"If he could have found someone else to take his place... he would have been ecstatic to step aside. He is a very private person who loves his family deeply and wants to be with them, but he has deep faith in God and he loves his country, but he doesn’t love the attention."Imagine what it would have been like if Mitt Romney had broken open and expressed all of this, but maybe that was inherently impossible. A self-effacing modesty was baked in.
In this context, here's a Ross Douthat column from last August, prompting Romney to reveal his Mormon faith:
The broader Mormon experience... could help make the case for his philosophy as well as illuminate his human core.... Conservatism sometimes makes an idol of the rugged individual, but at its richest and deepest it valorizes local community instead — defending the family and the neighborhood, the civic association and the church. And there is no population in America that lives out this vision of the good society quite like the Latter-day Saints.Imagine if all of that were opened out and shown to the American people. Well, you can't. I can't. Not in one modest man's campaign. Not with all the predictable pushback.
Mormonism is a worldlier, more business-friendly religion than traditional Christianity, but it does not glorify wealth for wealth’s sake... Mormonism represents “our country’s longest experiment with communitarian idealism, promoting an ethic of frontier-era burden-sharing that has been lost in contemporary America.”
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52 comments:
I'm sorry I wasted my campaign contributions and vote.
I remember Aesop and the fable of the sour grapes. Is Tagg a reliable proxy for his father, I wonder?
So now you have a Tagg tag.
Needs "Self-serving bullshit" tag.
I want my all my political leaders to be reluctant warrior-servants with strong ties to the civil society apart from the government-media-academia axis.
If this was Romney's true feelings about the presidency, then he should have (1) stepped aside, or (2) ran a campaign on damn-the-torpedoes-I-don't-care-if-I-win-I'm-here-on-principle.
But we got neither. We got a timid campaign by a candidate who didn't either want it so bad he could taste it or didn't risk it all in an attack-based** strategy. Romney played defense the whole time.
** By "attack-based" I DO NOT mean negative campaigning.
Shorter Mitt Romney: "I didn't want to be President anyway."
Sort of like Pee Wee Herman's famous "I meant to do that" line, but with much higher stakes.
" Blogger somefeller said...
Shorter Mitt Romney: "I didn't want to be President anyway."
Sort of like Pee Wee Herman's famous "I meant to do that" line, but with much higher stakes. "
I wouldn't expect you to understand such a person. You prefer the liar who tells you what you want to hear, whether or not there is any possibility of reality in what is said.
You'll get the reality and will be astonished when it arrives.
If it is true, which would explain a lot, and it was told in the campaign, how would it matter?
The media would use it to attempt to destroy him, as they did everything else and the Democratic voter fraud would have assured it didn't matter. We are pass the time when we can afford to be civil or nice in dealing with the left.
Like Hell, Maguro's right. Tagg wants to work as a consultant and the Gray Lady is more than happy to help if it makes the republicans and the Conservatives look bad.
Nobody thought Romney wasn't in it to win during the primaries.
And keep in mind this is more of the Gray Lady's FUD - like telling us Zero won by a huge margin.
somefeller said...
Shorter Mitt Romney: "I didn't want to be President anyway."
Sort of like Pee Wee Herman's famous "I meant to do that" line, but with much higher stakes.
Fluke you.
Just like some phony folksy's nonsense about people are dumb because he says so.
Just like Hatman.
I am not sorry I voted for this honorable man. I didn't need to be told explicitly what kind of a person he is. He knew he had better ideas than the narsci we have in the WH now and he wanted to offer his services to his country. But for the stupid voters, especially ladyparts people on the left who voted in gobs and anti-mormon people on the right who stayed home. He got less votes than McCain. How could that be?
And keep in mind this is more of the Gray Lady's FUD - like telling us Zero won by a huge margin.
Actually, it's the numbers tallied by election officials throughout the United States that tell us Obama won by a large margin. But they too are part of the vast conspiracy, right? The smarter Republican operatives out there (a cohort that doesn't include you, for obvious reasons) accept those numbers and are poring over them to see how to turn things around in upcoming election cycles. And they will eventually be successful, such is the cyclical nature of politics.
But don't give up, edutcher! The truth is out there!
reluctant warrior-servants
That attitude was nice in the past but is death to fundraising efforts, and money is practically everything now. No serious contributors or consultants want to support someone who doesn't have the fire in his belly and all that. So the responsible candidate stifles the Adlai-ish diffidence.
@pm317
How could that be?
He ran a bad campaign. I was on the mailing lists for both Romney & Obama. Obama out-emailed Romney 20 to 1.
I sent an email to the Romney campaign saying I'd like to work with them. I have 8 years at the Executive Office & did computer support for the Reagan-Bush 1 transition team. Total silence back.
