Earlier today on MSNBC I heard the ineffably banal Michael Steele, former chairman of the ineffably hysterical RNC, remark that Mitt Romney's latest absurdity--Trumpism--would soon pass and then Romney could get on to more important things.
But that's the point, or rather Steele's typically missed point.
With Romney, these absurdities never end. Whether it is uttering a peculiar affection for firing people (and during a recession!), or characterizing $374,000 of income as chicken feed (and during a recession!), or casually mentioning his wife's dual Cadillacs (and during a recession!), or dismissing the poor as afterthoughts or humanizing ruthless corporations or attempting $10,000 bets on national television, Romney's dark absurdities just don't stop.
And they're not only mistakes--blunders that inevitably result from the relentless pressures of a six-year campaign. When Romney isn't committing serial gaffes he's executing some studied stupidity. To wit, the Trump affair, or the Grenell debacle, both of them premeditated, unforced errors that when taken alone are relatively harmless. Accumulated, however, and on top of the gaffes, they're lethal.
All of which is to say, the Trump absurdity won't stop here, today. Tomorrow it will be something else. It won't be the Trump thing, but it will be something--something just as lethal, just as absurd, just as Mittwitted.
I get the same feeling about him as I had for W. Logic tells me he must have an above average brain with an above average education combined with some very sophisticated experience.
But my lying eyes tell me he couldn't run a two-chair barbershop.
Then I realize that his business experience is akin to Tony Soprano paying the congressman to build bogus HUD housing with bogus contracts, then paying his guys to steal all the copper wiring.
If Mitt took over a tw-chair barbershop, he would hire someone to cut every expense that would not result in immediate closure: insurance, two months rent, maintenance, licenses and so on. He would pay his friend at the bank a big fee to get as big a debt as possible annd take a percentage of the loan as a bonus. He would then hire someone to cook the sales books. Then he would hire someone to sell the sham company.
he wouldn't have to know how to do anything because ... ya know ... he knows people.
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | May 30, 2012 at 03:49 PM
Actually, I think there are two types of errors that he keeps committing. And by the way, I just realized the mddle 4 letters of that word is "mitt".
The first type of error is composed of his out of touch arrogance. You listed several above, but they mainly refer to his wealth. He actually believes that wealth makes the man and that by showing off how wealthy he is, he is showing how wonderful he is. In his world, wealth is the only marker.
And those errors start to add up time and again. To some, even us lower peons, there is at first a kind of awed response to this, but after a while it gets more and more tiring and has a counterproductive ringto it.
The second type of error is triggered by his spinelessness. He can't stand up for himself or any significant values because it might cost him some votes. The Trump affair is symbolic of that. He just can't come out and say that Trump is a "bloviating ignoramus" and the whole birther consipracy is ridiculous because he is afraid. Same reason he couldn't immediately respond to the woman who told him she considered Obama a traitor. Same reason he couldn't challenge those at a debate who booed a soldier. Same reason he couldn't criticize Limbaugh for his remarks about Fluke.
He is, at his core, a coward. He wouldn't even take over Bain Capital unless he received in writing an assurance that if it didn't succeed he would not be held responsible.
I am sure that there are people at the IObama campaign that are keeping close track of these errors and they will be used to full advantage in September and October.
Posted by: japa21 | May 30, 2012 at 04:17 PM
Japa21, you captured Mitt Romney more accurately than anyone I've read thus far. You have my sympathy, for you have been fated to perceive his essential craven nature more clearly than most. This cannot be a pleasant experience. Please redeem this trauma by continuing to write about it so more and more can see this man for who he is.
Posted by: JD | May 30, 2012 at 05:35 PM
JD, thank you for the compliment. Sometimes we get so caught up in the specific Mittwitting that we fail to see the pattern. You know, the whole forest for the trees issue. When we step back and look at all the events combined, a very specific pattern emerges.
Posted by: japa21 | May 30, 2012 at 07:26 PM
What wonderful comments to yet another excellent column. You can bet I will use "Mittwit" very soon with my winger relatives!
Posted by: SueMe | May 30, 2012 at 07:32 PM