After winning the primaries in Michigan and Arizona, Mitt Romney appears back on course (at least for now) to get the Republican presidential nomination.
But even while eking out a victory in Michigan, Romney lost to Rick Santorum among voters who never went to college and make less than $100,000 a year.
Part of Romney’s problem is that he can’t seem to keep himself from saying things that remind people how privileged and out of touch he is.
In an effort to win support among working-class NASCAR racing fans, Romney showed up at the Daytona 500 in Florida on Sunday (due to rain, the race was postponed until Monday).
Asked if he was a fan of the sport, he replied, “I have some great friends who are Nascar team owners.” That earned him yet another dose of ridicule.
But this I found more revealing:
[T]he crowd initially booed Mr. Romney, who occasionally struck a discordant note, as when he approached a group of fans wearing plastic ponchos. “I like those fancy raincoats you bought,” he said. “Really sprung for the big bucks.”
Now there are two possibilities here:
–Romney had never seen plastic ponchos before, and really thought they were expensive raincoats; or
–Romney, who is worth between $150 million and $200 million, was sneering at people much less fortunate than himself who were wearing cheap rain gear.
I’m going with the second possibility. Mitt just can’t seem to help himself.