Help Me, Romney, Help Help Me Romney!

Part of our preparation for the primaries trip is a review of the possible candidates that we will meet. We need to be ready at a moment's notice with insightful, probing questions that challenge the candidates to think beyond conventional rehearsed nonsense that passes for political wisdom. In short, we need to be ready to trick them into saying something that will embarrass them on YouTube. OK, I forgot - we're above that juvenile stuff. This is an educational trip.

Let's talk Romney, shall we? Former governor of Taxachusetts, a conservative Republican in the middle of the Right's Sodom. I give him credit for getting elected there to start. It speaks to potential general election viability. His dad ran for the top spot in 1968, so he's seen politics in action. That's a mixed blessing. He knows what to expect, that's good. He's a politician at heart, that could be bad. His foreign policy credentials? Running the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. IN his world view, foreign dictators and despots are just like figure skating judges and IOC reps. Show them how to turn a profit, and they'll do anything you ask. Not sure those techniques will work on Kim Jong Il.

I read a biography on Romney written by a friend of his. The more I read, the more I realized that the author was a REALLY good friend. Not the most "fair and balanced" read, but some interesting info. For example, on life issues, he believes that states should be allowed a greater say; however, on gay marriage, he supports constitutional amendment. I usually don't demand intellectual consistency from position to position, and I'm all for pragmatism, but how does Romney square states rights on this one issue with the need for a federal law to control the scourge of gay marriage? Smells like pandering to the base to me.

He made his name in business as a turn around guy - hire Romney, he makes the business work, then it sells for more money. I have a bias against those individuals from the world of industry who believe that the US government is just another company in need of an extreme makeover. You can't just fire the Senate if they aren't doing their job. I think there is a certain arrogance in that approach, don't you?

Question we have for Romney: Who are the smart people from business that you plan to bring into a Romney administration? He likes to say that his business strategy always involved hiring people smarter than him. OK, Bush hired Rumsfield cause he was smarter than W, and that didn't turn out so good. So, Mitt, let's hear some names first. (By the way, he's a Mormon - no one cares but the extreme Right and the press. We regular folks just want to know if he's up to the job.)

And what's up with naming a kid "Mitt", anyway?

More on the rest of the Republican field coming up.

JS