Short diary here, sans bells and whistles...can't help myself ;-))
I consider myself a moderate Democrat and a moderate progressive. The policy views of folks from President Obama to Bill Clinton to Rachel Maddow to Al Franken to even Reverand Al Sharpton all seem to fall within my somewhat broad wheelhouse. For these benchmark personalities, I rarely see a waiver in point of view great enough to put them outside my political box.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, a man who I still consider a moderate Republican at his core, completely changed his political skin, and he did it in the period of a year. By now speaking out for repealing the mirror image of Romneycare, by now taking very radical conservative stances on many social issues, and using typical Republican dog-whistle politics to fire up the base, he has made himself appear as a far more extremist candidate for president than the man who left the Olympic spotlight.
Why go through such a self-transformation? One reason, and one reason only – to get accepted by the radical Republican base to secure the nomination of his party.
Mission accomplished.
But in faking extremist views, he frequently gets caught up in remembering the truth of who he is, and when he lies about that, it shows. It shows enough that it doesn’t set too well with conservative Democrats, Independents, and even moderate Republicans, especially women. And of course the rest of us are quick to pounce when we see the hypocrisy and inconsistency in his words and actions, past and present. The result is that he cannot now, following his nomination, desperately pivot back to the middle as many have done before him.
It’s too late for Mitt Romney to un-fake his extremist views, because what might rightly show up now as a true epiphany to some would be judged true fakery and desperate opportunism by most.
In golf, we make ourselves feel better after hitting into the bunker by saying, “At least I’m close to the rake.”
Goodbye, Mitt. Give that rake a hug on your way out of your own self-made bunker.