I’m not saying Mitt Romney won’t be the Republican nominee next year — though if I were a betting man, I’d lay a small wager (pizza scale, not rent money) that he’ll fall short.
But I do believe that planners at DOD see Romney’s ear as the US Strategic Tin Reserve — and that can’t be good for either a potentially (faux) populist-dominated primary battle, nor for a general election against someone who has some experience in running against the clueless rich.
The latest gaffe? Romney, like McCain, has a housing fetish:
The San Diego Union-Tribune broke the story of Romney’s California plans this weekend:
“Romney has filed an application with the city to bulldoze his 3,009-square-foot, single-story home at 311 Dunemere Dr. and replace it with a two-story, 11,062-square-foot structure. No date has been set to consider the proposed coastal development and site development permits, which must be approved by the city.”
Three years ago, Romney bought the “oceanfront manse in La Jolla” for $12 million. His campaign says the house on the property is too small for Romney’s large extended family…
Oh, and one more thing: what’s up with a resident (and former governor of) Massachusetts plunking down hogsheads of cash to buy sand in La Jolla in the first place? Must be that old sailor-down-to-the-sea thing:
SanDiego.com reports Romney said last year that the oceanfront property stirred up memories of his (also fabulously wealthy) childhood:
At a book signing in nearby University City last year, Romney explained why he bought the house.
“I wanted to be where I could hear the waves,” he said. “As a boy, we spent summers on Lake Huron [in his native Michigan] and I could hear the crashing waves at night. It was one of my favorite things in the world. Being near the water and the waves was something I badly wanted to experience again.'”
Ah. The soul of a Romney.
One thing, though. Last time I checked, Massachusetts had a pretty nice coastline. Waves too, and tides, and oysters — and even famous rich people with compounds and all.
The moral of this story: it’s not that Romney has more scratch than you and me — and all our friends — and that this makes him suspect. It’s that he’s rootless, a citizen not of a place but of a class. His passport is green, issued by the sovereign meta-state of Richistan.
And fine — he’s a wealthy man; it’s a truism that this fact does not of necessity render him a bad person (though it does amplify his capacity for evil if he swings that way, of course). But there’s rich and rich, and for some, Romney clearly included, an utterly secure material condition renders the experience of most of those the former one-term governor would seek to govern simply inaccessible. And that’s not good, either for a candidate or the country.
Image: Titian and workshop, The Vendramin Family, venerating a Relic of the True Cross, before 1576. Bonus points to those who spot the Romney-specific family reference in the grouping.
BGinCHI
11000 square feet.
How many workers you gotta lay off per square foot to get that?
I’m CEO-curious.
srv
Mitt is sacrificing and putting his money into creation, and all people can do is take potshots at him.
Weird.
Anonymous37
Bonus points to those who spot the Romney-specific family reference in the grouping.
If there’s a dog in a cage on top of a car somewhere in that painting, I’m not seeing it.
kindness
How many houses does Romney have?
JoyousMN
I guess DOG for $500, Alex.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
While I could see Rommey showing some California love after the nomination is seem mighty strange before. Maybe he figures it an’t going to happen for him so he’s going threw the motion like Dole in ’96? Tying to look all Reagen?
Bob
Missed you,a lot, and this post proves why. Good to read you.
Jewish Steel
I’ll take the dog too.
JoyousMN
@Anonymous37:
The three Romney boys are protecting it from their crazy Dad. See?
catclub
I was too slow to get the dog, curse you JoyousMN!
And I don’t see any magic underwear. There are too many sons
to match, so it has to be the tortured dog.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The pictures at the linked article aren’t great, but it just boggles my mind that that’s a $12 million house.
I wonder if this will hurt Romney. I know we all chortled about McCain’s wife’s money, but do you really think it hurt him? If you were going to vote for a man who would put Palin a heartbeat away from the big chair, would his being a spoiled millionaire (and McCain’s mother and grandmother were heiresses, too) make any difference?
I’ve been and remain skeptical of Romney’s chances, but the fact that his flip-flops on abortion and gay rights haven’t been brought up make me wonder if they’re not going to bite the bullet on the same “he’s our best shot” resignation they did with McCain.
randiego
Building a second story? Perhaps block your neighbor’s view of the ocean? Not an uncommon occurrence here in San Diego; but definitely a dick move if so.
catclub
Has Romnney’s wife ever been in public? No wife in this picture.
