Romney on "holiday"

[Gob]

WASHINGTON: Surrounded by his five sons, their wives and 18 grandchildren, Mitt Romney will preside over his own family version of the Olympics at his $8 million New Hampshire estate this week.




The ferociously competitive games are a series of wholesome American contests that embody the Republican presidential challenger's tastes for tough competition and organised fun.

At a minimum, all adult members of the clan are expected to take part in a mini-triathlon of running, cycling and swimming. But after nearly losing to a daughter-in-law who had given birth just two months before, the 65-year-old Mr Romney expanded the games in an effort to compensate for his advancing age.

The family now compete to hammer the most nails into a board in two minutes, saw the most logs and hang on to a pole for the longest time before losing their grip.

''We added some things I excel at so I don't come in last every year,'' Mr Romney said.

The former Massachusetts governor's ultra-competitive streak is hardly unusual among contenders for the White House. President Barack Obama is known to become prickly during games of basketball and is reportedly not above stacking his team with the best players to ensure victory.

The games are just one part of the week-long retreat Mr Romney takes with his family each year. The grandchildren perform a talent show on a stage Mr Romney put up in the garden and the family poses for a group photograph wearing co-ordinated outfits.

Each adult contributes to the running of the five-hectare lake house by choosing a task from the ''chore wheel'' and in the evenings they gather for long discussions about each son's next career move.

While all five of Mr Romney's sons claim to look forward to the annual holiday, none pretends to have any choice but to attend.

How Romney holidays at his $8 million estate on Lake Winnipesaukee - with his time structured around competitive sports, household jobs and group activities - offers a rare window into the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's rhythms and proclivities.

Even as the close-knit clan embraces the childhood pastimes of a bygone era, summers here serve to enforce the bond of the primacy of this family. Trips to Wolfeboro are controlled and mandatory.

One summer when Mr Romney's eldest son, Tagg, now 42, was working for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he told his father he wouldn't make it to Wolfeboro. Baseball, after all, is a summer sport, and he didn't think he could take a week off in the middle of the season.

''My dad said, 'No, you will make it','' Tagg recalled in an interview. So he showed up, noting, ''I had to beg forgiveness from my bosses at the Dodgers.''

Other political families have had their athletic pursuits - the Kennedys at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, the Bushes at Kennebunkport, Maine - but it's not clear if they were as highly organised as the Romney Olympics.

A couple of little things will be different this summer at Camp Romney. For one, Papa is the presumptive nominee and talk of vice-presidential possibilities and other pressing concerns could filter into the family conversation. Also joining the fun will be an entourage of Secret Service agents, standing guard on the secluded property, with a hungry press corps lurking.

Tagg Romney said the family is ''focused on getting him elected, and we're not focused on anything beyond that. We will not talk about: if he wins, what does it mean for the family? We think it's bad form to talk about that stuff if you don't know whether you'll get there or not.''

Mr Romney has been going to the house in Wolfeboro for more than a decade but this year his week-long presence in New Hampshire may also be to his electoral advantage. He and Mr Obama are level in the polls in the Granite State, whose four electoral votes could prove decisive in a close November election.



Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/p ... z1zWrAWZxv

He's fucking wierd!

[BoSoxGal]

How very Norman Rockwell.

[Gob]

Why? Was Norm a fucking nutter too?

[dgs49]

Good lord, how can you be cynical about this?

What could be better than having a close-knit family vacation presided over by the patriarch?

Speaking for myself and many of my childhood friends, these were the best vacations of our lives. In my neck of the woods, most of the families that could afford to do it ended up in either Wildwood or Stone Harbor, New Jersey. My own family would pitch in and rent a shack up along the higher-levels of the Allegheny River near Kinzua Dam. Talk about primitive. But nobody cared.

Give him a fucking break.

[Crackpot]

It wouldn't be if it weren't cumpusory or evidently exist merely to feed the ego of the patriarch an enforce his dominance.

[Scooter]

Good lord, how can you be cynical about this?

What could be better than having a close-knit family vacation presided over by the patriarch?

