Was Mitt brainwashed into picking Ryan?

[nichomachus]

For those too young to remember, Mitt's father ran for the GOP nomination against Richard Nixon in 1968.

Support for the Vietnam war was fading fast and George Romney had supported it. He tried to weasel out of it by saying that he had supported it only because he had been brainwashed by the generals when he visited Vietnam the year before.

Result: George became an instant object of ridicule. End of campaign.

Seems like this nonsense runs in the family.

[KansDem]

1. Maybe "Bainwashed"

It seems everything Repubs want to do these days is based on Bain Capital's business model...

[TlalocW]

2. I don't think brainwashed

But I think some of the more powerful and wealthy people see Mitt for what he is - a weak candidate who will be a weak president who will do pretty much whatever they tell him to if he owes them - so I think they convinced him to pick Ryan.

TlalocW

[broiles]

8. No, I think they told him to pick Ryan.

[WI_DEM]

3. No, he selected him because in the days prior to the announcement

right wingers were quite vocal in wanting him--he did it to get them more excited about voting.

[Skidmore]

4. With the convention looming and Ron Paul stacking delegations behind the scene, Romney

is heading off a messy convention. I don't think this really has to do with ideology on his part because ole Willard will be whatever you want him to be as long you give him deference and power. I don't think that man has a moral or ideological compass, just money and a huge sense of entitlement.

[FSogol]

7. Maybe the best description of Mitt is that he is the Imelda Marcos of the GOP.

Wonder how many shoes Mitt owns?

[sinkingfeeling]

5. No, but he was pressured to pick a tea party guy.

[HopeHoops]

6. What is this "brain" of which you speak?

[JHB]

9. I think Mitt's brain is so marinated in vulturism that...

...no amount of washing will affect it much one way or another.

George Romney simply picked the wrong word to use and he was jumped on for it. "Brainwashed" conjured a specific picture in peoples' minds, someone strapped to a chair getting tortured until he said what he was supposed to say. It wasn't a welcome term to use in a more metaphorical sense. It seemed to extreme, ironically.

Ryan, on the other hand, probably struck Mitt as the kind of guy he would have liked to have had under him at Bain: say whatever he needs to "close the deal", be cagey about what it actually entails, and shoots for results that make Mitts financial numbers get bigger. What's not for Mitt to like?

[lastlib]

10. "Extorted" might be a better term....

...the Kochroaches essentially told Mittens to pick Ryan or not see another dime of campaign loot, is the way I see it.