Mitt Romney and the Eddie Haskell Phenomenon

January 24, 2008

A couple of days before the Republicans’ New Hampshire primary, ABC hosted a debate for the GOP field, during which every candidate on the stage attacked Mitt Romney. Huckabee hit him on Iraq, Thompson hit him on healthcare, Giuliani hit him on immigration, and McCain hit him on everything. Romney wasn’t actually leading in the polls at that point — that would have made the criticisms easier to explain — and hadn’t picked any fights during the debate.

It was a reminder that, for all the competing interests and personalities in the Republican contest, these guys really don’t like Mitt Romney.

At the end of the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire this month, when the Democrats joined the candidates on stage, Mitt Romney found himself momentarily alone as his counterparts mingled, looking around a bit stiffly for a companion.

The moment was emblematic of a broader reality that has helped shape the Republican contest and could take center stage again on Thursday at a debate in Florida. Within the small circle of contenders, Mr. Romney has become the most disliked.

With so much attention recently on the sniping between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on the Democratic side, the almost visceral scorn directed at Mr. Romney by his rivals has been overshadowed…. Mike Huckabee’s pugilistic campaign chairman, Ed Rollins, appeared to stop just short of threatening Mr. Romney with physical violence at one point.

“What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process,” Mr. Rollins said.

Dan Schnur, a Republican strategist who used to work for McCain, said, “The glee the other candidates go after Romney with is really unique.”

A spokesman for the Romney campaign, Kevin Madden, said, “I think it’s largely driven by the fact that everybody’s taught to tackle the guy on the field with the ball.”

That’s a reasonably good spin, but I don’t think that’s it.

The NYT pointed to a variety of explanations why the rest of the Republican field just doesn’t like this guy on a personal level.

* Romney has aired more negative commercials against his GOP rivals than anyone else, and pushed a negative tone earlier than the other candidates.

* Romney is seen as an ideological panderer and flip-flopper.

* Romney’s ability to tap his personal fortune generates resentment from candidates who struggle to raise money.

* Romney, who has just four years of experience in public office, is seen as not having “paid his dues.”

I think all of these points have merit, but I’d just add that Romney, every step of the way, has been “the other guy.” By that I mean, when McCain started out as the GOP frontrunner early on, it was Romney who was positioned as his most credible rival. Over the summer, when Giuliani was considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, his principal foe was Romney, who was trying to highlight the former mayor’s less-than-conservative record. When Thompson got in the race, his principal foe was Romney, who was trying to hold onto the GOP base. When Huckabee started gaining support in Iowa, his principal foe was Romney, who was trying to characterize the Arkansas governor as unreliable on taxes and immigration. Now that McCain is ascendant again, he’s in a two-man race … with Romney.

For practically an entire year now, the various campaigns have gone up and down, but in every instance, there was Romney, in their face and presenting himself to voters like an ingratiating, toadying Eddie Haskell.

And no one ever liked Eddie Haskell.

Perhaps they all sense he’s really a cyborg.

The depressing thing is, he might be able to spin this into “Nerds going after the good looking guy” and pull off a win.

“What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn’t get in the way of my thought process,” Mr. Rollins said.

Dear me. Flagpoles up arses, teeth knocked out. Nice to see Talevangical morals at work in cHuckabee’s campaign.

every candidate on the stage attacking Mitt Romney
Psst! “attacked.”

  • Perhaps Romney keeps getting attacked because he keeps consistently winning among voters… currently he has the most delegates, he’s the “real” frontrunner of the Republicans. The other candidates may not like it, but I think what we are really talking about here is how the Main Stream Media are doing their best to discredit Romney and build up other less-worthy candidates like McCain and Huckabee so that voters will be duped into thinking they should vote for them. Why? Because Romney is a real threat to the Democratic nominee just as he is now to the other republican candidates. It’s not that people don’t like Romney, it’s the liberal media who don’t like Romney.

  • It’s not that people don’t like Romney, it’s the liberal media who don’t like Romney.

