The mainstream press really wants to believe that Mitt Romney is going to start being a nice, safe right-centrist any day now — but if so, that transformation isn’t going to begin for at least another three and a half weeks, if it ever begins at all:
Mitt Romney will deliver the commencement address at the evangelical Christian university led by Jerry Falwell, Jr., Liberty University said in a Thursday post to their website.
The school, located in Lynchburg, Virginia, will host the likely GOP nominee for their May 12 graduation….
The press will continue to be obtuse about this. Paradoxically, this and every other example of Romney kissing up to the far right is going to described in the press as a sign that Romney shouldn’t be regarded as a real right-winger. To you and me, he’s pledging his allegiance to the far right and Christian right (don’t expect any Sister Souljah moments in the commencement address); to the press — or at least this is how I assume the reports will go — his presence at the school will be treated as a sign of how much ground he has to make up to win the loyalty of the fundies. And when he picks a fundy-friendly running mate, that will be treated as a sign of how much ground he has to make up with the fundies. And when he fails to modify any of the far-right positions he took on social issues in the primaries, that will be treated as a sign … etc., etc., ad nauseam. Everything he does to become just like one of them will be deemed a sign that he’s not one of them. He really might have to win the White House and nominate the Supreme Court justices who overturn Roe before the press starts to say, Gee, ya know, maybe he really wasn’t just doing all that outreach just for show.
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AND…: The New York Times responds just as I expected:
… for Mr. Romney, this invitation offers a chance to shore up one of his weaknesses within his base, as many evangelicals remain wary of his Mormon faith.
The more he wraps his arms around these people, the more we’re going to hear about how far apart they are.
(X-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.)