Mitt is not my first choice, but my reservations have nothing to do with his polish. Some people just speak that way, complete with punctuation. No ums, errs, sentence fragments. Even complex sentences with a parenthetical thought inserted comes out grammatically pristine. I know a couple people like that. I think Mitt is one of them. It's an amazing experience to converse with them.
I can be like that in terms of articulateness. It comes from practice. Churchill used to say his speeches over and over out loud. The funny thing is that he also practiced, out loud, his “extemporaneous” responses to likely questions, attacks, perspectives expressed and the like. Many good trial lawyers spend a lot of time talking to themselves. It works.
Perhaps you’re right about Mitt just speaking that way — but it still sounds manufactured. It doesn’t help that he lacks a bit of credibility on conservative issues because of his tenure in Mass.
I could likely vote for Mitt if he was nominated — though I think I could probably vote for most of these guys with my conscience intact. I like something about each candidate — and dislike things about each (except possibly Thompson, who I have trouble disliking at all).
I like Giuliani and McCain on national security issues, I like Huckabee on social issues, and I lean toward Mitt on fiscal issues. But, they all have GLARING weaknesses as well.
Thompson’s my candidate in the primary because I like him in ALL three areas — fiscal, social and national defense.
H