From a longer article at Roll Call:
…at a June 30 fundraiser in Wheeling, W.Va., Speaker John Boehner offered a surprisingly frank assessment of the dynamic that surprised some in the audience.
Aside from Romney’s “friends, relatives and fellow Mormons,” Boehner said, most people will be motivated to vote for him in opposition to Obama.
The Ohio Republican made the remarks when an unidentified woman asked during a question-and-answer session: “Can you make me love Mitt Romney?”
“No,” Boehner said. “Listen, we’re just politicians. I wasn’t elected to play God. The American people probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney. I’ll tell you this: 95 percent of the people that show up to vote in November are going to show up in that voting booth, and they are going to vote for or against Barack Obama.
So Republicans have a candidate they are not particularly fond of (and neither, for that matter are Democrats), but they are expected to vote for. One would think Boehner’s motivation in speaking for his party would be to get everyone to admire Romney and not stress that he appeals only to “friends, relatives and fellow Mormons.”
Combine that with what Bill Kristol said the other day and the puncturing of Romney’s lies about his business and gubernatorial background vis-a-vis job creation and cutting out unemployment (he succeeded at neither) and it’s not really clear if Republicans will work up the energy to come out to the polls.
