Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Peter Robinson ·
May 13, 2011 at 6:38am
From an editorial just posted on the website of the Wall Street Journal:
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." If we may judge by his health-care speech at the University of Michigan yesterday, Mitt Romney is a very smart man.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
But not as smart as President Obama.
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Somewhat off-topic, but F. Scott Fitzgerald was a drunk who came up with a number of bons mots which time has proven to be nonsensical.
Consider his maxim that there are no second acts American life. Oh, my, where to start? With post-impeachment Bill Clinton? With Dick Morris? Richard Nixon?
Perhaps the Wall Street Journal should have led with "Don't believe your own hype," which is attributed to...anonymous.
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Kenneth: Somewhat off-topic, but F. Scott Fitzgerald was a drunk who came up with a number of bons mots which time has proven to be nonsensical.
Consider his maxim that there are no second acts American life. · May 12 at 9:52pm
I haven't been able to find the context of the "no second acts" remark, but Fitzgerald couldn't have meant it--he just couldn't. What is Gatsby if not a novel in celebration of a gorgeous (if tragic) second act?
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Peter Robinson
Kenneth: Somewhat off-topic, but F. Scott Fitzgerald was a drunk who came up with a number of bons mots which time has proven to be nonsensical.
Consider his maxim that there are no second acts American life. · May 12 at 9:52pm
I haven't been able to find the context of the "no second acts" remark, but Fitzgerald couldn't have meant it--he just couldn't. What is Gatsby if not a novel in celebration of a gorgeous (if tragic) second act? · May 12 at 10:01pm
Neither have I, but it is universally attributed to Fitzgerald.
Jan '11
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Peter, if I may be so bold:
Frankly, I can't wait to see his juggling act and I'm waiting for some intrepid reporter to train the spotlight on him.
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Kenneth
Peter Robinson I haven't been able to find the context of the "no second acts" remark, but Fitzgerald couldn't have meant it--he just couldn't. What is Gatsby if not a novel in celebration of a gorgeous (if tragic) second act? · May 12 at 10:01pm
Neither have I, but it is universally attributed to Fitzgerald. · May 12 at 10:06pm
Oh, yes. There's no doubt about that. Fitzgerald certainly said it, or wrote it, somewhere.
Anybody at Ricochet know where?
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Ajax Telamônios: Peter, if I may be so bold:
Frankly, I can't wait to see his juggling act and I'm waiting for some intrepid reporter to train the spotlight on him. · May 12 at 10:08pm
I object. Fitzgerald was one of the most talented American novelists of the 20th Century. Not a Hemingway or a Dos Passos, but certainly in the tier beneath them.
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Peter, after reading Romney's defense of the indefensible earlier today, I was planning a post headlined "Romney Digs In." Fortunately, you beat me to it.
On the bright side, it's gratifying to be able to end my minor bout of indecision and definitively cross Mitt off my 2012 presidential possibilities list.
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
I honestly don't think that Romney knows what he thinks. He knows what he wants others to think that he thinks, but when he opens his "principles" file, it's empty.
So from that perspective, he isn't holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously, he is holding firmly to one idea: I deserve to be President and I'll say whatever I have to say, at whatever point in time, to get there.
Edited on May 13, 2011 at 7:17amJul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
George Savage: Peter, after reading Romney's defense of the indefensible earlier today, I was planning a post headlined "Romney Digs In." Fortunately, you beat me to it.
On the bright side, it's gratifying to be able to end my minor bout of indecision and definitively cross Mitt off my 2012 presidential possibilities list. · May 12 at 10:15pm
I admit to vacillating about Mitt. I actually think he could be a pretty decent President. But these times call for vision, principle and backbone, all of which he clearly lacks.
Feb '11
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Wikipedia believes that it is from "The Crack-Up" (originally in Esquire magazine, February 1936)
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Ditto.
I've been trying to hold my peace on this, but I can't. Romney's performance today proved a catastrophe, bad at every level. He looked unsure of himself and defensive. For goodness's sake, even the sound and lighting were bad.
Romney is a good and impressive man. But he's done.
Edited on May 13, 2011 at 7:24amSep '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
In the introduction to my new copy of Tender is the Night, there is a moving description that recounts Fitzgerald's battle to finish the novel while his wife continued a losing fight with mental illness. Fitzgerald had a penetrating eye and a breathtaking lyricism to his prose that still rewards a second, third and fourth read.
Jun '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Obama's likely strategy of defending Obamacare, will be, saying that the other party wants poor people to die in the street without care. Stupid people buy that kind of argument. That doesn't work quite as well against Romney. I think Obama wants that phony talking point, and for that reason, along with economic reasons, doesn't want to run against Romney. I don't know if that helps Romney any, in winning the Republican nomination, but I doubt that Obama wants to blunt his campaign's planned healthcare demagogy, as he would have to do against Romney.
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Peter, I've often remembered the 2008 post-election National Review cruise.
Among the notables were Mitt and his lovely wife, as well as Fred and Jeri Thompson. Fred and Jeri were universally adored by the crowd, though Fred's campaign had imploded in an instant. Meanwhile, Mitt, who had gone the distance, was an absolute wallflower. People nodded politely, while they flocked for photos with Fred.
It wasn't about politics, it was about authenticity. People sensed a - phoniness - to Mitt.
He and his wife departed halfway through the cruise. Let us hope he departs this campaign somewhat earlier.
Feb '11
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
And, here is the link from Esquire magazine itself. The quote in question is in the second paragraph.
As for Mitt, I believe that his Romneycare has rendered him unelectable. When your signature issue is so similar to Obamacare, you've lost the tea party wing of the party already and the fiscal conservatives. Establishment people may like him, but I would guess that his support would peak around 30% of the Republican primary electorate.
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Civil Sense: And, here is the link from Esquire magazine itself. The quote in question is in the second paragraph.
As for Mitt, I believe that his Romneycare has rendered him unelectable. When your signature issue is so similar to Obamacare, you've lost the tea party wing of the party already and the fiscal conservatives. Establishment people may like him, but I would guess that his support would peak around 30% of the Republican primary electorate. · May 12 at 10:43pm
No, we were wondering about the "no second acts" quote.
Jan '11
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
A man can entertain contradictory ideas while he's deciding which one to commit to. But after a while of refusing to commit, or if he commits to one under one circumstance and then changes in another, it reveals that he has committed to neither one. His only commitment is to himself, and whatever will extract him from whatever mess he finds himself in.
Jul '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Let us not forget that Mitt Romney came from an elite background. Son of a Governor, cossetted by the Mormon establishment, Harvard Law and Harvard Business School, networked into Bain Capital, where you had to be a bonehead not to reap a fortune.
He naturally believes he's smarter than the rest of us, which is why he is such a panderer.
Now, he's decided to lose the tie, in order to get all folksy. But that's just his latest machination to woo the little people.
Next thing you know, he'll be dropping his "g's".
Nov '10
Re: Mitt Romney, A Very Smart Man
Kenneth: Peter, I've often remembered the 2008 post-election National Review cruise.
Among the notables were Mitt and his lovely wife...
Kenneth,
Sorry to sidetrack, but did you really meet Ann?