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Remember in 2008 when the process of running for President seemed to drain John McCain of most of the qualities that had once made him appealing to independents and even some liberals?<\/p>\n

Timothy Egan\u2019s brilliant piece<\/a> at the New York Times suggests that something similar has happened to Mitt Romney:<\/p>\n

Romney[‘s] story is laden with land mines of his making. Or rather, that of his party, which has turned so quickly against common-sense solutions to the nation\u2019s problems that Romney\u2019s real achievements, and prior principles, are now toxic to most Republicans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The truly interesting, even admirable parts of Romney\u2019s family history; his business career; his term as governor of Massachusetts\u2014all of these will be off the table at the Republican National Convention, Egan notes, to avoid offending the radical conservative sensibilities currently dominant in the party.<\/p>\n

Caught between effective Democratic attacks and the demands of Republican ideologues, the \u201creal Mitt,\u201d like the real McCain in 2008, has left the building.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember in 2008 when the process of running for President seemed to drain John McCain of most of the qualities that had once made<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":17467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1176,162,16],"tags":[426,1070],"yoast_head":"\n