A day of awkwardness with Mitt Romney (Casual interactions expose his awkward, corny personality)

Washington Post ^ | 6/17/2011 | Dana Milbank

[Qbert]

Mitt Romney, the leading contender to become President Obama’s Republican opponent next year, had just finished working the room at Blake’s Creamery here when he paused for a photo with the restaurant’s owner, Ann Mirageas, and decided to tell her a joke.

“I saw the young man over there with eggs Benedict, with hollandaise sauce,” he said. “And I was going to suggest to you that you serve your eggs with hollandaise sauce in hubcaps. Because there’s no plates like chrome for the hollandaise.”

The proprietor laughed weakly. “Good luck to you,” Mirageas said.

The hubcap joke must have killed in Michigan in the 1950s, when Romney was a boy. What’s odd is that he’s still making such jokes.

[Snip]

In formal settings — [Snip] — Romney is confident and competent. But in casual moments, such as Tuesday morning’s retail politics in New Hampshire, his weirdness comes through — equal parts “Leave It to Beaver” corniness and social awkwardness.

He greets a man perusing shelves of a hardware store: “Shopping here today?”

He notes the lack of “guy waitresses” at a diner and says of the long skirts worn by the middle-aged wait staff: “Oh, this is the Hooters equivalent.”

He talks about the weak economy with the proprietors of a feed shop, then abruptly pivots: “Okay, so what do you do about mosquito control? . . . This has been a mosquito-infested year with all the moisture. They flew away with my dog.”

[Snip]

He admires the Texaco “Fire Chief” gas pump and a jukebox (“You guys hear this music? ‘I want a caveman, I want a caveman.’ ”). Posing for a photo with his arms around the waitresses, he suddenly jumps forward, pretending somebody pinched his bottom. “Oh my goodness gracious!” he exclaims, then, “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

[Diogenesis]

The NEED for carpetbagger, backstabber Romney to CONTROL also did
manifest itself with his fake badges (in two states
he was caught, he probably uses them in all states)

Romney aide’s bogus badges: Sources detail ‘illegal’ security tactic

" Boston Herald - Friday, July 20, 2007
In an apparent violation of the law, a controverisal aide to ex-Gov. Mitt Romney
created phony law enforcement badges that he and other staffers used on the campaign trail
to strong-arm reporters, avoid paying tolls and trick security guards
into giving them immediate access to campaign venues, sources told the Herald.
“They (the aides) knew the badges were fake and probably illegal,”
said a presidential campaign source who asked for anonymity
because the story could damage the individual’s career.
Two additional sources confirmed that the badges - described as bright silver plates with a state seal attached -
were first created and used by Garrity while Romney was still governor."

FAKE TROOPER (and Chief of Operations)

More here

More here - Romney aide is the focus of probe

Romney aide accused of faking badges

[unkus]

I didn’t know that. Who do you support?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

[cpanter]

“He’s a sleaze, but he’s just reporting what he heard.”

No, Milibank’s article isn’t a report of the events. It is a report of Milibank’s personal thoughts of the events. He can’t be trusted. Look at some of the words:

awkwardness
weakly
weirdness
corny
awkwardness (again)
awkward
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha” in quotes?
Strained schtick
Struggling
attempted regular guy talk

Milibank also tries to paint him like he needs a “stupid” sign. Witness: “To a man wearing a “Joe Gauci Landscaping” T-shirt: “You do some landscaping work?” Somehow, this is both newsworthy and awkward. And I have no idea why.... except for the narrative.

[Qbert]

“No, Milibank’s article isn’t a report of the events. It is a report of Milibank’s personal thoughts of the events. He can’t be trusted.”

If the article was merely Milbank’s opinion, that would be one thing. But this piece is largely filled with direct quotes from Romney. Obviously, Milbank’s a scummy partisan from the Compost, and he’s going to fill in adjectives to describe his interpretation of the events- but I think the quotes speak for themselves.

I understand- we’re looking for a presidential candidate- not a comedian. But there is a pattern developing here- witness Romney’s recent “joke” about being “unemployed” to a bunch of people and out of work, and really struggling. I’ll let you be the judge how the MSM will attack him for statements like this if he gets the Republican nomination...

[newzjunkey]

Hubcaps are chrome. Mitt's making a play on words. "There's no place like home" vs. "There's no plate like chrome."

It's painful but benign!

[newzjunkey]

“Because there’s no plates like chrome for the hollandaise.” = “There’s no place like home for the holidays.”

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

What? You mean a lying, two-faced RINO is actually being inconvenienced...?

"Gee, that's a shame."

/Seinfeld

[cpanter]

Oh, I probably would agree that he is corny and all that... and add to the fact that I wouldn’t vote for him unless I had to.... but I still think the story is ridiculous. Just the idea of Milibank walking behind Romney or any Republican, and then judging each interaction is ridiculous.

But here is where I have to still disagree. He did use quotes from Romney. Yes. And every single one backed up his theme. If you believe this article represents what really happened, then Romney is unable to utter even a single appropriate sentence to others.

But who cares really, he isn’t going to win. Every “frontrunner” (wapo’s term, not mine) will each have their time in the barrel. It’s going to get ugly when a true frontrunner emerges.