Gosh, darn it, Mitt! You are just weird and people don't like you. Harsh but true.

[Pirate Smile]

Mitt Romney reaches out to voters but often lacks the common touch


SIOUX CITY, Iowa —
-snip-
Ever since he stepped onto the national stage, Romney has been criticized as being unable to connect with voters — partly because of past positions out of step with many in his party and partly because of what some say is a wooden, detached personality. Although he has sharpened his campaign operation and mostly aced a series of debates this year, Romney’s trip to Iowa on Thursday and recent swings through New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida reveal a candidate still struggling to make that connection.

When voters exposed themselves emotionally, Romney offered little empathy. When they sought his support for their causes, Romney didn’t show them that he cared. Romney was scripted when he could have been spontaneous. He was boardroom cool when he could have been living room warm.

-snip-
Steve Bennett, 59, of Jefferson, Iowa, has sized up several candidates this year. Of Romney, he said recently: “Whenever he’s speaking, there always seems to be that look of doubt in his eyes. He’s fidgety. He looks like he wants it too bad. There’s just something about Mitt that’s lacking. He can’t finish the deal. It’s that simple.”

-snip-
Earlier this month, Romney held a town hall meeting in Hopkinton, N.H. — literally in the Town Hall, an old white building on a leafy narrow street that looked like a postcard. A few questions into the event, a young lady objected to Romney’s earlier comment that children should be raised by a mother and father. Romney was making a point about his support of traditional families and his opposition to same-sex marriage, but she took it personally. She had been raised by her mother and grandmother.
Another politician might have shown a little empathy. Or praised her for dealing with difficulty. Or remarked on what an exceptional mother and grandmother she must have.
Romney stuck to his talking point.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mitt-romney-reaches-out-but-often-lacks-common-touch/2011/10/21/gIQAkUVc7L_story.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. A GOPer Wannabee but will FAIL as INEPT

[msongs]

2. parroting the mormon church party line like a good little robot nt

[RandomKoolzip]

3. He's a slimy car salesman - he's like a vicious burlesque of a privileged white male.

And he just ooozes inauthenticity. No one will vote FOR him - they'll be voting AGAINST the other guy.

[flamingdem]

d'accord - a slimester

nt

[TwilightGardener]

4. He wasn't able to understand or care that a dog in a carrier on top of a car

might be terrified and uncomfortable--something that most of us would know. That tells you all you need to know about his ability to empathize and use others' perspectives.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. Sounds like Steve Bennett, 59, of Jefferson, Iowa nailed it.

There's more, sure...but that pretty well covers it.

[Politicalboi]

6. Is that little girl on the left

Getting ready to do a facepalm?

[Brigid]

7. Dear Mittens:

Nobody's going to vote for a guy who reminds them of Louis Winthorpe III and his twit buddies in "Trading Places." That is all.

[bluestateguy]

8. Who would you want to have a beer with?

Obama or Willard Mitt Romney?

That right there is worth probably 8-10 million votes. And Romney doesn't pass the test. Huckabee could have, but ain't running.

[HowHeThinks]

14. Please........

let's not start the "who would you rather have a beer with" lunacy again. ;) Most Americans wanted to have a beer with George W., so you can plainly see the failed logic in that hollow, meaningless question.
I don't want to have a beer with any President. I want a President to work tirelessly for the PEOPLE of this country, not it's corporations and special interests. If I want to have a beer I'll call my friends. They don't have SS agents crawling all over them, either.

[Worship Money]

16. Which is absurd, anyway

Despite being a stupid question.

George Bush was a grotesque mix of ignorant frat boy and aristocrat. He was completely clueless to the lives of actual people- like Romney. I think the reason people said they wanted to hang out with him wasn't because he was like them- he clearly wasn't- but because he was their perversely aspirational candidate.

The great irony is that Obama actually seems very engaging and "regular". I could definitely see myself sitting down and talking to him, and him GETTING it.

I could not be in the same room with someone like Chimpy Bush or Romney without vomiting, or worse.

