History will view Mitt kindly.

I'm honestly surprised there isn't any anti-establishment Republicans (or Libertarians or right-leaning Independents) breaking ranks. I'd think there'd be at least a handful of folks positioning themselves as a "lone voice of conviction" or somethingrather after the Republican implosion—but nope, just Mitt.

It really speaks to the success of Trump's propaganda machine that even Coast-to-Coast AM country likes him... enough.

Good on Mitt.

Dougsf, I don't think there are many anti-establishment / independent-minded Republicans left in Congress, particularly in the Senate. Just a few who like to pretend.

Mittens is just pissed off that Trump did what he couldn't.
He's bitter, enveouse, and vindictive so he's got his poopy pants on.
No one in the Republican Party sees him as anything more than a loser with a binder full of women.

5: Or maybe unlike you, he has a fucking brain and knows how this shit is gonna look in 10 years. He may be the only Republican with a long view at this point, unlike President shit-for-brains who can't remember something that happened two hours ago, and his expedient but shortsighted enablers.

@1 Justin Amash did in the House and got kicked out the GOP caucus for his trouble. He most likely won't be re-elected this fall, which is, IMO, a shame.

I voted for Obama in 2012, of course. I disapproved of the way Romney made his money as a corporate raider. His career, in many ways, is exemplary of the kind of conduct that has hollowed out communities across the country for the sake of personal greed. And I noted at the time that my grandfather, who had worked his whole life as a bookkeeper for a liquor distribution company in central Wisconsin, was unceremoniously fired and lost his pension because a couple of Mitt Romneys came in from Florida and bought up the company and proceeded to pilfer it for absolutely everything they could.

But regardless of the policies he has pursued in politics and business, he, like a few other Republicans (John McCain springs to mind) have generally struck me as personally decent people, people I would be glad to know and to live alongside. People with whom I can disagree without being disagreeable.

Like it or not, Romney's political views align with those of many people in the US. Those citizens deserve to have their opinions represented in the Congress. I think they're wrong, but they come by their wrong-ness honestly. And so I have respect for them. Just as much as we need an AOC in Congress, I believe we need a Justin Amash too.

What Romney did today was to assert that there is something in politics that is higher than your partisan views. That there is something higher that Red vs. Blue, that transcends it. As a liberal verging on socialist, I have a hard time distinguishing that quality in the politicians who are on my side of the fence because I instinctively like them for their policy positions. But when I do distinguish it on the other side, it's somewhat easier for me to see, and so easier for me to praise.

So today, I respect the hell out of Senator Romney. He's going to get handed a massive shitstorm from the right for doing this. He may end up losing his seat. That's balls right there.

Unlike Mr. Frizzelle and Mr. Romney, I don't know what I believe religiously. But when I do see religious faith at work, acting in the way it is advertised to act in, I do respect that too.

9: These people are basically brain-dead partisan trash that need a big daddy to tell them how to think. Dissent will not be tolerated in their ranks. Which is pretty funny coming from a bunch of people who brag about how independent, rugged and free-living they are. Usually someone would now tell me this is why Trump is going to win, because people like me are condescending pricks who hate "real America." This may well be the case, but my assessment of them as drooling, hateful cretins who worship power and money is no less true for it.

12: Yeah, that sounds like a real nice, pro-democracy and pro-open-society opinion you got there. You probably think Braveheart is true too.

13
Thanks but if we want your opinion we will slap it out of you.

11
The Left doesn't get it.
They constantly project onto others;
the drooling, hateful cretins were skulking round the Democrap section of the gallery last night-
how could you miss them?
Trump doesn't tell the People what to think,
he reflects what they know.

13: You couldn't slap a shackled baby you dumb fucking fascist.

@12 Admit it, you got a fucking chubby when you posted that. You're probably rubbing one out right now, thinking of those big, strong, veiny Mel Gibson hands, not like your soft keyboard hands OHHH you just made a mess again, didn't you?

BAD BOY. BAD BOY

@7 Well said

Liberal tears taste like Flintstones vitamins.

@15 Self-own.

"enveouse?"

Oof.

If the GOP creeps despise him so much, Romney should caucus with the Democrats. It would make taking the Senate back that much easier.

And just imagine all the sputtering we'd get from 14 and 16 if that happened.

@22: Romney is far more of the Grand Old Party than the current GOP, so he has no reason to abandon the party.

"The Left doesn't get it.
They constantly project onto others;
the drooling, hateful cretins were skulking round the Democrap section of the gallery last night-
how could you miss them?
Trump doesn't tell the People what to think,
he reflects what they know."

HAHAHAHAHA!! Oh man.. hahahaHAHAHAHAHA... Whoo boy. To be this commmhehehehahahHAHAHAHAHAHA

Good troll.

Rush receives the death penalty and a Republican Senator shows some moral courage.
My spirits have lifted just a little.
Maybe we are over the worst of the worst.

