Negative Sentiment For Mitt Blinds Some In GOP

It is fascinating in this campaign to watch voters proclaim their anger for the candidates’ attacks on each other.  Just like every election, the candidates use negative ads and misleading comments about each other to get ahead in the polls.  “Well why shouldn’t they?” you may ask, “This is politics after all.”  Yes, it is.  But what is interesting is the emotions that come from the GOP faithful who are paying very close attention in this race.  Since this is my first Twitter election (I barely knew what it was a few years ago) and my first election as a blogger, I have had a front row seat to all the online fighting.

What’s especially interesting is the hatred for Mitt Romney.  He certainly has a unique background compared to others in the race, and it is fair to have concerns about any candidate.  But there seems to be such a strong negative reaction to him by some. Let’s review some examples:

From Twitter:

-Romney proved he’s a liberal when he said he’s conservative 25 times in a26 minutes speech.

-Nothing in Mitt Romney’s record indicates he is anything other than a tax and spend liberal Republican, ‘masquerading’ as a conservative.

-Mitt Romney is the Bizarro Six Million dollar Man: a broken robot who needs to be rebuilt as a human.

Then, there are the blogs.  Some of those in the blogosphere think that the worst possible event of this century would be the election of Romney.  Romney as President would be worse than a tsunami or nuclear meltdown.  This is not just about choosing one candidate over the others, this is about a visceral hatred for him.

Dan Riehl of RiehlWorld View is one example.  The anger that comes from his site against Romney is far past that of a commentator who has concerns about a candidate, it is more of vile hatred for the man that would be president and is sacrificing his time, energy, and money to stand up for his country.  A very small sample from Riehl's site:

May as well get this on record, despite how he will now likely spin or pivot out of political conniving, the fact is, Mitt Romney actually doesn't care about the very poor beyond seeing them as some unfortunate class of people deserving of charity.  

I don't see a president here. I see a very small man, petty and vindictive after being rocked by losing South Carolina. Romney hasn't fought anyone on the issues. He dissembles when they come up. And we all know his vile attacks on the other candidates began all the way back in Iowa. I don't like what I see in this guy. I really don't. 

He’s not the only one, there are plenty of these types of examples out there.

Romney is not the devil, he is not a “small, petty, and vindictive” man.  You may not like his politics, but is it necessary to speak so rudely about him?  Is it necessary to give the Left such fuel?  Is it necessary to insult the man so much that you are the one that comes across as “small, petty, and vindictive?” 

What's sad is that I've read Riehl's blog and he has a lot of great things to say on other topics.  He seems to be very passionate about conservatism and works hard to articulate that view.  But, something seems to take over him when Romney's name comes up.

This “anti-Mitt” sentiment has gotten so nasty that it has brought out a side of conservatives that is not appealing.  Let's save this anger for Obama, not for those who want to unseat him.