California Conservative

I wrote here that Mitt Romney had a ‘figure of speech’ problem. Based on this article, it’s apparent that Gov. Romney’s got bigger troubles than just figures of speech:

Two women contacted the Mitt Romney campaign this week, offering their memories of seeing Romney’s father march with Martin Luther King Jr., in Grosse Point Michigan in 1963. Campaign officials were well aware that the women were mistaken. Yet, they directed those women to tell their stories to a Politico reporter. The motives and memories of the two women are unknown and irrelevant; the motives of the campaign, however, were obvious: to spread information they knew to be untrue, for the good of the candidate.

By getting this story out late on Friday afternoon, heading into the holiday weekend, good luck getting a King historian on the phone before Wednesday, the campaign was pretty well assured that it could keep alive through Christmas their claim that Mitt Romney was mistaken only about “seeing” it, not about it taking place.

Then-governor George Romney did indeed march in Grosse Pointe, on Saturday, June 29, 1963, but Martin Luther King Jr. was not there; he was in New Brunswick, New Jersey, addressing the closing session of the annual New Jersey AFL-CIO labor institute at Rutgers University.

Those facts are indisputable, and quite frankly, the campaign must have known the women’s story would eventually be debunked; few people’s every daily movement has been as closely tracked and documented as King’s. As I write this, I am looking at an article from page E8 of the June 30, 1963 Chicago Tribune, which discusses both events (among other civil-rights actions of the previous day), clearly placing the two men hundreds of miles apart.

I also have here the June 30, 1963 San Antonio News, which carries a photo and article about Romney at the Grosse Pointe march; and an AP story about King’s speech in New Jersey.

A King researcher editing his letters from that time has stated definitively that the two men never marched together; Michigan and Grosse Pointe historians have stated definitively that King was not at the 1963 Grosse Pointe march; Michigan civil-rights participants of the time have concurred; so have those who worked for George Romney at the time.

All of this evidence is important to present to the general public, but it is unnecessary for the Romney campaign; it has been clear for some time that they know perfectly well that the two men never marched together.

Bear in mind that the Romney team has a substantial research team (and vast resources for outsourcing more). Bear in mind that the campaign has compiled vast documentation about the candidate’s father, particularly his civil-rights activities, long before the Phoenix posed the question earlier this week. Bear in mind that the campaign has direct access to George Romney’s materials and documents, his family members, his friends, his former staff, etc.

Believe me, they know the two men never marched together. This is an attempt to rewrite history. And even if it is a small rewriting, it is offensive.

Each presidential campaign vets their candidate. They don’t just do opposition research on their opponents because they know mud will be slung back at them. They want to be prepared.

In this instance, it’s inconceivable that Mitt Romney didn’t know that George Romney didn’t march with MLK in Grosse Pointe. Look at how little time it took to rebut Romney’s story. There’s something bigger at play here, though. Romney’s embellishments, whether it’s about his father marching with MLK or his stating that he’s been clear on being pro life since 2004 are an indicator that he isn’t comfortable in his own skin.

One thing that’s bothered me about Gov. Romney is that I couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t stick to a position very long. I’m not certain but I think it’s possible that he simply doesn’t a core set of governing principles. King and I talk about whether a politician has an underlying philosophy. Romney doesn’t have a detectable underlying philosophy.

I further suspect that Gov. Romney isn’t a big picture guy. I suspect that he’s more of a fixer, which is what he was with the 2002 Olympics. I suspect that he’s pretty good at that. That isn’t what we need right now. We need a visionary who sees things beyond the next task.

Fred Thompson has shown himself to be such a man. Quite awhile back, Fred criticized our planning on terrorists by saying “We have a plan through the next election. Terrorists have a 100 year plan.” Later, he said that he’s got a plan to topple Iran’s mullahs without firing a shot. That’s the type of man we need in the White House in January, 2009.

That’s the only way we’ll have straight talk in the White House.

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney, George Romney, MLK, Fred Thompson, Iran, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Election 2008, Race, Author: Gary Gross, Iran, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.