The most impressive thing about Mitt Romney is his clarity of mind.

[underpants]

David Brooks explains why Romney, as the "See I really LOOK like a Republican candidate don't I?", can't win the general election. To some degree this covers their entire field.

January 1, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Road to Nowhere
By DAVID BROOKS
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinion/01brooks.html?pagewanted=print

The most impressive thing about Mitt Romney is his clarity of mind. When he set out to pursue his party’s nomination, he studied the contours of the Republican coalition and molded himself to its forms.

And he has turned himself into the party’s fusion candidate. Some of his rivals are stronger among social conservatives. Others are stronger among security conservatives, but no candidate has a foot in all camps the way Romney does. No candidate offends so few, or is the acceptable choice of so many.

If Romney is the general election candidate, he will face hostility from independent voters, who value authenticity. He will face hostility from Hispanic voters, who detest his new immigration positions. He will face great hostility in the media. Even conservative editorialists at places like The Union Leader in New Hampshire and The Boston Herald find his flip-flopping offensive.

But his biggest problem is a failure of imagination. Market research is a snapshot of the past. With his data-set mentality, Romney has chosen to model himself on a version of Republicanism that is receding into memory. As Walter Mondale was the last gasp of the fading New Deal coalition, Romney has turned himself into the last gasp of the Reagan coalition.

That coalition had its day, but it is shrinking now. The Republican Party is more unpopular than at any point in the past 40 years. Democrats have a 50 to 36 party identification advantage, the widest in a generation. The general public prefers Democratic approaches on health care, corruption, the economy and Iraq by double-digit margins. Republicans’ losses have come across the board, but the G.O.P. has been hemorrhaging support among independent voters. Surveys from the Pew Research Center and The Washington Post, Kaiser Foundation and Harvard University show that independents are moving away from the G.O.P. on social issues, globalization and the roles of religion and government.



The leaders of the Republican coalition know Romney will lose. But some would rather remain in control of a party that loses than lose control of a party that wins. Others haven’t yet suffered the agony of defeat, and so are not yet emotionally ready for the trauma of transformation. Others still simply don’t know which way to turn.

[yourout]

1. If Brooks wrote it.......I don't want to read it.

[Up2Late]

10. Your loss, it's probably the best thing he's written so far this year...

...of course it IS the first thing he's written this year.

But I understand your view, David Brooks usually makes me vomit too, but this one is very pessimistic towards Mittens.

[yourout]

11. I refuse to read or listen to George Will, David Brooks, and Bob Novak.

[Didereaux]

2. 'Clarity of Mind' can also be a result of there not being a mind to see.

[insanad]

3. Erasable Slate,, a little out of date, but portable

Mitt Romney is one of those mannequin type dolls that you can dress up in any Republican outfit you want and he still looks like a Republican. Like a vapid Barbie, he has no brains but the public is more interested in the outfit and hairdo than the empty head. He has a hunting outfit, a casual canvassing/meet the common man outfit, a Sunday Go To Meeting outfit, and his Presidential outfit, among others that George H.W. Bush and the Bushistanians like to dress him in. I highly suspect there's a little Carl Rove in his colon, making him talk and mimic whatever the latest Repug polls are suggesting is the most popular and vague value/du jour of the day (I know that was redundant).

Yes, he's a little outdated. He's a little old fashioned in that funky Reaganesque 50's sit com sort of way. Yes he's a little more than stupid and dull and easily duped, but he's the perfect spokesmodel for the Republican voters, who themselves have had to embrace an equally clueless and ill informed, outdated mode of thinking in order to cling to what they hope are the values of their silly party platitudes.

They needed an empty chalkboard slate to write their latest values on. He comes with a foam eraser so when they need to change, it's just a flick of the wrist and he's ready to recieve the newest idea written in white chalk so it's not permanant.

