• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Republicans in disarray!

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Mitt Romney: The Banality of… Banality

Mitt Romney: The Banality of… Banality

by Anne Laurie|  June 12, 20093:16 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Politics

FacebookTweetEmail

I cannot be reasonable about Willard ‘Mitt’ Romney. I do not understand why my fellow Massholes voted for him in the first place, and I can’t understand how his performance as governor didn’t disqualify him for any future public office. Every time Willard pops up in public, it’s bad for my blood pressure.

But just when I thought I’d reached Peak Romney Outrage, Wonkette linked to the following “essay contest”:
Free Willard

And when you get to the website (with its kitschy ‘improvement’, aka half-arsed plagiarism, of Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ logo)… you are told that you need to make at least a $50 “donation” to enter the contest.

So, let me get this straight: Rather than pay a market research firm to pick his next campaign’s buzzwords, Willard wants his FreeStrongMurka “supporters” to pay *him* for the privilege of writing 250-word sound bites across the blank slate of Willard’s personality?

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Boogie down productions
Next Post: Friday Night Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    Paul

    June 12, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    He’ll probably move up to Wolfeboro soon in prep for 2012, and you’ll be free of him.

  2. 2.

    Cat Lady

    June 12, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    I didn’t vote for him like a lot of other people I know, who ended up voting for the Green candidate. Shannon O’Brien (the Dem candidate) was a Beacon Hill hack who was Finneran’s hand picked successor. Finneran, as we know now, was a conservative pretending to be a progressive, and a lying perjuring one at that.

    Everyone knew Mitt wouldn’t get anything done with an overwhelming majority of Dems, and he had to play a liberal to get elected, so pretty much a vote for Romney was a vote for gridlock. Which it was.

    Did we see what a pandering smarmy creep he was? I have to admit it even surprised me, who assumes every Republican is a smarmy lying creep.

  3. 3.

    MikeJ

    June 12, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    Next, Romney will tell supporters they’ve won a lottery. All they need to do to get the money is send in the details of their bank accounts and unca Mitt will take care of everything.

  4. 4.

    Anton Sirius

    June 12, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    Whenever I see/hear Romney speak I’m reminded of Interface, a rather awesome political potboiler co-written by Neal Stephenson in which a politician who has had a stroke becomes the ‘perfect’ presidential hopeful because the microchip in his brain used to correct the damage done by the stroke also allows him to ‘adapt’ his positions based on real-time polling data.

    Manchurian Candidate? Pah! Romney’s the Stepford Candidate.

  5. 5.

    WereBear

    June 12, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    What the…!

    And I believe Romney, if not richer than God, at least fancies himself able to buy in God’s neighborhood…

  6. 6.

    DougJ

    June 12, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    Very good title.

  7. 7.

    sophronia

    June 12, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    My friend has an antipathy for Willard Mitt that crosses over into physical revulsion. And she lives in one of the most regressive of the Southern states, so she knows some revolting politicians.

    I have to admit that I loved Tbogg’s takedowns of Willard’s many crazy-eyed sons. Almost made me sad that he lost the primary, until the Palin clan came along.

  8. 8.

    MikeJ

    June 12, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Romney does show a difference between Republicans and some Democrats. I say some because many Dems, at least until Obama came along, shared the belief with Republicans that the only purpose of organizing was to pry money out of supporters in alphabetical order.

  9. 9.

    Bret

    June 12, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Ha! The “Stay Informed!” dialog won’t even let me sign John up for updates. What a crappy website.

  10. 10.

    CapMidnight

    June 12, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    But don’tcha jus’ wanna take down th’ Jesus, an’ hang th’ plastic Mitt Romney from your rear-view mirror?!

  11. 11.

    An Outhouse

    June 12, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    I tried to watch the vid but my dog went ballistic and started barking very aggressively at the computer. I had to stop.

  12. 12.

    Ash

    June 12, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    I do not understand why my fellow Massholes voted for him in the first place

    When in doubt, blame Worcester? I dunno, that’s what I did, especially when I had to dig my car out of the snow. It’s always Worcester’s fault.

