hi j-t,
i see what you are saying and in some ways, that's a sharp insight. thanks.
in one way, i think you are being a bit tough on bush the first! at heart, i think ghwb was a decent man whose first thought was for the country. i don't think he was a disaster as president. romney strikes me as an empty vessel. he is an opportunist if he is anything. it really is all about mitt's childhood ambition without the leavening of the kind of humanity most have achieved during adulthood. but then, he was a parasitic businessman and now he plans to become a parasitic president.