A friend of mine from Michigan sent this in the other night and I think it captures one of the odd effects the Romneys have on many average voters:
The reason I’m writing, besides to say hello, is to ask if you saw the Romneys on TV the other night saying they were just “regular people” – Anne stated that Mitt was even wearing a shirt from Costco – he loves them – he has a whole package of them.
I find that very offensive. It’s like they are making fun of us “regular people” – like dressing up for Halloween – in shirts they would never wear unless they were running for office. Wearing clothes of normal people must make you normal. Whoever is prompting them on their “normal” comments, must be really out of touch, too
I’ve had that feeling about all these millionaire political celebrities, from Tim Russert and Chris Matthews continuously pretending they are ordinary working class guys to Andrea Mitchell going on about how “we all need to sacrifice.” It is offensive. Clinton (and now Obama) do this better, in my opinion. They explicitly refer to themselves in speeches as “wealthy people like me,” (although both of them certainly do the usual “Whiz wit” pandering.)