JoyousMN
@catclub:
I’m now trying to figure out why the Romney son on the far right looks like a young Mr Spock? Is it a subtle Maureen Dowd reference to Obama? Why yes!!! It IS and “Obama” (as Mr Spock) is protecting the “dog” which is a visual representation of the US. He’s protecting us from the maniacal clutches of our Mitt.*
*I know, I’ve read far too many Dowd posts.
Calouste
Assumes facts not evident. How do you think he got so rich?
soonergrunt
San Diego county isn’t cheap for new residential construction. $200/square foot just gets you in the door with no embellishment or much more than the basic structure. According to my wife’s aunt, Real Estate agent there and flaming wingnut, house that size can cost upwards of $400-$500/square foot.
MattR
Think Mitt could survive in this 78 sq foot studio in Manhattan? Rent is only $800 a month.
Villago Delenda Est
Oven Mitt is a lot like Trump in that regard; when you inherit millions, it’s very easy, not to much mental acumen needed, to be a “success” as judged by our Mammon-worshipping culture.
If he’d actually worked his way through an actual meritocratic institution, he’d have more credibility. But parlaying 10s of millions into 100s of millions is much less difficult than parlaying 10s of dollars into millions of dollars.
dmsilev
First off, if you describe one of your houses as a “manse”, it’s probably a good idea to quit before digging yourself in deeper. Secondly, the old and apparently unsatisfactory residence had 2 bedrooms on something over 3000 sq. ft. of floorspace, which is a real WTF design. Did the Romneys blow all of the square footage on Olympic-sized indoor pools or ballrooms or attached aircraft hangars?
soonergrunt
@JoyousMN: I would kill the victim of his choice if Tbogg would resume the 5-brothers blogging from 07-08.
dmsilev
@Calouste:
The old-fashioned way, of course. Inheriting a large sum of money from Dad. Granted, he
madeearnedtook receipt of even larger sums by being a soulless agent of job-destruction, but the seed money came from the previous generation.SiubhanDuinne
Aw heck. Everybody else got here first with the wrong number of sons, and the dog which may or may not have been tied to the roof of a car, and everyone in the picture wearing magic underwear.
Brachiator
I missed that wealth test in the Constitution. And is Romney richer than John Kennedy or FDR?
I detest Romney. I cannot put it more strongly than that. I also detest simplistic bigotry. And that includes nonsense that wealth automatically excludes compassion.
Doing a quick web search, I came across this little JFK historical nugget, a legacy of his primary campaign in West Virginia before the 1960 election:
...now I try to be amused
HA! I admire that line.
Here’s hoping Romney’s campaign takes the same trajectory as G.H.W. Bush’s 1992 campaign, when he was mocked for being out of touch with the experience of non-rich Americans.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator:
Alas, while I agree in principle, and FDR was despised as a “class traitor” for giving a rat’s ass about anyone but the Newport Marina crowd, those whose current fortune is based on inheritance have an additional burden to overcome, IMHO. The Kennedys provide a pretty good example of how that can be done. The Romneys, not so much.
sukabi
Well I’m not going to get those bonus points… because the dog in the pic is clearly NOT strapped to the top of a chariot.
artem1s
if that address is correct, photos are still on Zillow…
http://www.zillow.com/homes/311-Dunemere-Dr.-la-jolla,-ca_rb/#/homes/for_sale/La-Jolla-San-Diego-CA/46087_rid/32.836339,-117.279058,32.83381,-117.283054_rect/17_zm/1_fr/
don’t see how you fit that much house on that lot unless some of the adjoining properties are coming down too.
Tom Levenson
@Brachiator: Yo. If you read what I wrote:
…you will find no suggestion that “wealth automatically excludes” anything. Quite the reverse, I’d say.
That one’s circumstances can affect one’s capacity both to reason and to emphathize is not exactly controversial. How it does so is the key — and for that you have to look to actual evidence from day-to-day events. In Romney’s case, you have a history of ghastly-awkward attempts to do the regular-guy thing (think the “I’m unemployed too” moment for a recent example), combined with a sense of obliviousness to the appearance of his actions that makes me conclude he doesn’t grasp what it actually means to live daily life for most Americans. Your conclusions may differ.
ant
@MattR:
omg
ET
Is Romney and idiot? This isn’t rhetorical.
