Tagg! A Defense

More

A reader writes:

Hey! Will you lay off Tagg Romney? I know you think it is funny to make fun of Romney's squeaky clean Mormon image, and their sparkling enthusiasm does elicit memories of the Osmond show, and I think Mitt deserves every bit of mocking for his flipflops and his saccharine campaign style.

That said, I was friends with Tagg at the LDS Missionary Training Center. He went on his mission to Bordeaux at the same time I went to Paris. We also had French classes together at BYU and studied together. I've hardly spoken to him since graduation, but I still consider him a friend.

Tagg was a genuinely nice guy without a hint of arrogance or snobbery about him.  I never once suspected that his family was worth $500 million or that his grandfather was president of an automobile company, governor of Michigan and a leading candidate for the White House.  He was smart, well spoken, polite. easy to talk to and a genuinely nice guy.  Those qualities are rare enough among people with a little money, but shocking to find from a family that many would consider part of America's elite.

I've no doubt he's a great guy. But if we can't have a laugh at the bland, super-nice "Up-With-People" vibe of Romney's cultural Mormonism, then it's going to be a long campaign.

Jump to comments

2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

Get Today's Top Stories in Your Inbox (preview)


Elsewhere on the web

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Video

What Does It Take to Make Real Craft Gin?

Tour the Green Hat Gin distillery

Video

Letter From the Editor

The June 2013 issue

Video

What Straights Can Learn From Same-Sex Couples

New insight from decades of research

Video

The End of the Mall Rat

A tribute to that pillar of teen culture

Writers

Up
Down

In Focus

Picking up the Pieces After the Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma