Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah has always been an honorable and decent guy, even back in 2012 when he was blamed for a woman dying of cancer.
All it took for the news media to see this was for him to vote with Democrats on impeachment.
On Wednesday, Romney became the only Republican member of the Senate to vote “guilty” on either of the two charges brought against President Trump. The upper chamber of Congress voted anyway to acquit the president, but not before the press declared Romney a true hero of the republic.
It is difficult to get into the nitty-gritty of whether the praise is deserved because it is basically impossible to overlook the fact that the applause comes mostly from the people who did everything they could seven years ago to destroy Romney’s character and reputation.
The 2012 presidential election was not just a tough race, featuring hard-nosed politics. The attacks leveled against Romney when he sought to oust President Barack Obama from the White House were not about mere policy criticisms and disagreements. Romney was portrayed as an irredeemable bigot, whose election would lead to the enslavement of women and minorities. When the news media were not participating directly in the destruction of Romney, who was just as honorable and decent then as he is now, they watched silently as it happened.
In 2012, for example, the Washington Post editorial board accused the Republican nominee not once, but twice of holding the electorate in “contempt,” arguing that Romney’s strategy clearly relied on his alleged hope that voters would be stupid enough to support him.
This week, however, the Washington Post declared its undying respect for Romney in an editorial titled, “History will remember Mitt Romney.”
“Mr. Romney deserves respect for thoughtfully weighing the evidence and the implications of removing a sitting president,” reads the Feb. 5 editorial. “At least one Republican acted with integrity and honor. History will remember the rest very differently.”
In 2012, many news organizations, including the New Yorker, HuffPo, and the Atlantic, worked hard to further the “war on women” narrative that alleged Romney was a retrograde sexist. The New Yorker’s Amy Davidson Sorkin, for example, argued that the GOP campaign’s decision to bring on Ann Romney to help with voter outreach proved the Republican nominee definitely had a “problem with women” and that he is also somewhat sexist.
HuffPo went big pushing the nonsensical lie that “binders full of women” was a deeply sexist thing for Romney to have said. The Atlantic went so far as to publish articles with titles such as, “‘Binders Full of Women’ Won the Debate” and “Binders Full of Women: A Meme That Means Something” (it did not mean anything).
Following Romney’s “guilty” vote this week, HuffPo published an article titled, “Will Mitt Romney Face Punishment For Having A Conscience?”
“A Profile in Courage,” read a very simple headline published this week by the Atlantic.
The New Yorker, meanwhile, put out an article titled, “Mitt Romney’s Act of Political Courage.”
To be fair, no one ever said supposed sexists could not have a conscience.
In 2012, then-New York Times reporter Ashley Parker was part of the press pool that heckled Romney during an overseas trip to Poland, shouting repeatedly about the GOP candidate’s “gaffes” during a visit to a memorial dedicated to the country’s fallen heroes. This week, Parker marveled as Romney explained in a speech that his Mormon faith led him to vote “guilty.”
“I was the NYT’s Romney embed in 2012,” she said in an almost reverential tone. “I listened to hundreds of speeches, scoured dozens of statements, dissected myriad tweets. I cannot think of a time he has spoken as openly and directly about the role his faith plays than he did before today’s vote.”
It is true that Romney was mostly mum about his Mormon faith during the 2012 election, but even if he had opened up about it, Parker likely would not have heard it over her screaming about his gaffffeeees.
In the world of news commentary and entertainment, the treatment of Romney in 2012 was the same.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell claimed in 2012 that Romney was “uniquely immoral.” O’Donnell also challenged one of Romney’s sons to a fistfight on-air after that son criticized Obama. The MSNBC host even alleged that Romney “deliberately” incited boos during an address before the NAACP, claiming the GOP nominee likely hoped the visual of unhappy black attendees would inspire white racists to vote Republican.
This week, O’Donnell solemnly declared, “Each day for the rest of his life, [Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina] will live in enraged jealousy of [Romney’s] courage.”
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews likewise accused Romney in 2012 of being a racist, arguing that the GOP nominee had played the “ethnic card” when he alleged Obama had gutted the work requirement for welfare.
“This stuff about getting rid of the work requirement for welfare is dishonest … you are playing that little ethnic card there,” Matthews shouted. “You can play your games and giggle about it, but the fact is your side is playing that card. When you start talking about work requirements, we know what game you’re playing, and everybody knows what game you’re playing, it’s a race card.”
He added in a separate segment wherein he portrayed Romney as a heartless autocrat, “You’re part of the problem. You’re one of the bad guys.”
On Feb. 5, Matthews poured out heavy praise for the senator.
“What takes bravery, what merits regard, is the voice that speaks out and tells the brave truth through the sad chorus of silence and submission,” the cable anchor said. “We saw it when Mitt Romney stood up for the constitution against Donald Trump.”
Late-night host Stephen Colbert, who spent the entire 2012 presidential election giving life to the absolute worst things said about Romney, dedicated a “heartfelt monologue” this week to the Utah senator, thanking him for his vote.
Even New York Times columnist Gail Collins, who attacked Romney repeatedly in 2012 for his alleged cruelty, writing obsessively about the time he placed the family dog, Seamus, on the roof of the family car, has praise for the senator.
Romney is a “profile in courage,” she writes this week. “When history looks back on Mitt Romney, this should be the moment that gets remembered.”
The same media that shrugged in 2015 after it was revealed Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada was lying when he used the floor of the Senate to claim that Romney was a tax cheat are now running headlines declaring the Utah senator is a “profile in courage.” The media that shrugged in 2012 while members of the press intentionally mischaracterized Romney’s opinion article, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” are in awe now of his moral courage and bravery.
It is amazing how quickly a single vote with the Democrats can earn a supposed monster the adoration of the press.
