What would be the worst possible news for Mitt Romney to have to deal with the day after President Obama announced he supports gay marriage? Romney's already had a gay staffer resign because social conservatives were outraged he'd hire an openly gay person. And having a hypothetical family member come out as gay would probably help him seem more compassionate. But one thing that might project an image Romney really wants to avoid -- heartless outmoded anti-gay conservative -- would be a long profile in The Washington Post about how he bullied a gay kid in high school.
At the exact moment Romney doesn't want to talk about gay stuff, the Post's Jason Horowitz reports Romney led a gang of boys who singled out a gay kid, held him down while he cried, and cut off the kid's offensively un-hetero hair. No one ever likes a bully, but it's really a bad time to be an anti-gay bully.
"Aren't there issues of significance you'd like to talk about? The economy, the economy, the economy," Romney asked a Colorado TV reporter Wednesday with faux-niceness as she kept pestering him about gay marriage, immigration and medical marijuana.
Hot Air's Allahpundit points out that Romney makes a mistake as the interview ends, saying, "I'm not talking about marriage and marijuana -- those are state issues, right?" -- even though he's pledged to support a Federal Marriage Amendment and said he would defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Hot Air says Democrats can paint Romney as ultra-conservative just by making him talk about gay marriage -- "His rhetoric doesn’t have to be strident or out of the conservative mainstream for this tactic to work; all they’re trying to do is make him look like a guy who’s preoccupied with 'values' issues while swing voters are worried about jobs."
I have a number of friends who are, passionately and committedly, not happy with the job that Barack Obama has done.
Here's politics in plain English...
It's foolish, regardless of party affiliation, to not agree that, to one degree or another, Barack Obama is the problem.
That said, it is foolish , regardless of party affiliation, to suggest that Mitt Romney is the solution.
Obama is not perfect, but to equate him as the problem ~ I don't know. I think it's ok to be unhappy with his approaches to things. I keep thinking about Romney : "There is no there, there." If he were an old school conservative a la Buckley I would embrace him as an educated, articulate alternative with whom I didn't necessarily agree. If he were a true moderate a la Eisenhower or Dirksen it would be very much easier to deal with the possibility of a Republican incumbency. I still can't refer to Obama as a problem. He's been there for me, as you well know and he hasn't taken leave of his senses a la Tea Baggers, er Partiers. So, it is with Obama I stay. Give me something else. I do not want to deal with alternatives that are based on irrationality.
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