Romney angles for corruption vote, has Grover Norquist introduce him at CPAC.
Late Update: Romney’s pandermonious speech is really turning out to be a laugh riot. After yakking about the press and how they’re out to get him, he bragged that the right-wingers will be around even after the news media is no more. And of course, a scenario like this is something that more than a few of us are worried about.
Half of Romney’s speech turns out to be making fun of Massachusetts, which I think just makes him look cheesy and like a jerk, considering he just spent four years pledged to the state. I guess he didn’t mention to the voters that he thought the state was an embarrassment.
He even flagged his crack about Dorchester, Mass. from his 1994 campaign against Ted Kennedy. Folks who’ve been watching Romney for years like I have will remember that moment which came during one of the debates if I remember correctly. It was a churlish and juvenile moment — making fun of people whose votes he was allegedly campaigning for. It was a small but important turning point in that campaign. And the same part of the guy is coming out now.
Later Update: Watching Romney pander to every line item in the right-wing catechism in this speech is a good window into his character. And the view shows the same shortcomings as the Dorchester comment and the Massachusetts-bashing in this speech. People can think what they want of Massachusetts. It’s a liberal state. It’s on one end of the spectrum of American political culture. But, not long ago, Mitt Romney was running to be the governor of that state, to represent its people. A month or so out of office, now they’re the punchline of his jokes. They’re tossed like a tissue after it’s used. And of course now he’s telling these right-wingers everything they want to hear too even though it contradicts pretty much everything he used to say he believed. He’d drop them in a flash and denigrate them too. That’s a window into who someone is. He’s dangerous.
