Mitt Romney and My Crack-Like Addiction to Politics

I’m trying to unspin my head tonight. I don’t know what it is about politics. I was waiting for my partner at the dentist office. I told myself, “no more politics” as I perused his magazines. Most were Time magazines, and I focused on finding the rag that would keep my mind off of the election. Us Weekly with “Housewives tell Us Teresa’s Dirty Secrets” splashed on the cover. Perfect. The Real Housewives of New Jersey is my guiltless pleasure. I read the article happily, which of course didn’t take long. I looked for other Us issues after I was done flipping through the pages filled with fashion and celebrities. It was welcome fun and fluff.

And then there it was. Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital on the cover of Rolling Stones magazine. Like a true junkie, I just had to pick it up and read it. I wasn’t able to finish it because my partner was done, so what do I do when I get home? Before eating dinner, I find the article online and read the rest of it. Where is the nearest Politics Anonymous meeting?

The author, Matt Taibbi, talks about what Bain Capital was all about – taking over companies were struggling. What “happened” to the companies wasn’t their concern. They could go bankrupt, and Bain Capital would still get paid. All that was a given and not surprising.

What shocked me, though, was how good a guy Mitt’s dad was. The article touched on it briefly, saying how George Romney was one who “nurtured communities.” I did a little research on George Romney on Wikipedia. He was nothing like his son.

• “Romney successfully appealed to the Federal Housing Administration to make housing available to black workers near the Ford Willow Run plant.”
• “By 1950, Romney was a member of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, and criticized racial segregation in Detroit’s housing program when speaking before the Detroit City Council.”
• “However, whenever he felt his salary and bonus was excessively high for a year, he gave the excess back to the company.” I nearly choked reading this one.
• “After initial wariness, he developed a good relationship with United Automobile Workers leader Walter Reuther, and AMC workers also benefited from a then-novel profit-sharing plan”.
• “Romney was one of only a few Michigan corporate chiefs to support passage and implementation of the state Fair Employment Practices Act”.

After snapping out of my crush on George Romney, my first question was, “What the hell happened to Mitt?” My sister and I talked about this before. Mitt suffers from “spoiled rich kid” disease. Everything was handed to him, unlike his dad who struggled. That makes sense. It’s hard for Mitt to sympathize, and empathy isn’t even possible because doesn’t know what it’s like. That’s why he says things like, “Borrow money if you have to from your parents” when he talks to college students. I don’t think the idea that their parents don’t have the money to lend crossed his mind.

Of course, the article also gives me more insight into Mitt, the man.

“Over the years, colleagues would anonymously whisper stories about Mitt the Boss to the press, describing him as cunning, manipulative and a little bit nuts, with “an ability to identify people’s insecurities and exploit them for his own benefit.” One former Bain employee said that Romney would screw around with bonuses in small amounts, just to mess with people: He would give $3 million to one, $3.1 million to another and $2.9 million to a third, just to keep those below him on edge.”

Another great quality to have in a president. Screwing people…and screwing with people’s heads…just because he can.

This is just great It’s two weeks from the election, but it’s going to feel like the longest two weeks ever. I’ll be on pins and needles, just like in 2008.

Frankly, I’m tired. I’m tired of lying jerks (yeah I said it) like Mitt Romney taking up space in my head. I’m tired of being scared that a high school bully (who never grew out of it) might become the President of the United States. I’m tired of learning new, repugnant things about him that make me loathe him more. I’m just tired.

In two weeks, I can exhale. Until then, I’ll be mentally marking the days off the calendar and unspinning my head here. It’s going to get messy.