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Posted on 08/21/2007 5:40:07 AM PDT by Reaganesque
At a rally in Ames, Iowa, on the eve of last weekend's straw poll, Mitt Romney invited his siblings onstage with his children and grandchildren. "Boy, we've got the whole gopher village up here," he told the crowd with a grin. "This is so much fun."
"Whoop-de-do!" he says of John Edwards's proposal to let Americans save $250 tax-free. "Gosh, I love America," Romney said during one GOP debate. After hitting a long golf drive in one of his campaign videos, he shouts, "Holy moly!"
Romney often sounds as if he has stepped out of a time machine from 1950s suburban America, golly-ing and gosh-ing his way across the nation, letting out the occasional "Holy cow!" after something really shocks him.
When he won the straw poll, he pronounced himself "pleased as punch." On NBC's "Today" show a couple days later, he said his opponents would also "be pleased as punch if they could be in my position in Iowa today, no doubt."
Of course, every presidential candidate tries not to swear in public, so most deploy the occasional "darn." And Romney is hardly the only folksy candidate in a field that includes a former governor from rural Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, who is known for his colorful one-liners. Huckabee told the straw poll crowd that as a Republican in his mostly Democratic state, he felt like "Michael Vick at the Westminster dog show."
But the face Romney presents for public consumption could be right out of "Father Knows Best" or "Leave it to Beaver."...
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
The Globe taking shots at Mitt? Say it isn’t so! /s
It is a shocker, I know. Should have prepared you better. Sorry! ;-)
If only Mitt were overweight, had a big red nose, cheated on his wives, and drove around drunk - then he’d be a true “man of the people”. /s
This could be reverse psychology on the part of the Boston Globe. The more they attack, the better Romney sounds.
They’re Liberals. They can’t help themselves. They are compelled to criticize Republicans. Think “Pavlov’s Dogs”.
Duncan Hunter is still my top choice. But I have no problem with Romney. His values and his manner are far better than what this country has been generally embracing for the past 40 years.
Romney's old school persona questioned
BOSTON, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Campaign observers have questioned whether former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is actually as old-school as he comes across or whether it is a political ploy.
With the candidate for the Republican presidential nomination gaining a reputation as a throw-back politician with comments straight from "Leave it to Beaver," some observers have argued his public persona is a fabrication intended to draw in supporters, The Boston Globe said Sunday.
University of California at Berkeley linguist Geoffrey Nunberg, who is among those detractors, said Romney's alleged ploy is a disservice to Republicans nationwide.
"It's condescending, because it implies listeners are going to be taken in by that sort of thing," Nunberg said. "It doesn't impute a very high level of intelligence to Republican voters."
But Harvard University professor David Gergen dismisses such allegations, saying Romney's persona appears to be the real deal.
"This 'Ozzie and Harriet' world in which he lives seems to be his true world," Gergen told the Globe. "For that reason, there are some who find it a throwback. Others are very comfortable with it."
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Huh, a Berkley Lib has an allergic reaction to someone who is honestly trying to live according to traditional family values. It just gets more and more shocking, doesn't it? Say, you don't think that Liberal media outlets are coordinating their attacks, do you?
Romney is one of the best on family values, all anyone has to do is look at his dream family. Its another example of politicians saying do as I say, not as I do. Romney does, while most others talk about doing.
One way real leaders lead is by example.
This greatly INCREASES my opinion of him.
Their smarmy mocking oif his manner of speach can only help his cause.
Thanks WaPo~!
Opps~! I mean BoGlo
I think you should consider this about Mitt.
Boston Herald - Author: CASEY ROSS Date: Jul 20, 2007 [Jay Garrity] remains under investigation by the Suffolk District Attorney's Office for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer in a May 13 phone call to a Wilmington plumbing company. During the phone call, Garrity allegedly referred to himself as "Trooper Garrity" and told the plumbing company its driver was operating erratically. A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said the investigation remains "open and active." Garrity's attorney has denied that he made the phone call. A spokesman for [Mitt Romney] issued an e-mailed statement. "No one on the Mitt Romney for President campaign is authorized to use a badge, nor has the campaign provided anyone with a badge," the statement reads. "Jay Garrity is not working on the campaign because he continues to be on a leave of absence." Note, the last staement, does not say no one knew about the badges, or no one knew about the use of the tile Trooper Romney aide is the focus of probe Allegedly acted as State Police trooper Bosto.com | June 22, 2007 State Police are investigating one of Mitt Romney's top campaign aides for allegedly impersonating a trooper by calling a Wilmington company and threatening to cite the driver of a company van for erratic driving, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the probe. Jay Garrity, who is director of operations on Romney's presidential campaign and a constant presence at his side, became the primary target of the investigation, according to one of the sources, after authorities traced the cellphone used to make the call back to him. The investigation comes three years after Garrity, while working for Romney in the State House, was cited for having flashing lights and other police equipment in his car without proper permits. The New Hampshire attorney general, according to the Associated Press, has also opened an investigation into a report that a Romney aide, later identified as Garrity, pulled over a New York Times reporter in New Hampshire and said he had run his license plate. New Hampshire law prohibits private citizens from accessing license plate databases or pulling over fellow citizens. In the phone call to the Wilmington company, which was recorded by an answering service and obtained by the Globe, a man who identifies himself as "Trooper Garrity with the Massachusetts State Police" complains about the driving of a van owned by Wayne's Drains Middlesex Sewers of Wilmington. The caller repeatedly says he is a trooper and questions when the driver will return to the office. "I'm going to get the address of your company," the caller says during the May 13 call. "I'm going to come down to your company. I'm going to personally issue this driver a citation for both speeding, driving erratic, cutting across." "The whole thing was just hinky," said Wayne Barme, owner of the Wilmington drain and sewer cleaning company, whose wife, Dot, contacted State Police after receiving the complaint. Romney campaign spokesman Kevin Madden said that he was unaware of any investigation and that he could not comment further because Garrity was not working for the campaign the day of the call. "It's not related to any actions or duties that were performed as a campaign employee," Madden said. Messages left for Garrity through the campaign were not immediately returned. Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, confirmed that there is an "open and active" investigation into the phone call. "I can confirm that there is an investigation into a phone call made by an individual representing himself as a state trooper," Wark said. "At this time, and in light of the evidence we have reviewed, we do not believe that that individual was a state trooper." A State Police spokesman would not confirm that there is an investigation. He said no one by Garrity's name had been arrested or received a summons. Another spokesman said that there is no Trooper Garrity at the E4 Tunnel Barracks, the barracks the caller named when speaking to Wayne's Drains. The charge of impersonating an officer, a misdemeanor, carries a penalty of a fine of up to $400 or up to one year in prison. As he did in the State House when Romney was governor, Garrity plays the role of gatekeeper on the presidential campaign. Frequently seen in a pressed suit with a coiled earpiece in his ear and a microphone tucked into his sleeve, he shadows Romney at his public campaign appearances, shuttles him from event to event, and carefully monitors Romney's dealings with the public and the media trailing the campaign. This week, Romney's campaign denied that the Times reporter's license had been checked or that his vehicle was pulled over. The reporter, Mark Leibovich, is sticking by his report. In the Massachusetts incident, the purported trooper says in the call that he was driving through the Ted Williams Tunnel and was unable to pull over the driver who was cutting off cars. Later, he adds: "Unfortunately, I could not catch up with him, but I did witness him driving like a maniac through the tunnel, cutting off vehicles, and I just had the Mass. Pike department of video surveillance go through the video so I could pull the license plate number and the company name off this vehicle." Barme's wife contacted the State Police and provided the caller's cellphone number, which has since been disconnected. In 2004, the Globe reported, Garrity was cited and fined for driving a Crown Victoria with red and blue lights mounted in the grill, a siren, a PA system, and strobe lights; and for having a nightstick and identification showing a State Police patch that read "Official Business." Garrity was also cited for having windows that were more deeply tinted than state law permits. Who is in-charge, Mitt or ???? Does Mitt believe in "background checks" ???
Five sons. None in the military. Is that a problem come election day, if Romney got the nomination?
(Just asking.)
I'm sure much will be made of it. It's the old chicken hawk accusation, of course. People tried to whine about the Bush daughters too. Romney's sons didn't join the border patrol either so someone could whine about that too I suppose. What are you going to do? Whiners will be whiners.
No. Most people are not in the military. Most people are not brain surgeons either. You can honor a profession by acknowledging that it is a calling and not for everybody.
good golly gosh, I hope not. Shouldn't be, but you know how the double standard goes.
It’s a volunteer force. They chose not to volunteer. This may be an issue for some but I doubt it’s as serious as some would make it. The libs will try to make hay with it as have some of Mitt’s primary opponents but, I just don’t think it’s going to fly.
Certainly it's a problem because the Romney clan has a record of avoiding and criticizing military service...his old man, if you remember, claimed our fighting men "brainwashed" him on Vietnam. Romney himself sought and got a deferment as a "minister" during Vietnam, went to France for almost 3 years then returned to a high draft number when the lottery was started. (Muhammad Ali got stripped of his heavyweight title and almost went to jail for trying to get out of the draft as a "minister"). Now, admittedly, Romney was omitted because of his high number but, in the end, so was Bill Clinton. Both of them are draft evaders in my book!
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