[TlalocW]

9. He's probably going to win the nomination

But Obama will out-warm him on the trail and the debates. The business part of the GOP is starting to get behind him, but Mitt has too many disadvantages with the religious part of the base - one, he's a Mormon, and the religiously insane have been told for years that Mormonism is a cult. The religious big-wigs will more than likely flip-flop on that opinion, but a lot of the damage is done, and two, he's a Mormon, and he can't switch into southern-religious mode like Bush could, and Perry can, dropping code words and phrases that slip by the not-as-religious but have meaning for the religiously insane.

TlalocW

[southmost]

10. even Texan repugs down here will admit he's just plain weird

not going to bring out much needed voter enthusiam for the GoPigs

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. Let's see if the media runs with this like they did with Gore. It shouldn't be a disqualifier,

but "wooden" may not work for these times. People are rightly emotional about a variety of things, and it helps to have an empathetic leader.

[ellisonz]

12. Corporations are people, my friends...

As Rachel Maddow once concluded a segment with: Mitt Romney is just bad with people.

[MADem]

13. Anyone who thinks it's funny that their dog has fright shits on top of the car is a sick person.

Mittsy is nutso. And he is mean to dogs as well.

[90-percent]

15. Mitt

Hey, in the 2008 Republican debates, he called for TWO GUANTANAMO'S!

If he does that this time, I betcha Bachmann would call for three and Cain would call for four!

Mitt's pic is in the dictionary under the term EMPTY SUIT. And is also footnoted under WASTE OF SKIN.

-90% Jimmy

[Cirque du So-What]

17. Listening to NPR's 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!' yesterday

It was gleaned from some source that Mitt der Shitt has a new schtick with the ladies with whom he interacts on the campaign trail. He mimics having been goosed by women in his immediate vicinity. Sexual harassment is real funny, huh? Every time he attempts to emulate a 'regular person,' he further convinces me that that boy just ain't right!

[Pirate Smile]

18. Here is the video:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/06/mitts-off-watch-mitt-romneys-joke-pretending-a-waitress-grabs-his-rear/

Another article: A day of awkwardness with Mitt Romney

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-day-of-awkwardness-with-mitt-romney/2011/06/14/AGApq6UH_story.html

[Cirque du So-What]

19. Video doesn't work for me

but I'm sure it's...charming :eyes:

[Pirate Smile]

20. Hmmm it worked for me. I'm watching Chris Matthew's weekend show and they said again

(Ben Smith started this meme) that calling Romney "weird" is somehow code for "Mormon".

I think that is just bizarre. Romney IS weird but that isn't the same thing as going after him for being Mormon. I've known people who are Catholic or Protestant and are similarly just off and awkward with people. I just don't see how it is attacking him for being Mormon but I have a feeling the press is going to push that idiocy.

I suppose attacking him for what he did to his dog is also going after him for being Mormon. :eyes:

[Cirque du So-What]

21. OK, video finally worked for me

What a creepy chuckle he has!

[Worship Money]

22. The right wing, including their MSM outlets

Love to do this. Either blow up a tiny, insignificant controversy or fabricate one entirely. Then they use the phantom controversy to stifle dissent and serve up their own intolerant "pushback". See, "War on Christmas"...

Sorry, conservo-fascists. Your boy really IS weird, really is vile, and really is an awkward, clueless piece of shit.

[MjolnirTime]

23. Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXGMi7a53jA

[Ikonoklast]

24. He speaks too quickly, he seems 'twitchy', like he needs to get it all out at once

or he'll lose the idea formed in his head, stumbling over his words.

He's inauthentic, which comes out no matter how he tries to fake it, you can see he doesn't ever really connect in any way with anyone speaking to him.

He seems to be there, but, not 'really there', no matter the situation.

He appears to totally lack any feelings of empathy, on any level.

He does not seem to be sincere in any way about much of anything, except his ambition to become president, as evidenced by his ever-shifting stance on any important issue.

And finally, as said elsewhere, he looks just like the guy that fired your Dad.

[Pirate Smile]

25. That's a good synopsis.

[NICO9000]

26. He's as fake as a three-dollar bill

Used car salesman is a good description. The guy is barely even a reasonable facsimile of a human being.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. He's Bill Lumbergh in "Office Space."

I can imagine him sidling up to my cubicle and saying in that fake-nice way, "Are you going to have those TPS reports ready for us this afternoon? Uh, and I'm gonna need you to go ahead come in tomorrow. So if you could be here around 9 that would be great, and, uh... I'm also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday too, OK?"