  13. 13.

    AhabTRuler

    June 12, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    When in doubt, blame Worcester?

    Ahhhh, Wustuh. Lovely place, really.

  14. 14.

    gbear

    June 12, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    Rather than pay a market research firm to pick his next campaign’s buzzwords, Willard wants his FreeStrongMurka “supporters” to pay him for the privilege of writing 250-word sound bites across the blank slate of Willard’s personality?

    Have the public school systems in MA tried this option yet? Could be a winner.

  15. 15.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    I do not understand why my fellow Massholes voted for him in the first place

    It’s very simple, Anne. The Democratic Party is so overwhelmingly dominant in this state that it is a foregone conclusion in every election that there will be a veto-proof majority in both house of the state legislature. The state legislature – really the House Speaker – basically runs things here. There is no chance of a governor being able to advance an affirmative agenda on his own.

    The job of the governor, in the minds of many Massachusetts voters, is to serve as check on the Beacon Hill Democratic machine. People are willing to vote even for someone they don’t agree with, like Mittens, as long as he is seen as strong enough, and independent enough from the Beacon Hill Democrats, to effectively push back. There’s no chance such a governor would be able to govern as a Republican, because the legislature can smoosh anything remotely wingnutty.

    That’s why all of those Republicans were elected between 1992 and 2006 – because the Democrats were either seen as too cozy with the state’s Democratic machine (Shannon O’Brien, Jim Roosevelt) or too weak (Scott Harshbarger) to serve as an effective speed bump.

    Now, Deval Patrick came in, and he wasn’t a Beacon Hill Democrat, but rather, a DC Democrat from the Justice Department. He was seen as independent from the party machine, and he just had to prove he was tough enough – which he did by standing up to Kerry Healy’s nastygrams throughout the campaign.

  16. 16.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    June 12, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    Great title, Anne. And a new tag is born: “I Can No Longer Rationally Discuss The Romney Campaign”.

  17. 17.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    When in doubt, blame Worcester?

    Hey, when Barack Obama appoints Deval Patrick to his cabinet or to the Supreme Court, we’re going to get former Worcester mayor Tim Murray as governor, and then we’ll see a REAL urban policy.

    woot mid-sized Massachusetts cities woot!

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    June 12, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    So, let me get this straight: Rather than pay a market research firm to pick his next campaign’s buzzwords, Willard wants his FreeStrongMurka “supporters” to pay him for the privilege of writing 250-word sound bites across the blank slate of Willard’s personality?

    Hey, free market research is worth every penny paid for it.

    Every night, I pray for a Palin/Romney ticket in 2012.

  19. 19.

    different church-lady

    June 12, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    They voted for him because Shannon O’Brien ran a terrible campaign and came off as abrasive. End of story.

  20. 20.

    Joshua Norton

    June 12, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Being a former Bay Stater, I’ve seen Massachusetts wander off into the political woods a few times, going back to Volpe. But more often than not, New England Republicans have been more like today’s center-left Democrats.

    Watching the California political scene unravel makes me long for the organized chaos of Beacon Hill.

    Now if someone can just get Boston to tear down the butt-ugly “new” City Hall (I’ve heard rumors it may happen), I might even be able to enjoy the occasional stroll thru Government Center on my pilgrimages back to my roots.

  21. 21.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 12, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    Wow. That takes some balls to tell your supporters to pay you for the privilege of coming up with your new slogan which you will use to…um, do whatever you do with it. He creeps me the fuck out.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    June 12, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    joe from lowell’s remark at #17 prompts a thought. Obama’s already co-opted one Utah Republican who was a possible 2012 candidate. Why not do the same to Romney? The only trick would be finding a suitable post. Perhaps some oversight of the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies, given his father’s history at American Motors; or, if Chicago gets the Olympics, there might be some role there.

  23. 23.

    MikeJ

    June 12, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    I might even be able to enjoy the occasional stroll thru Government Center on my pilgrimages back to my roots.

    I do understand they got a lotta lotta lotta great desks and chairs.