What person in their right mind running for president in a horrible economy does something like this? Americans like rich white men running for president, they just can’t come across rich too much because that just seem like rubbing their extreme wealth in the faces of the “common man” – something Romney was going to have to deal with already, but then he adds this.
I truly don’t understand why he thinks now is a good time for this.
scav
What kind of constant windstorms do they manage on Lake Huron to get crashing waves? Lapping, sure, lakes can generally manage that but crashing? Michigan’s another great one and can certainly work itself up to a fine frenzy but I wouldn’t describe its usual activity level as crashing. Minor quibble I know but a constant diet of cheap cliches and tired descriptions eventually gets to me.
Tuffy
Mittens will absolutely be the GOP nominee. Like McCain, he will skip Iowa, win New Hampshire, and then clinch the nomination. He has the backing of Rove and Crossroads GPS and he raises more money than the non-Ron Paul field combined.
Gretchen
Michigan has hundreds of miles of wonderful coastline, complete with the sound of waves he so fondly remembers. If he’s really longing for the memory of his childhood haunts, why doesn’t he go home to where his childhood happened – lovely Michigan?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Gretchen: He could go salmon fishin in Muskegon!
J. Michael Neal
@Gretchen: Property is too expensive in Michigan.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
So the campaign has already telegraphed just exactly how they will defuse this little faux-pas: Of course everyone knows that Mormons have large families. This nothing but a bigoted attack on my religion disguised as a class issue. Class warfare is ugly, anti-Mormon bigotry is even uglier. How sad that my opponent has decided to stoop so low, I had hope for better from him/her [shakes head sadly]. Next issue please.
It might not work in the South Carolina primary (just ask John McCain) but I’d say it will work pretty well in the general election, if he gets that far. Better attack Mitt on issues because attacks on his personality, background and experience are going to be deflected in this manner, with considerable success I imagine.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Tuffy:
Does he? I’m sure he will if he wins, but I thought Rove was one of the ones trying to draft a savior.
Speaking of Rove: I haven’t seen any of his “Disappointed Democrat” ads in a while. I wonder if they were polling badly.
Tom Levenson
@Tuffy: Maybe so, but I’m old enough to remember the inevitable Ed Muskie.
Vietnam and Muskie’s own limitations as a candidate derailed him.
A populist wave produced by this economy and Romney’s evident limitations as a candidate could do the same. I’m not saying they will, and money is vastly more important to the campaign process now than it was then (and it was pretty crucial even back in those chisel-and-slate days). So Romney’s in with a very good chance. But he’s not a given, at least not in my humble opinion. Which is worth exactly what you are paying for it, if not less.
Cat
Just because being rich doesn’t preclude you from being “evil” doesn’t mean the majority of rich* people aren’t terrible people.
There is a class war being waged, but it wasn’t started by us wage slaves.
*meaning people wealthy enough their grand children can live better then 99% of everyone else.
Silver
How many other unemployed guys are building a 10,000+ square foot house in La Jolla?
Entitlements will be the death of this fine country.
Judas Escargot
@J. Michael Neal:
Romney could probably just buy Detroit, outright, if he really wanted to.
Scary thought.
Tom Levenson
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Nope. The more Romney draws attention to his Mormonism, the more he runs afoul of those in our electorate who see that church as either heretical or a cult (or both).
Of course, this opinion is as valuable as the one I just expressed.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@scav:
Pedant! Next up you’ll be telling me that it wasn’t a dark and stormy night, when suddently a shot rang out, but only partly cloudy with a chance of showers before midnight, and anyway shots don’t ring.
wrb
@Gretchen:
He wanted to so much it hurt, but his deep concern for the environment and love of our planet caused him to do the responsible thing and move to dismal La Jolla, where heating and cooling loads are smaller.
steve
Could it be there are some extra wives we dont know about?
gbear
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: That argument stops working when your houses/kids ratio > 1.
jane from hell
@soonergrunt: I was totally thinking the same thing, but wouldn’t the brothers have to resume blogging first?
Tom Levenson
Oh yeah, everyone: it’s the dog. The sight of that little beast cowering at what pops might have in mind just screamed “Romney!” at me.
jane from hell
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Yeah, you gotta ring those bells and fire those guns, also too.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Tom Levenson:
I disagree. I think if Mitt and his political advisors are smart enough they’ll see that they have no effective means of taking the Mormon issue off the table and keeping it out of the sight of voters and so they will instead pivot off of it to attack their opponents like JFK did in 1960. You could counter that they aren’t that smart but Mitt already made one of his major public speeches on the subject of religion in public life in a way that was explicitly modeled on JFK’s 1960 campaign, so I think the evidence supports me here.
