Conservative columnist George Will made his regular appearance as a member of ABC’s Rountable discussion Sunday and coined a phrase that is sure to catch fire this week as people attempt to evaluate Mitt Romney’s sharp decline in South Carolina – ROMNEYNESS! It’s kinda catchy. I think I’ll probably use it. Consider this my attempt to give Will credit every time I throw it around going forward.
Will also had a few other observations worth mentioning beyond the Romneyness turn of phrase…
1.) Throw out the old rules of Republican primary contests: ”The old pattern has now been broken. For five consecutive times beginning with Reagan in 1980, candidate A wins Iowa, candidate B wins New Hampshire, and either A or B wins South Carolina and the nomination. That’s over.”
2.) Mitt Romney’s much better at losing than he is at winning – electability problem for Mr. Electable? ”Mitt Romney’s going in trump card was electability. If you go back now to his 1994 Senate primary, his record is 6 wins and 19 losses.”
Someone else on the panel joked – “That’s like the Red Sox in September.” Indeed.
3.) We all thought going in that the big problem for Romney might be his Mormonism; it might be the Massachusetts health care plan. That’s not it. “Mitt Romney’s problem is somehow his “Romneyness.” There’s something about him that’s not connecting.”
