Posted on 03/13/2012 5:20:37 AM PDT by Zakeet
Mitt Romney’s transformation into a cheesy grits- and catfish-loving, ya’ll-uttering good ol’ boy in the face of tight contests in Mississippi and Alabama today is being panned by critics — skeptical Southern party officials and pundits.
“If you’re going to pander, at least pander well, and this isn’t pandering well,” said Stephen Gordon, a Republican consultant based in Birmingham, Ala. The former Bay State governor is a Yankee, Gordon said, and will always face skepticism no matter how many catfish filets he raves about.
“People in the Deep South have a bit of a natural distrust for Northerners, especially folks from the Northeast,” said Gordon, who is not affiliated with any campaign in the Republican presidential contest. “There are cultural differences, stemming all the way back to the Civil War, and they affect the way people perceive Mr. Romney.”
Romney, who praised the local delicacy known as cheesy grits during a campaign stop in Jackson, Miss., last week, told a crowd in Mobile, Ala., yesterday that he’s developing a taste for catfish, after telling a South Carolina restaurant owner that he’s “not a catfish man” earlier this year.
“I’m learning to say ‘y’all’ and I like grits. Strange things are happening to me,” Romney joked while stumping in Pascagoula, Miss., over the weekend.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
oh, i love grits and get them when i can. but never heard of cheesy grits, but i would be willing to try them. i’d probably like them cause i love cheese.
i think romney has decided that he likes the south
We think you’re pretty cheesy too Mitt.
Mitt R0mney is such a ****ing doofus, Good God!
I gave my two nieces some advice, which I rarely do. I told them that when they are chosing a husband, not to marry a man with a handshake like a sweaty marshmallow. At the time, I worked in a bank and in my job, I shook quite a few sweaty marshmallow hands ..... Romney reminds me of those banker types a lot. BTW, one of my nieces just married a couple of months ago - good ol’ Southern boy (college educated), hunts, fishes, can fix anything, and dearly loves God, country and my niece. She chose well .... and she’ll vote for ‘true grit’ as well, along with a lot of other Southern women who find the shallow pandering drawl & grits comments offensive. Still waters run deep & so do Southern women.
Vinny Gambini: So , Mr. Romney, what do you like for breakfast?
Mittens: Eggs and grits.
Vinny Gambini: Eggs and grits. I like grits, too. How do you cook your grits? Do you like them regular, creamy or al dente?
Mittens: Just regular I guess.
Vinny Gambini: Regular. Instant grits?
Mittens: No self respectin’ Southerner uses instant grits. I take pride in my grits.
Vinny Gambini: So, Mr. Romney, how could it take you 5 minutes to cook your grits when it takes the entire grit eating world 20 minutes?
Mittens: I don’t know, I’m a fast cook I guess.
Vinny Gambini: I’m sorry I was all the way over here I couldn’t hear you did you say you were a fast cook, that’s it?
Mittens: Yeah.
Vinny Gambini: Are we to believe that boiling water soaks into a grit faster in your kitchen than anywhere else on the face of the earth?
Mittens: I don’t know.
Vinny Gambini: Well, I guess the laws of physics cease to exist on top of your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
lol :)
The South has changed A LOT in past thirty yrs. I grew up in eastern NC.
Speaking of stupid. I just moved from the east to our mtns here in NC. And I live with the natives. Wow, at first I thought these people were stupid, but they are smart, talented and very industrious (after all they and their ancestors had to survive the winters here). Their children and grandchildren are getting educated and making good money. The Depression didn’t end in mtns until early seventies. I love the natives. They have the same values that I learned growing up in eastern NC.
But what gets me and my native friends are the northerners that come here and say “Oh we love your mtns - it is so quaint here” Then these same people run for office and change the very things they like! We’ve had enough of those kind of outsiders. Our mtns are beautiful and natives have cared for them for centuries.
Hard to get rid of northerners once they come.
Everyone knows crappies are better than catfish.
I know about cheese grits, but I’ve never heard anyone describe them as “cheesy grits.”
I'm not picking a fight here, but you corrected a post from 'sweet tea' to 'sweet iced tea'. Technically, you are correct, but in the South, there is the phenomenon known as "Sweet Tea". To quote an outside source: "It's not iced tea, per se, at least as we know it. It's icy cold brewed tea -- served in a large glass or mug -- with double the normal amount of sugar, garnished with a mint sprig and lemon wedges.
As an example, I have friends who have hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia north .... one of the topics of conversation is how far north can you get "Sweet Tea" ... i.e. go into a restaurant and get the super sweet tea merely by asking for 'Sweet Tea' .... as opposed to the regular already-sweetened ice tea which most restaurants serve when you order iced tea & they ask "sweetened or unsweetened". :-)
The term ya’ll are looking for is CARPET BAGGER. That is exactly what Mitt is and I will Never cast a vote for that POS.
Every bit as bad as Nelson Rockefeller trying to eat a Coney Island hot dog from the side, Teresa Heinz-Kerry asking the cashier at Wendy’s “what’s chili?” or Sargent Shriver trying to order a Courvoisier in a West Virginia tavern.
I’m waiting for his “Gimme an RC and a Moon Pie” moment.
Please! We Southerners may not all have Harvard degrees, and most of us still say ain't and cain't, but we don't eat grits out of our hands. We use forks and spoons!
I’m not qualified to speak about Myth’s “Southern credentials” — I’m a dam Yankee. But my husband grew up in Alabama and Mississippi, took a shotgun every time he went fishing as a kid to defend himself against the cottonmouth snakes.
He says he has NEVER NEVER NEVER seen any Yankee as shamelessly fake and repellent as Romney (okay, maybe Kerry was worse). Of course, my husband’s language is a lot more colorful than that :-)
Pray today for the primaries. NOT-ROMNEY must WIN ALL!!!!
Carpetbagger .... I am embarrassed I didn’t think of that. PERFECTLY describes Mittens & what he’s doing in the South ....
Yep, CARPET BAGGER is what my husband called Romney (along with a few choice epithets — oh how I love how my fellah can work the English language into a gorgeous, flavorful phrase!)
>> a sweet tea world <<
Having lived in the South for more than 50 years, I don’t remember ever hearing the term “sweet tea” from one of my fellow Southerners. We call it “ice tea,” served year-round, even on the coldest days of the Winter.
(Of course, it’s ALWAYS sweet — therefore no need to specify. And yes, it’s “ice tea,” not “iced tea.” Last but not least, I was in my 20’s before I learned that tea also could be served hot!)
If you're really a Southerner, you should know that it's "ice tea" -- no "d" after the ice!
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