Romney: Ex-McCain Basher, Now Groveler-in-Chief

Mitt Romney has become so humble since bowing out to John McCain that he is now “the groveler”-in-chief, Eve Fairbanks writes in the New Republic. “Has ever a politician gone so cheerfully into defeat,” she asks? The two men were openly hostile on the trail, but now Romney is praising McCain as a “big dog” to Democratic “chihuahuas.”

Romney's pandering became so blatant that his advisers had to insist he didn't want a spot on the ticket—a denial as silly as they come, Fairbanks argues. But Romney’s “extreme enthusiasm” may protect him from the pain of being passed over. As ambitious as he is, Romney lacks a trait often tied to big dreams: a sense of pride.