November 17th, 2011
I understand that you quibble with Ann Coulter at your own peril because she’s wicked smart and very funny. And she makes a perfectly sensible argument in favor of Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee.
She does, however, oversell two points concerning his electoral powers:
* “Among Romney’s positives is the fact that he has a demonstrated ability to trick liberals into voting for him.”
That’s true enough–he won a single state-wide election in a very Democratic state. However, I’d remind people that Romney won this race with less than 50 percent of the vote. And also that it isn’t entirely unheard of to have Republican governors in Massachusetts. Romney was elected in 2002. At that point, Massachusetts had had a Republican governor for 11 years.
Romney was preceded by Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci, and Bill Weld.
Weld was elected in 1990 with 50.19 percent of the vote. He won reelection in 1994 with 70.85 percent.
Cellucci, who stepped in for Weld, won his own term in 1998 with 50.81 percent of the vote.
Swift, who stepped into office for Cellucci, did not run because the state party pushed her aside for Romney in 2002.
I’m not suggesting that a Republican winning the governorship of Massachusetts isn’t impressive–it is! But it’s worth understanding that Romney’s 49.77 percent of the vote in 2002–a generally very good year for Republicans nationally–was the worst showing for a Republican gubernatorial candidate in the state in a decade.
* “He came close to stopping the greatest calamity to befall this nation since Pearl Harbor by nearly beating Teddy Kennedy in a Senate race.”
Depends on what you think “close” is. Romney lost by 17 points in a mammoth Republican year nationally. And he ran 30 points behind a popular Republican governor on the same ballot.
I keep having to say this–I’m not anti-Romney. Maybe he’d make a good nominee and be well-positioned to fight Obama. Maybe his experience and intelligence would make him a really great president. And if Coulter is on that bus, then good for her.
I’d just caution that Republicans should have their eyes wide open about Romney’s electoral track record. And that, whatever his other merits, Romney’s electoral experience suggests more bugs than features.
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“I’m not anti-Romney.” Remarkable conincidence, then, that everything you write about him is negative.
It’s like Jennifer Rubin claiming she isn’t pro-Romney. It just so happens – by pure chance! – that everything she writes about the other candidates is negative.
There’s no appreciable difference between the Weld ’90, Celucci ’98 and Romney ’02 performance. They are all within less than a percentage point of 50%. It’s remarkably consistent.
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Also: of those 3 other gov’s (Swift inherited the seat, went on maternity leave, now resides near Vermont border) all are northeastern liberals who make Romney look good. Bill Weld was left of Bill Clinton; imagine Nelson Rockefeller crossed with Gary Johnson
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Coulter jumped the shark (a) with her embarrassing fawning over Christie, and (b) her weirdly retro Connecticut Republican country club polite anti-Semitism that began to leak out several months ago. She is now to be read and enjoyed but otherwise ignored.
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*I keep having to say this–I’m not anti-Romney. *
You keep having to say it because we keep not believing you because it keeps not being true.
Your avowals that you’re not anit-Romney are as convincing as your avowals that you’re not in the tank for Perry.
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[…] an argument Medved must necessarily gloss over to prove his guy is the guy who can win, consider Jonathan Last’s point: Romney was preceded by Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci, and Bill […]
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[…] an argument Medved must necessarily gloss over to prove his guy is the guy who can win, consider Jonathan Last’s point: Romney was preceded by Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci, and Bill […]
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[…] […]
DB November 17, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Don’t worry Jon, you’re not nearly as bad as Rubin. She’s never not been in the tank for Romney. I expect her to be comparing him to David Ben-Gurion or Moses any day now.
Gingrich is hired gun who at this point can only serve to make “Comeback Mitt” look good. Once again, the republic loses