Mitt Romney Confirms What We’ve Suspected For Years!
The rare case where a clickbait headline is actually appropriate.
Mitt Romney is getting ready to retire after his term is done in the Senate. Judging by his recent behavior, it’s clear that at some point in the recent past, he looked into his bag of ducks* and realized he was all out of ducks to give. This behavior was last on display during a press conference he held around his retirement where he bluntly shared his views on everything from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party (“the Trump wing of the party talks about resentments of various kinds and getting even and settling scores and revisiting the 2020 election”) to his thoughts on recently elected colleagues (“I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than J.D. Vance”).
Based on his upcoming authorized biography, it appears that Romney will continue not to give any ducks for the foreseeable future. Politico just published a summary of some of Romney’s thoughts of fellow Republicans that appear in the biography:
We’ve already learned, via the Atlantic’s recent excerpt, about Romney’s now-infamous take on the junior senator from Ohio (“I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than J. D. VANCE”) and his unvarnished view of his party’s last vice president (“No one had been more loyal, more willing to smile when he saw absurdities, more willing to ascribe God’s will to things that were ungodly, than MIKE PENCE”).
Well, it turns out Coppins recorded a lot more Romneyisms, and we got our hands on an exclusive preview:
Mitt on RON DeSANTIS: “There’s just no warmth at all.” On DeSantis posing for selfies with Iowa voters: “He looks like he’s got a toothache.” More: “He’s much smarter than Trump … You might point out, ‘Mitt, DeSantis is real smart — do you want an authoritarian who’s smart or one who’s not smart?’ … I realize there’s a peril to having someone who’s smart and pulling in a direction that’s dangerous.”On NEWT GINGRICH: “A smug know-it-all, smarmy, and too pleased with himself” … TED CRUZ: “Frightening,” “scary,” “a demagogue” … MIKE HUCKABEE: A “huckster,” a “caricature of a for-profit preacher” … BOBBY JINDAL: A “twit” … RICK SANTORUM: “Sanctimonious, severe and strange” … RICK PERRY: “Republicans must realize that we have to have someone who can complete a sentence.” … JOHN KASICH: “Lack of thoughtfulness, lack of attentiveness, ego. No wonder he and CHRIS [CHRISTIE] spark.”
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2023/10/19/why-the-mchenry-bubble-might-pop-00122410?nname=playbook&nid=0000014f-1646-d88f-a1cf-5f46b7bd0000&nrid=69177621-c36f-406f-835d-8eb3c717bb55&nlid=630318
As the clickbait title suggests, I think we suspected… nay… KNOWN most of these things for years. But serious, who expected the Mittster to have that much beef with John Kasich?
Given Mitt’s decision to start ducking shoot up as he prepares to leave office, we are all left wondering what other surprises he has in store for us in the future.
* – Long time readers may be concerned that I was suffering a stroke as I was composing this post. No, I don’t smell toast (and that’s a myth anyways). I am simply doing my best by Golly, in honor of Mitt’s faith, to avoid using profanity.
Ha. I probably won’t spend money on it, but with those excerpts, I will likely check it out from the library.
Did he share his opinion of the right honorable Utah Weather Vane in the Senate?
Must have already inked an MSNBC deal to be the “reasonable Republican” for all situations.
There are 3 really important things to point out about Mitt:
1. He’s still a social regressive, just like the rest of his party. He is no friend to the LGBTQ+ or bipoc communities.
2. He’s still a massive pro-capitalism/pro-business asshole. He might not do whatever it takes for money, but he’ll do a lot for it. Strip your company and leave the workers to the elements? Sure, if it puts a few mill in his pocket.
3. He’s still – as he has been for 2 decades – an influential member of the Republican Party. In spite of all these years of positioning himself as the “rational voice”, he has never left the party. He talks about current politics as though new Republicans are on a different track than he wants, even as the R Train has cruised straight through “thuggishly capitalist” to “openly and violently racist” to “straight authoritarian.” And that whole time – that whole time – he’s made snide remarks about the slide, but he’s so committed to The Team that he doesn’t actually care.
All this speaks to a person whose “character” consists of trying to keep his name clean while fully embracing the benefits of the scummiest legislation. It’s a chronic inability to own up to his role in all this while bad-mouthing people who are doing exactly what he would do, just more loudly than he wants.
He’s got a lot of growing up to do for an old man.
Not a huge Romney fan, but it’s pretty remarkable that he is so easily able to see through the fraud that is Kasich while the entire DC press corps keeps treating him like an honorable, moderate wise man.
He has nothing nice to say about the party’s “best and brightest”, yet continues to support the Republican party on nearly every vote and issue and remains a member of that group to this day.
This is a typical Republican self-own, and he doesn’t even see it.
He is the biggest empty shirt clown in DC. I’d rather be stuck in a room watching Jim Jordan and MTG making out than have to spend any time near Romney. Goddess what an asshole.
This sounds like a Seinfeld book, an autobiography about nothing. All I see quoted is snark and gossip. Is there anything substantive in the book? And given Romney’s history, do I even believe the snark?
@Beth:
“I’d rather be stuck in a room watching Jim Jordan and MTG making out than have to spend any time near Romney.”
I need some bleach to get that image out of my brain.
@ptfe: So he is not from your multy-culty Bobob Left side, a heathen and not a true believer. How terrible. You lot shall have such great success in expanding the electoral consituencies you are competitive in….
Here’s the thing though. Romney is probably the best Republican in the Senate. I used to say John McCain was the last Republican in the Senate with integrity but that he had a lot of negatives. Today, there are no Republicans with meaningful amounts of integrity, or perhaps I should say that if there are Republicans left with personal integrity none have the courage to act on it when it matters. And so the best Republican in the Senate is Mitt Romney, who has no integrity, has no courage and little of anything else. This is a sad, sad state of affairs.
Plus, he is old and is giving up the fight. What will pass for the best Republican in the Senate when he is gone?
The sooner the national party goes the way of the California Republicans, the better for us all.
@Lounsbury: WTF does that comment even mean?
Do you think Mitt Romney is reading OTB comments and was about to change his mind on his party affiliation, but he’s going to see that comment and say “some rando who’s apparently to my left thinks I’m immature for being outwardly vocal but still just hanging around for 15 years with the very people I complain about without actively trying to get them to change!”
I really just don’t understand your comment. You seem to think it’s…pushing away some group of people? “Oh yes, I forgot to attract super rich hypocritical assholes to my cause, obviously they’re the forgotten demographic.” FFS.
I’ve always found Mitt mostly inoffensive.
@Lounsbury: Says the electoral constituency of one.
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@DK: I’ve always felt differently. Romney was part of a group of vulture capitalists that engaged in the same types of practices that bankrupted a company I worked for when I was young.
Then again, I’m not big on the notion of “creative destruction” as a business practice, either. I suspect that like “competitive advantage,” lots of situations that aren’t really either practice get whitewashed by mislabeling them thus.
@Moosebreath:
Personally, I prefer the industrial package of brain floss found at costco.com. doesn’t bleach out my ears, and is completely biodegradable.
ETA …but tha is quite the image, isn’t it? Wowsers!