  24. 24.

    Xenos

    June 12, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    @joe from Lowell: Speaking from greater Springfield, we are too wiped out to manage a ‘Wot?’, much less a ‘Woot!’

    At least we can pretend to be in a different state, which is easy since everybody east of the Quabbin forgot about us 40 years ago.

    Deval has his summer mansion out in the Jerkshires, so we have that going for us.

  25. 25.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    They voted for him because Shannon O’Brien ran a terrible campaign and came off as abrasive. End of story.

    Mitt Romney’s election was the fourth consecutive Republican victory in Massachusetts’ gubernatorial elections.

  26. 26.

    Xenos

    June 12, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    @different church-lady: Massachusetts has not been kind or fair to female politicians. Don’t know why the electorate is so sexist, but it clearly is. O’Brien would have been a far better Governor than Mittens.

  27. 27.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    Xenos,

    My father is from Springfield, and I spent plenty of time out there as a kid. It’s just heartbreaking what’s happened to that city – and to all of Western Mass, really. There just aren’t any jobs.

    I saw Saving Private Ryan for the first time at a special showing in the Armory. We were surrounded by elderly WW2 vets. Amazing.

    So…Central or Cathedral?

  28. 28.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    Massachusetts has not been kind or fair to female politicians.

    Hey, man, the Queen of Lowell is now a United States Representative.

  29. 29.

    Cat Lady

    June 12, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    @joe from Lowell:

    Your theory about putting a brake on Beacon Hill is exactly right. None of the Republicans elected have been wingnuts – they’ve all, including Romney, had to profess support for abortion rights and other mainstream Dem positions to have a chance at winning. O’Brien was a terrible candidate, yes, but everyone also knew she would be a figurehead for the corrupt Finneran crony crowd. I’m left of center and couldn’t bring myself to vote for her, knowing full well the Mittster would win, and be totally ineffective.

  30. 30.

    JGabriel

    June 12, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    Anne Laurie @ Top:

    And when you get to the website […] you are told that you need to make at least a $50 “donation” to enter the contest.

    Is that legal? Sounds like Mitt may have forgotten to check with his compliance lawyers.

    .

  31. 31.

    Xenos

    June 12, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    @joe from Lowell: I am up north in Happy Valley with the tweedies and the hippies. I am in Springfield at least weekly though, and I can’t figure out why it is not worth the trouble to turn the place around. Maybe once we have a real industrial policy we could see the return of a real economy out here.

    If I had a lot of money I would be buying a lot of land. If we get a few feet of sea level rise the Ct. river valley would make a very logical place to relocate 5 to 10 million people. If that is the best hope for the region, that is pretty sad.

  32. 32.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    They voted for him because Shannon O’Brien ran a terrible campaign and came off as abrasive. End of story.

    @joe from Lowell:
    Your theory about putting a brake on Beacon Hill is exactly right.

    Cat lady vs. Church Lady?

    I’ll, uh, I’ll be in my bunk.

  33. 33.

    Cat Lady

    June 12, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    @joe from Lowell:

    LOL. Now we need to get the commenter Church Lady to weigh in.

  34. 34.

    joe from Lowell

    June 12, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Oh, yeah.

  35. 35.

    Anton Sirius

    June 12, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    @Ken:

    Obama’s already co-opted one Utah Republican who was a possible 2012 candidate. Why not do the same to Romney?

    Obama only co-opts the sane Republicans.

    Plus, it’d have to be a position that Romney would think is important enough for him, but wouldn’t have any real power so Romney couldn’t actually screw anything up.

    And, MachiavellianChicagoMachinePoliticalAnimal that he is, I honestly can’t see Obama having Biden bumped off just to have somewhere to stick Romney.

  36. 36.

    Trollhattan

    June 12, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    Betty Cracker’s on it, with this sparkling entry:

    http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/fun_essay_contest/

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    June 12, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    While we’re discussing the dead returning to life politically, I would urge everyone to head over to US News’s’s’s’s Washington Whispers and tell them in their poll that yes, McCain should indeed run for president again.

    http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    June 12, 2009 at 5:28 pm

    I tried to watch the vid but my dog went ballistic and started barking very aggressively at the computer. I had to stop.