Jenny
Sad News: Paul Ryan just announced he will not run for president :(
Elizabelle
for my bonus points:
at least five sons, none of whom appear to be military veterans?
Do I get wine or something?
Tom Levenson
@Elizabelle: Heck. In this context you don’t even get caffeine.
jane from hell
@ET: real estate:locationlocationlocation as campaigning:timingtimingtiming
soonergrunt
@ET, 30;
You’ll recall that this is the same guy who asked some underprivileged youth at a YMCA “who let the dogs out” in the last Republican primary because they were black don’t you?
Tom Levenson
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: You may be right — but I think the role of religious identity in politics now is vastly different from the one it played a half a century ago (sic!).
Evangelicals were vastly less political and mostly Democratic to the extent that they were engaged back then. Now they are Republican voters, mostly, and Mormonism presents particular challenges to them as doctrine and in its deviation from orthodox Biblical narrative. Other groups have other problems. Not to mention that Kennedy’s base of Catholic voters pulling the lever on identity-pride grounds is much larger than Romney’s would be.
So, yup; you may be right. But parallels across time do not equal equivalencies that leap time.
Elizabelle
Hmmmmm.
Also curious that there are no women pictured. Maybe the Vendramin family ladies prefer a different relic.
DFH no.6
Brachiator:
I’m normally a lurker, and only seldom a commenter here, and I always appreciate your comments, even when I don’t agree.
But I think you knee-jerked a bit here:
Re-read Tom’s statement again. The operative modifier there vis-à-vis “the rich” being “some”. Not all, and nothing I see about “automatically excludes”.
Just an observation that it appears likely that Romney-the-incredibly-wealthy-man would not be able to empathize with the vast majority of his non-wealthy fellow citizens. I believe that observation is an apt one for Romney, and would be applicable to a not-insignificant percentage of those in Romney’s class.
It’s an ancient observation, too, as one can see from, say, Matthew 19:24 (which is that pithy proverb about a camel passing through the eye of a needle easier than a rich man entering heaven).
I don’t consider that bigotry, but a recognition that wealth can (and often does) render compassion for the less-fortunate difficult at best. Thus, for instance, the Tea Party.
wrb
New numbers hurt.
I’m kind of shocked they are doing this well:
jane from hell
@Silver: I see what you did there.
@Jenny: again?
The Spy Who Loved Me
John Kerry tools around on a seven million dollar yacht, and you want to make a big deal about Romney building a bigger house to accommodate his huge family? Really? That’s just petty.
J. Michael Neal
@Judas Escargot: Yeah, but then he’d be stuck with owning Detroit. If you take the net present value of the assets and liabilities, I probably have enough money in my wallet to buy it.
jane from hell
@The Spy Who Loved Me: Did he buy the yacht whilst campaigning? TIMINGTIMINGTIMING
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Tom Levenson:
And here’s the other thing: the idea that the electorate responds to doctrinal disputes within Christianity is I think a gross oversimplification that we follow at our peril. Yeah, some folks see the LDS church as a heretical cult, but I’d wager they are small in number compared with those for whom one’s sectarian religous affiliation is much more important as a cultural marker, a “is he one of us or not” flag. And the big divide in our culture is between heavy church-goers and the rest. Mark my words, as this campaign rolls on you’ll hear the words “Jesus Christ” escape from Mitt’s lips more often than a one-eyed carpenter nailing roof shingles in a rainstorm. That will get the message across as to which tribe he belongs to louder than anything else.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@wrb: The numbers on Paul and Bachmann make me question that poll. That said: I firmly believe that whoever is the nominee, it will be a tight race. And that said: Gallup’s numbers have been skewing anti-Obama for a while now, his numbers always seem markedly lower than other non-Rasmussen polls when TPM gives the whole list. Maybe their methods/sampling skews older and whiter?
Elizabelle
At least Romney’s not building his Xanadu in Palm Beach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/business/media/palm-beach-draws-conservative-media-personalities.html
wrb
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The numbers on Bachman and Perry made me open a bottle.
scav
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Indeed! Shots ringing is so 20th century, 21st century shots have rlng-tones like everybody else.
