ROBOT MAKES JOKES

for some reason, i've always had an odd soft spot for mitt romney. he was so delightfully and carefully manufactured, so insincere. his absurdity belied what i think is his true self: a smart, pragmatic moderate, willing to bridge divides with sane, comprehensive policy. though i hated the candidate--on the surface, there really was nothing to love about a man who out-tanredo'ed tancredo--i respected the man that, i thought, resided beneath his shallow, lacquered veneer. the problem, though, is that romney--and, to an extent, the republican base--was unable to accept the plausibility of a moderate republican as a candidate and as a president. he resorted to obfuscating his record and his positions, his ideology and his education, and, in the process, diluted his value as a public servant. if he had avoided the quasi-reactionary varnish and accepted his moderate politics, he could have been a contender---albeit one that would have lost to the democratic nominee in the fall. it's good to see that he has a manufactured sense of humor, at least.