Gee, I don't know, how about NOT being forced to go to your BOSS with your tail between your legs and beg for time off at the busiest time of year because daddy demands that you ditch your responsibilities for a command performance with him?

I'm not sure that many people whose last name wasn't Romney would still have a job to go to after pulling a stunt like that.

[dales]

More "royalty" from an earlier time.

[dgs49]

I'm sure this vacation was planned months ago. If any of the Romney family have normal jobs (I doubt that any of them do), there would have been eons to advise the Boss and make work accommodations.

And for how many businesses is the 4th of July week a busy week? I'm sure none of them work in T-shirt shops on the Boardwalk.

I have never had a job where this would have been a problem (including the United States Army), but I've only been working since 1967, so maybe my experience isn't extensive enough to understand what a problem this would be.

[Guinevere]

Client needs aren't always predictable, and I've had to cancel vacations - even with purchased airline tickets -- when the court refused to let me reschedule something. My family gets together for a summer beach vacation every year, but its far more relaxed than the Romney vacation, and I would submit, far more fun. We are probably just as active (swimming, biking, golfing, kayaking, walking, running, baseball and more), but its because we want to be, not because we have to be.

[Lord Jim]

I'm sorry, but all this snipping about the Romney family's vacation plans just looks really petty to me....

Every bit as petty as when I see Obama's (or any other President's) vacation plans dissected, sneered at and nit-picked...(which is what I definitely see going on in this case.)

There is not one person here who is in a position to say whether this annual get together is "fun" for the participants or not. That's entirely their business.

[Gob]

The family now compete to hammer the most nails into a board in two minutes, saw the most logs and hang on to a pole for the longest time before losing their grip.

''We added some things I excel at so I don't come in last every year,'' Mr Romney said.

"We rigged it so I win"!?!? Great insight into a "presidential" mind!

[Sue U]

I'm gonna agree with Jim for the general principle that clucking and sneering about vacations looks petty. However, it seems from the article that Romney is actually publicizing this vacation as part of his campaign. Since that's the case, I think it's fair game to ask whether this is the kind of PR that's actually helpful, or whether people perceive it as more Mitt weirdness. Whatever it is, it's not exactly the Kennedy boys playing touch football at Hyannis Port.

[Scooter]

I'm sure this vacation was planned months ago. If any of the Romney family have normal jobs (I doubt that any of them do), there would have been eons to advise the Boss and make work accommodations.

And for how many businesses is the 4th of July week a busy week? I'm sure none of them work in T-shirt shops on the Boardwalk.

Since actually reading the article before commenting is apparently too much to ask some folks:

One summer when Mr Romney's eldest son, Tagg, now 42, was working for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he told his father he wouldn't make it to Wolfeboro. Baseball, after all, is a summer sport, and he didn't think he could take a week off in the middle of the season.

''My dad said, 'No, you will make it','' Tagg recalled in an interview. So he showed up, noting, ''I had to beg forgiveness from my bosses at the Dodgers.''

But you're quite correct in that the Romneys are not normal people, and so obviously just assume that the rest of the world is going to adapt to their vacation schedule.

[Econoline]

How very Norman Rockwell.

Mormon Rockwell?

[BoSoxGal]

Aw geez!

I'm so pissed I didn't think of that!

[Lord Jim]

However, it seems from the article that Romney is actually publicizing this vacation as part of his campaign.

I don't see where they really have a choice there....

As the presumptive nominee of one of the two major parties and the election just a few months away, the spotlight is on him 24/7....

If Romney hadn't been open about this annual family retreat, the story would have been, "Romney Clan Huddles In Secret Week Long Get-a-way"....

What would that have done for the "weirdness factor"?

Whatever it is, it's not exactly the Kennedy boys playing touch football at Hyannis Port.

You're right...

There are probably no young unmarried women getting horndoged by the adult married male family members....

[Joe Guy]

There are probably no young unmarried women getting horndoged by the adult married male family members....

Those Kennedys were well known for keeping their members busy.