Thursday, January 12, 2012

Lesser of Evils


Tuesday, January 10, the day of the New Hampshire primary, was supposed to make for a big news night. The networks had their big guns out analyzing the results which we should have known was a foregone conclusion. What the hell, fivegone! All the aspirants but Romney would have been red meat for Obama and the Democrats in the general election, except for John Huntsman who doesn’t count. For my part I turned off the TV early and started this letter.

In a sense the outcome displeases Democrats like me who nursed a not too secret wish for the Republicans to select someone from this group with the Tea Party seal of approval. But in a larger sense, I find the Romney candidacy somewhat reassuring. The near impossibility of one of the primitives ever being elected is still a possibility. Romney’s record suggests that he might not believe all his perfunctory, off the wall right wing rhetoric, in contrast to his competitors who, it seems, were born that way. There is a welcome sliver of a doubt that, given the chance, he might not practice all of what he has been preaching of late.

The big rap on Romney from members of both parties is that he is a “flip flopper.” The overuse of this term as a pejorative annoys me. Intelligent people adjust their thinking to changing circumstances?  OK, the circumstance in this case happens to be the influence of the Tea party on Republican orthodoxy. But this flexibility might work in any direction

We were snookered by a self proclaimed “compassionate conservatives” once. But this guy just might be the real thing. After all, he himself was once among the unemployed. What, you don’t believe me? Why he said so himself.

Hey, I’m starting to like this guy. If I keep writing long enough I might even vote for him, perish the thought! So I’d better stop now.

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