[underpants]

4. The most absolutely perfect analysis on Romney I have seen

On the mark!! :thumbsup:

[insanad]

6. Check out the ads that come up at the bottom of this reply...

Dry erase boards, chalk boards, etc.. That's funny. THey could put one on Mitt's shoulders and just write whatever they want him to represent at that moment.
Here's a piece I wrote a while back on Pinnochio, the wooden puppet who just wants to become a real boy....

"Lying for the LORD"...Pinnochio the wooden puppet wants to become a "real boy"
Posted by insanad in General Discussion: Politics
Thu Dec 20th 2007, 08:54 PM
Pinnochio wants to become a "Real Boy" but he just can't stop lying and so his nose grows and grows. He can't help it, he comes from a long line of such purveyors of obfuscation and revisionist history and he's been so well trained in the art that it's second nature to change positions, to re position his position, to deny, cover up and feign ignorance at the lies or inconsistancies. Yes, he's a dyed in the wool McMormon, but that makes him ripe for the kind of distortion necessary to be the perfect wooden puppet for the Republican Puppetmasters.

Whenever I see Mitt Romney, even from when he was helping SLC with it's Olympic Games challenges I get the distinct impression of a very slick used car salesman and the American people are the suckers. Maybe it isn't his oily countenence and nasaly tone but more the sanctimonious sneer and practiced nods. He comes from a long line of Mormons who've perfected this "Public Persona" in their weekly meetings, BYU and televised broadcasts. That half turn at the podium and head nod that suggests he's coming down a notch to casual, "I'm going to let you in on the secret" pose.

I grew up Mormon and saw this all the time, especially in the church heirarchy. The more they blink their eyes in a practiced show of "Deep spiritual sincerity" and soften the voice to a BYU pentameter and sing songy tone, the bigger the lie they're telling. The Mormon leaders are so skilled at this tactic andit's been practiced from the inception of the church by their biggest leader/liar, Joseph Smith. Brigham Young mastered it better than any in his time and his manipulation of the press and our govt. for his dirty and corrupt secrets and power is legendary. The documentation is overwhelming on all these counts. I believe Mitt Romney is just the latest puppet mouthpiece in this church's history of lies, manipulation, and absolute distortion of truth, history, or fact. They invented obsfucation. Go to http://www.mormoncurtain.com / and do a little browsing.

The Mormon people aren't bad, just their doctrine and religious practices. Beware America if you are foolish enough to support or elect such a charletan. He has been conditioned from birth to close his eyes to reality, fact, or reason. He'll jettison loyalties faster than grease through a goose when it comes to holding true to any value he professes at at the moment. He's a puppet of the Repub. party and I highly suspect under all that makeup is JEB BUSH, just waiting for his turn in the drivers seat.

If you want to know how many Mormon Leaders have practiced "lying for the Lord" in the past, here's an in-depth link. This man's experience is very common among those who try to leave or make sense of the church doctrine. http://www.exmormon.org/whylft149.htm

[NJCher]

12. that's very revealing

You explained a lot of things about Mittens that I couldn't quite articulate.



Cher

[Up2Late]

7. "...He comes with a foam eraser..." I just have to say, That's Brilliant writing!

Makes me wish I could K&R a comment! :yourock:

[0007]

5. Mitt Romney is a very clever public speaker as is Huckabee. nt

[katty]

8. +his Eddie Bauer, LLBean, Mr. Dockers ken-doll smile

[Octafish]

9. Empty is clear.

It's like outer space. And, apart from the lies, David Brooks' mind is an empty void, as well.

[NJCher]

13. I know a couple Romney supporters

They're Reagan lovers, 80-something years old....



Cher

[Joe Bacon]

14. Mitt is THE LIVING KEN DOLL

And they don't come out more PLASTIC than ol' Mitt!

[blondie58]

15. Funny, I thought that the most impressive thing about him was

his ability to 'appear' as the perfect candidate- never a hair out of place, always looking presidential, practically a Ken Doll.

[yurbud]

16. This is why GOP is so invested in success of Schwarzenegger--he's GOP 2.0

Corporatist economics, libertarian on social issues.

and since that almost got him tarred and feathered, a thin veneer of environmentalism.