Mitt Romney’s mechanical performance Tuesday on Fox News’ “Special Report” laid bare the fundamental truth why he shies from press: He’s uncomfortable with direct challenges to his record.
But don’t take my word for it. As The Atlantic’s Dino Grandoni observed, Romney’s “cantankerous side emerged” when Fox News’ Bret Baier “pushed the presidential candidate on his several position changes over the years.”
The Miami Herald said Romney was “icily peevish” when pressed on his flip-flops, while the conservative Townhall called the governor “testy and contemptuous.” The reviews from media blogs Business Insider and Mediaite were no more generous, calling him “awkward” and “uncomfortable” and “rambling” and “exasperated.”
National Review’s Jonah Goldberg — who watched the exchange from his perch on “Special Report’s” roundtable — said Romney was painfully out of sorts and fumbling through his attempts to explain the political anathemas that litter his past.
“The guy first ran for the Senate in 1994. He’s been running for president for about a decade. And moreover — and this is somewhat unfair to him — he physically, personality-wise comes across as if he was designed by East German scientists to be the perfect android politician,” Goldberg said. [VIDEO]
Most recently, on today’s “Daily Rundown,” NBC’s Chuck Todd piled on Romney’s “overly-testy” interview.
Watch here: