George Romney, Mitt's father, was a serious contender for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination until this:
Would the country have been better off if Romney, rather than Nixon, was the GOP nominee? Perhaps. But it wasn't to be. And most observers, including the candidate's son by all reports, ascribe that to this moment of candor when the elder Romney said he was "brainwashed" by US military and diplomatic personnel regarding our nation's involvement in Vietnam.
The lesson the son took from this performance was to try to never repeat his father's unscripted, figurative description of how he believed he was misled about the burgeoning war in south east Asia. You can see it in his face and hear it in his voice. The one thing he has always been determined to do is avoid the unscripted embarrassment that sunk his father's chances of moving the family to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
I’m not familiar precisely with exactly what I said, but I stand by what I said whatever it was.It is now less than six months till the election. Will this be the worst such mistake Romney makes? Or will other unscripted moments, yet to unfold, be even more memorable?