Politico's Simon: Romney "up close ... is almost overpowering. He radiates vigor"
In a February 13 column for The Politico, chief political columnist Roger Simon claimed former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney "looks so much like a president would look if television picked our presidents (and it does) that sometimes you have to ask yourself if you are watching the real deal or a careful construction," as noted by blogger Atrios (Media Matters for America senior fellow Duncan Black).
Simon continued:
Romney has chiseled-out-of-granite features, a full, dark head of hair going a distinguished gray at the temples, and a barrel chest. On the morning that he announced for president, I bumped into him in the lounge of the Marriott and up close he is almost overpowering. He radiates vigor.
Romney announced his 2008 presidential candidacy on February 13 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
As Media Matters for America previously documented, on the January 3 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck, Simon's colleague, Politico chief political writer Mike Allen, said that Romney "looks like a president."
Additionally, on the January 19 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews said of Romney: "He has the perfect chin, the perfect hair, he looks right. He looks like a Mountie. He looks like from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."
From the January 19 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
MATTHEWS: What do you think of him as an opponent? We're looking at him right now. He has the perfect chin, the perfect hair, he looks right. He looks like a Mountie. He looks like from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Can that guy capture the hearts of the American people, Steve McMahon?
STEVE McMAHON (Democratic strategist): That's a question that remains to be seen. He certainly does look presidential. I guess my question would be, are the Republicans in -- around the country clamoring for a Massachusetts liberal? Because that's what --
Look out, Tweety is in the throes of another one of his "man crushes".
It's only a matter of time before he's admiring Romney's package.
Worrierking, I bet he's cutting out little hearts of red construction paper for his valentine's day card to Mitt, right now.
Maybe he'll throw in some of those (chalk like) candy hearts as well!
MATTHEWS: "[Romney] has the perfect chin, the perfect hair, he looks right. He looks like a Mountie. He looks like from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."
You might think that after what we've experienced the last six years, that Matthews might have set new, higher standards. But you'd be wrong.
MATTHEWS: "[Romney] has the perfect chin, the perfect hair, he looks right. He looks like a Mountie. He looks like from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police."
Yea, he's a regular Dudley Doright !
Can we have two elections? One for some actor who goes on TV and looks good while talking about freedom, and one for an actual president who will craft rational policy.
Yeah, I've often thought we'd be better off with a sort of elected monarchy in this country. Gore for Prime Minister, Martin Sheen for King.
In the movie 'Back to the future', 1954's Doc Brown is incredulous at Marty's claim that he's from the future, thirty years ahead...
"OK then future boy, who's the president in 1984?"
"Ronald Reagan!"
"The movie actor? And I suppose Jerry Lewis is the Vice President, and Jack Benny is the Secretary of State..."
But later, as 1954's Doc Brown marvels at the camcorder, and at the technological advance of television, the truth then dawns on him...
"Why of course the president in the future has to be a movie actor: He has to look good on television!"
The former Governor of Massachusetts radiates "vigor"?
What's this "vigor" that this fop is talking about... a new cologne?
[Seen in Massachusetts, a bumper sticker: MITT HAPPENS]
I only have one question to ask of all you Liberal cowards. What in the hell do you have against Mitt Romeny? The fact that he is a Mormon? Well, I'm a Mormon as well and quite a happy one thank you. Our religious beleifs shouldn't disqualify him from being able to run for president. And you guys are nothing but a bunch of cowardly, left-wing, Bush bashing, Republican hating, bigots.
Hey, Where did anyone mention in this thread anything about Romney's religion?
Furthermore, how brave is one who sits in front of a monitor and types insults into a kyboard to people you will never have to see face to face?
No one said anything about Romney being a Mormon.
And the targets on this thread so far are Simon & Matthews, not Romney.
You're still young. I'm sure as you mature you'll understand how important substance is and how unimportant appearances are.
And by the way, the Republicans and Bush have been in power for more than 6 years. Are you satisfied with their performance?
I'm not familiar with your faith and would never belittle you for your beliefs, but what does The Mormon Church say about lies? Truth is universal. It is also hard to come by these days.
In fairness, there are plenty of anti-Mormon comments on MMFA. The same type of comments that if were directed towards Muslims would resort in an uproar of indignation. I usually report the most egregious ones, and to MMFA's credit, they remove them.