@25
I wish that were true.
Given that many LDS people- as staunchly Republican as they are- have shown some revulsion at Trump's continued antics, Romney is a safe bet to be re-elected in Utah as long as he wants to be.
If Romney is the GOP nominee in 2024, the country has survived. If Don Jr is the nominee, the country hasn't.

you guys new to virtue signaling?

Good for Mitt Romney. He's copped out many times before; for once he displays some genuine courage and principle. And Republican presidential candidates Joe Walsh and William Weld would almost certainly be for convicting Trump, but they've been completely marginalized and isolated within the party. At least give them credit for being harshly critical of Trump, and, indeed, Walsh has publicly and frequently apologized for supporting Trump in 2016. You can count the number of Republicans with character by the number who vote for either of these two candidates: perhaps one percent between them, but those few deserve some credit. The rest: a horrible, sickening cop-out, and this from the party that boasts of its commitment to values. Utterly grotesque hypocrisy. Values? Their understanding of values stops at the "omerta" of organized crime and the heretic-damning of the medieval church. Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi showed some principle. Give them, and other Democrats, credit. Now let's move on and beat Trump in November, and don't get caught up in hyper-purist shaming. No candidate is going to be perfect. Again: Beat Trump In November.

This will help Romney’s 2024 campaign. Long con, duh.

@10
I guess you're not a Letterkenny fan...
"Long as everyone’s having a good time ain’t no reason to be a poopy pants."

Personally, I think Mittens is positioning himself to make a run at the Democrat nomination if it goes to a brokered convention. He's still got those binders of women to choose a running mate from...

This is a big deal. This isn't a no-name Senator. The last Republican nominee for president voted to remove the current Republican president.

Trump can try to spin it any in any number of ways -- he will probably try and make it personal -- but the former standard bearer of the party just voted to remove the current president from that party. That has got to sting.

Moscow Mitch almost blew an artery when Romney gave his speech and the WH had to cancel their victory presser because they were blindsided. One can only imagine what kind of fit Trump is throwing right now. He'll give his presser full of lies tomorrow once he's been sedated enough to be put in front of the cameras.

I'm a lifelong Democratic voter yet it is undeniably satisfying to watch the Clinton-loving, red-baiting, neo-McCarthyist goofballs at The Stranger stamp their little footies in anger at Trump's rather unsurprising acquittal. Ha!

It's funny (not really) how I can look back to a time when I would have (and did) judge someone like Romney pretty harshly for his beliefs and values. Nowadays, he seems downright admirable just for having actual beliefs and values. I hope that part of the healing process from this dark time in American history is recognition of some baseline of respect for other people with comprehensible values, even when they conflict with our own.

If Mitt Romney had been given a cabinet position instead of being roundly humiliated multiple times by Trump, he would have stuck with him.

It is not spine you are viewing, it is spite.

Mitt Romney does not deserve that much credit.

Blip @9: Remember that their last Great President was Reagan - a actor whose qualifications were literally "I could play a good president on TV." Republicans have always wanted to be led by bread, circuses, and bullshit.

Careful @14: No, he doesn't "reflect what you know," he tells you what you want to hear. So long as he blows smoke up your ass and tells you that you're the bestest, smartest, american-est people out there, and you're not responsible for any of your own trouble - that's all the fault of everyone different from you - and honestly, it's ok that you hate all those uppity women, colored, and queers, you're happy. You'll clap your hands like special needs children shown a magic trick, ignore the fact that literally everything he says is a lie, and let him rob you blind.

LBJ had y'all pegged back in the 1960s. “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”

Y'all never learn.

As for Romney, yeah, I never quite agreed with him, but he always struck me as someone who actually some basic principles. As for his seat, that's Mormon country. They don't like liberals, but they don't like Trump either - he's a crass whoremonger. They'll probably vote Trump for president, but soothe their consciences by also voting Romney for representative.

Yes, true bravery is doing a meaningless and riskless action out of spite and vengeance in order to make yourself look better.

Romney is not even up for re-election until 2025, and religious Mormons are not exactly Trump's biggest fans, but don't let that stop you from dick riding him as he goes back to voting exactly along party lines in favor of everything you hate for the next 5+ years.

Ever heard of the pre-digital expression "A broken clock is right twice a day?" We are seeing the expression of that phrase here. The next time Mitt says something about abortion you'll forget all about this.

Just remember what a brave hero he is in the future when he is voting that women are not allowed to have agency over their own bodies, and for another pay raise for himself.

I have, for a long time, believed that there is no difference in definition between religious morality and secular morality. For whatever reason, an intelligent person behaves as if their actions have consequences beyond themselves. Narcissists do not believe this, of course, because there is no world beyond themselves. And evidently craven cowards, who fear unknown but implied retribution, ignore this. Romney is moral and courageous. And that's all that matters.

@ 40
"Remember that their last Great President was Reagan - a actor whose qualifications were literally 'I could play a good president on TV.'"

That and being Governor of California from 1967 to 1975...