Greetings from Massachusetts, the home of the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, the near-perfect New England Patriots, and the not-even-close-to-perfect presidential candidate Mitt Romney. For reasons beyond his ken, the American public never totally embraced Mitt. Perhaps they were afraid of getting inadvertently slimed by whatever industrial-strength hair gel the man uses. Or maybe he reminded them of the unctuous undertaker who laid grandma to rest in a pine box that he insisted was cherry. Or possibly it was just the fact that the former governor of this liberal state is, to quote the New York Times’ Gail Collins, “a compulsive panderer with no central core.” Collins amusingly breaks down the breakdown of the Romney campaign in the following op-ed piece:
Oh, Mitt, Mitt, Mitt.
Losing Mitt Romney from the presidential race is not just a matter of another Republican biting the dust. It’s all those dozens and dozens of future incarnations that we may never have a chance to meet. I was hoping that someday we’d get a Libertarian Mitt, or maybe a cowboy.
Worst of all, I’m going to have to get through the rest of the year without ever again referring to the fact that Romney once drove to Canada with the family dog, Seamus, strapped to the roof of the car.
Mitt invested more than $40 million of his own money and $50 million of other people’s on his race, which comes down to about $8 million per state won (North Dakota says thank you!) or around $324,000 per delegate. It was an incredible bargain compared to the $60 million Rudy Giuliani spent on zero delegates, but still not exactly the kind of return on investment he was used to getting in the private sector.
“We’re going to keep on battling. We’re going to go all the way to the convention,� he told his cheering supporters Tuesday night as his loyal wife, Ann, stood by looking somewhat unenthusiastic.
Never Say Die Mitt made his way to Washington for the Conservative Political Action Committee’s annual convention on Thursday, where he was supposed to nail down his new identity as the standard-bearer for the right-wing talk-show brigade.
Then somewhere backstage, he took on that eerie glow that precedes a personality change, and it was Cut Your Losses Romney who walked onstage. This was a pretty quick turnaround. Not so dramatic as the time Moderate Mitt (“I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush�) morphed into the guy who said: “I take my inspiration from Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush.� But still. [full text]
Kmareka.com 
Ms Collins has written a brilliant column that should be a classic of political observation and understanding. She captured the essence (or lack of same) in the man and the wannabe “leader” of us all. I was always struck by a superficiality in Mr. Romney that seemed to know no bounds, a kind of “tell them anything to get elected” approach that was so thick as to be almost palpable at every breath he took. Perhaps how superficial Mr. Romney is, can be seen in his major supporters, the equally superficial Rush Limbaugh, always a mile wide and an inch deep, or the bleating Ms Ann Coulter, the queen of hyperbole,and one of the few to recognize “substance” in Mr. Romney–or was it another way to get herself just a bit more attention. Mitt, it is good to see thee gone!
As a conservative leaning person…you could not pay me enough money to vote for Mitt Romney. It’s one thing to be a conservative. It’s another thing to be whatever you think will get you elected.
Conservatives have principles (as do liberals) and they just never bought into the various turnarounds that Romney offered.
I may not like Clinton or Obama and I might not be so enamored with McCain or Huckabee, but I think if you asked them about certain issues today, they’d give you a similar answer tomorrow. Not so with Romney and so his fate is a good thing for the American public.
We need principled leaders willing to stick to their guns, not people willing to stick to their principles so long said principles lead to election victories.
Mitt Romney didn’t suspend his campaign because we are at war, he suspended his campaign because he was losing.
Nancy, you mean he–gasp!–lied? How can that be?
Say it ain’t so!