    The really astonishing thing about Willard’s torturing-the-family-dog-in-front-of-his-traumatized-kids story? He thought it was a “heartwarming” story that illuminated his “regular guy” status. His political advisors were shitting themselves, and Mitt could not understand what the fuss was about. He also bragged — again, on the record — that he was willing to risk his “beloved” wife’s health by moving back to Massachusetts from Utah because “you don’t get to run for president as the governor of Utah.”

  39. 39.

    David Hunt

    June 12, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    joe from lowell’s remark at #17 prompts a thought. Obama’s already co-opted one Utah Republican who was a possible 2012 candidate. Why not do the same to Romney? The only trick would be finding a suitable post. Perhaps some oversight of the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies, given his father’s history at American Motors; or, if Chicago gets the Olympics, there might be some role there.

    Terrible idea. Not only do I not want the bastard anywhere near any type of power, it would be a terrible idea to even offer it to him. He’d turn down the job offer, as publicly and insultingly as possible. Because Romney is all about pandering to potential voters and I can’t think of anything that would pander to the wingnut base better than that.

    Obama knows this too, so he’s not going to offer a job to Romney even if he thought he’d do a good job there…because he’d never take it.

  40. 40.

    shelley matheis

    June 12, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    And just go back to his concession speech during last year’s primary. Started off as the usual attempt at gracious yielding but quickly devolved into a nasty stew of bitterness and RW crazy talk.

  41. 41.

    Blue Raven

    June 12, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    Massachusetts has not been kind or fair to female politicians.

    Then why did the state legislature race in my part of MA in the early 1980’s (southern Worcester County) have two women facing off for the seat instead of having it go to a man who could keep either of them in their place?

    And I cannot imagine MA with a governor who’d be aware there’s a state beyond the boundaries of Framingham. Never saw it when I lived there. May Deval get a Federal slot post-haste.

  42. 42.

    Darkrose

    June 12, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    @joe from Lowell:

    That’s why all of those Republicans were elected between 1992 and 2006 – because the Democrats were either seen as too cozy with the state’s Democratic machine (Shannon O’Brien, Jim Roosevelt) or too weak (Scott Harshbarger) to serve as an effective speed bump.

    Also in 1992, Weld was running again, IIRC–and against Long John Silber. I’d have voted for my cat before I’d vote for that asshole.

  43. 43.

    oh really

    June 12, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    …and I can’t understand how his performance as governor didn’t disqualify him for any future public office.

    Um, apparently you haven’t been following the performances of most big time politicians in the mid- to late 20th and early 21st centuries. Failure is the new success.

  44. 44.

    Richard

    June 13, 2009 at 2:37 am

    To say nothing of the fact that a contest that requires a “donation” is simply an illegal lottery in almost every state!

  45. 45.

    prospero

    June 13, 2009 at 9:14 am

    Cute title. Don’t care about Wonkette or whomever. Misused “kitschy”.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room » DAY’S END ROUNDUP says:
    June 26, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    […] Eric Zimmermann FROM THE BLOGS: Anti-tobacco, or pro-Philip Morris? – Jonathan Adler, The Corner Mitt Romney, the banality of banality – Anne Laurie, Balloon Juice Public plan deception – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air Obama’s gratuitous […]

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - PaulB - Olympic Peninsula: Lake Quinault Loop Drive 5
Image by PaulB (5/19/25)

Recent Comments

  • Captain C on Monday Morning Open Thread: Another Week (May 19, 2025 @ 1:35pm)
  • lowtechcyclist on Monday Morning Open Thread: Another Week (May 19, 2025 @ 1:35pm)
  • sab on Monday Morning Open Thread: Another Week (May 19, 2025 @ 1:35pm)
  • Redshift on Medicaid cuts approved in the House (May 19, 2025 @ 1:35pm)
  • Baud on Medicaid cuts approved in the House (May 19, 2025 @ 1:34pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!