The Boston Globe says that Romney used to be accessible and responsive and ever on message. Now not so much:
But as Romney prepares to leave office… [h]e has entered a brush-past, sorry-got-to- run, talk-to-my-office stage.
Romney has, for the most part, successfully avoided the press in Boston and elsewhere in recent days, even as questions mount about his past comments on gay rights, his conservative credentials, and the timing of his expected announcement about his 2008 presidential run.
However, as his Great Disciple pointed out, he didn’t ignore her. In fact, he used her interview as a strategy when he was otherwise running from the press. This fact did not escape the Globe either:
He granted an exclusive interview this week with the conservative magazine National Review, but has carefully choreographed the waning days of his Beacon Hill tenure to spend … even less time fielding questions from the news media.
Consider Wednesday’s annual Christmas tree and menorah lighting ceremony … the governor breezed past reporters waiting outside his office. "Merry Christmas, guys," he said with a smile.
Outside, once the tree and menorah were glowing, the carols sung, and the revelry over, Romney avoided reporters again by taking a different route off the second-floor steps.
Now the Disciple’s interview was published the same day as an AP article in which Romney clearly blew of f a reporter. And the AP reporter, Allison Hoffman, even mentioned it:
At a Republican event in downtown San Diego Monday night, an Associated Press reporter tried to approach him with a question. "Thanks, I have other people to talk to right now," Romney said.
And so the story goes with a litany of times that Romney ignored and ran from the press. The reporters that I talk to are angry at Romney. If he treats them like this, it is going to get worse for him, not better. The Boston Globe has already indicated that it is willing to investigate a Presidential candidate. But if the reporters turn openly hostile, it is going to get harder on Romney.