Wrestling With Pigs

I said it once, and the New York Times will say it again for me: it’s not just politics, the Republican candidates don’t like Romney. Yes, this is, in many ways, a junior high popularity contest:

“The glee the other candidates go after Romney with is really unique…”

“They think he didn’t pay his dues…”

“John McCain and his friends used to beat up Mitt Romney at recess…”

And Romney’s locker-room style defense:

A spokesman for the Romney campaign, Kevin Madden, said, “I think it’s largely driven by the fact that everybody’s taught to tackle the guy on the field with the ball.”

Please. McCain’s venom for Romney was strongest when he had already stripped the ball from the former Massachusetts Governor. Romney has a distinctly different approach to the veteran politician. Mitt knows the rules well, but he’s use to playing in a totally different arena, a totally different sport than McCain, Huckabee and Thompson. I’d bet that even Romney’s staff end up drinking alone while everybody else is joking about them at the bar next-door…

“Never get into a wrestling match with a pig,” Senator John McCain said in New Hampshire this month after reporters asked him about Mr. Romney. “You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.”