by darth frosty 553 Replies latest members politics
BB asked:
Why would this guy want the ass-ache of being POTUS? No, seriously - WHY?
Perhaps because he'd like to exceed the accomplishments of his father, who ran as a party candidate in 1968 (only for Nixon to win the GOP nomination). No doubt it's a family honor thing....
Did his father even qualify? i thought he was born in Mexico.
Kinda interesting to read the story of George Romney's 1968 campaign:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Romney_presidential_campaign,_1968
Couple of excerpts:
Romney's greatest weakness was his lack of foreign policy expertise and his need for a clear position on the Vietnam War. [ 15 ] The press coverage of the trip focused on Vietnam and reporters were frustrated by Romney's initial reluctance to speak about it.
The qualities that helped give Romney success as an automotive industry executive worked against him as a presidential candidate; [ 19 ] he had difficulty being articulate on any issue, often speaking at length and too forthrightly on a topic and then later correcting himself while maintaining he was not. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 11 ] Reporter Jack Germond joked that he was going to add a single key on his typewriter that would print, "Romney later explained...." [ 20 ] Life magazine wrote that Romney "manages to turn self-expression into a positive ordeal" and that he was no different in private: "nobody can sound more like the public George Romney than the real George Romney let loose to ramble, inevitably away from the point and toward some distant moral precept." [ 11 ] The perception grew that Romney was gaffe-prone and a plodder. [ 19 ] [ 20
However before his campaign had officially began, Governor Romney made a statement that practically ruined his chances of getting the nomination. In a taped interview with Lou Gordon of WKBD-TV in Detroit on August 31 1967, Romney stated, "When I came back from Viet Nam [in November 1965], I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get." He then shifted to opposing the war: "I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia," he declared. Decrying the "tragic" conflict, he urged "a sound peace in South Vietnam at an early time." Thus Romney disavowed the war and reversed himself from his earlier stated belief that the war was "morally right and necessary."
The "brainwashing" reference had been an offhand, unplanned remark that came at the end of a long, behind-schedule day of campaigning. [ 32 ] By September 7 it had found its way into prominence at The New York Times. [ 3 ] Eight other governors who had been on the same 1965 trip as Romney said no such activity had taken place, with one of them, Philip H. Hoff of Vermont, saying Romney's remarks were "outrageous, kind of stinking ... Either he's a most naïve man or he lacks judgment." [ 33 ] The connotations of brainwashing, following the experiences of American prisoners of war (highlighted by the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate), made Romney's comments devastating, [ 13 ] especially as it reinforced the negative image of Romney's abilities that had already developed. [ 20 ] The topic of brainwashing quickly became newspaper editorial and television talk show fodder, with Romney bearing the brunt of the topical humor. [ 13 ] Senator Eugene McCarthy, running against Johnson for the Democratic nomination, said that in Romney's case, "a light rinse would have been sufficient." [ 3 ] Republican Congressman Robert T. Stafford of Vermont sounded a common concern: "If you're running for the presidency, you are supposed to have too much on the ball to be brainwashed." [ 13 ] [ 33 ] After the remark was aired, Romney's poll ratings quickly nosedived, going from 11 percent behind Nixon to 26 percent behind. [ 3 ]
Presidential historian Theodore H. White wrote that during his campaign Romney gave "the impression of an honest and decent man simply not cut out to be President of the United States." [ 37 ] Governor Jim Rhodes of Ohio more memorably said, "Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football." [ 19 ] [ 48 ]
Mitt sounds like a chip off the ol' block....
Will Mitt call us moochers or the President a 'foreign' guy (Hawaii is disconnected from the Mainland) in the Debates. I think Mitt has had the hell coached out of him for the Debate Wednesday and shouldn't make any big mistakes.