Think about how awful Republican campaigns have been. How McCain's people backstabbed him & Palin in public after the campaign. How Dole's campaign turned a decent & funny man into a robot.
Republicans need to hold a con-fab for their consultants at Point Barrow, AK in the Artic winter, and then leave them there.
YoungHegelian said...
-------------
I got stuff from Romney, quite a lot of it and anybody googling my name can see I donated money to Hillary and am registered as an Indie in MD. Nothing from Obama -- to that extent they were smart not to send me anything.
It was not just the presidential campaign.
Here in New Mexico they had a first class candidate for Senator in Heather Wilson, but you would hardly have known she was running, and I understand New Mexico is not the only state this was happening.
@pm317,
I signed up for both, so I saw both campaigns at their best & worst.
If I was Obama, I wouldn't have targeted MD in any case. MD (where I live also) was always a forgone conclusion for Obama.
He got less votes than McCain. How could that be?
Because it didn't happen. It takes a long time to tally all the votes. Romney, in the end, got more than McCain by like a million votes. Should have been much more.
Odd that he would spend six years running for something he didn't really want, but I guess he had nothing better to do.
somefeller said...
And keep in mind this is more of the Gray Lady's FUD - like telling us Zero won by a huge margin.
Actually, it's the numbers tallied by election officials throughout the United States that tell us Obama won by a large margin.
Last I looked, 1.5% does not constitute a huge margin.
But they too are part of the vast conspiracy, right? The smarter Republican operatives out there (a cohort that doesn't include you, for obvious reasons) accept those numbers and are poring over them to see how to turn things around in upcoming election cycles.
No, those are the RINOs who don't want to rock the boat. As I say, 24% of the american people think the election was stolen, but since they violate some phony folksy's worldview, they're all classed as dumb.
And they will eventually be successful, such is the cyclical nature of politics.
But don't give up, edutcher! The truth is out there!
I know. That's what scares you, so you're here spreading FUD instead of at "work" at the "office".
Will the ((( bull shit ))) spewing forth from the Willard failed presidential campaign never end? Rhetorical.
It's Over ~ Go Home ~ Go!
Well, you can't. I can't.
Well I can. And to the extent that Mitt spoke GOP-isms instead of what Joseph Smith and his successors taught, I was disappointed in him.
The Mormon religion is infused with doctrine and teachings that push together the sides we see in politics today.
For example, to one side it says: you must be as productive as possible, and must work as hard as you can each day, to support yourself and others, and to gain the ability to support yourself and others.
Then just as seriously and openly it says to the other side: your wealth is not your own, and must be used as the Lord desires, which is to care for the poor and sick and afflicted.
Or as the Book of Mormons says:
19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.
21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
22 And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.
23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.
24 And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give.
25 And now, if ye say this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received.
26 And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.
27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.
I know. That's what scares you, so you're here spreading FUD instead of at "work" at the "office".
At my office, Christmas Eve is a holiday. That is true of many offices. I know it's been a long time since you've been employed, but it's hard to believe you didn't know that.
And people who hold improbable and factually unsupportable views about easily observable and measurable events (like, Obama stole the election, Romney really won!) are generally classified as dumb. But feel free to be a proud 24 percenter!
Like the Germans and hitler, we just proved ourselves unworthy of this saintly man.
What a load of crap. You don't make any of the professional moves he's made in life unless you think you're the shit and deserve to be at the top.
Alcibiades said...
---------
where do you see those final numbers?
shiloh said...
Will the ((( bull shit ))) spewing forth from the Willard failed presidential campaign never end? Rhetorical.
Will the ((( bull shit ))) spewing forth from the Obama failed presidential campaign never end? Rhetorical.
Asinine.
Anyway, FIFY
It's Over ~ Go Home ~ Go!
That's what you'd like, isn't it?
somefeller said...
I know. That's what scares you, so you're here spreading FUD instead of at "work" at the "office".
At my office, Christmas Eve is a holiday. That is true of many offices. I know it's been a long time since you've been employed, but it's hard to believe you didn't know that.
Every place I ever worked, Christmas Eve was a work day.
And that includes the IRS. For somebody who has a "job", I would think some phony folksy would know that, but, considering he shows up here on all kinds of "work" days, his "office" really does appear to be Mom's basement.
And people who hold improbable and factually unsupportable views about easily observable and measurable events (like, Obama stole the election, Romney really won!) are generally classified as dumb.
And how is this factually unsupported? Plenty of evidence of massive vote fraud all across the country, including major Democrat figures being charged with it and George Soros investing heavily in the companies that write the software for voting machines.
But feel free to be a proud 24 percenter!
Oh, I am - and all the FUD in the world doesn't change the facts.
As I say, that's what scares some phony folksy and all his little sockpuppets.
