Boston Globe's 7 pieces on Romney - A Pretty Good Endorsement

Boston Globe's 7 pieces on Romney- A Pretty Good Endorsement

posted by: jason | posted at: 9:50 AM | permalink here

I finally had a chance to sit down and read the Globes 7 piece story on Mitt Romney. It's worth a read if you have the time. Long, but full of details.

Before reading it what struck me, was the Boston Globe does a 7 article piece on Romney, and the most negative thing the public can take away from it is that Romney strapped a dog carrier to the top of his car. You would think with a paper owned by the NYTimes that has a penchant for negative stories on Romney, a little more could have been unearthed, but alas, that wasn't the case.

Lets look at some of what they revealed on Romney.

1. College Days:

"He was just full of energy and excitement about the law and law school," said Garret G. Rasmussen, who, by virtue of alphabetical seating, sat near Romney their first year at law school. "There was nothing jaded about him, nothing skeptical, nothing ironic. He was all positive, and it was a very refreshing style."

"He didn't mind if we were drinking coffee or having a beer, but that wasn't what he did," Serkin said. "We respected him for being true to what he believed in, and I found him to be completely open and tolerant to everybody else."

On occasion, Mitt and Ann invited classmates to "family home evening," a Mormon tradition in which families set aside time each week to spend together. Visitors to their house at the time, on Winn Street near Belmont Hill, remember it as modest, without any obvious trappings of wealth.

In spending time with Romney, "you got the feeling you were dealing with a guy with a very strong moral fiber who is very devoted to church and family," added Brownstein. "You're not going to hear from Mitt a joke at anyone's expense, and you're not going to hear any swear words. You know when you meet him and when you're with him that you're dealing with a very serious-minded guy."

2. Bain Capital Days:

He approached his consultant job with the complementary skills that had been sharpened during his parallel lives at Harvard. His legal training taught him to ask challenging questions, to play the role of devil's advocate, and to use an adversarial process in an effort to get answers. Business school developed his ability to reconcile conflicting data and differing points of view. It also helped shape him as a leader and team-builder

In 1997, he balked again, at the acquisition of a Los Angeles video distributor and movie producer that would be renamed Artisan Entertainment and become famous for producing the movie ''The Blair Witch Project.''

Romney worried that Bain Capital's image would suffer from the perception it ''had gone Hollywood,'' according to Rehnert, the Bain partner who proposed he deal.

Romney had another problem. The studio had an extensive library of R-rated films, which the Mormon Church discourages its members from watching.

Rehnert calmed Romney's image concerns by enlisting a Chicago firm to join the deal, sharing the risk and deflecting attention from Bain.

Romney, balancing his duty to make money for his investors with his religious beliefs, let the deal go through, but declined to co-invest his own money, which partners usually did.

''I didn't want to profit from a studio that made R-rated movies,'' Romney said recently.

3. Family Life:

''Think about it,'' Tagg says, ''a 12-hour drive and the only time we stop is to get gas. When we stop, you can buy your food and go to the bathroom, but that's the only time we're stopping, so you'd better get it all done at once.'' Yet there was one exception to Mitt's nonstop policy. ''As soon as my mom says, 'I think I need to go to the bathroom,' he pulls over instantly, and doesn't complain. 'Anything for you, Ann.'.''

Tagg didn't get it back then, but now at age 37 he finally understands why his father has been willing to suspend his regimented ways when it comes to his wife. ''When they were dating,'' Tagg says, ''he felt like she was way better than him, and he was really lucky to have this catch. He really genuinely still feels that way, thinks, 'I'm so lucky I've got her.' So he puts her on a pedestal.''

After these stories, the Globe goes onto a series of articles on Romney's life in the Olympics and Governor. Granted, Romney does have critics their. What public figure who is successful doesn't? And granted, Mitt is not perfect, there are some fair criticisms that can be made.

But I think what is most noteworthy, after reading the entire series, is that the Boston Globe has been following and digging up on Romney for years, and what do we get, a picture of an honorable man who has a strong inner core of values that revolve around his family and integrity.

I have stated this before but it bears repeating, what terrifies the media and so many of his opponents, on both sides of the aisle, so much about Mitt Romney is the fact that a man who doesn't smoke, drink, swear, cheat on his wife, taxes or business deals or take bribes is not within their realm of experience. Mitt literally comes out of nowhere for these people. Such people, according to the prevailing political culture, do not exist. Therefore, Romney must be a phony.

And so they take his record and try to find something, anything that they find to be familiar. They want, they need a frame of reference that they can deal with. So if it can reasonably be spinned into charges of corruption, hypocrisy or worse, then so be it. Any verbal inconsistencies, real or perceived, no matter their significance, no matter how he actually behaved, become the basis for "he has no principles". A 24 year-old story about his dog becomes "he's a cruel monster." Anything to bring Romney down to a level they can wrap their heads around. Anything to make him fit their mold.

Problem is, Romney is such an engaging personality and such a genuine person that when people get to know him, they tend to like and support him. The polls in NH and IA and the rising decibels of the hysterical cries of "phony", "fraud" and "cultist" attest. The primary season is a long one and one in which Romney will have the ability to meet more and more of the country's voters either in person or via television or the Internet. As the average voter compares the man they met with the image that Romney's opponents have created, the more people will turn to Romney for the alternative that they are looking for to the "politics as usual" atmosphere they now see in Washington. The electorate is not stupid.

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