NPR: Another New Hampshire Paper Slams Romney

Another New Hampshire Paper Slams Romney

Mitt Romney must be asking himself what he ever did to annoy the editorial boards of two of New Hampshire's larger papers. Whatever it was, their decisions to rake him over the coals publicly could not come at a worse time for his campaign. (That noise the former Massachusetts governor can hear over the Christmas carols is the sound of Sen. John McCain charging up from behind.)

Last week, the more liberal Concord Monitor wrote an editorial entitled "Romney should not be president," and called him "a disquieting figure who sure looks like the next president and most surely must be stopped." What made this broadside even more damaging is that the paper has not officially endorsed a candidate yet, which made this an anti-endorsement.

Then today, the Manchester Union-Leader, the state's largest, most conservative and most influential paper, piled on Romney. In an editorial, the paper notes that Romney has been in the state more times than any other candidate, that his rallies have been mostly well-attended, and that he has other advantages like money, organization and that most of the people in the state know who he is because of his years as Massachusetts' governor.

But, the editorial adds, he hasn't been able to close the deal, and that's because he lacks one thing that McCain "has in spades: conviction." People can sense, it adds, that Romney's words are "memorized but not heart-felt."

The Union-Leader does have a horse in this race - it has already endorsed McCain as the best Republican candidate.

10:59 AM ET | 12-26-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

"The nice thing about Alzheimer's is you get to hide your own Easter eggs," John McCain said to reporters while sitting in his campaign bus.

If the GOP does anything better than destroying the reputations of Democrats, it's destroying the reputations of Republicans they don't want to be president.

George Bush made mincemeat out of McCain. The Swift Boat Wars are just beginning, except it'll be McCain instead of Kerry as the mince.

fred camorra call

"McCain lost five U.S. Navy aircraft

Navy pilot John Sidney McCain III should have never been allowed to graduate from the U.S. Navy flight school. He was a below average student and a lousy pilot. Had his father and grandfather not been famous four star U.S. Navy admirals, McCain III would have never been allowed in the cockpit of a military aircraft.

During his relative short stunt on flight status, McCain lost five U.S. Navy aircraft, four in accidents and one in combat."

Sent by fred camorra call | 12:09 PM ET | 12-26-2007

Does anyone know where the keyhole is on Romney that winds him up before they set him in motion?

Sent by John R. Otten | 1:21 PM ET | 12-27-2007

I hope the Giuliani campaign paid you well for that post, Fred.

Sent by John R. Otten | 2:46 PM ET | 12-27-2007

Timothy Garton Ash
Thursday December 27, 2007
The Guardian (British Newspaper)

The angel Moroni allegedly appeared in the 1820s to a young American treasure hunter called Joseph Smith, and led him to some golden plates buried on a hillside near his home in western New York. Allegedly written in an otherwise unknown language called Reformed Egyptian, and deciphered with the aid of two stones called Urim and Thummim, these texts became the Book of Mormon. So it really doesn't matter what irrational belief you have as long as you have some irrational belief.
My residual problem with Romney being a Mormon is not that Mormonism is a faith (the atheist's problem), or that Mormonism is not unambiguously Christian (the Christian's problem), but that it seems such a wacky collection of man-made Moronical codswallop. And I do find myself wondering - even if he is a natural conservative, even if Mormonism is, as he puts it, "the faith of my fathers", including the most recent father whom he hero-worshipped - how on earth a well-educated man who aspires to lead the most powerful and modern nation in the world can seriously believe this stuff. Ah well, there's nowt so queer as folk.

Sent by Jay | 10:17 PM ET | 12-29-2007

In the end, you too will die and become a ghost

It may be in 50 years

It may be tomorrow

It may even be...

..today

Sent by Jody Sol | 6:14 PM ET | 01-04-2008

Nice religious bigotry, Jay (and your venal source). That is very becoming of you both. Maybe you should go for the coup and hit the Catholics for Transubstantiation, or the Calvinists for TULIP.

Well, while we're attacking Mormons, lets hit the Constitution while we're swinging:

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Art. 6, Sec. 3

Sent by Magneto | 7:39 PM ET | 01-05-2008

Yes, the Constitution prohibits a test of religion for serving in office, but VOTERS are supposed to weigh the rational or irrational beliefs of the people who are running for office, and how it might effect their ability to serve as part of our civic responsibility.

I find it sad that the first 5 or 6 US Presidents were men of "rational" deist beliefs not tied to a specific dogma (Madison, Adams, Jefferson, and Washington were self declared "deists"), while 200+ years on in the later 1/4 of the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st, we are blindly willing to elect people to the highest office on the planet who clearly believe in what most rational well intentioned people would consider a fairy-tale.
In fact, belief in some literal dogma seems to be a requirement for high office. Its pretty depressing.

Sent by pD_in_TheMts | 11:33 PM ET | 01-05-2008

I would have something to say, but it seems Magneto has said all that matters - briefly and eloquently. Time for all those Raving Disciples to stand down, methinks.

Sent by Rob | 12:56 AM ET | 01-06-2008

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