Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
More than once I’ve heard TV commentators -even friends of mine – say things like, “I don’t think Romney’s a bad guy, but…” and then they go on to list Romney’s ever-expanding list of assorted gaffes, screwups, misjudgments, whoopsies, etc. Heck even Vice President Biden said it during his address at the Democratic Convention.
Here’s the thing about that; I get why Biden played that card during the Convention because it was a strategic move. It’s a well-calculated effort to appear kinder and gentler while easing the knife into Romney’s gut. When it’s done well it’s a fun strategy to watch and can be extremely effective. It portrays Romney as a well-meaning guy who’s just misguided, misinformed, and in over his head flailing around in the deep end of the pool with the adults. But I’m not so sure everyone is on the same page when issuing these remarks about how good a guy Romney is. I think some of these folks on the Democrat side of the fence actually believe this spin, and that needs to come to an end.
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No, there’s no need to slice and dice the man. His record and his behavior should be all that’s needed to make it clear why Romney should not be any sane person’s definition of a ‘nice guy’. Just because he treats his wife and kids well doesn’t qualify. I’m quite sure a number of Nazis during World War II treated their wife and kids with respect too. Of course they did. Those were their wife and kids. It was the Jews, the blacks, the Gypsies, and all other non-whites as well as whites who disagreed with insanity who were at risk of annihilation. So did that make them nice guys? You be the judge.
When it comes to Romney, I think it’s safe to say we’re not at risk of a return to the Third Reich should he be elected to office. The problem, however, is that this is a man who has no problem aligning himself with any nutcase (Pat Robertson being one of the more recent examples), reversing himself on any position (examples too numerous to name however his most recent announcement on Meet the Press that he now doesn’t think it a good idea to completely dismantle Obamacare after only a few weeks ago telling the NAACP that this was exactly what he planned to do should be instructive), and telling any lie repeatedly, forcefully, and with purpose. What do you call a man who has no moral compass and who will re-create himself on a daily basis to win?
In recent weeks, as his shape-shifting abilities have become amped up on steroids, I’d say you call him a man unraveling like a ball of yarn under assault by a particularly ferocious kitty. But you for damned sure don’t call him a good man.
Keith Owens (AKA Black Liberal Boomer) is a Detroit-based writer who has worked for The Detroit Free Press, Detroit’s alternative newsweekly the Metro Times, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, and other newspapers. He was also a nationally syndicated columnist with Universal Press Syndicate for three years beginning in 1993.
