Romney's Riches, Attacks on McCain Doom VP Choice?
Timing, as they say, is everything. On the very day that John McCain publicly lost track of how many homes he owns, rumors swirled that Mitt Romney, another multiple mansion owner, would be his running mate choice. That Romney is the embodiment of the country club Republican is bad enough for McCain right now. Making matters worse, Mitt's all-out January 2008 attack on John McCain's incendiary temper gives Democrats a handy road map to follow.
Mitt's Mansions. To be sure, Mitt Romney may not have as many houses as John McCain, but he does have more money. The son of auto magnate George Romney, the former Massachusetts governor is worth an estimated $500 million. His stable of homes includes his tony Belmont, Massachusetts estate in addition to "two vacation homes, a lake house in New Hampshire and a ski house outside Park City, Utah." (Mitt's declaration of his Utah property as his primary residence almost disqualified him from his 2002 gubernatorial run in Massachusetts; the crisis was resolved when he paid Utah back the $54,000 his earlier claim had saved him.)
Mitt's Illegal Immigrant Workers. During the Republican primaries, Romney's tough talk on immigration was undermined by the presence of illegal aliens working at his home. As the Boston Globe reported in December 2006, Romney hired a landscaping firm that routinely utilized illegal alien workers to tend to his 2-1/2 acre family residence just outside of Boston. The firm also tended to the grounds of his one of his five sons, Taggart. The Globe team interviewed four undocumented workers in Guatemala who confirmed that Romney never asked for them or their employer to produce immigration papers. Confronted by Globe reporters at the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, Romney simply said, "aw geez," and walked away. Given John McCain's own confused position on illegal immigration, the addition of Romney to the ticket would only further cloud the issue.
His Sons Serve America By Serving Mitt. The image of the Romney clan doesn't merely communicate "idle rich," it represents incarnate a rejection of John McCain's supposed "Country First" campaign theme. In Iowa in August 2007, Romney answered a question about why none of his five sons were serving in Iraq by responding that they served America by serving him:
"My sons are all adults and they've made decisions about their careers and they've chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."
As for Mitt's own military service, he avoided duty in the rice fields of Vietnam while performing his Mormon mission outside Paris.
Swallowing $45 Million in Campaign Loans. Speaking of Mitt's sons, a large part of their massive inheritance has already been spent. In a sign of both his immense wealth and his desperation to be John McCain's running mate, Mitt Romney in July decided against recouping the staggering $45 million he personally loaned his own campaign. While that frees Mitt to raise money for McCain and McCain alone, voters can only wonder in amazement what they might have with that $45 million.
Downsizing Workers in Indiana. Romney would also be a liability for John McCain in the hard-fought but usually Republican state to Indiana. Romney's ostentatious wealth is one thing, but his 1990's business deals that drove layoffs in the Hoosier State is something else. The tale of SCM, a northern Indiana-based stationery company purchased by Ampad, a firm owned by Romney and a group of investors, came to dominate his failed 1994 campaign against Ted Kennedy:
Management has shed 41 of 265 blue-collar jobs, cut wages, tripled some workers' health insurance payments, abolished most of their seniority rights and junked the prior management's union contract, which had two years to run.
Losing the Dog Vote. There are roughly 60 million dogs in the United States and their owners will be none too happy with Mitt Romney. Even Fox News' Chris Wallace took Mitt to task for taking family vacations with his Irish Setter Seamus in a kennel tied to the roof of his car. After an incredulous Wallace said of his own Yellow Lab, "I would no sooner put him in a kennel on the roof of my car than I would one of my children," Romney claimed ignorance of the Massachusetts law he had violated with his penchant for rooftop canine waterboarding.
Romney's Mac Attack. During the GOP primaries, the man who would be John McCain's running mate decried "the McCain way" of uncontrolled fury towards friends and foes alike. As his make-or-break Florida primary contest against John McCain approached in late January, Mitt Romney abandoned his pledge that "I'm not going to talk about the character of the people I'm running against." Instead, the Romney campaign produced a video and an accompanying memo titled, "The McCain Way: Attack Republicans - A Top 10 List." Echoing many of the episodes detailed in an April Washington Post piece, Mitt Romney refuted John McCain's past claims of serenity ("Do I insult anybody or fly off the handle or anything like that? No, I don't.") going back to 1999.
Still, the buzz continues around the choice of Mitt Romney as John McCain's #2. But more than the fact that the two men hate each other, Romney's own gin-and-tonic sipping lifestyle is exactly what John McCain doesn't need right now. With his pledge to expand the GOP to "Sam's Club, not just the country club," Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty must be looking pretty good right now.
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Bookmarked, just in case Mac chooses Mittens.
Posted by Melissa on August 23, 2008 11:25 AMGiven the bad blood between Romney and McCain, and all the liabilities Romney would bring to the ticket, it's still eminently possible McCain would select him anyway. Romney not only helps him in SEVERAL states, but then there's all the money Romney brings. McCain may find him irresistible for these reasons, but think of how Romney hurts McCain among evangelicals. For more, see the third story at www.spiritualtruthwatch.blogspot.com.
Posted by Chuck Goldberg on August 25, 2008 5:09 PM