Is it
possible that these quirks are manifestations of extreme inner uncertainty? Perhaps they reflect a yawning discomfort; a sense
of ill at ease about one's political and/or philosophical core values and
thusly, ambivalence about how one can define him/herself. Does any of this apply to Mitt Romney? Well, if it looks like a duck"
Just
saying.
In
any event, there's little likelihood that his supporters would contest the
premise that Mitt carries an air of anxiety which creates an edgy persona that's
never more apparent than during extemporaneous moments with "Joe Public'. But it's not anything like the cool edginess
Nicholas Cage used to exude, or that Samuel L. Jackson can flip on at the drop
of a dime. Instead, it's more a
wavering, inelegant discomfiture that -- like the character trait that permits him
to flip-flop
without guilt -- is distinctly Mitt Romney.
It's something you see in the behavior of the small woodland "varmits" like the
squirrels and rabbits Mitt says he likes to hunt. Or, perhaps analogous to the unease displayed by a clumsy con
artist trying to quickly seal the deal and haul ass before the suckers wise up
to the grift.
The comparison
to a con artist -- as has been witnessed throughout the campaign leading up to and
beyond Super Tuesday -- may be most fitting.
It seems to describe in a nutshell, Romney's overall approach to
securing the Republican nomination -- that is, to grossly embellish his
political and professional record; distort or lie about those of his opponents
and endlessly chant the false mantra of his "severely conservative" core
values. But most importantly, to pull all
this off before the GOP base and the broader electorate wises up.
To a
degree, so far that apparent strategy has worked. Thus far, Mitt's managed to outlast a doltish
field of chronically under-funded and comically underwhelming opponents in the slog through a ribald
series of Republican debates that seemed the exemplification of an Ayn Rand/American Gothic-type war of attrition for
the crown of America's Most Ruthlessly
Heartless Politician.
But
this success, however, has come at great cost to Romney -- literally. According to a
Gallop poll of registered Republicans, in mid-February Mitt's favorability
rating sat at 32 percent. Not bad, I
guess, considering that he'd only pulled in on average about a quarter of all the
votes cast by Republicans in primaries leading into Super Tuesday. On the other hand, 32 percent seems rather
anemic considering that in January alone, Romney
spent a staggering $37 million campaigning, or, over a million dollars per favorability rating point. Meanwhile, it's
been reported
that -- including money spent by his
Super Pac -- Romney has thus far run
through upwards of $100 million fighting off his GOP challengers .
Yet despite
blowing through them ducats like a drunken tycoon, a somewhat unexpected barrier
remains between Mitt and the GOP nomination.
Forget about Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul, this final stage has Romney, the
vast, politically pointless, and perversely overblown empty suit squaring off
against Santorum, a full metal jacket of true social conservative credibility of
the type Mitt would love to plausibly claim as his own.
Santorum,
as we know, has rocketed to the top of several national GOP polls, which of
course means that in terms of the former Pennsylvania Senator's presidential
aspirations, he's rocketing nowhere fast.
Meanwhile, Gingrich, like Paul -- also going nowhere -- has stubbornly continued
to hang around; having relegated himself to the role of vindictive GOP spoiler
against Romney's bid after having had everything
but the kitchen sink thrown at him by Mitt in Florida.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).