    Really? Becaues I work with a bunch of Republicans, and they use words to describe him like “plastic,” “fake,” “manufactured” and the like. Not particularly positive.

  • As a Massachusetts resident, I can understand and agree with their feelings.

    Very few of us warm to people who are so unabashedly smug, arrogant, condescending, nasty, and shallow, no matter how physically attractive they are.

  • OK, lets go with this metaphor. Fred Thompson wanted to be Ward Cleaver. Many of them might privately fantasize about being June. John McCain, hmmm, Whitey. If you get rid of Wally’s reason and general goodwill towards others and just keep his sense of putting principle over popularity then you’ve got Ron Paul. Had he decided to run Rush Limbaugh could play Lumpy. Substitute xenophobia for an irrational love of apples and Tom Tancredo stands in for Larry Mondello. Although he never actually appeared in the series, the show’s implicit Cold War context had Josef Stalin as a looming presence. That part is good for Guliani. And Mike Huckabee as the Beaver.

  • “* Romney is seen as an ideological panderer and flip-flopper.”

    Is there any GOP candidate, outside of Ron Paul, who is not a documented ideological panderer and flip-flopper?

  • I think Romney is structurally perfect for Number Two.

    The media get off on freaks, oddballs. It makes for good TeeVee. Romney’s only moderately freaky: Ken doll hair, permanent half smile, his Mormon religion. But he’s obscenely rich (a virtue in this country) and no threat to the military-industrial complex. So he’s sort of in between: unable to rise to the top because he’s not freaky enough for TeeVee, unable to sink into oblivion because of his entirely legal wealth, unable to purposefully ignore since he’s no threat to corporate TeeVee ownership.

  • Ed Stephan says “I think Romney is structurally perfect for Number Two.”

    OK, but let’s try staying above scatalogical jokes.

  • Willard Romney is in the lead for the GOP and for all the noted reasons his rivals dislike him. But it’s rather difficult to find a Republican that doesn’t feel hatred for a rival.

  • I think the GOP base backs Romney…most of the conservative blogs also seem to be backing him. He’s a little too far to the ‘Left’ for my taste, but compared to all the other Presidential candidates (from both major parties), he’s the least liberal by far, and clearly has the best leadership qualifications. If he wins the GOP nomination (which I think he will), then he gets my vote…if not, then I may vote for whoever wins the Libertarian nomination.

  • * Romney has aired more negative commercials against his GOP rivals than anyone else, and pushed a negative tone earlier than the other candidates.

    This is a good reason for the other candidates to dislike him. They all break St. Ronnie’s Commandment (it’s more of a guideline, really), but Romney did it early, often, and left a trail right back to himself. Bad form, Mitt, bad form. At the very least get yourself some front group that you can claim not to know anything about to do the actual dirty work. You’d think a former CEO would know about outsourcing the dirty jobs.

    * Romney is seen as an ideological panderer and flip-flopper.

    The only one of this group of candidates who would care about that is Ron Paul – and he’d accuse the rest of the field of being just as bad. That may be a reason that Republican voters give for not liking him, but it’s only because it’s unacceptable to say they don’t want to vote for him because he’s Mormon. (Seriously, when you say that you don’t want to vote for Mitt because he’s a flip-flopper but you’re excited about Huckabee, or you don’t want to vote for Mitt because he’s an ideological panderer but you’re excited about McCain, you’re really saying you don’t want to vote for the “cultist”.)

    * Romney’s ability to tap his personal fortune generates resentment from candidates who struggle to raise money.

    DING! Notice something about all of the other GOP candidates? They’re all well off, but none of them is the fat cat that Mitt is. Class warfare among the upper classes just looks a little different than the class warfare the Republicans always accuse the Dems of fomenting.

    * Romney, who has just four years of experience in public office, is seen as not having “paid his dues.”

    Meh – where was the ire against Fred Thompson then? There may be some of this from McCain and Huckabee – but I think upper class warfare and jealousy is a more likely reason.

