The New Hampshire paper, The Concord Monitor, has an editorial Romney should not be the next president for although he "looks" like him, he shouldn't be him.
From Romney's "chilling" rhetoric on doubling the US prison at Gitmo (its size, I assume he means) to his refusal to classify waterboarding as torture--or to say that the US won't use it--the Monitor's editorial team has put things in perspective at a time when New Hampshirites may be leaning toward Reaganesque hair styles, adman smoothness, and crisp dark suits.
Well, I'm glad they published this editorial which reminds everyone that the old GOP bromides of spending cuts and lower taxes won't be enough in 2008 to carry a former management consultant (whose experience consists of advising corporations on how to reinvent themselves) into the Venusian Oval Office.
"Looking presidential" and in Romney's case, "like Ronald Reagan" shouldn't be enough either. So are Americans that superficial? Some say we are, yet few citizens would disagree that America is loitering at the crossroads thanks to neocon dreams of dominating and policing the world.
Andrew Sullivan, speaking on America's torturing of prisoners, said today on The Chris Matthews Show that historically 2007 will go down as the year we realized that "America has lost its soul." Meanwhile, showing their own superficiality, most of the mainstream media keep passing the hairspray can to Edwards and on to Romney.
Restore America's moral leadership in the world? Not with Romney who seems perfectly happy with the status quo on that issue (as does Guiliani--a Bushesque braggart to watch out for if there ever was one. And his health is fine, says Rudy.)
And how Mitt Romney's repackaging of his own image has succeeded in the faith department is questionable--there must have been many intense, late-night meetings on that issue with family values appearing as the obvious rock to hide behind. As the Monitor editorial emphasizes, Romney's "turnarounds" are based on his own ambitions.
Come to think of it, Reagan used the family values card as well--I remember how his divorced status was a big issue--seems a rather quaint concern in retrospect.
Yes, New Hampshire folk have always prided themselves on being able to see through phony candidates, and in the case of Mitt Romney, I heartily agree with the Concord Monitor's conclusions on this candidate and hope you will read their editorial if you haven't already.
It seems to me the NH primary voters' decision concerning Mitt Romney should be easy as Double Fudge Pie with airy whipped cream on top.