But the reality
is that the absence of a terrorist attack during the 2002 Games shouldn't be viewed
as a basis for any claim that it is Mitt who deserves
credit. After all, it's not as if
terrorist bombs were exploding all over America except in Salt Lake City
during Mitt's Olympic tenure. Nonetheless , to Romney supporters, because the 2002 Olympics managed
to move beyond its budget crisis (primarily by way of a federal bailout), and occurred
without an incident of terrorism, and since it was on Mitt's watch, it only
follows that Romney needs to be credited with "saving" the Olympics.
But to those for
whom the veracity of his claim of Olympian heroism is
among the factors being considered in deciding whether to support Romney, perhaps
it's time hone in on the facts a bit closer.
Right now, the facts appear to indicate that more than anything else, it
was good old Uncle Sam himself -- U.S. taxpayers -- who "saved" the 2002 Olympic
Games. Thus, rather than any damage from
a terrorist bomb to the Olympic Village in Salt Lake City that year, the only
thing going up in a puff of smoke here is the basis for Mitt's "I saved the
Olympics" claim.
Massachusetts Mitt
Along with that smoke has been a long line of fun house mirrors; each displaying a different Mitt over the years, but none of which ever presents an image of Romney that is fully apparent. From the vantage point of a current Massachusetts resident who's lived in the Bay State before and during the time of Romney's Senate and gubernatorial runs, it's seems clear that Mitt has no idea why he wants to be president. Indeed, one gets the impression that perhaps all he knows is that his original raison d'etre for entering politics in the first place was to knock Ted Kennedy out of the Senate . Of course, here in Massachusetts, you can't do that by being "severely" conservative. Not a problem; Mitt's never been a "severe" conservative. But since he sure wasn't nobody's "flamin' liberal' either, Romney version 1.0 had to be created as a means of convincing this state's principal voter base, the he was, in fact, one of them. In the end, however, Massachusetts voters weren't buying it: Progressive/Liberal Mitt lost his 1994 challenge of Kennedy seat by roughly 17 points.
NICE
TRY MITT -- Romney lost
to Kennedy by 17 points in 1994 / PHOTO:
Death and Taxes
But
that outcome was a significant departure from the typical 30 to 50 points
landslides to which Kennedy had become accustomed. In the aftermath, one could fairly surmise that
Mitt may have become enraptured by the eruption of "what ifs?" After all, he did bring about perhaps the greatest
re-election scare in Uncle Teddy since cagey Republican businessman Ray
Shamie forced Kennedy to put in some real work to earn what eventually
turned out to be a landslide victory over the Ross Perot-like Shamie in 1982.
As we
now know, Mitt's close call was close enough to provide all the impetus needed
to begin promoting the idea of a Romney presidential bid, even if there was no
other plausible reason. And, prior to
his gallant "rescue" of the Olympics, becoming Governor of Massachusetts was
one way of laying the groundwork toward that goal. Fortunately for Mitt, as it turned out the timing could not have been better. It was a somewhat
fortuitous turn of events that enabled Mitt to capture the office of
Massachusetts governor Scott Brown style.
In
1999, when then-Massachusetts Governor, Paul Cellucci, a Republican, jumped at
the opportunity to become U.S Ambassador to Canada, it propelled his lieutenant
Governor, Jane Swift into the Governor's office making Swift not just the
state's first female Governor, but, at age
the 36, nation's youngest.
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