John McCain touts Romney to a weary GOP

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney listens at left, as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H., Jan. 4, 2012.

/ AP

This post originally appeared on Slate.

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. - John McCain hugged Mitt Romney Wednesday as he endorsed his campaign. Four years ago, he wanted to hug Romney long enough to stop his breathing.

The bitter rivals from the 2008 campaign now have a common enemy: Barack Obama. So while McCain once accused Romney of Chamberlain-like weakness in Iraq (YouTube), the two have now aligned to bash the incumbent for his handling of the withdrawal from the same country.

Bygones.

But if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, it does not mean he's my boon companion. McCain, a hero in New Hampshire who won here in 2000 and 2008, joined this year's front runner at his first event in Manchester to solidify Romney's standing in a state where he leads in the polls by more than 20 points. Still, it was a synthetic graft, kicked off by the cringe-worthy playing of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" from Top Gun, presumably a reference to Mr. McCain's service as a naval aviator. McCain repeatedly referred to having had "numerous conversations" with Romney on issues like taxation and immigration in a way that made it sound like those conversations numbered zero.

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If McCain was there to sprinkle his special magic, former Gov. John Sununu was there to shore up Romney's credentials. In his introduction, Sununu repeatedly referred to Romney as a "true conservative" for standing up for traditional marriage and against those who would expand abortion rights.

The crowd was small and subdued. Maybe they're sick of seeing Romney so much. Maybe they reflected all the momentum that can be generated by an eight-vote Iowa victory.

"We forgot to congratulate the governor on his landslide," McCain joked.

Romney's first questioner was a self-identified member of Occupy Wall Street who asked the candidate if he would amend his view that corporations are people. It led to a testy back and forth in which Romney reiterated that corporate profits go to shareholders and productive economic activity. The exchange had the air of an impatient father engaging with his son just home from college: a firm lecture that wasn't so stern as to spoil the family dinner.

Romney remains unloved - but it's his race to lose

Democrats delight at seeing Romney defend corporations. They think they'll be able to paint Romney as the man in the corner office -- a protector of indefensible inequalities created by imbalances in the economy. But in the GOP primary, Romney's views are mainstream.

Voters have had trouble finding conviction and a core to Romney. These kinds of exchanges, in which he argues for capitalism and free markets, might actually help his campaign. It was the most passionate Romney was all day, and it won him his biggest applause in Manchester.

Romney looked a bit like the McCain of 2000 and 2008, who regularly sparred with questioners at town hall meetings. His feistiness conveyed conviction, something voters worry about with Romney. It's that lack of conviction, in part, that created the opening that Rick Santorum exploited in Iowa.

The Romney campaign might benefit from stocking the audience with a few Occupiers at each stop, but they'd be advised to let the candidate know because Romney can get authentically testy. When a woman stood up to ask about the gap between rich and poor, an irritated Romney immediately asked her to name a country where the average income is higher than the United States. Now he was being the smart kid home from college with a bunch of fancy knowledge.

By the end of the day in Peterborough, the Romney-McCain alliance was bearing fruit. The town hall was packed with voters and they were eating up McCain's old jokes, like the story of the baggage handler who came up to him in an airport and asked if he's often mistaken for John McCain -- when McCain said yes, he responded: "Doesn't that just make you mad as hell?"

"Send [Romney] to South Carolina with such momentum that it cannot be stopped," the former nominee said to strong applause. The city is a spiritual touchstone for McCain, whose overflow crowd here on his last day of campaigning in 2000 hinted at his big win that year. He was the insurgent against the establishment candidate. Now he's a member of the establishment parade endorsing the establishment candidate in the hopes that ambivalent Republicans will finally throw over their fears about Romney and just embrace him.

More from Slate:

The Difficulty of Determining Delegates
Face It: Romney's the Nominee
Anatomy of a Narrow Victory

[facelessdrone2005]

Romney is McCain without the charisma or war-hero status. Then and again, Romney isn't saddled with Palin ... at least not yet.

[kevjustice]

willard(mitt's real first name) will star in the movie remake of......."willard". he likes to associate with wall st RATS! lol!

[AnnieDanny]

I think it's better to choose a candidate who can WIN, than a candidate who could qualify for pastor of my church.

[solinsd2]

Remember who chose the person who brought Sarah Painlin to the stage!

[baileyccc]

Every time i see McCain I think of that skank Sara Palin. If I were Romney I would distant myself from McCain.

[unclebernies]

Your going to hear the words 'Bain Capital' alot if Romney gets the nomination. Romneys company Bain capital would buy companies and release most of it's workers. Now my friends that is a job creator.

[unclebernies]

Nobody in really cares what No neck Mccain has to say.

[TJphoto]

One political moron endorses another. The only thing they have in common is that both will sell us out to the highest corporate bidder. The G.O.P = Greedy One Percent.

[roblearns]

Hey Mr. Cut-and-Paste - look keep up the fight and advocate for your beliefs - but I'd point out to you, that greed is when you do things like - borrow trillions to spend on yourself - your generation, your vision for society - and then stick your grandchildren with the bill.

Those of us fighting for fiscal responsibility - it's not greed, the opposite of greed is the motivation.
You probably can't understand that, most copy-paste bots can't.

But FYI, to those who are interested. Life isn't so simple as simple sloganeering might imply.

[roblearns]

Look - there is a difference between Obama and Romney, term limits mean Obama can't be president in 2016. Romney could be elected for 2 terms - running through to 2020.

If you want a fiscally responsible person in the White House - it'd better to let Obama be re-elected than to put Romney in the White House.

If you truly believe this thing is over - then pray Obama win's so a fiscal conservative can win in 2016.

If Romney win's you'll be waiting until 2020 for the next chance.

Make no mistake, George Bush, Obama, Romney - all built from the same cloth when it comes to spending trillions on overseas adventures and believing 'this is no time for austerity'.

15 trillion in debt, $150,000 for every taxpayer in America - today, and they want to go to 20 trillion in debt.

The fact is, even if you want a strong defense against Iran - we can't have any defense from a position of bankruptcy. The time has come to stop spending, and the ability to wait until 2020 - just doesn't exist.

[jimbom121]

saying Bush, Romney and Obama are the same is too simplistic. They have different priorities. Bush & Romney are similar, in that they have the same advisors. I wouldn't put Obama is the category.

[kevjustice]

mccain says: "you can run but you can't hide(meaning obama)". seems like mitt is the one that has been trying to both run and hide from romneycare. lol!