It was one thing for Joe Scarborough to make the case for Mitt Romney, arguing that these frightening times demand the kind of competence Romney offers.
But on today's Morning Joe, it was stunning to hear a New York Dem like Donny Deutsch say something very similar. According to the ad man: "There is a psychological reason to go to Mitt Romney, and that is: wow! We kind of made a mistake four years ago . We get to do a do-over. He was right about Syria, he was right about a lot of things."
Deutsch might have simply been trying to explain the thought process of voters, but he seemed to be also expressing his own feelings. Deutsch and Scarborough were seeking to explain the most recent Iowa GOP caucus poll numbers from Iowa, showing Romney well out in front of field.
For his part, Scarborough argued that in these frightening times--taking shots at Bill Clinton and Barack Obama--we can't afford to elect presidents based their ability to play saxophone on Arsenio Hall or offer hope and change. "We need competence . . . and Mitt Romney is competent," said Scarborough.
DONNY DEUTSCH: Right now we're staring at two ridiculously scary unknowns, of course ISIS and Ebola. We're also staring at a poll: two-thirds of Americans say this country is going in the wrong direction. There is a psychological reason to go to Mitt Romney, and that is: wow!
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Amen.
DEUTSCH: We kind of made a mistake four years ago. We get to do a do-over. He was right about Syria, he was right about a lot of things. Oh, things can be okay if I just get a do-over.
SCARBOROUGH: Hey, Donny.
DEUTSCH: I think there is a big psychological push there.
SCARBOROUGH: I hate to say this, Donny, I hate to say this, Donny: you're dead right. There is a reason why Mitt Romney has come out of nowhere suddenly. These are really frightening times. For young millennials who are right now about to go to sleep after playing Xbox all night and streaming music on Spotify, you may not remember, but we only elected a certain kind of leader when the Soviets existed and we had to elect somebody with their finger on the bomb. You know who those type of people were? They were like Mitt Romney. We didn't give a damn whether somebody was exciting. We didn't give a damn whether they talked about hope, whether they talked about change, whether they could play saxophone on Arsenio Hall. We didn't care. Donny, you're really on to something. There is a reason why a guy who seems dull and boring and stiff and can't be glib on the campaign trail --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Also smart and successful --
SCARBOROUGH: -- is suddenly is popping up in the polls. We need, we need somebody like Romney who has actually run something before and isn't going to be marketed like a Pepsi or like some snack food, Mika. This may actually, ironically enough, just like 1980 was Ronald Reagan's time, a guy who was seen as a joke up until the night he won in a historic landslide. Things are very frightening right now. We need competence. Think about what Michael Dukakis said in 1988. That's what we are in 2014. Mika, Americans year for competence. And Mitt Romney is competent.