    I think all of these points have merit, but I’d just add that Romney, every step of the way, has been “the other guy.”

    I think this is a good point. He’s always been “the contender” no matter who the front runner was. So ALL of the campaigns have put a target on his head at one time or another. And when the political is personal (as it so often is in these campaigns), the real animosity builds up.

    But I’m going to stick with “jealous of his money” and “he’s a Mormon” as the two reasons that the candidates are all attacking him so vigorously, despite his lack of “front-runner” status. The rest of it adds fuel to the fires, but at the core it’s hate and envy.

  • TAiO: “Dear me. Flagpoles up arses, teeth knocked out. Nice to see Talevangical morals at work in Huckabee’s campaign.”

    I think it’s a Republican thing, they are allowed to say things that they will call you immoral for saying. After decades of culture war, Hollywood-is-corrupting-our-children bullshit, you just know they are going to embrace Roger Stone’s new anti-Clinton organization, C.U.N.T. Because it’s okay when they say it but not when you do.

  • CB wrote:

    It was a reminder that, for all the competing interests and personalities in the Republican contest, these guys really don’t like Mitt Romney.

    Mitt Romney is the current leader in terms of delegates won. Maybe they just didn’t want him to gain momentum and crush them.

    It’s true that Giuliani was doing really well in polls from a while back, but as you recognize in a post today, he seems to have totally lost momentum since then, which would explain why he’s not the one the candidates saw as a threat and someone they had to distinguish from themselves.

  • I think the media doesn’t want people to think of the Republican candidates as doing anything strategic, rather it wants people to think of them as always being genuine and doing things based only on their emotions.

    That’s why they portray the candidates as going after Romney based on how they feel about the guy, rather than to get him out of the way so they can win the contest.

  • Careful.

    “Eddie Haskell” was one of the (milder?) abuse heaped at Gore in 2000. While of course, Mitt deserves it and Gore does not, I’d hesitate about using because of it’s past tainted use.

  • “But I’m going to stick with “jealous of his money” and “he’s a Mormon” as the two reasons that the candidates are all attacking him so vigorously, despite his lack of “front-runner” status.”

    Really, RonyRony? Going right to the “bigotry victim” card, when there is no evidence of that? As an agnostic, I could care less about any of their religions, except maybe for Huckabee, since he says it “defines him.” Romney, however, is a total phoney. No one else would have the audacity to switch their positions on life, gay unions, and gun rights in the year or two before announcing a presidential bid, and then claim to be an “authentic, across the board conservative.” Add in the serial distortions (“lifelong hunter,” “saw my father march with MLK”) and you have the explanation for all the dislike. It seems to me many of his supporters are voting more AGAINST Huckabee or McCain, rather than for Romney. Which is fine, but Romney will be toast in the general…

  • Steve,

    Please tell me where to find the liberal media. You must receive different channels and papers than I do.

  • If he wins the GOP nomination (which I think he will),

    From your lips to the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s ears (assuming it has ears). Go Mittmentum!

  • Maybe it’s that the media is pro-McCain, and since Romney is the main rival, they want to make Romney appear un-likeable.

    The media, by the way, is conservative, not liberal. Even the NYT has a lot of conservative writers, page set-up, and editing.

  • ***Romney is a real threat to the Democratic nominee just as he is now to the other republican candidates. It’s not that people don’t like Romney, it’s the liberal media who don’t like Romney.***

    In contrast to the comments in post#2, I would contemplate Romney as not being that much of a threat. First, the primary reason he’s ahead in the delegate count is that there has been no clear front-runner in any of the primaries to date. Where other candidates play musical chairs with the top spot, he comes in second each time. If the GOP contests continue to spread out like that, and he keeps coming in second, he’ll garner more delegates than any other one candidate—but he won’t get enough to go into the Convention as a clear winner.

