I doubt I will vote for Mitt Romney. I don’t worry about his ties to the Mormons, but I do worry about his ties to his father.
I was reminded of his father when reading Jeffrey Lord’s article in The American Spectator, “What would Mitt do?” Lord points out that he’s one of those pragmatist types who claims he would be guided by data. In other words, he’s going to pander to whoever he can gain the most from by pandering.
I remember watching Romney on TV at the 1964 Republican convention. And I remember Goldwater’s speech in which he said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” (I think I was one of the few people in the Central Time zone who was still awake to watch it.) I took it to be directed at the Romneys in the Republican party, as well as all the media types he was pandering to.
In looking this up to refresh my memory, I learned here that Romney had wanted Goldwater to use a different version: “”Extremism in defense of liberty is not a vice but I denounce political extremism, of the left or the right, based on duplicity, falsehood, fear, violence and threats when they endanger liberty.”
Note that Romney did NOT say he wanted Goldwater to say, “I denounce political moderation, of the left or right, based on duplicity, falsehood, fear, violence and threats when they endanger liberty.”
We don’t need a second coming of Romney any more than we needed a second coming of George Bush.
(Lord’s article also appears in today’s WSJ.)