No fear here, edutcher, only laughter. And please continue with your little theories. They are amusing, though the lack of support they get from other commenters makes this sort of a fish in the barrel sort of discussion.
By the way, I'm guessing your inability to process, interpret and react to basic facts, coupled with your penchant for really dumb conspiracy theories, has something to do with your current state of long-term unemployment. But that gives you time to organize your local 24% club! Maybe the local Golden Corral will let you put together a few tables for the gathering.
edutcher said...
-------
The golfer in chief signed an exec order to give the feds Monday off. Usually they would have got a 2 hour early release.
A news presenter said sequestration would decimate and I thought well that's not so bad when there is a lot but it sure is felt when there is not very much.
Tithing tells you a lot.
That's a serious religious person. He is motivated by spiritual religious impulses much more than I am. To understand him I must shift outside myself, outside my own thinking. I cannot assess him by my own standards which are so much lower than his.
The sonofbitch tithes for Christ's sake.
In his mind, given his station, given his blessings, he believes this, God gave him his blessings and expects him to do well with them. He is duty motivated and embraces his duty. He believes through his actual prayer that God directed to run, so run he did. But he must run that campaign as he thinks God would have it run. He must emulate Jesus when in doubt.
Head tilt.
And now the people have rejected him, but he's in good company, in his mind, and in good grace with God.
When Todd says anything at all we'll interpret it as we do from our own values. Families who do not pray together will read that family differently. They will reinterpret motivation and observed behavior. The comments I'm reading, really good observations and connections too, do not fully take into account this is a genuinely religious family.
Very well said, chip ahoy.
He had no desire to... run.
Complete and utter bullshit.
What do sore losers say?
"PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.
49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.
Some GOP voters are so unhappy with the outcome that they no longer care to be a part of the United States. 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union compared to 56% who want to stay and 19% who aren't sure.
One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%."
It's ok. I didn't really want Romney either.
To me, every election looks like a contest to see which party can throw it to the other one. I've never seen a weaker, more vulnerable incumbent than BO. Real opposition could have cut him off at the knees. The Republicans got what they asked for - a campaign that could barely distinguish its self from the opposition.
We don't need better Republican candidates. We need actual opposition first.
Plenty of evidence of massive vote fraud all across the country, including major Democrat figures being charged with it
All 4 of the incidents reported at edumbshit's link are at least a couple of year old. Sane people are baffled how that information proves that massive voter fraud was used to steal the election from Mittens.
By the way, edumbshit is a dunce.
somefeller said...
No fear here, edutcher, only laughter. And please continue with your little theories. They are amusing, though the lack of support they get from other commenters makes this sort of a fish in the barrel sort of discussion.
The only fish is some phony folksy who never rebuts and never offers any sources; he just shoots off his Lefty mouth. A quarter of the American people seem to agree with me, however; and how would some phony folksy know who supports me and who doesn't unless he spends a lot of his time lurking. Can't do that and hold down a "job"
By the way, I'm guessing your inability to process, interpret and react to basic facts, coupled with your penchant for really dumb conspiracy theories, has something to do with your current state of long-term unemployment.
At least I've had work in my lifetime. It's astounding how some phony folksy, who tells us how hard he works, shows up here on so many workdays. And worknights, right after getting out.
Boy, when I was holding down a job, all I wanted was supper and the Blonde. But, then I have a life, not Mom's basement.
pm317 said...
The golfer in chief signed an exec order to give the feds Monday off. Usually they would have got a 2 hour early release.
Some phony folksy likes us to think he works in the private sector. Which, I guess, includes mom's basement.
Jake Diamond said...
Plenty of evidence of massive vote fraud all across the country, including major Democrat figures being charged with it
All 4 of the incidents reported at edumbshit's link are at least a couple of year old. Sane people are baffled how that information proves that massive voter fraud was used to steal the election from Mittens.
The man made of dumbshit never heard of due process. The cases show how dependent the Demos are on vote fraud to win.
By the way, edumbshit is a dunce.
Too bad the man made of dumbshit doesn't know when to quit.
The more he says it, the more it takes on the dimensions of projection.
PS Care to talk about Dr Evil's software investment?
The cases show how dependent the Demos are on vote fraud to win.
Oh yes, of course, I see it now! But wait, there's a problem... What about this case of Republican voter fraud? And what about this case of Republican illegal vote suppression?
So using edumbshit "logic," those cases must prove that there was widespread, massive voter fraud on behalf of Mittens. Apparently Mittens tried to steal the election too, but unlike Obama, he's incompetent.
Yep, that's how edumbshit's brain works. Sad, isn't it?
The only fish is some phony folksy who never rebuts and never offers any sources
So says the conspiracy theory loon who refuses to post a link to the Rasmussen poll that shows Romney up by 5 points a week before the election. But that's probably because no such poll exists in reality.