"I'm not familiar with your faith and would never belittle you for your beliefs, but what does The Mormon Church say about lies? Truth is universal. It is also hard to come by these days."
I think that's pretty much universal. Also, one thing I remember back in 2004, when I went to church with my father (he's Mormon, I was raised Mormon; however, I'm inactive) was that they were told not to endorse a political candidate. And that anyone that was running for a political office was not supposed to advertise their religion.
I don't know, I thought that was pretty good, in my opinion. I hate seeing people voting for someone simply because their pastor tells them to.
is it anti-mormon to say that the mormon church has a long history of official discrimination against blacks? and i do not defend other religions. i've said many times that what is going on in iraq is people of the same religion killing each other over minor differences of interpretation.
While i agree that I've read a few anti-Mormon posts on MMFA, i was referring to this particular thread.
i tried to be as kind in my response to as i could be after being called a coward, a bigot and someone who hates.
"What in the hell do you have against Mitt Romeny?"
Read. No one has disparaged Romney. In fact, us liberals even know how to spell his name.
I dislike Romney because he is a republican, and I dislike all republicans.
Decent, honest republicans just give the scummy, evil republicans enough percentage points to continue to chair committees, sustain filibusters, drive national discourse, or do whatever else they do to actively ruin this country.
"Good" republicans need to glance over at the swine they're propping up, then switch parties before it's too late. The republican party must be destroyed.
Hey HurryDick...
The only thing I have against Mutt Romney is that he's a flip flopper. He was before abortion before he was against it.
I think he was also for gay marriage, before he was against it.
The bottom line is, this man is a piece of flotsam, he'll blow with any wind that will get him elected. He's got no moral compass and no moral courage.
I hope he gets the nomination, we'll trounce the little weasel.
Well, I'm a Mormon as well and quite a happy one thank you.(Hurryduck)
Yeah, you sound like a really happy guy.Sitting at your keyboard typing paranoid insults at anyone who disagrees with you.Seem pretty well adjusted to me..
Not only are you exceedingly ignorant, you apparantly cant read. I suggest you hire a six year old to read the posts IF he is marginally brighter than a housecat, which you obviously arent he will tell you no one said anything about Romneys religion. I guess you are too stupid to know that you being a moron who thinks making sure as many Americans get killed as possible in a senseless war isnt really brave its just stupid. Clearly you are too dumb to know the difference between bravery and stupidity so its understandable you dont know what a coward is either. I am sure you are challenged asking if they want fries with that, when you arent in your mothers basement WISHING you knew what a real man was, but projecting your obvious inadequacies on us just highlights how truly pathetic you are. We understand that you aspire to higher brain function but its time to face reality, its not going to happen. I suggest you rent a brain cell, I know it will die of lonliness but at least you will finally know what it was like to have had one.
What in the hell do you have against Mitt Romeny? The fact that he is a Mormon? - Hurryduck
I don't have anything particular against Mitt Romney. Certainly not that he's a Mormon. I lived out west for several years in a community with a lot of Mormons and found them to be exceedingly pleasant people. I think their religion is a silly fantasy invented by a pathological con man, but I don't hold that against them.
I agree; some of my best friends are Mormons, but I just don't get their religion. That whole thing about the Indians being dark-skinned because their ancestors were the "bad" Israelites sort of defies logic (but so do most religious beliefs).
I've made rude comments about Mormon beliefs in relation to Glenn Beck, and I won't back down from that. I will say it again here; if you believe that the Indians are direct descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, and that God punished them by turning their skin dark, then I question your credentials as a historian (Which Beck pretends to be). It doesn't make you a bad person. I would say the same thing about someone who believes that the earth is only 6000 years old. If that makes me a bigot, then I am a bigot against ignorance and its propagation.
Nerzog, you are correct in your thoughts. Makes more sense to me than thinking we crawled out of a pond, stood on our legs and journeyed to various parts of the world, turning white, black, brown, red, yellow in the process. Glad you helped me out on this one.
I think you conveniently left out the ever inconsequential, itsy-bitsy detail of "over time period of billions of years" part of the theory. Or are you one of the "Earth is only six thousand years old" kind of people?