    As for being a threat to Dems, there’s really no chance of that happening here. He’s tied his leash to the GOP mantra—which is an absolute philosophical nightmare now. If he does become the eventual nominee, he’ll be shackled to the GOP platform. Planks such as 9/11, tax cuts for the middle class (meaning tax cuts for the hyper wealthy at the expense of crushing the middle class), and the xenophobic ballyhoo concerning “godless hordes of brown-people immigrants” will not win a presidential election this year.

    Another issue that’s not getting addressed is that these GOPer goons should know full well by now that the GOP will not win in November. Not the WH; not the Senate; not the House—and the down-ticket losses could carry deep into state and local races, as well. If they really hate Romney that much, then it would make more sense to let him have the nomination and get blown back to the Stone Age in November, followed up by a bottom-up rebuilding of the party.. But that’s not what they’re doing.

    Maybe—just maybe—it’s that they don’t want to be remembered as “losing to a loser….”

  • So over the past three decades, we’ve elected Presidents who have paid their dues, and look where its taken us! We’re brought up to think that we, all of us, could be President. The truth now appears to be that we can only be President if we tow the mark, spend decades sucking up to the wealthy, the elites, the panderers, and turn out like all the previous morons who’ve held the office. If we expect change in how our government does business, then we must be willing to cast a wider net when it comes to selecting candidates. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. With regard to all those candidates that the media and the “good ole boys” seem to feel are qualified, I would respond by paraphrasing Lewis Black “you don’t F _ _ k with that kind of evil” and come out untouched.

  • Oh, and Jen—that wasn’t me at Post#2. For some odd reason, some particular wanna-be seems to be getting his kicks from borrowing others’ names. A new “resident troll,” perhaps.

  • In contrast to the comments in post#2, I would contemplate Romney as not being that much of a threat. First, the primary reason he’s ahead in the delegate count is that there has been no clear front-runner in any of the primaries to date.

    I think comment #21 is basically ok, but I think you may be overthinking it. Romney may be a threat because of “soft factors”- just image and how he speaks to people. The Republicans are big believers in and ardent exploiters of stuff like that, so if they think he really can do it, they may believe he is the one who is the natural threat, when things shake out- when the public gets more and more interested in and aware of the race.

    If they (the Republican leaders who are really wunning the show) don’t want him to be the candidate, then, they may see it as time to cut him off at the knees so they can get a Republican who is also (relative to the bunch of candidates they’re fielding this year) viable, but who they like better.

  • “No one kicks a dead dog”. In other words, even though someone is achieving success and doing something good, others who feel personally threatened by that person or know they are not as qualified, have a tendancy to want to bring them down to make themselves look better. Hopefully, enough people in this great country will see the good and realize that we have someone unique here that can do wonderful things for America and will allow him the chance. Let’s appreciate his success and and realize that he will use his skills to help us all be more successful.

  • Hate builds on the foundation of FEAR. This article, written by Amy D. Goldstein, pretty much sums up why Romney’s opponents are so FEARFUL of him.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/why_they_hate_mitt_romney.html

    Who’s kiddin’ who? Those so-called “attack ads” contained comparisons/contrasts of candidate’s records – nothing personal. Romney’s opponents know that informing knowledge labeled as an “attack” grabs headlines and OBFUSCATES THE TRUTH. It’s classic “We’re AFRAID of the message so let’s kill the messenger.” They’re the REAL attackers because Mitt has the “audacity” to highlight their records and show it to America.

    Romney has a LONG record of tackling BIG problems and resolving them in a BIG way.

    Let’s clean out the Washington cronies and elect a president who will really work for the American people.

    Vote for Romney.

  • I hope we will have the courage to elect a man who has the credentials, the knowledge and is not beholden to special interest groups to help bring our country out of the fiscal mess we are in.
    Go Mitt

  • LeSueur said: “No one kicks a dead dog”. In other words, even though someone is achieving success and doing something good, others who feel personally threatened by that person or know they are not as qualified, have a tendancy to want to bring them down to make themselves look better.”

    So THAT’S why Romney strapped the family dog to the roof of his car.

  • Really, RonyRony? Going right to the “bigotry victim” card, when there is no evidence of that?

