The Onion Article re: Morning-After Regrets about Romney. Fact? or Fiction?
As we all know, The Onion is a site which only writes comedy which is typically satirical in nature, and will include any and every topic in the news. Politics, sports, entertainment, you name it, they’ll write it. Sometimes, though, an article may be so well written by including the facts of a newsworthy event that sometimes it is difficult to tell if it is actual or satire. In fact, last February, Republican House Rep. John Fleming of Louisiana thought an article was real that was posted to the Onion’s website on May 18, 2011 that headlined, “Planned Parenthood Opens $8 Billion Abortionplex.” Fleming went on a rant on his Facebook page – until someone informed him that the Onion is farce. He looked like a complete fool. Honestly, that article was too satirical to have been confused with reality. Fleming so wanted it to be true that he thought it was.
Today The Onion posted an article called, “Nation’s Debate Viewers Disgusted With Selves After Connecting With Mitt Romney” and this one truthfully appears to be more fact than fiction. Maybe The Onion wanted to get a dig into Romney rather than write complete satire. Since it is such a short article, I will post it in it’s entirety here. But do go check out their site especially if you are wanting some laughs, or have never visited it before.
Nation’s Debate Viewers Disgusted With Selves After Connecting With Mitt Romney
WASHINGTON—As they awoke this morning, millions of Americans reportedly let out a heavy groan of regret upon remembering they had made an emotional connection with Republican nominee Mitt Romney last night during his first debate with President Barack Obama. “Oh my god, I’m pretty sure I liked him. Like, on a personal level, I connected with Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney,” said Pennsylvania resident Tom Gorelick, 26, adding that he can barely look at himself in the mirror now that he’s seen Romney as an appealing, charismatic speaker who could in fact become President of the United States. “Am I somebody who is going to vote for Mitt Romney now? Did I just ask that question out loud? I feel gross.” At press time, Gorelick was taking a scalding hot shower and vigorously scrubbing his body with steel wool.
See what I’m saying? Fact or fiction? This could very easily be true – and I imagine there are people who feel similar. Of course not scrubbing their body with steel wool, though. I, however, found Romney to be even more repulsive, undesirable and dangerous than ever before. His “charisma” – which I never witnessed – would have been nothing more than a lie in order to capture the 47% he so willingly denounced earlier this year in a private fund-raising event.
Top Posts
This problem can be solved by pre-school children in 5-10 minutes. By programmers in one hour.
Click on image to go to full problem
Motley News, Photos and Fun 
I have had many a satisfying laugh reading The Onion. This was obviously a while ago, but I’ve never forgotten this Onion headline taking a shot at GW Bush by printing above his photo, “Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Now Over.” President declares.
I have a hard time understanding how any reasonable person who is reasonably intelligent, and not a crazed right wing fanatic or a GOP activist or lobbyist promoting the agenda of corporations and the wealthiest Americans, but a reasonable and intelligent political moderate – who says that they feel any kind of positive connection with Mitt Romney. I don’t understand how such a person can feel anything positive about Romney, and my only explanation is that this person doesn’t really know who Mitt Romney is, and what he is all about.
I am not a 100% dyed in the wool Democrat, because I voted for a Republican, William Weld for Governor of MA twice, when I was convinced that Weld was a better choice than either of his Democratic challengers. But I disliked Mitt Romney immediately from Day One. My first thought was, ‘Why is this guy, who is all the way from Utah, suddenly running for office here in Mass?’ And after that, every time I heard Romney speak, the more he started to reek of bullshit. For me, on a gut level, the guy just seemed to vibrate continuous waves of FAKE, and I felt like his only genuine political position was his own ambition to advance his political career.
Of course eventually, I no longer needed to distrust and dislike Romney based only upon my gut feelings about him, because two years after he became Governor of MA, he appeared at the 2004 RNC and made negative comments about the citizens of Mass whom he had been elected to serve. Romney’s remarks implied that people in Mass were a bunch of out of touch liberals whom he didn’t agree with, and the citizens of Mass had become his burden, as Governor of one of the most liberal states in the union. Why? Romney wanted to make a positive impression on a national Republican audience and high ranking members of the GOP by publicly distancing himself from the state and the people he was supposed to be supporting as their Governor. He was looking past being Governor of Mass and setting his sights on winning the US Presidency.
Romney began his swing from the political left, to way over on the political right, since much of the country had been moving more right of center politically, and the most fervent GOP supporters and political activists were on the far right. So Romney moved to align himself with the right because he thought it improved his chances to get elected president. It had nothing to do with any genuine political conviction – it was just his career advancement strategy.
So again… How can any intelligent and reasonable person feel a positive connection with a man like Romney? If people pay enough attention to what Romney says and does, they will realize that more they know about Romney, the more obvious it is that Romney is an unprincipled liar and a fraud with no integrity, who would be a terrible choice to be entrusted with all the powers and deadly serious responsibilities that come with being President of the US.
I don’t understand how anyone can support that waste of skin. But they do. And I’m sure there were people that actually responded positively to him during the debate. Then after letting the whole scene sink in realize that they had just watched a performance – and act.
I agree with Chris. I do remember when he was governor, he was for gay and lesbian marriages, now he’s against it. We now have a so-called universal health care thanks to Romney. Now he’s against Obama care. I could go on, but he’s nothing more than a sleaze bag and a hypocrite.
Oh, I completely and 1,000%-ly agree. But there are many people who do not follow politics as closely as we do.
I’m not sure it was a personal connection people were making with Romney after that debate. I think it would be a stretch to say people reacted by “liking” him more. To me, it seems that the way people responded was simply based on the fact that Obama’s performance was underwhelming, and Romney’s performance was overwhelming. It was sheer force of will on Romey’s part that attracted most of the night’s attention, but as for whether he came off as a nicer, more human, more “likeable” guy…well, didn’t he mention killing Big Bird’s funding? ‘Nuff said. 😉 Oh, and I love the Onion too, as well as it’s pop-culture-obsessed sister site the A/V Club. Both are daily reading for me.
You and I both see him for exactly who he is. A fake, a bully and a psychopath. None of us were swayed by his performance – and it was a performance. I’m sure he was coached and coached – and for once he listened and it worked. But he was more moderate during the debate than he ever has been during this entire election period. So for those who do not pay attention on a regular basis would have easily been swayed.
now, as far as this Onion article goes… I doubt anyone that found him as repulsive as this guy did in the story – enough to scrub his body with steel wool – would have seen his lies and act and not even been buffooned at all. But I still think this is great. I’m sure there were some people who actually listened and believed him – caught up in the moment. Then the next day thought, “what was I thinking?”
I do think you’re right that this Onion article could really be true, to be honest. It definitely doesn’t seem impossible, that’s for sure! 🙂
I’d like to scrub Romney with some steel wool, starting with that godawful patronizing smirk that he always has when he’s not speaking.
LOL! Me, too.
PiedType, Oh thank you!! I’ve thought that so many times. I’ve looked at photos of his so-called smile and covered the lower half, to just see his eyes. They are not smiling. His eyes look insane.His sons look just like him too.
He’s a psychopath. Textbook.