Hill Dweller
If the economy continues to deteriorate and unemployment continues to rise, which seems likely, all bets are off. Obama needs to go big on a jobs program, and start blaming the Republicans for the poor economy after they block it.
No One of Consequence
*Whew*, that last thread has convinced me to search out and implement a filter. Do we have any beta on Cleek’s Pie Maker working in FF6?
Since I can’t convince Obvious Troll Is Oblivious to start it’s own blog and we will follow it over there, and there are some discussions here that merit reading, I would like to continue to peruse BJ, but want my reading sans sewage.
I would entertain the switch to another browser as well just to be rid of the stench around here.
– NOoC
Continental Op
The new beach cottage is planned to be Romney’s photogenic getaway White House, like Bush’s ranch.
jibeaux
I don’t really care that he has a $12M house, but bulldozing a $12M house is just wasteful in the extreme.
trollhattan
La Jolla’s a pretty fab stretch of beach and has a lot of rich powerful folks. I wonder how kindly they’ll take to this (even if SD is a conservative haven). Here’s hoping Mittens also runs headlong into that pack of DFHs–the California Coastal Commission. If so, he’ll have something in common with Streisand and Geffen.
Villago Delenda Est
The thing on the Mormon angle is in the general, I don’t think it’s that big a deal.
Romney’s Mormon problem is in the primaries, where the wackadoodle fundies have inordinate sway.
Right now the Romney team is pretty desperately trying to blame Obama for the wackadoodle fundies’ attitude on Mormonism. The Politico kerfuffle was the first run at that, attempting to deflect anti-Mormon bigotry on to the near guy.
Bruce S
Romney’s father was one of the last of the progressive Republicans, an outspoken opponent of “the Crazy” in his party, a supporter of the civil rights movement, one of the first auto executives to see the virtue of marketing smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, a critic of the Vietnam war, a proponent of affordable housing – the list goes on. What happened to this jerk of a son?
Teak111
Too bad, that is a cool little street b/t Wind and Sea and La Jolla proper, with a few old school LJ bungalows through there. I used to run down there. God forbid he puts a McMansion, it would ruin the street, but that is how the super rich roll. Got to have their matching 1500 sqft walks ins and their vintage wine cellars and 5 car garages, the neighborhood be damned. Boy, if Rom does become president, going to be slummin it in DC at the White House.
wrb
@Hill Dweller:
Doubt it will work. He needs to actually make the economy better.
The Republicans will argue that it is democrats who are preventing job creation, the media will report it as squabbling of inscrutable and equally valid theories, and the voters will decide to give the other side a shot.
Kirbster
@Elizabelle:
Lantana, Florida was the home of the late, great Weekly World News.
Anne Laurie
To be fair to Romney — and, yes, I think I just popped a tendon even saying that — his wife prefers warmer, drier climes than Massachusetts and/or Michigan, because she thinks it helps her MS. Given how many years the poor woman lived among us dank Massholes because, to quote her husband, “Nobody ever got elected for President running as the ex-governor of Utah,” I can’t carp about the family choosing a nicer climate.
The size of Willard’s proposed “summer shack”, and his cluelessness in deciding to do so now (although the Washington Post article was careful to note that “construction would not begin until after the campaign“, because, yeah that makes all the diff)…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Bruce S:
I’ve been wondering this myself. I don’t know much about the old man, but reading Nixonland gave me a favorable impression of him. The parallels with the Bushes, of course: Is Mittster trying to avenge Daddy or get revenge on Daddy by doing what he couldn’t do, and doing it by being a demagoguing asshole?
Matt in HB
@jibeaux:
Chances are he’s not bulldozing a $12 million house. He’s probably bulldozing a $1 million house that sits on $11 million of real estate.
Meh, this strikes me as a non-issue. It’s not like voters have no idea that he’s loaded, and not every one would actually hold that against him.
nellcote
I certainly hope the workers on Mitt’s new project have their papers in order.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Did he really say that?
I didn’t know Ann Romney had MS. Good thoughts to her
Downpuppy
Could the Romney reference in the photo be the (Dalmatian Puppy?) Fur lined robes?
jibeaux
@Matt in HB:
Okay, then, bulldozing a perfectly good 3000 sq. ft. house because it isn’t big enough is wasteful.
Brachiator
@Tom Levenson:
No, but it is trivial.
