The Romney/Paul Buzz – What’s it all about?

There is definitely a ton of buzz on the Romney/Paul relationship and it’s unnerving some folks. Romney and Ron Paul go back to 2008 when they met on the campaign trail. Their wives became friends. When Ron Paul’s plane broke down, the Romney’s offered Ron Paul their plane and their home (Ron Paul thanked the Romney’s but refused the offer).

Who is Mitt Romney? I believe that Romney is a closeted Paulite of sorts who has far more in common with Ron Paul than he does with either Sanitorium and Gingrich. As late as 6/11, Romney was testing the campaign trail waters by saying that maybe we shouldn't be the policeman of the world. He immediately got pummeled by Fox and the neocons. They don't trust Romney. Then Romney started ratcheting up the neocon rhetoric to strengthen his weak neocon credentials. They still didn’t believe him and are convinced that he's a Paulite in an elephant suit. Romney was never a classic DC insider like Gingrich and Sanitorium - he's just a guy who spent most of his life as a businessman and had one term as governor of Mass. In a political arena dominated by vetted insiders, guys like Romney and Ron Paul are not trusted because aren’t players or even party loyalists.

What are Romney’s strengths? Romney is a very smart man and an extraordinarily competent problem solver. He took over failed companies headed into bankruptcy and saved them. When the Olympics were in deep trouble, it was Romney who cleaned up the mess and restored credibility to the Olympics. As governor of Massachusetts, he walked into the mess known as The Big Dig, a Ted Kennedy ‘underground tunnel through downtown Boston’ project that was supposed to cost $2 billion but ended bilking state and federal taxpayers out of at least $15 billion. The Big Dig leaked like sieve and a woman was killed driving to work when a huge chunk of concrete fell and crushed her to death in her vehicle. Romney rolled up his sleeves and stepped into engineering mode, he fired people and he solved The Big Dig structural problems at minimal taxpayer costs.

Among other Romney attributes is his ability to make a decisive decision. After getting pummeled by Gingrich in the SC debate and losing badly, Romney immediately recognized that he was failing in the debates. That night he researched debate coaches and rang up Michelle Bachmann’s debate coach who is considered one of the best debate coaches in the country. The next morning the guy was in Florida as Romney’s new debate coach. Again, this is classic Romney recognizing a problem and solving the problem.

That’s really what Romney does best – he solves big problems. On the negative side, it’s true that some of the companies Romney saved ended with government subsidies and bailouts. It’s also true that Romney is heavily funded by Wall Street which of course raises the issue of whether or not Romney would ever support Audit the Fed or the restoration of sound money. The monetary system is a hugely critical issue for Paulites and liberty activists. Romney has failed to earn the trust of the Paulites.

The Evangelical GOP base is very hostile to Romney because he's a Mormon. Rick Perry publicly said that Mormonism is a cult. But the Evangelicals who diss the Pope as the whore of Babylon and the anti-Christ are now stuck with two Papists - Santorum and Gingrich. They aren’t happy about it but the theocons and neocons will take a statist militaristic Papist any day over a Mormon they neither like nor trust.

The Romney campaign wisely made the decision early on not to make enemies with the Paulites because they were smart enough to figure out that Ron Paul will own a bag of delegates and that Ron Paul owns the youth vote. Ron Paul also polls very well with the Independent voters.

I believe that Romney genuinely admires and respects Ron Paul on many levels which is why Romney never attacks Ron Paul. Of course, I do believe that Ron Paul also admires and respects Romney on some level. For intellectual candidates like Romney and Ron Paul it’s all about knocking out the flame throwers Gingrich and Santorum who they both perceive as very dangerous. Gingrich and Santorum manage to capitalize on driving the raw emotions of the Republican base. While such tactics are routine in politics, Romney and Ron Paul are very uncomfortable with whipping folks into an emotional frenzy. Romney and Ron Paul are more like mild mannered college professors while Gingrich and Santorum are more like panting preachers raging from the pulpit.

Would I vote for Romney in a general election? Not unless a Ron Paul approved running mate or somebody with the name of Paul was on the ticket. A Romney nomination and the potential for a Paulite on the ticket is what is really terrorizing the neocons and the GOP elites. Also, Romney knows that he can't win without the Independent vote, the youth vote and the Paulite/Libertarian vote. Romney didn’t come this far in his relentless pursuit to become president to lose in a general election.