Oscar also left out the "physical evidence that supports evolution" part. Tricky, that.
Oh, no I don't dispute the fact that this planet is way older than 6000 years. It's just that there are some things about earth that I believe takes more than blind chance (pure evolution) to explain. I can understand that the darker skinned people of the African ccontinent make have developed that skin color as a protection from the sun (as an example), But I don't see evidence of the same thing in the Western Hemisphere (around the equator) to the same pigmentation level. Why are there no documented white skins in the far North of the Western hemisphere as per the Northern part of the Eastern Hemisphere prior to Norse settlements around 1000 CE if there is evidence of life on the Western Hemisphere 15,000-20,000 years ago? Just questions in my mind that haven't been adequately answered through the reading I have done (which BTW goes far beyond "Pet Goat").
"What's this 'vigor' that this fop is talking about..."
Well you have to have plenty of vigor if you have three wives! ;>)
(Just thought I'd be the first to give Mitt Romey a little introduction to Republican presidential politics. Romney should be thankful he's not running against a Karl Rove managed campaign.)
Karl would rip him apart if this were 2000.
The mainstream media is suppressing an important story...
Romney has had 3 wives, and his second wife was Rudy Drooliani's third wife.
You do the math?
grown men repeating this never ending gushing over candidates? sounds like eighth grade. i don't know about his qualifications, but he rocks my world girlfriend.
"up close ... is almost overpowering. He radiates vigor"
I do not know but he gives me the creeps not vigor.
That's not neccessarily a good thing.
What really disapoints me is that Roger Simon, in his glory days with the Chicago Sun Times, was a model for what Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower and a select few others would later be well known for. It is sad to see what he has become.
There's a couple of awfully stupid things quoted and/or transcribed in this item. There's some guy who's being called a "Democratic strategist" saying of mitt romney...
"He certainly does look presidential"
...which makes me wonder, did Abraham Lincoln "look presidential"?
How about George Washington or Franklin Roosevelt, did they "look presidential"?
I'm not sure what a "Democratic strategist" is (or what it would be to "look democratically strategic")... is a "Democratic strategist" someone who casts actors for movies?
Is that how they know what it is for someone to "look presidential"?
There's also some kind of blogger, the one who claims he got so close to mitt romney that he damn near fainted from an excessive exposure to "vigor radiation" (the blogger is called a "chief political columnist": Who makes up these "titles", their press agents?)... he writes on his blog that mitt...
""looks so much like a president would look if television picked our presidents (and it does)"
Television picks our presidents? I mean, I know there is something behind the statement, but could it have been said any more foolishly... "if television picked our presidents (and it does)"?
How about:
The American People pick our (their) president...
...they are perhaps greatly influenced by television in their judgement, as to whom they choose for the presidency... they are perhaps too greatly influenced by television, and by the candidate's personal appearance... so much more than just several generations ago, when a pre-television American People seemed not to consider at all a man's appearance, when deciding the presidency (see Lincoln, on the five dollar bill, and Washington on the one, and know the truth of the matter)...
The American People might perhaps be influenced enough by the televised image of a candidate, as to choose a body builder-turned-movie actor for Governor of California, or a professional wrestler for the same in Minnesota, or Gopher from the 'Love Boat' or one-half of Sonny&Cher for the U.S. House of Representatives, or the straight man to that hilarious chimp 'Bonzo' for president ...
...or a guy for Governor of Massachusetts, because he looks like a male model in a Sears catalogue...
...a male model in a Sears catalogue selling the latest vogue Fragrance for Men, the cologne "Vigor".
Yeah, maybe the American People are overly influenced by television when deciding their president... but that doesn't make the stupid statement that "television picks our presidents" to be true...
...no more than to say the Internet Wire picks our "chief political columnists".
Dem, "democratic strategist" is one of those titles that shows up under the neck of a lot of Foxnooz "liberals", usually the patsy who gives a half-hearted defense of the Dems in the face of a big BS storm of GOPropaganda.
Then they collect their check and go back to their cave on Repubclican Skull Mountain.
Most of them remind me of that team (the washington generals?) that the Harlem Globetrotters used to "play against".They show up to make it look a little more real.