    Yup. I used to be a Republican and I still know plenty of ’em – I calls it like I sees it.

    As an agnostic, I could care less about any of their religions, except maybe for Huckabee, since he says it “defines him.” Romney, however, is a total phoney.

    That’s a great reason for YOU to dislike him as a candidate.

    That’s not a great reason for John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giulianni, and Fred Thompson to dislike him AS AN INDIVIDUAL. Which is what the story that Steve linked to is about.

    There are a lot of reasons to dislike “phony” Mitt Romney if you’re an honest person. Of course, those same reasons apply to John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giulianni and no honest person should really be thinking of voting Republican this year anyway. But if your a pandering, flip-flopping, political animal like John McCain, Mike Huckabee or Rudy Giulianni, Mitt’s little inconsistencies are just “part of the game”. Their very personal animosity towards him requires a different explanation. And envy of his money is a really good one for guys like McCain and Giulianni who like the good life but have only ever had it on the public’s dole [cough]Keating 5[cough]. Huckabee is the one who I suspect dislikes him because of his membership in a “cult.”

  • Because Romney is not an insider and thus he is not a part of the problem…that’s why they don’t like him….If they have to cede the Presidency ….they are happy if it is one of their own …one who will maintain the status quo even though it is bad for the country…So I say GO ROMNEY !!!!

  • Romney is the guy who has excelled at everything he has done. In business, with the Olympics and as a Governor of a very liberal state he managed to be successful. He is wealthy, attractive, has a perfect resume’ and great family with no divorces and marital scandal like McCain and Rudy. He even has perfect hair. It’s easy to hate the guy who seemingly has everything going for him.

    McCain feels like it is his turn to be President and the nation owes him the oval office. He naturally hates the guy who was at Harvard while he was a POW and now may steal ‘HIS” office from him like the son of a former President did in 2000.

    But we must pick the guy best qualified to be President and lead our nation into the future and unfortunately suffering doesn’t figure into the equation whether it be at the hands of one’s captors or inflicted by George W. Bush’s campaign. The fact is that Romney is better qualified to be President and his opponents know that.

  • I can sort of understand people’s perceptions of Romney being plastic, etc., partly because they are for the most part limited in what they see. HOWEVER, I had the opportunity to interact with him last year in some meetings about the Olympics, and I found him to be very likable–smart, very funny, sincere, articulate, etc. I am also aware of people who worked with him–people who probably know him the best–who would do anything for him because they respect him so highly. How can people call him shallow and phony? Look at the fruits of his life–both personal and professional. He has great experience, has a great family and has been successful in apparently everything he has done. I just don’t get visceral dislike of the man by some people… Anyway, I think he is exactly the right man for the job.

  • If you guys rad this article, you would realize that Romney was not liked by his rivals even when Romney was at the bottom of the polls. People don’t like what Romney is about.

    We don’t feel that you can can buy America, because it is not for sale.

    Please do research on Romney like others have. You won’t like the guy. He is dirty.

  • For those who are critical about Mitt Romney, I would just like to be able to put them under the jurisdiction of a Saddam Hussain, a Stalin, or maybe a Chavez for the period of a year and see what kind of song and dance they would be doing after that experience. We need to be grateful that men like Romney are willing to put forth such a great effort to be President of the U.S. And yes, when we were born in the United States, we did all have the potential of becoming its president. What’s our excuse and who do we blame that our name and families are not being vandalized by these same political pundits and wanabees who articulate their hatred of Mitt? Go Mitt!!!!!

  • Its been interesting to see people blast Romney for the exact same behavior as the other candidates are doing. I’ve yet to see anyone run an ad that was a true attack ad. They are comparison ads, which are perfectly reasonable to run. I’m a firm believer that if Romney had not been advised to try and fill in the “conservative vote” gap that existed a year ago, we wouldn’t be having this problem with accusing Mitt of being a flip flopper. Which is a completely ridiculous accusation anyway. He changed his view of abortion because he didn’t believe that we should clone human embryos to experiment on them. Yeah, totally irrational reason to switch stances. Most of his other moves have been political to try and stand out from the others. Which McCain, Huckabee and Guiliani have all done as well. If you call one fake, you have to call them all fake on the flipping issue.

