Posted on 01/29/2014 5:09:36 PM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas
“I can’t fake it,” then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney said as the political advisers and family members nearby deflated. They knew what that meant.
The scene, which occurred during the heated 2008 GOP primary battle between Romney and his rising political adversary, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), occurs early on in the new Netflix documentary, Mitt. The film premieres on Netflix at 11 AM today and offers a rarely-seen look at the former Governor and his family as they trudge through two seemingly-endless presidential campaigns.
Director Greg Whiteley was given great access to Romney during those campaigns, and he uses it to craft a delicate but commanding voyage into what it means to be a presidential candidate today. The feature begins and ends with the results of the 2012 election. We all know how the election ended but few of us know what it’s like working day-to-day on a presidential campaign and seeing the disparity between a candidate’s real personality and the caricature of him that’s presented to the public (“the flipping Mormon,” as Romney says).
Leaving superficiality aside, Mitt offers up an intimate look at this skilled politician, and a man who— if things had been different— could’ve been president of the United States.
When he notes he can’t “fake it,” he’s talking about the long odds against him in the 2008 primary. After losing Florida (thanks in part to Governor Charlie Crist’s endorsement of McCain), Romney knows that his opponent is unbeatable. The former Governor could, as some presidential aspirants would, continue to give the same stump speeches, the same talking points and the same fundraising calls he’s done a million times before. But he refuses. He can’t fake something he doesn’t believe in anymore.
And one of the most compelling aspects of Whiteley’s well-organized feature is how open the candidate is to the camera, even during moments of great sadness and heartbreak. While some of the candidate’s best-known attributes are on display (his business acumen, for one), the documentary also presents a more fully-rounded portrait of Romney and his family.
He is a decent God-fearing man f great integrity.
RINOS
Decent men do not continually lie and shift positions dependent on political winds.
You could power a jumbo jet with all of mitts spinning and inconsistent positions.
True. Supported him for President, but not i the primary.
His lack of integrity is what forms him, and do we really need to tell the public that Mitt Romney thinks that he is going to become a God?
Oops, did you mean Cruz?
The key to stopping the mess that Obama/Hillary/Reid/Pelosi made is controlling legislation. That happens by us getting the most conservative House and Senate we can. It will involve RINOs, because America votes for them. The President, if he’s GOPe/RINO is a massive improvement over any Dem presently known. If we control all 3 we’ll have the committee control to force compromises to our side for a change. We didn’t get here in one fell swoop. It will take a generation+ to get us out of it. Step one is winning both chambers in 2014.
We had that just a few years ago...and it/they did nothing to stop the slide...into fail.
Now we know better. I trusted Bush. Now I trust no one’s word. Every elected official has the potential for treachery. We need to watch diligently and never quit until we get to where we want to go. That’s what liberals did for the last 100 years.
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