"...because he looks like a male model in a Sears catalogue..."
Not that I would vote for Mitt Romney (or any Republican, for that matter), but... I am sick and tired of the bigotry in this country against exceptionally handsome men. Having been the recipient of this insipid bigotry myself I know first-hand what it's like to be regarded as somehow "different" than the masses of ordinary and ugly people. We are just as equal as everyone else... cut us and we bleed like anyone else. The derogatory remarks, such as the disgusting comment above referring to Mr. Romney as a Sears model, are hurtful, and this repulsive bigotry must stop. Thank you... ;>)
Irony. You are aptly named...
I too know the special pain of being exceptionally handsome. Sometimes the slings and arrows of the jealous masses against Mitt and me are too much to take. Thankfully there are those like Chris Matthews and Roger Simon who understand.
Yes, Christopher... if only we had our own righteous defender like Bill Donohue... or George Hamilton. ;>)
Irony, Christopher, I will be your Donohue. Would you like me to go on Fox, MSNBC, etc. and put down the handsophobic jokes made by those who are really just jealous of you?
Roger Simon, I owe you an apology. I just read your complete column and I can see that your writing style has been misunderstood by many readers to be fawning which you never have been capable of. Keep up the good writing.
It's sad to see what's happened to Roger Simon...
He's become a buffoon--he was always a lackey--but this is a new depth he's descended into.
I love it when these jackass pundits get all giggly and girly. It shows you how these politicians use the hell out of them to get their message out.
Wow! That's almost as gay as when Karl Rove described the first time he saw George W Bush and how he looked so dashing in his leather flight jacket. Not that there is anything wrong with that...
What I find repulsive is that there are apparently so many gay men hiding within the ranks of GOP operatives. It's not repulsive that they're gay, but that they support a party that promotes an agenda to make gay people second class citizens. Even worse is that they promote this agenda just to buy the votes of the most ignorant bigots in the country.
That was my first thought- who is going to break the news to Dubya that Chris Matthews has moved on to a new love?
Tweety dumped W. for St. McCain a while back. It can be hard to keep up.
Then he dumped John Boy for Rudy, now he tosses Rudy aside like yesterday's New York Post for this upstart from New England.
I forgot about the Giuliani affair. Rudy sure is a pro at the quickie relationships.
And yes I remember Tweety Matthews saying that Bush had an air of Nobility!
How much lower will these guys stoop?
Bush is as noble as a snake.
It's not getting better, it's getting worse, much worse.
Thank God for the internet! We just don't need the cable goons anymore.
It seems as the internet grows in relevance the media jackals become more insane by the day.
What a complete cesspool cable tv is.
When the Daily Show caves television will be a goner for serious people.
Forgot to mention, Timmy is handed five million a year for those weekly Sunday morning Republican Schmooze fests. Thank God for Jack Welch, it's nice to have friends in the right places! I wonder how much Chris Matthews is paid each year to pander and drool over Republicans, ever their devoted servant - wonder what Leno makes each year to lie about Grey Davis and campaign on national TV for Schwartzenegger and to make filthy cracks about Clinton's love life, after all, he's only been out of office seven years, never mind that in the interim Jr. has lied us right into WWIII, Hitler and the Nazis have NOTHING on us!!
Please, Please, Please don't mention Mit Romney in my presence. George Romney was a thief. When he was president of Nash/American Motors, he sold Kelvinator for a healthy sum. He then took that money and had the board vote him a great big chunk of it and left. Nash soon faced bankruptcy. The bankers added it in with Chrysler figuring a single bankruptcy would be easier to handle. George Romney was a crook. I can't help but think, like father, like son.
Had George Romney used the capital he amassed from the sale of Kelvinator on one really good product, Nash would be alive and well. One less Japanese or Korean car company wouldn't have made it in the US. Had the US government intervened in the repubican depression of 1958 the way the German government did, we would have had a better chance at a healthy competitive automobile industry. Some one of those guys, Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, or Nash, could, just might have challenged the Japanese. Ford and GM folded like wimps. They are still folding. Watch for them to open a plant instead of closing them. You will notice that Lee Iococa(sp) opened plants
I don't want to hear about Mit Romney. He is just a personal opportunist like his father.