Bostonist: Atlantic Monthly: Mitt Looks Better When Viewed From D.C.

Steve

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:02:56 -0500

Latest news I'm hearing from a friend of mine on the Hill is that Bush has quietly approached a few prominent politicians about a possible appointment to the Vice Presidency. Very likely that Cheney may go prematurely before 2008. A good source tells me he talked to Romney, and Romney actually turned him down . . . interesting. Would Romney turn down the VP is he were serious about running for President in 2008?

JT

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:16:04 -0500

Washington, DC is much more than the home of George W Bush. It's a city that is approximately 90% Democrat. So if Washington DC is looking at Mitt Romney (and neither the city or the Republican political establishment that lives out of our hotels really is), we're just as disgusted as you are.

ed

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 11:11:59 -0500

mitt romney is an richass blueblood elitist carpetbagging spineless flip-flopper with a stupid name.

Josh

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:41:59 -0500

Better you should have called me an idiot! Usually, I swear, I'm pretty good at the subtleties of constitutional law. Let's just chalk this up to a momentary lapse of legal reasoning (or, more precisely, a complete lack of research), occasioned by my being on vacation, far from the madding lawyerly crowd. That way I can preserve the illusion of my own professional competence. Anyway, thanks for keeping me honest.

Mike

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 22:58:55 -0500

Hey, I never said you were an idiot. You run one hell of a weblog. You just need to work on the subtleties of constitutional law.

Josh

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 19:50:35 -0500

OK, I stand corrected. I seem to recall that there was some concern when George Romney was running as to whether he could, legally, hold the office, and the matter has never been tested in court (since no one born outside of the US has yet been elected), but federal law, at least, says that "natural-born" includes those who get their citizenship by dint of having citizen parents. And, while I'm on the subject of ways that I'm wrong, Alexander Hamilton could have been president too because he was a citizen at the time if the adoption of the Constitution. So basically I'm an idiot.

Mike

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:14:46 -0500

The constitution requires no such thing. It requires that PRESIDENTS be natural-born citizens, meaning a candidate can be born outside the US - See John McCain, Panama Canal Zone, and in fact, a candidate doesn't even have to be a US citizen. If he wins, though, he can't be president. George Romney could have been president, as he was a natural born citizen if the US, as his parents (at least one of them) were US citizens.

Josh

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:06:31 -0500

Oh, I meant to add this in the name of historical accuracy, but couldn't work it into the post: If you read the Atlantic article, don't come away with the notion that the only thing that scuttled Mitt's dad's presidential hopes was his comments on Vietnam. He was also (as the article does mention but doesn't explain thoroughly) born in Mexico, which makes him ineligible for the presidency (the Constitution requires that candidates be U.S.-born, not merely citizens; sorry Alexander Hamilton (West Indies) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Austria)). Not that this fact has anything to do with Mitt, but it was bothering me.