Friday, September 20, 2002
Michael on Mitt: Michael, a Hub Blog reader and Mitt supporter, sends along this analysis of Mitt Romney:
" ... Mitt ought to run away with this thing, but I don't think he will. My biggest fear, which I think you touched on, is that he has absolutely atrocious political instincts, which will do him in eventually. For example, I remember one of the debates with Fat Boy (Ted Kennedy) in the Senate election. The question, which I can't recall now, in some way required Mitt to go on the record as to whether or not he was a Reagan supporter. Mitt got that scared look in his eyes and assured all that in no way was he a Reagan supporter. Well, Ronald Reagan carried Massachusetts twice. Look it up. PLENTY of Mass voters admired Reagan. Why didn't Mitt know that? Why didn't he embrace Reagan at Fat Boy's expense? It was because, alas, his political instincts are all wrong. Unfortunately, I don't think that's changed."
Except for calling Ted 'Fat Boy', Hub Blog agrees with everything here. Indeed, many people forget (and Hub Blog is one of them) that Reagan did, in fact, carry Massachusetts twice in the 1980 and 1984 general elections (link is courtesy of Michael). Meanwhile, the GOP has won the last three gubernatorial races in Massachusetts. What does it mean? It means that the average voter is not nearly as liberal/Democratic as the hard-core shock-troops now controlling Beacon Hill. As Seth Gitell has pointed out (see item below), the majority of voters in Massachusetts are now independents. Shannon O'Brien gets it. Does Mitt?
" ... Mitt ought to run away with this thing, but I don't think he will. My biggest fear, which I think you touched on, is that he has absolutely atrocious political instincts, which will do him in eventually. For example, I remember one of the debates with Fat Boy (Ted Kennedy) in the Senate election. The question, which I can't recall now, in some way required Mitt to go on the record as to whether or not he was a Reagan supporter. Mitt got that scared look in his eyes and assured all that in no way was he a Reagan supporter. Well, Ronald Reagan carried Massachusetts twice. Look it up. PLENTY of Mass voters admired Reagan. Why didn't Mitt know that? Why didn't he embrace Reagan at Fat Boy's expense? It was because, alas, his political instincts are all wrong. Unfortunately, I don't think that's changed."
Except for calling Ted 'Fat Boy', Hub Blog agrees with everything here. Indeed, many people forget (and Hub Blog is one of them) that Reagan did, in fact, carry Massachusetts twice in the 1980 and 1984 general elections (link is courtesy of Michael). Meanwhile, the GOP has won the last three gubernatorial races in Massachusetts. What does it mean? It means that the average voter is not nearly as liberal/Democratic as the hard-core shock-troops now controlling Beacon Hill. As Seth Gitell has pointed out (see item below), the majority of voters in Massachusetts are now independents. Shannon O'Brien gets it. Does Mitt?
