1070198b   
   XPost: alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.elections, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: alt.politics.usa.republican   
   From: kinkysr@yahoo.com   
      
   "Marco Rubio, who will introduce Romney to delegates Aug. 30, gave a   
   preview in a series of TV interviews Wednesday morning, when he argued   
   that Romney is “a modest person who doesn’t like to brag about   
   himself, but we’re going to do it for him.”   
      
   "Hopefully, for Romney’s sake, he’ll do it better than Rick Santorum,   
   who once characterized Romney as “the worst Republican in the country”   
   to oppose President Obama."   
      
      
   +++++++++++++++++++++   
      
   "Republicans playing Brutus"   
      
   Op-Ed   
   By Dana Milbank   
   August 29,  2012   
      
      
      
   TAMPA — Et tu, Christie?   
      
   The New Jersey governor went more than two-thirds of the way through   
   his convention keynote address before even mentioning Mitt Romney; he   
   instead celebrated his own record.   
      
   Et tu, Perry?   
      
   Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also at the Republican convention here, said he   
   was “absolutely” thinking about another presidential run, in 2016.   
      
   Et tu, Santorum?   
      
   Rick Santorum, a one-time Romney rival who was given a prime speaking   
   spot by the Romney campaign, invoked the nominee’s name only thrice,   
   choosing instead to recall exploits of his own run for the GOP   
   nomination.   
      
   As a rule, politicians aren’t the most loyal lot. It’s often self   
   first, party second and country third. But Romney has a particular   
   problem commanding loyalty, and the Republicans playing Brutus at this   
   week’s convention have been just brutal.   
      
   Exploiting the tepid enthusiasm for Romney, up-and-comers in the party   
   are using the convention to put down markers for their own   
   presidential bids in 2016. They haven’t gone so far as to disparage   
   Romney — such flagrant disloyalty would be a turnoff — but they are   
   using their moments on stage as auditions. Unfortunately for Romney,   
   the implied assumption is that he’s going to lose.   
      
   Chris Christie was particularly brazen in using his keynote address to   
   promote Chris Christie on Tuesday night — a day after the New York   
   Post reported that he wasn’t willing to be Romney’s running mate   
   because he thought Romney would not win. Christie extolled his   
   biography (“I am the son of an Irish father and a Sicilian mother”)   
   and, at length, his accomplishments in New Jersey (“We have three   
   balanced budgets in a row, with lower taxes. We did it!”).   
      
   On Wednesday morning, Christie felt compelled to explain why his   
   speech had been so self-centered. He told delegates at a breakfast   
   that, because he was preceded onstage by the candidate’s wife, “it   
   allowed me to be able to let Ann Romney talk about Mitt Romney the   
   person.” Christie was thus “freed” to talk about other things —   
   namely, himself.   
      
   There were many such auditions. Ohio Gov. John Kasich bragged that   
   “we’re fourth in America in job creation and number one in the   
   Midwest!” Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) regaled delegates with the story of   
   her landscaping business, run with her husband — who flew combat   
   missions in Iraq! Ted Cruz, a Senate candidate from Texas, thanked his   
   father, who came to the United States “with $100 sewn into his   
   underwear.”   
      
   Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) didn’t mention Romney until the very end of his   
   speech, and then grudgingly. He recalled with pride the presidential   
   run of “a certain congressman from Texas” — his dad, Ron, who refused   
   to endorse Romney.   
      
   Other would-be candidates damned Romney with faint praise. Wisconsin   
   Gov. Scott Walker, greeted with a rapturous ovation, touted his   
   victory in a recent recall election and then hailed Romney — for his   
   choice in a running mate. “With the announcement of Paul Ryan as his   
   running mate, Governor Romney not only showed that he has the   
   experience and the skill to become president, he showed he has the   
   courage and the passion to be an exceptional president,” Walker said.   
      
   South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another young star in the party,   
   recounted for the crowd a tepid Romney endorsement from voters who   
   told her that “although we don’t know everything about him, what we do   
   know without a doubt is that we deserve better than what we have   
   today. They are so right.” Haley described Romney as a person who   
   “fixes things” and is “results-driven” — the equivalent of praising   
   him for good attendance.   
      
   Other possible 2016 aspirants, including Tim Pawlenty and Ryan, had   
   their auditions Wednesday night, with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio   
   scheduled to have theirs on Thursday. Rubio, who will introduce Romney   
   to delegates, gave a preview in a series of TV interviews Wednesday   
   morning, when he argued that Romney is “a modest person who doesn’t   
   like to brag about himself, but we’re going to do it for him.”   
      
   Hopefully, for Romney’s sake, he’ll do it better than Santorum, who   
   once characterized Romney as “the worst Republican in the country” to   
   oppose President Obama. In his convention speech, Santorum sounded as   
   though he were the one accepting the nomination when he recalled his   
   time on the trail (“I’ve gripped hands that work in restaurants and   
   hotels, hospitals, banks”) and remembered his coal-miner grandfather’s   
   “thick, strong hands.”   
      
   Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell matched Santorum’s granddad talk, telling   
   the delegates that the American dream “led my grandfather, a poor farm   
   boy, to leave Ireland a hundred years ago and come to Ellis Island.”   
      
   That poor farm boy never could have imagined his grandson would run   
   for president — in 2016.   
      
   [danamilbank@washpost.com]   
      
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-storm-inside-the-gop-co   
   vention/2012/08/29/a1ff1c9a-f227-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html   
      
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