Maybe there's a fantasy Rasmussen poll that came to edumbshit in a dream, but in the real world, there is no Rasmussen poll from a week before the election that shows Mittens ahead by 5 points.
edumbshit likes to jabber but he's completely full of shit. He won't ever admit he's wrong because he lives on denial. What a sad and pathetic little creature.
The man made of dumbshit doesn't check all his posts.
So he's directionless in addition to everything else.
Someone call his keeper, it's too cold for him to be wandering alone outside.
PS Care to talk about Dr Evil's software investment?
Ooooh, more conspiracy lunacy from edumbshit! Who saw that coming?
Since that's your kind of thing, edumbshit, here's an article right up your alley...
Romney Family Investment Ties To Voting Machine Company That Could Decide The Election Causing Concern
Have fun with it, edumbshit!
Ann Romney said that it was "their turn". Guess it wasn't their turn. LOL
I think Romney wanted to be president really bad, he just didn't want to have to run for president. He thought the people and the process was way below his level.
edumbshit -
You need help. Seriously. Your idiocy is scaring away the other Althouse lemmings.
Yeah, Romney didn't want to be president so much that he only ran twice. You see, the fact that he's not going to run a third time proves that he never really wanted to be president.
The Republicans are in deep trouble. A Republican candidate 'who didn't want to be president' would have tried to see that a winning position was allowed to come out of the Republican primaries maybe still hoping it would be him. In part by eviscerating Perry over the relatively minor concession but heartfelt feeling that it would be "mean" not to allow the children of illegal aliens to have in state tuition at Texas colleges and then to add that the undocumented should 'self deport,' he did not recognize the strength of the current and growing legal vote of what has been called the El Norte, for northern or north of Mexico, culture in the U.S. Romney was awfully ill informed if he didn't see that. As for Tagg's comment, it doesn't sound authentic.
As I said, the guy was ahead the month of October, which was the point.
The man made of dumbshit only proves he'd have been right at home running one of the gulags for Uncle Joe.
And Dr Evil's investment is interesting coming as it did right after we all found out about the Secretaries of State Project, but that's just paranoia, right? And nobody seriously thought Romney was going to try something silly, now did they?
Funny how I don't hear a denial. Diamond never denies, he just tries to shout everybody else down.
Too bad all it does is make him look like the fool he is.
But, if I'm so wrong, why does the man made of dumbshit waste so much time crying about it?
Shakespeare had a great line, "Methinks he doth protest too much".
Keep raving, the Lefties can't wait for the next circle jerk.
"...didn't really want to be President."
Hahahahaha!
Such odiferous bullshit, one wonders at the mental acuity of those who accept it as true.
And I see edutcher is still sputtering. As the French would say, it is to laugh. I'll just close on a few points.
The only fish is some phony folksy who never rebuts and never offers any sources; he just shoots off his Lefty mouth. A quarter of the American people seem to agree with me, however; and how would some phony folksy know who supports me and who doesn't unless he spends a lot of his time lurking. Can't do that and hold down a "job".
I provide sources when discussing facts. Opinions stand for themselves. And while I admittedly don't read every thread, I have noticed that on threads where you discuss your stolen election theories, you don't get much if any support from an otherwise garrulous anti-Obama commentariat. Like in this thread, for example.
At least I've had work in my lifetime. It's astounding how some phony folksy, who tells us how hard he works, shows up here on so many workdays. And worknights, right after getting out.
I'm touched by your attention to my posting times and dates. But I don't generally post during what most people call the business day, unless I have the day off. I know you haven't had a job for a long time (and didn't have much of a career when you were employed), but you do remember concepts like vacation and days off, right? And yes, sometimes I post in the evenings. That doesn't take much effort, particularly with an iPhone, but I am an energetic guy. I can manage to do more than eating dinner when I get home, thankfully.
By the way, Jake is handing you your ass. You've been ranting for weeks about how Romney was ahead by 5 or so points in all or most of the polls up to a week before the election. Leaving aside the irrelevance of all that once the votes are cast and counted, you haven't provided support for that, contrary evidence has been provided (specifically on the pollsters you singled out) and now you are backtracking to say all you were talking about was Romney's general polling position in October. With this mastery of facts and analysis, it's no wonder why no one would want to employ you.
somefeller said...
At my office, Christmas Eve is a holiday. That is true of many offices.
How many people in your office work after 5pm on any given day?
Back when I worked, Christmas Eve wasn't a holiday for those of us who were on the second shift (3pm to 11pm). Since the midnight shift and the day shift worked the day before Christmas (24th of Dec.), it was only the second shift who got Christmas Eve off and we had to make up that day by working the Saturday before or the Saturday after to get paid for the day. The midnight shift will be showing up tonight at 11pm.
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