Romney's no Gore or Kerry

  Slate has an article about Mitt Romney entitled "Romney is Kerry. Or maybe Gore." The author claims that Romney resembles those two mutton chops and therefore is doomed to lose because he's rich, good looking and pompous, just like Kerry and Gore.
  I'm not the biggest Romney fan but comparing these two flawed individuals to Romney is wrong on many levels. Slate:

In this respect, Romney strongly resembles two similarly unloved Democratic nominees from the recent past, Al Gore and John Kerry. Gore and Kerry both suffered from the same characterizations that get applied to Romney—too wooden in person while too flexible in their views. Their supporters often argued that qualifications were what mattered. But ominously for Romney, both Gore and Kerry lost winnable races because of their flawed personalities. George W. Bush, on the other hand, got elected and re-elected, despite his enormous, substantive shortcomings, because ordinary people found it easy to relate to him at a personal level. They felt he wasn’t trying to be someone different from who he was.

Here are a few reasons Slate's got it wrong.


1) Kerry and Gore aren't good looking  
  Okay, well, I'm glad the Dems can finally admit at this late date how creepy their candidates were but the thing is nobody's as ugly as John Kerry, k?
  Think Lurch. 
  Think Ichabod Crane. 
  Heck, think Frankenstein's monster.
  Hey, John Kerry, why the long face?
  And Al Gore? Where to start.
  The overstuffed sweater. The bellicose lack of acceptance of the law. 
  Romney is genuinely good looking. Like magazine cover good looking. The intentionally ruffled hair is ridiculous. They should just quit that.


2) Gore and Kerry are nothing but politicians. Romney's a hybrid with a proven track record.
   If it's one thing Romney knows, it's business. How to save them, how to reconstruct them, how to make them profitable, either again or for the first time.
  Kerry and Gore use other people's money, never having proven themselves in any field but that.
  Gore only became a businessman after his political career ended, and then using the global warming scam, never giving back to the economy, but rather leaching from gullible followers who think they can do something good by utilizing Gore's global warming businesses.


3) Gore and Kerry are genuinely unlikable. Romney isn't.
  Romney seems like a genuinely nice family man. In fact, he's not only a good family man but a good friend. A friend whose daughter disappeared tells the story of Romney's persistence in helping find her and draws this conclusion:

So, here’s my epiphany: Mitt Romney simply can’t help himself. He sees a problem, and his mind immediately sets to work solving it, sometimes consciously, and sometimes not-so-consciously. He doesn’t do it for self-aggrandizement, or for personal gain. He does it because that’s just how he’s wired.

  When did you hear about Kerry or Gore doing anything nice for anyone other than themselves?


4) Romney's fiscally responsible. Gore and Kerry, not so much.
  Romney has a history of fiscal responsibility, both personally and in business. He's donated millions of his own dollars to philanthropic causes. While it's true he's been running for president for a number of years, thus keeping an eye on appearances, how much did Kerry and Gore give charitably? Charitable giving has never been instinctive with those two or, for that matter, most liberals, whose income is higher than conservatives but whose charitable contributions are considerably lower.

All of us are aware of the public discussion of personal generosity and
charity that was generated when the public learned that Vice
President Al Gore’s charitable giving in 1997 was only $353. Because
of politics, we also know that Senator John Kerry, presidential candidate
in 2004, gave nothing to charity in more than one year when he was a
U.S. Senator. Before his marriage to Teresa Heinz (whose reported fortune
was half a billion dollars), Kerry’s 1991–1995 charitable contributions
were ($0, $820, $175, $2039, $0), less than one-half of one percent of his
income for the period. In contrast, private citizen George W. Bush gave
($28,236, $31,914, $31,292) in 1991–1993. His highest giving was 15.7
percent of income and his average 9.1 percent. As Texas governor he gave
$27,000 (6.5 percent of income) and $9,178 (2.3 percent) in the next two
years, after which his giving returned to higher levels.

5) Gore and Kerry are pompous. Romney's got the ego of a self made businessman.
  Pompous doesn't begin to describe these two self absorbed popinjays.
  To make it in business, you need an ego. Romney may be a lot of things, but his ego doesn't reach the levels of Gore/Kerry pomposity. 
  Romney shows grace under pressure, maintaining an air of humility rather than arrogance, not assuming too early he'll be the nominee. He's gracious and well mannered. No arrogant outbursts of anger or intemperance, which are only allowed by the media if you're a Democrat.
  Does that make him a bad man?

So why DON'T we favor Romney?
  Simple.
  ~He's not conservative enough. 
  ~He's the next guy in the Republican line as a nominee.
  ~We feel like we're reliving Dole and McCain, who talked a good game but didn't appear to want to even win. 
  ~There's fear Romney's milquetoasty and won't stand up to the RINO forces that continue to blow money on stupid government programs. Heck, he IS a RINO. Well, maybe not but that's the fear.
  In short, Slate's comparison of Romney with Gore and Kerry doesn't wash. It's typical of the liberal campaign of wishful thinking, unjust accusations and double standards.
  As usual, liberals judge by exteriors rather than interiors, just the way they do with race and gender and looks.
  Now, as to the charge that people can't relate to him. Perhaps this is true, but not because he's rich, pompous and good looking. 
  Romney seems at times detached, cool but friendly.
  Sound like someone else we all, unfortunately, know who won last time?
  That's another reason we worry about a Romney presidency.
  But I'll sure vote for Romney before I sit out the election.