The Workday Liberal

Some blogospherians have linked to a write up in News Max which describes Ann Romney. The overwrought writing in describing Mrs. Romney has caused a few snickers:

"Ann is warm and very natural. She has the look of an outdoors woman bred to be an equestrian, which she is — good carriage, rosy complexion, square jaw, and blond mane.

"When she is not flashing her truly unbelievable smile, she may lower her eyes demurely. But Ann Romney is not demure — she may be modest, but she isn't meek. She is unpretentious, but she isn't shy. She lowers her eyes, thinking, and then looks up directly at her interviewer and dazzles him with that smile."

A woman "bred to be an equestrian"?! Good grief. In her defense... Ann was not born in a freaking kennel!

In reading the newsmax article in question however, there was another quote that struck me as very odd. Mitt describes the first time he ever saw Ann as a young boy this way:

[H]e was a Cub Scout in elementary school, he and some other scouts saw Ann riding a horse bareback across a railroad track.

"What do Cub Scouts do when they see a little girl on a horse?" Mitt says now. "We picked up stones and threw them [at her]."

Erm... no. Again in Anns defense, even if it is decades too late. Most little boys, Cub Scouts or no, do not respond to little girls on horses by throwing rocks at them! In fact I would be very concerned if I ever witnessed such a spectacle.

If I ever have a son in the scouts and this type of behavior comes to my attention, I will feel it is my duty to lay down some firm ground rules. One would expect such behavior from a little boy to indicate an uncertain future which has a good likelihood of various troubles with the law. Especially if that type of behavior is commonplace.

On the other hand, if my little girl were ever assaulted in such a manner while innocently riding a horse in the vicinity of a group of Cub Scouts... let us just say the den leader would have no doubts as to my thoughts on the subject, and there would be some ground rules established with those little hellions.

You get the sense that Romney considers this tale as emblematic of the halcyon days of yore, when little boys fished with line tied to knotty tree branches, the only meaning of the word Coke was for the soft drink which cost a nickel(perhaps buffalo head) for each glass bottle, and duck and cover drills were mandatory at the start of each school year... oh yeah... and little girls had to watch where they rode their horses lest they be bombarded by the little thugs dressed up in their little cub scout outfits! Can you imagine that world? Anns father hikes her up on the horse and tells her to avoid going down by the rail road tracks... there was a group of Cub Scouts down there and we all know how they can be with little girls on horses!

Well hardy hardy har har. Now we know that Mitt Romney isn't fit to be a den leader in the Cub Scouts. I would suggest he not spread that story too much... it really does not reflect well in hindsight as far as I'm concerned.