surrounding him may prove good practice for Romney when he campaigns soon as a chameleon Mormon, and co-creator of the evil (R)ObamaCare, among evangelical and true-believer republicans.
Finally…Willard, you might not want to make too many jokes about Sarah Palin pummeling your hide as you flop around helplessly on the floor, desperately trying to get into any position that will save your slippery skin. You don’t want to put negative images of yourself into anybody’s head and it is the kind of thing that could actually come true, electorally speaking of course.
The context of that conversation was officially resigning, which he didn’t do. I think it was fine for him not to seek re-election, but he still conducted business as Governor throughout his term.
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p>It is my prediction at the moment that he will be the 2012 GOP nominee. There’s always at least one purist candidate seeking the nomination, though I’m still betting against Palin running, but in the end the party has always come to its senses and nominated someone who has a reasonable chance of winning the general. Right now that looks like Romney much more than Palin.
I appreciate the posts that tell me what candidates/former candidates/possible POTUS candidates say or do on TV and other mainstream media because I almost never watch or listen to these (partially because of the schedule I have right now and partially because I got out of the habit more than a decade ago).
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p>I tend to agree more with Scout then Christopher as to Romney’s lame duck, antagonistic attitude towards Massachusetts the second half of his term.
…but Jay clearly asked Romney about resigning.
Given that bashing Massachusetts all over the rest of the country was how Romney chose to conduct business as Governor, I wish he had resigned. In any case, to say he can’t imagine resigning is ridiculous. He could have run for reelection. Clearly, he could imagine walking away from his job as Governor, and then he did so.
When Palin realized that governing Alaska was too small-time for her, she quit. When Romney realized that, he ran up the taxpayers’ bill for his security and travel costs as he country-trotted.