Putting Mitt in A Corner
Posted on August 9, 2012
“Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”
That was Patrick Swayze’s famous line from the movie “Dirty Dancing.”
People forget that the big controversy surrounding this 80’s movie plot was not dancing, but a botched abortion.
Such a movie wouldn’t be made today. Hollywood doesn’t do abortion like it did in the 80’s.
Nobody may have put baby in a corner, but conservatives are certainly trying to put Mitt Romney in a corner, with a straight-jacket on.
Romney’s campaign spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, let slip a terrible sin against the right-wing yesterday. She implied that Romneycare worked in Massachusetts.
Eric Erickson, who consistently and vociferously opposed Mitt Romney throughout the primary process and even now is more than willing to bury a hatchet in his back at any moment, immediately declared that Romney campaign was dead.
Really? Because Andrea Saul said on a daytime Fox News segment that the health care plan that Mitt Romney put in place actually worked.
Wow.
He is right in a certain sense. If Romney can’t defend his record in Massachusetts without the right-wing threatening to take a walk, he is doomed.
But I think Romney can and should talk about that record.
The Obama campaign is killing Romney with female voters by launching devastating attack ads on the Romney’s record on reproductive rights (their words, not mine).
But Romney’s record in Massachusetts was very moderate when it came to abortion. He said that he was personally pro-life, but he didn’t push pro-life legislation when he served in Massachusetts.
Of course, Romney can’t say that now, because that would infuriate the right-wing. But Romney’s record is Romney’s record, and the Obama campaign’s distortion of it is breathtaking.
Yes, Romney passed a successful health care reform plan and it has largely worked in Massachusetts. He said he wouldn’t try the same thing at the national level, and I think we should take him at his word.
Romney worked with Democrats when he was the Governor. He had no choice. But he got some things done there, like balancing the budget, cutting taxes, and passing health care reform.
But so far, the Romney campaign has been afraid to talk about those successes, because they are afraid that the right-wing will bolt.
But the right-wing had its chances in the primary. They seemingly now want Mitt Romney to morph into a combination of Rick Santorum and Ron Paul and toe an imaginary conservative line that couldn’t pass the smell test in the GOP primary.
But the GOP primary is over. Mitt Romney won, not because he made a bunch of kooky promises during a long drawn-out campaign. He won because Republican voters thought he had the best chance to beat Barack Hussein Obama.
My advice to the Romney campaign is simple. Let Romney be Romney. Let him talk about his track-record, his successes as Governor, and his vision of how he will lead the country.
Mitt Romney is not Rick Santorum. He is not Ron Paul. He is not Newt Gingrich. And that is why he got the nomination. Now, he has to act like Mitt Romney, not like those other guys.
Don’t put Mitt in a corner. He won’t be able to beat Barack Obama from there.