Romney Jumps the Fonz

The phrase "Jump the Shark" refers to a foolish, desperate act designed to grab attention, as the TV show "Happy Days" did when it had popular character Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli do a waterski jump over a shark. Mitt Romney, in his concession speech yesterday, took that concept to a new level.

Romney was a candidate who was unfairly persecuted for his religion, yet in his "Faith in America" speech afforded no tolerance to non-religious people, and only token acceptance of non-Christians. He had governed Massachusetts, by most accounts, as a moderate Republican with reasonable positions on social issues, but ran his campaign far to the right of his record. Knowing what I knew about Romney, I thought he was the most reasonable Republican in the field, and that it was a shame he had to play so hard to the base.

None of these things made Romney a bad guy, in my view, just a guy trying to get elected. To frame his withdrawal as a heroic action just makes him cheesy. Suggesting that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and about 2/3 of the American people want to "surrender to terror", makes him a bad guy. I think Jon Stewart sums up my new attitude toward Mitt.