Dog Bites Man
Posted by Greg on December 15, 2005
As predicted, Mitt Romney isn’t weeking reelection as governor of Massachussets. This only stands to reason given his behavior of late which has been very little like a moderate governor and very much like a rightward pandering presidential primary candidate.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican who has been a major opponent of the state’s marriage-equality law, said Wednesday that he will not seek re-election next year.
The announcement fueled speculation that Romney intends to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. Though the governor said this year that he was “testing the waters” for a possible run, he was not specific Wednesday about his plans.
But don’t just take my word for it:
In a Captain Renault moment, we were all shocked, shocked when Mitt Romney announced that he would not run for reelection in 2006 as governor of Massachusetts… thus freeing himself to run for the presidency in 2008.
The New York Times has a longish analysis of his various feathers and black eyes. He has been moving to the right on a host of issues lately, clearly trying to challenge other Republican contenders (former Virginia Gov. George Allen, former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani, possibly Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and of course current pain in the butt from Arizona, Sen. John McCain) from the right. But Romney’s earlier, more socially liberal positions may cause a problem, unless he confronts them head-on and explains why he recently changed his mind on, e.g., abortion, stem-cell research, global warming, drilling in ANWR, and other hot-button issues.
Strategically, Romney doesn’t have to worry about losing his second term, or trying to be a governor with his attention divided as he runs in 2008, fueling criticism during a presidential run.
Mitt Romney has announced that he will not be running for a second term as governor of Massachusetts. The unstated implication being that he’s so unpopular in Massachusetts that he would lose the reelection campaign, which result would kill his 2008 presidential aspirations.
Unfortunately, some of the criticism isn’t particularly meaningful, such as
Good riddance to that (hiss, spit) Republican. Didn’t accomplish anything except not raise taxes for all his wealthy buddies and see the MCAS scores go up in most schools. Standardized testing is racist and classist anyhow, so it’s not like MCAS scores mean anything. Elitist. By the way…did you know that he’s a MORMON? They’re a CULT, you know. Intolerant white, racist heretics.
Whose intolerant and racist? Wonder if she’s as charitable when the Mormon in question is Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Or is he acceptable because he makes Frist froth?
UPDATE:
I’ve edited the above slightly – looking at the original, the “his” crazymonk referred to wasn’t him but was intended to mean criticism against Romney – the antecedant wasn’t meant to infer a blogger. But it wasn’t clear so I’ve removed the ambiguity.
Also, Be says hers is best taken as satire, though a marker would help infrequent readers.
crazymonk said
I think you mean “some of *the* criticism,” not “some of his criticism” — because that implies that I was the one who said the racist statement.
crazymonk said
Or anti-mormon statement, whatever you want to call it.
Greg said
Yep – that should read “the” not “his.” I’ll correct it in the text. Thanks for the heads up!
Be said
Greg: if you’d have read my full entry, you’d maybe have realized that what I’d written was a parody of what I hear on a day to day basis. Would you mind correcting your post or getting rid of my “not very meaningful” criticism, please?
Greg said
I did read the full post – there was nothing there indicating it was tongue in cheek, and the comments about rent control, Kyoto, etc., were in line with the rest of the post’s content. If the tone of the individual post is different than the site as a whole, I’m happy to hear it. Thanks!
Be said
First sentence:
“Always wanted a program on public access or some indie radio station. I could see myself reading the news in a very nasal voice, injecting talking points like those I typically hear in my neighborhood:
Last sentence:
“Could I manage not to crack up for the entire broadcast? Don’t know. Better to keep the text-blogging pokerface, then.”
Maybe a bit too subtle for some. I apologize. Best wishes.