An early parallel between republicanland 2012 and 2008. It is NOT flattering to bain romney!
As we all know, in 2008, john mcsame wanted his old pal joe lieberman to be his running mate. When he was told in NO uncertain terms that lieberman was unacceptable to the far right of his party, he showed his total lack of conviction, courage and leadership and submitted to the pressure from his campaign manager and made the disastrous choice of sarah palin(comparison) as his running mate.
So, instead of standing up to the religious right zealots and showing the leadership that we SHOULD expect from a president, he folded like a poker player with a 7 high hand who is looking at 3 aces from a competitor.
Fast forward to this year and bain romney's handling of the grenell situation. Now, I'm sure that most of us agree that grenell is an ass. His Twitter account is chock full of idiotic and misogynistic rants and he was one of the architects and apologists of the horrendous foreign policy of the most inept and incompetent mis-administration in history.
That's ok with the faction of the republican party that has evolved (oops, I mean "intelligently designed"
into the teabagger movement. grenell is unacceptable because he's a "hummasechel". bain romney and his handlers caved to the baggers. I don't give a rat's ass that romney said that he wanted grennel to stay on the job. You don't want someone to stay if you've told him NOT TO SPEAK in a conference call. You sure as hell don't do it if that conference call is in this individual's area of alleged expertise.
Both men had the opportunity to stand up to the extremists in his party. Both men had the opportunity to show the American Public what a PRESIDENT looks like and how they would lead. Neither man would EVER have gotten my vote, but both men had the opportunity to earn at least some level of my respect. Both men showed that they were essentially cowards. Both men showed that they not only didn't have the courage of their convictions, but that they (especially romney) had no convictions in the first place.
At least mcsame didn't speak out of both sides of his mouth. Even after palin(comparison) turned out to be such an awful selection, he still continued to speak highly of her and show her respect. At least he did in public. I'm stunned to find myself saying that john mcsame showed more leadership in his situation than bain romney has in his.
bain romney 's handlers told grennel that his sexual orientation was a non-issue. They then cow-towed to the rightist fundies. They didn't confront the homophobes, they were attempting to let it "blow over". They were too stupid to realize that to their fundie/bagger base, homosexuality NEVER "blows over".
The romney campaign, continuing their lack of awareness that in the 24 hour news cycle and the availability of speeches and appearances through the "tubes" of the internet, fails to realize that every thing is out there and preserved for all to see. They've further pissed off the LGBT community by their surrender to the religious right bigots and their shabby treatment of "the gay guy". Their statements that grennel's sexuality is a non-issue and then romney's statement that he wanted him to stay on the job only make the bagger base distrust him further. Talking out of both sides of your mouth when you have a tin ear rarely works out well.
The parallel is, to me, very clear. Two nominees for the republican party have shown that they are afraid of the bigoted and deliberately misinformed loud mouths of their party. The party that loves to act as though America is never safe unless one of theirs is in power, puts forth"leaders" who can't stand up to bullies. We are expected to believe that the people who won't protect their own staff will defend a nation of some 360 million people. Obviously they can't correct 2008, but it amazes me that they are so ready to name as their "standard bearer", someone who has no "standards" at all and can't "bear" 3 pizzas all the way into a fire house. This is what has become of the party of presidents like Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ike. The party of the likes of Everett Dirkson and Margaret Chase Smith and Henry Cabot Lodge.
One primary word comes to mind when I think of this.
Shit!
This party deserves to be soundly repudiated from president to dog catcher this fall.
That's my 2 cents, and quite possibly overpriced at that!
PEACE!
= new reply since forum marked as read
You make some very valid points in your OP. I hope it gets read by many. 
Julie