    McCain is pissed because its his turn and he’s not the Frontrunner, Guiliani is frustrated by his plan not working, and Huckabee…. well, he’s truely the dishonest one of the bunch. But I won’t write that book.

    If you want to know what type of man MItt Romney is, look at his kids. Fake, insincere, lying, cheating, etc.. type of people have messed up kids. MItt retooled so many business and while there were layoffs, the newly structured business would go on to hire two or three times more people then they ever laid off. Dominos and Staples hire thousands of people across the country. He took the Olympics from a 200M hole to a profit of 100M. And it was touted as one of the most successful winter games ever. He did good work in Mass with a Dem congress helping them create a surplus in their budget. And as for phony… he didn’t take a salary for the Olympics, Governor and won’t take one as President. Do you know anyone else willing to not take a salary as Pres?

    On a funny note… the anti spam question cracked me up… I wonder how many people had to think about that one? 😛

  • To undisclosed angler’s re-make of Leave it to Beaver – very cool. Could you moderate the next debate?

  • And the point of this airhead article is???
    It’s not that the GOP people who vote don’t like Romney, it’s the liberal media who don’t like white ,wealthy, male, conservative Republican Christians like Romney.
    Jealousy , fear and envy…plain and simple.
    Go Mitt!

  • It’s obvious why Mitt is hated with envy and jealousy by the other candidates. They don’t have what Mitt has. He’s a new kid in the corner with everything. Hate him all you want, but I admire a man who stands above all with integrity and moral values. Even if has no money, his integrity and moral values should take him to the White House. When all is said and done, we’ll know who the real dirty pigs are.

  • Ye gods, we’ve been overrun with Mittsters! I feel like I’m in an alternate CB reality.

  • 1. Not only is Romney inexperienced (less so, if you include BO’s State Lege experience, than BO, and less than Hitlery and The Breck Girl, and way less so than any of the other GOP guys), not only is he MUCH more of a flip-flopper than Rudy or McCain or Huckabee (not to mention Ron Paul), but Romney at least would have had SOMETHING going for him if he acted like a polite wealthy WASP Mo Mormon, but instead he’s behaved like an a-hole during the debates, at first literally interrupting candidates – e.g., interrupting Ron Paul in a response TWICE: “He forgot 9/11….he forgot 9/11” (a remark that was irrelevant anyway since Ron Paul was responding on Iraq which had zero to do with 9/11) – later, substituting “the smirk” for actual interruptions.
    2. Now that Mitt has run out of states where he tried to buy the primary (which didn’t work anyway in IA or NH for an actual ‘gold’) or where his dad was Governor (MI) or where there’s a substantial Mormon population (WY, NV), he’s going down. I’d normally say the same about McCain, substituting “now that we’re through SC and have run out of states where McCain had an org left over from 2000” – but the “veterans types” seem to be going for him regardless of his competency, so that 2008 seems to be a repeat of 1996, where Bob Dull the war-wounded WWII Veteran got his rump kicked by a playboy, with the emphasis on BOY, except it will be “the suffering POW” getting his rear kicked by a girl, ironically the front-wife girl of the playboy. Great. Well, two years of Hitlery will turn 2010 into 1994. The GOP, other than the 1994 rush, hasn’t won a landslide since 1984. Will they ever learn? Given Nixon’s 1972 landslide, he looks GOOD compared to the idiot “regression towards the mean” rich boys and pathetic “oh, we feel sorry for the old war horse, it’s HIS TURN” veterans the GOP has nominated since 1988. Though I suppose instead of McCain, we’ll have yet another Harvard MBA ‘regression towards the mean’ rich kid Governor whose dad was a nationally prominent presidential candidate as well. It’s as if all the GOP or Dems can give us with McCain, Willard Romney, or Hitlery are bad re-runs.

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