On Friday, The New York Times wrote one of those Strange New Respect pieces for Mitt Romney headlined "Mitt Romney, a Man Alone." Times political writer Mark Leibovich touted how Romney "drew big press scrums" as the liberal hope for extending the impeachment trial.
It "places upon Mr. Romney a level of curiosity that goes beyond the quasi-celebrity treatment he already receives as the last pre-Trump standard-bearer of a Republican Party that feels about 80 years removed from the party that nominated him eight years ago."
Eight years ago, Leibovich and the Times were merciless in ripping Romney as an entitled elitist who was cruel to his dog. But now? He inspires "nostalgia."
Mr. Romney has also become a magnet for nostalgia lately — at least among Democrats. “He is a decent, honorable man,” former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said in a recent interview of Mr. Romney. Mr. Biden conceded that it was unlikely that he would be running for president right now if it were Mr. Romney seeking re-election, not Mr. Trump.
“I think this is Senator Romney’s moment to shine,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar...
Leibovich also strangely used prison metaphors. Newly appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia ripped Romney, which is painted as "roughly the Senate equivalent of the new inmate picking a fight with the biggest dude on the cellblock."
Former Romney strategist Stuart Stevens was recruited for some sunshine:
Mr. Stevens said. “He is an incredibly secure individual. He does not have this residual anger towards the world like Trump does.”
It helps, Mr. Stevens added, that Mr. Romney has suffered much worse politically. “As Mitt once said in some context, ‘The worst thing that could happen to anyone in politics has already happened to me. I lost the presidency.’ It’s like the guys in Vietnam said, ‘What are you going to do, send me to Vietnam?’”
Well, Romney never served in Vietnam....which the Times pointed out in a September 12, 2012 piece on how he "stayed true to his chinos" and his politician daddy on the war, and was exempted from the draft as he served as a Mormon missionary.
At Stanford, Mr. Romney was exempt from the draft, holding the 2-S student deferment then given to most undergraduates. He kept it but one year; like his older brother, Scott, Mr. Romney left Stanford early to serve for 30 months as a missionary abroad, as is customary for devout Mormon men.
During that period in France, from 1966 to 1968, he held another draft exemption as a missionary — a controversial one, as critics complained that it disproportionately excluded Mormon men from service.
For a more elaborate demonstration of the situational bias of the Times, see an excerpt on "Richie Rich Romney" from our 2013 book Collusion, where the same Mark Leibovich publicly kissed up to Team Obama for ripping Romney as out of touch. (Also, don't miss the extreme aggression of columnist Gail Collins on Doggie-gate, or reporter Bertram "Trip" Gabriel III calling out Romney for being upper-crust):
Political reporter Mark Leibovich proclaimed how "Mr. Obama's team has proven effective in exploiting each gaffe" Romney made. He reported that Axelrod's Seamus-mocking Twitter post came a few days after the president's re-election campaign created a "Pet Lovers for Obama" group on Facebook. Leibovich was also strangely impressed that Axelrod mocked Romney's clumsy claim that "the trees are the right height" in Michigan (Axelrod's tweet: "So Mitt wins Guam, where the Sea Hibiscus are just the right height!").
Leibovich even slavishly paid tribute to Axelrod on Twitter: "@davidaxelrod you ate your tweeties today, Axe. Impressed."
The story grew weird as Leibovich quoted "Romney loyalist" Mike Murphy complaining about pro-Obama bias: "How hard is it to cash a lottery ticket?" Leibovich wrote that Murphy "added that Mr. Obama had benefited from a complicit news media that loves to point out Mr. Romney's perceived screw-ups. This in turn makes the Romney campaign-and candidate-overly self-conscious, prompting more gaffes." Murphy said, "I think Governor Romney knows that he's now trying to feed a dog that's trained to bite him." The Times surely appreciated another chance to push Romney as hostile to dogs.
Leibovich's story and pictures all sold Obama as a man of the people, touting the president's NCAA basketball tourney talk and his hot-dog chomping at a game alongside British prime minister David Cameron: "It is the latest iteration of the Obama-Just-Folks offensive, and one that coincides-not by accident-with some particularly clumsy efforts by the Republican front-runner, Mitt Romney, to shed the stereotypical airs of a super-rich guy."
....Leibovich forwarded Axelrod making fun of Romney's decision to avoid making NCAA picks. "They asked Mitt if he was filling out his brackets," Axelrod had tweeted, "and he said, 'No I have my accountants to do that.'" They also thoughtfully included a photo of Obama crouching down for a face-to-face meeting with his dog Bo.
The Times even made hay with Romney's Mormon devotion to avoiding alcohol abstinence. "While office seekers always strain to be the proverbial 'candidate you'd rather have a beer with' -- and such contests will never favor a teetotaling Mormon -- the president has been laying it on as thick as the Guinness he sipped at a Washington bar on St. Patrick's Day."
Then they turned to the wives: "Michelle Obama went on Late Show with David Letterman on Monday and reminded everyone she went shopping at Target last year (Mr. Letterman helpfully flashed a photo of the outing.). It goes without saying that Target is not the kind of store one might envision, say, Ann Romney pulling up to in one of the Cadillacs that her husband says she drives. Or that the Obamas have been playing up their folksiness at a time when Mr. Romney has proven rather butterfingered with his common touch."
