News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Opinion Columns

October 16, 2012

RONN MOTT: No liar here

You can’t call Mitt Romney a liar. The man hasn’t stood still on an issue long enough to make a definitive stand. So, if he’s not going to stand on prior statements, you can’t call him a liar. You can say he’s good at “waffling,” you can say, “Uh, what did you say last July?” Or you can say, “Governor, are you sure about that?” But you can’t call him a liar.

Mitt Romney looks as if he came out of central casting. You know the place … producers call and say, send me three guys who look like a president. They would hire Mitt Romney every time. The little white hair around his ears, the dark pompadour, the million-dollar smile, and he’s a big family man. Just about perfect, right? Except when he’s with some of his rich friends and claims 47 percent of us are dependent upon the government and don’t pay taxes.

And now, he’s telling everyone he wants to be the president for everybody. Well, here’s how I feel about it. If you can’t stand on one issue from May to September, how are you going to deal with huge crises in the world? He wouldn’t do well at all. He may have been a big shot taking over corporations, breaking them up and putting money in his pocket, but that ain’t the same thing as leading a country through good times and bad. This man is so desperate the next thing he will tell us is he likes Democrats! And even then, we can’t call him a liar because he’ll change it in the blink of an eye.

I say this to the governor:  If I can’t join your country club, why in the world should I vote for you?

This country started out, except for the colony in Maryland, as a bunch of Protestant rejects not happy for the way things were going for them in Europe. It was 90 percent Protestant, and they wanted to build a country where everyone could be free and have a chance at the good life. That was not occurring for them in Europe. (George Washington got mad because his British suppliers sent him goods and materials that were inferior regardless of the money he sent them for the products. That was just one thing that made Washington angry.)

We cannot have, as president, a man who rejects the idea of diversity in this very diverse nation. No matter what he says, it is what he has done and most likely would do that you can count on.

You know, when you think about it, he would have been a great actor for Hollywood in the days of yore. He can say the same thing over and over and over again and say it with great sincerity even when he knows it is false.

Call central casting. Perhaps Mitt will be looking for a job after the billion or more dollars that have been spent attempting to make him president.

Mitt, I don’t care if you send half the money to me, I’m not going to vote for you. The working people of America need someone in the White House who cares about them. Not someone who says one thing in May and changes it in September just to get more votes.  

Ronn Mott, a longtime radio personality in Terre Haute, writes commentaries for the Tribune-Star. His pieces are published online Tuesday and Thursday on Tribstar.com, and in the print and online editions on Saturday.

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