First off, look at this: New Hampshire Paper: Romney 'Must Be Stopped'
If you were building a Republican presidential candidate from a kit, imagine what pieces you might use: an athletic build, ramrod posture, Reaganesque hair, a charismatic speaking style and a crisp dark suit. You'd add a beautiful wife and family, a wildly successful business career and just enough executive government experience. You'd pour in some old GOP bromides - spending cuts and lower taxes - plus some new positions for 2008: anti-immigrant rhetoric and a focus on faith.
Add it all up and you get Mitt Romney, a disquieting figure who sure looks like the next president and most surely must be stopped.
Now, the Concord Monitor is a pretty liberal paper. They think Romney shouldn't be elected because he bends the truth to suit his ambition. They're partly right. But I think it's because of his perceived (by Republicans) similarities to HE WHO CANNOT BE NAMED.
Who is that?
John Kerry.
Now, don't get me wrong. John Kerry is one of my two or three favorite politicians. I'm glad he didn't run for President again, but I think he's one of the best Senators of this new century. I think he's a man of honor. I see very few similarities between John Kerry and Mitt Romney. Kerry fought for his country, honorably. Mitt did not.
But Republicans..... REPUBLICANS see a nearly perfect match. The perfect hair, the northeasterness. The flippyness of their floppyness. The talking of themselves into a corner when even their supporters wish they'd just shut the fuck up (even I think this was true of Kerry). Romney positively screams Kerry to these wingnuts. So why haven't we seen the comparison on the top winger blogs?
Because they're afraid of the comparison. They're afraid of Kerry. Kerry is He Who Cannot Be Named, so the comparison cannot be spoken of. But they all see it. You goddammed right they do.
Romney will not be the GOP nominee for President of the United States for many of the reasons previously stated... his liberalness, the lies, and yes, his being a Mormon. But it is his likeness to He Who Cannot Be Named that will doom him with Republicans.
John Kerry.
STILL serving his country!