Just two things have come to define Republicans politically: They hate Barack Obama with a frenzied passion, and the bulk of them donÂ’t want Mitt Romney to be their nominee. Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and unsuccessful seeker of the nomination four years ago, may yet win it this time, but only as the last man standing.
Mr. Romney, slick, packaged and rich, has changed positions on key issues more times than Jennifer Aniston has changed boyfriends. No matter how much he tries to pander to religious Republicans, Tea Party frothers, antigovernment ideologues, isolationists and the close-the-border crowd, they just donÂ’t see him as a True Believer.
His record as governor was that of a Republican moderate, of the kind that is almost extinct these days. That he ran a successful Olympic Games in Utah reflected well on him. Both efforts suggest a pragmatic, pro-business, managerial kind of guy.
Republicans want anyone but the pragmatist - The Globe and Mail