In last Sunday’s Mad Men, many of us were too taken aback by Betty’s… ummm…. “thyroid condition” to catch the jab the show took at Mitt Romney’s father, Governor George Romney who was also battling for the Republican nomination for President at the time (1966). In the scene, Henry Francis—Betty’s high-powered aide to the New York City mayor—barked into the phone: “[Governor] Romney’s a clown and I don’t want him standing next to him.”
However, Mitten’s son Tagg didn’t miss the jab, and tweeted the following:
“Seriously, lib media mocking my dead grandpa? George Romney was as good a man I’ve ever known. Inspirational leader, worked for civil rights, promoted freedom. We need more like him.”
At least one critic was confused by the barb as well, noting that George Romney was one of the few Republicans who somewhat supported civil rights. However, John Bohrer of Capital New York puts the Mad Men line about Romney being a “clown” into historical context:
It’s true that many of the elder Romney’s political contemporaries perceived him this way. He often bumbled when not working with a prepared text (“George’s only sin is his syntax,” the joke went) and when he did, his preference for sanctimonious platitudes over substantive policy gave rise to the idea that he was an intellectual lightweight. In time, the notion that he was out of his depth on foreign affairs would turn him into a laughingstock and sink his presidential campaign.
Interesting article, and you can read the rest here! And Tagg? Sorry about your grandpa. And your name.
You Dems may be surprised when you go back and look at which party affiliations actually opposed civil rights laws in reality.
Namely in the southern states.
“You Dems”
That was awesome, D!
Yeah, you “Reps” were a lot cooler back then. What happened?
@1 Indeed, everyone knows “Dems” like Strom Thurmond are the same kind of “Dems” in existence today. Very good point!
Many many southern whites who were segregationist, racist, etc. were Democrats before the late ’60s. The South was historically a Dem stronghold because the Republicans were the party of Lincoln (still a very sore point in the South a century after the Civil War/Reconstruction), but Nixon, Goldwater, etc. changed this by reaching out to the South, appealing to people’s racial prejudices and states’ rights sympathies, and getting them to change over to Republican affiliation. Look up “the Southern Strategy.”
Thank you for the high school history lesson, D and geyser. I think it’s safe to say that this bunch may have read Lies My Teacher Told Me, too. But please enjoy the smug satifisfaction that comes with pointing out the obvious/irrelevant.
Oh, we’re not supposed to say anything about history in the comment threads? Or did you just want the smug satisfaction of saying it’s on a high-school level and obvious to you?
Yep, I’ve read Lies My Teacher Told Me and agree with most of it. Most history textbooks and corresponding lesson plans are misleading and harmful to our collective memory, and most people in this country never take a history course above the high school level. They get their ideas about the past from movies and received opinions. Those who haven’t read the book should check it out; it’s good, stimulating polemic.
FUCK YOU, EVERYONE. LETS TALK ABOUT THE BULL MOOSE PARTY AND OTHER RELEVENT ANTI-DEVULIAN ASPECTS OF SUPPOSED POLITICAL PARTY PLATFORMS.
YOU KNOW WHY IT WAS CALLED THE BULL MOOSE PARTY? BECAUSE YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT.
Well, 3 p.m. is a completely acceptable time of day to be drunk and belligerent, but Blogtown’s chief amateur copy editor sure misspells a lot of words.