romney wreaks havoc
by Graham Bradley
Published: January 26, 2008
Imagine you’re on a snowy football field, fourth down, fourth quarter, game’s tied, all your first string players are injured and you’ve got three seconds on the clock. The last two players you have are a ninety-seven pound nearsighted freshman used to playing in daylight and a well-acclimated two-hundred pound running back that has never dropped the ball, never missed a touchdown and never met a defense he couldn’t break. Who are you going to put in? That’s a tough one; better ask the other team what they think.
Rush Limbaugh, the single most formidable conservative superpower in America, has made a point that nobody can argue with, especially in light of the above scenario: you don’t take advice from your political enemies. I couldn’t agree more. It makes as much sense as letting the New York Giants choose which New England Patriots get to take the field next Sunday.
Based on that, I poise one question to you: why do you think the Democrats pretend to fear John McCain and do all they can to ignore Mitt Romney? Simple: Romney’s the political equivalent of a 19-0 quarterback with a golden arm and the ability to work with any group of people, even - and most importantly - his party opposites.
His record is spotless. Self-made multi-millionaire; business and law degrees from Harvard; created countless jobs in the private sector; saved scores upon scores of failing companies; saved the 2002 Olympics; fixed the fiscal problems in the state of Massachusetts. (That last one is on par with the aforementioned Pats letting Eli Manning play as their quarterback against the Giants.) Yet somehow this is a sin because in the process of creating a hundred jobs, he had to terminate one.
Worse yet, on the campaign trail he is attacked for his financial stability and the contributions to his own advertising, so as to prevent him from owing favors to anyone in office. Yeah. Sounds like a real scumbag. A guy who pays his own way? What a tool.
In politics, mudslinging is the name of the game; opposition research is just as important as lying about your own past. So what do you do when you come up against a candidate who doesn’t have to lie? You lie for him. That’s why the media, the Democrats, and sadly, many in the Republican Party in favor of other candidates, have taken to calling Romney a flip-flopper. One might as well chuck ice against a tile wall and hope it sticks. (Psychologists call this behavior ‘obsessive-repetitive’; doing or saying something over and over and over again in hopes of making it real.)
Any “successful” attack on Romney as a flip-flopper has consistently lacked one thing: the oft-forgotten yet ever-essential Jenga block called “context.” Romney’s campaigning record, business record and executive record are all consistent. The only thing he has ever changed on is abortion, and even then he has switched from “I’m not going to change the standing law” to “I believe abortion is wrong.” He’s even admitted his position in the past was wrong, and this while he was governing Massachusetts, not running for president.
Romney might not have the charismatic celebrity endorsement of Chuck Norris, but he does have Ann Coulter. Say what you will about her far-right rhetoric, Ann Coulter is a well-researched, well-educated woman who would not throw her endorsement to a flip-flopping candidate. That’s why she hasn’t endorsed McCain (amnesty, tax cut opposition, Gang of 14) or Huckabee (tax hiking, genuine flip-flopping on tax hikes, religious hysteria) or Giuliani (fiscal conservative with social liberal positions) or Paul (works in Washington/lives in Wonderland).
Which is a more serious endorsement? That of a true conservative with a solid brain between her ears? Or a guy whose signature TV show name can be rearranged to spell “Karate Wrangler Sex?”
In fine, Mitt Romney has run a consistent campaign based on conservative principles. If his list of weaknesses amounts to having made too much money through intellect and discipline, as well as having admitted he was wrong when he realized he was wrong, then by all means, tear him apart.
Just don’t touch the hair.
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