[AHerald]

"The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made." -- George Burns

Romney has a phony problem. For all his appealing qualities and accomplishments there is a palpable undercurrent of insincerity. He must be authentic, or at least seem to be authentic if he's going to convince primary voters to turn from the known quantity that is the seriously flawed McCain. Hard to see how Romney suddenly becomes that which he has never seemed to be.

For better or worse, the reality is that McCain is largely perceived to be authentic. Many may not like him, but they at least feel they know McCain. In a field of demonstrably flawed candidates, authenticity becomes more important than ideology. Unless McCain stumbles badly and soon, the stark reality of McCain as the nominee lies ahead.

[tortdog]

It’s easier to just look at the exit polls on why the chose McCain over Romney:

* Hispanics favored McCain on immigration
* Retired people liked McCain’s economic position better
* People thought McCain was stronger on national defense

It’s that simple. Romney can’t win on defense. But he should win on the economy and he CAN win on immigration if he sells his message and convinces Hispanics that he doesn’t hate them.

[Greg F]

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t basically. I think you’ve got something there. I also think that it is simply ignorance . . . McCain is likely to win because the stereotypical, simplistic media presentation is war hero, maverick, and outspoken. The Romney caricature is rich, Mormon, and has changed a lot of his positions. Which caricature wins? Throw in the Huckabee caricature of overly religious preacher, charming, and unlikely to win and you’ve still got a race that leans to McCain among the marginally informed regardless of where they’d be if they really researched the candidates.

[Yaelle]

For all his appealing qualities and accomplishments there is a palpable undercurrent of insincerity.

I agree that this is a problem for Romney. However, he seemed to be much more authentic in his famous religion speech. If only he could look more like that tonight.

[WOSG]

Romney spent his life in business, not in careers, like McCain and Huckster have, of gabbing. The gabbers can fake sincerity a lot better, but are really empty suits.

The sincerity hit on Romney is bothersome because it usually comes from people who are judging the book by its cover - Mitt’s religion, location, his station in life as a successful businessman has some people wrongly discounting him. His shift on life obviously is a key ‘proof’ but is extended way beyond fact into a character flaw, which is not legit. Get beyond and look to what he really is about, and Romney is the most genuine guy in the race, in terms of qualifications, beliefs and agenda.

That’s frustrating in many ways because Mitt Romney is an extremely appealing and very qualified candidate in many ways. It’s been hidden by a blizzard of FUD about him, driven by the jealousies and agendas of other campaigns, etc.

We know for a fact that McCain has tempermental and dishonest personality traits. But he caters to liberal MSM so the image that he wants to project is what MSM shows; the MSM will be his friend (for now). it’s a false one. He’s pretending to be a Reagan conservative while at the same time he’s dropped that philosophy for real (if he ever had it) years ago. As you say:

“The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” — George Burns