August 27, 2012

A History of Mitt Romney in 30 Objects

From swag to scissors to Seamus, a virtual tour of the potential 2016 candidate’s defining moments.

On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney has expressed his love for America, mangoes, papayas, pie, water, laughing, good pretzels, American cars, the existence of wind, legal immigration, all of the Constitutional amendments, ice skating, and trees of a certain height. But if you’re looking to understand where the GOP presidential candidate is coming from, it’s best to examine a different set of objects. As Romney prepares to accept his party’s nomination in Tampa, here’s our virtual tour of his defining moments as told through the objects, both literal and metaphorical, that he’s encountered on his journey.

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 ?Image credits:

AMC Rambler, 1954: Flickr/aldenjewell; Daddy Swag: OldPolitics; Scissors: Shutterstock/Kutlayev Dmitry; Cow Palace: Wikimedia Commons; The Stanford Axe, 1965: Flickr/HairOfTheBear; Think and Grow Rich, 1966: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection; BYU Football Cupcakes, 1968: Flickr/SweetToothFairy; Wedding Cake, 1969: mittromney.com; Look Magazine, 1970: Douglas Gilbert; Adding Machine, 1976: John Wolff’s Web Museum; Seamus: Wikimedia Commons; Necktie, 1984: Shutterstock/Mary Rice; Key Ring, 1984: LDS Doctrine; Scantron Form, 1994: Shutterstock/Vixit; Ampad Notebook, 1995: Ampad; Life-like Doll, 1996: Shutterstock/yamix; “Fat Cat” Ad, 1996: AEI; Angel Moroni Statue, 1997: Shutterstock/Action Sports Photography; Horse Mask, 1998: Archie McPhee & Co.; Olympic Pin: Ken Bullock; Utah, 2002: Flickr/Snap Man; The Big Dig, 2006: bigdigbook.com; Official Portrait, 2005: Wikimedia Commons; Elmer Fudd, 2006: Warner Brothers; Flip-flop, 2008: Shutterstock/tanatat; Car Elevator, 2012: American Custom Lifts; Tax Havens, 2012: Shutterstock/Maria Skaldina; Paul Ryan’s Budget, 2012: Pete Marovich/ZUMA.

 

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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