And the idea that wealth might “amplify his capacity for evil if he swings that way, of course” is flat out wrong. Previously, poor people who gain power can become the worst kind of autocrats. Kinda like the samurai leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was the son of a peasant warrior, but when he achieved power, he made sure that nobody like him could rise to the top ever again, and restricted the right to bear arms to the samurai class. He understood too well the ambition of a poor man who might dare to become lord.
Yeah, Romney has a lot of defects and is generally clueless. I don’t think it is a function of his wealth. He’d be just as dim if he were a middle class drone.
Elliecat
@Brachiator:
I disagree. The wealth disconnects him and I believe disconnection is a prime ingredient in the capacity for evil.
Previously poor people who gain power often do it by disconnecting themselves from their communities, their pasts, etc. So one starts out disconnected, one disconnects. It is the disconnection brought about by or necessary for wealth and power that might amplify the capacity for evil.
Scott Supak
On the plus side, that ocean front property will be flooded someday, so his kids won’t be able to enjoy it.
Caz
So, rich people are bad and we should redistribute wealth to those in need. That’s basically your ideology, so why not stop dancing around it and just have the balls to say it. We need to punish the evil rich people and hand it over to those in need. I’d have more respect for you if you just came out and said it honestly. Not much more, but a little more respect. You’d still be a dumbass though.
Tom Levenson
@Caz: This may be the single most obtuse comment I’ve read in a long time.
Matt in HB
@jibeaux:
Not meaningfully wasteful to the Romney clan, I’d guess. Wasteful in a societal sense? Perhaps, but so is producing millions of $400 ipads or a $1.6 billion football stadium. All sorts of socially sub-optimal choices get made every day; such is life.
Unless Mitt says something monumentally stupid about his little project in La Jolla, gnashing ones teeth about a rich guy demoing a house in a nice location so he can build a bigger one seems like a waste of time.
Meh. Rich guy demos house. Dog bites man. Water is wet . . . film at 11.
Brachiator
@Elliecat:
This sounds like old fashioned conservative determinism. People are supposed to be connected to their class station in life, etc. And if people either know their place, or stay in it, they might be less inclined to do evil? I don’t think so. This also runs counter to any progressive credo I’ve ever studied, which asserts a connection between people that is not limited to or defined by their particular circumstance.
@Caz:
Your assertion here is utter nonsense. Nobody ever said anything or made any jump to anything about redistribution.
And your descent into a personal attack is reprehensible and cowardly. And probably typical.
Brachiator
@DFH no.6:
I have never seen that compassion, or the lack of compassion, has been connected to wealth.
Even the Bible says that “the love of money is the root of all evil.”
As an aside, I’m in an aspect of the tax business, and I have seen people do some truly vile and nasty stuff to other people over money and possessions, even when it’s only a few dollars and the people themselves are dirt poor.
But I do take your point that Mr Levenson made his original point with more precision and subtlety than I originally gave him credit for.
Tehanu
@Elizabelle:
Yeah, well, once global climate change really starts to hit they’ll all be underwater. I just hope King Neptune is ready with his trident.
Carol
@Gretchen: Too declasse’ for him. Plus he would actually have to have that wretched Michigan Governor over as a guest and to get his endorsement. Romney wants to live where the Beautiful People are.
Shades of John Edwards..who wanted to do the same thing while running for President. How do you justify such an expenditure of time and money and keep focused on the prize?
Off Colfax
I have a different angle on his locating in La Jolla.
Winter in Massachusetts: COLD AS FUCK
Winter in Michigan: COLD AS FUCK
Winter in La Jolla? We’re still in swimwear, bitches.
Why assume nefarious purposes when you could simply assume comfort and laziness?
stickler
I think people are discounting the Mormon factor a little too readily. As mentioned above, the primaries in the South are going to be brutal for Magic Underwear Mitt. Baptists and Pentecostals and assorted other fundagelicals think that Catholics are going to Hell … Mormons are an order of magnitude worse. It doesn’t matter that Mormons might be on the same page re: abortion, morality, moral rectitude. They’re still seen as a death cult by the snake-handler brigade. Mitt might be able to rise above this stuff in the general election — but he has to get the nomination first, and I really wonder if he can.
Bruce S
I have to say, on reflection, that the California building trades can use the stimulus…
burnspbesq
Only a fucking Bostonian could fail to understand the charms of La Jolla.
Let me spell it out for you.
No winter.
No humidity.
No streets full of drunken Red Sox fans.