DO WHAT YOU WANT, BE WHAT YOU ARE

I'm going to cut Mitt Romney a semi-break on something, then I'm going to take a cheap shot.

First, the break. I find I'm not inclined to laugh at him for this:

Romney Calls Southern Primaries “An Away Game”

Mitt Romney admitted Thursday that he might not be the most natural fit for upcoming primaries in Alabama, Mississippi, and Kansas.

Asked whether he thought he could win a Southern state during an interview with 100 WAPI's Leland Whaley, Romney hedged.

"I realize it's a bit of an away game, but I also think we're going to pick up some support in the states that remain this month," Romney said....

Romney? Not a Southerner? Gosh, I never knew! But seriously, I think it's somewhat refreshing to have a politician admit that he is what he is, or at least isn't what he isn't. It's especially refreshing coming from Romney, who's told us that he's middle-class, that he's feared pink slips, and so on. I prefer this to that kind of transparently phony pandering, and to the standard politician's habit of, for instance, suiting up in newly bought camo in order to fake being a hunter. (Of course, Romney has unconvincingly told us that about himself.)

This is a bit cringeworthy, however:

In Mississippi, Romney did try out some Southern charm, telling his audience he was "an unofficial Southerner."

"I am learning to say y'all and I like grits, and things," he joked. "Strange things are happening to me."

Translation: To my utter amazement, I am adopting many of your strange folkways!

No, that's not a good line.

*****

And now a cheap shot, in response to a detail from the Politico article "Mitt Romney's Media Charm Offensive":

The campaign ... hosted a Wednesday evening happy hour with the traveling press at a Scholars, a Boston pub where officials ranging from the deputy campaign manager, Katie Packer Gage, to senior advisers, strategists and longtime Romney friends and aides on down to the regional and traveling press secretaries with whom reporters spar on an hourly basis, schmoozed over pints.

I went to the Yelp page for the bar chosen by the Romney campaign. The reviews are mixed, but I enjoyed this one:

First and foremost, this place is full of banker and lawyer bros and their counterpart hos, so be prepared for mild hostility from the clientele, especially around drinking hour. It's got a weird discotheque feel, the music is too loud, and everyone is talking much too loudly. That sentence sounded very "get off my lawn" but honestly, I just don't care very much for some cockmaster with a III after his fourteen syllable name shouting about hair products into my ear.

For the Mitt Romney campaign, that sounds kind of perfect.