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How can you resist an article with a lede like this one, from MoJo’s Tim Murphy?
Mitt Romney has a complicated relationship with fast food. He likes pizza, but insists on scraping off the cheese before he ever takes a bite. He likes fried chicken, but only when the skin has been removed. He likes Big Macs, but only after removing the middle bun. He likes Coca Cola because, he explained in his 2004, book Turnaround, it reminds him of polar bears, but he rarely drinks it because he can’t have caffeine. On the trail, Romney has name-dropped Carl’s Jr. and spoken of the wonders of WaWa, but subsists mainly on granola he carries around in one-gallon ziplock bags.
But Murphy, of course, has a serious point to make: about the fast food industry’s heavy support for Romney and for Republican politicians and political causes generally. I knew about most of the individual examples he offered—most notably my home state’s Waffle House, whose CEO, Joe Rogers, is a big-time GOP muckety-muck who once thought about running for governor, and Chick-fil-A, whose founder Truett Cathy may still be friends with Jimmy Carter, but now gives exclusively to Christian Right agitators (and was on the stage at Liberty University when Romney gave the commencement address there earlier this year). And then there’s Herman Cain, of course, and Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan, who built the right-wing Catholic college in Florida where Rick Santorum explained how mainline Protestants were followers of Satan. But I never put it all together. I guess it’s obvious a non-growing industry with vicious competition would be heavily dominated by people obsessed with keeping wages and benefits for workers as meager as possible. There’s that and more, says Murphy:
Among some chain restaurants’ preferred policies: the lowest possible wages for workers and few (if any) benefits; tort reform to discourage lawsuits (McDonald’s, you’ll recall, was the defendant in the famous hot coffee case); anti-union legislation; no new nutritional and food safety standards; and a crackdown on consumer-friendly statutes like the Patients Bill of Rights (fiercely opposed by the National Restaurant Association).
I don’t patronize fast food restaurants much these days, unless I’m traveling or back in Georgia, and now I’m glad I don’t for reasons other than personal health.
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pyewacket on July 13, 2012 11:16 AM:
Remember the endless coverage of Obama's choice of mustard instead of ketchup on his hamburger? And this dude peels the skin off his fried chicken and the cheese off his pizza, but this is the first I've heard about it?
T2 on July 13, 2012 11:26 AM:
Mitt's Mormon thing has lots to do with his odd food habits.
There's a new PEW poll out featuring this curious quote: "Obama holds a slim 51% to 44% margin" . Slim? 7 points in a two man race is slim?
james on July 13, 2012 12:00 PM:
The only distinctively Mormon aspect of these food habits is no caffeine. Mormons are allowed to eat the middle bun on a Big Mac and the cheese on a pizza.
One of the hazards of campaigning is the abundance of "refreshments" offered at every venue. Candidates I've worked for had to develop strong discipline -- take a couple of cookies and eat one bite from each, then put down the plate to shake hands. The risk of overeating or eating something that makes you sick is real. We were constantly explaining to hosts not to expect our guy to eat much. One staffer had the assignment of gently and discreetly taking food away from our guy when he forgot to stop eating.
JEA on July 13, 2012 12:09 PM:
It must be a REALLY slow day for a "Mitt's a fussy eater and fast food CEO's are contributing to his campaign" story.
Or you're just being picayune...
DAY on July 13, 2012 12:16 PM:
Consider, too, the toxic quality of the food and drink offered by these Republicans.
Empty calories- much like their campaign rhetoric!
jpeckjr on July 13, 2012 12:19 PM:
Waffle House, Chick-Fil-A, and Carl's Jr are all privately held. Cain and Monaghan are no longer affiliated with their pizza chains. I think it is worth noting the distinction between privately held and publicly traded companies with regard to political ties. Publicly traded ones have to be sensitive, as least somewhat, to bad publicity, and customer reaction to these things in ways privately held ones do not. Privately held ones can make political contributions and say "tough" to customers who object.
Also, I am wonder if any of these companies or CEO's had links to Bain Capital.
Keith on July 13, 2012 12:31 PM:
My favorite quote is "He likes Coca Cola . . .but he rarely drinks it because he can't have caffeine". Rarely drinks it? If his religion says you can't have caffeine, then shouldn't he "never" drink Coke? I don't get how religious people can have such flexibility in their behavior in regards to the clear rules and tenets of their religion. You're either in or your not.
T2 on July 13, 2012 12:34 PM:
yeah Keith...but I'm guessing Mormon's aren't supposed to lie, either. Hasn't stopped Mitt so far.
c u n d gulag on July 13, 2012 1:00 PM:
Taking cheese off of a perfectly good pizza ought to be a hanging offense - unless you give it to me personally, while it's still hot.
And I'm talking GOOD pizza - not that chain sh*t.
Now, doing something like THAT, he might get MY vote! :-)
c u n d gulag on July 13, 2012 1:02 PM:
Oh yeah, read "Fast Food Nation," and you'll never want to eat fast food again.
I'll make one exception - "Five Guys."
Their burgers and fries are to die for...
berttheclock on July 13, 2012 1:07 PM:
For years, Carl's Jr was very much associated with Right to Life.
exlibra on July 13, 2012 1:46 PM:
@Keith and T2 (12:31PM & 12:34PM, respectively). Yeah it puzzles me, too.
Got a letter the other day, from Ann R-money, asking for money. Poor thing is frightened, because "the other side" promises to spend a billion dollars on campaigning against her darling, a number she's "not able to wrap her mind around" (direct quote from the mailing). Told her to ask Mitt about it and to reassure her that, between the accounts in the Caymans, the Bahamas and Switzerland, he probably has that much or more. Also told her to ask him about the difference between a "billion" and a "trillion" (she seemed to think that what "the other side" will be spending -- a billion, as she claims -- is the same as the national debt).
Put a check mark in the "Other" box for contributions -- "free advice, invaluable" (I advised her that, if they're really so short of cash, that they have to ask strangers for it, they should sell a couple of their horses, boats or houses. Or, even, one of the two famous Cadillacs).
And, as a P.S. asked her about the lies -- if there are injunctions in their faith against other addictive substances such as alcohol, tobacco and coffee, how come there are none against lies? If I hear back from her with an answer, I'll let you know.
PS. Also got two money-begging letters from Mi(tt)ster Money Bags himself. But he's such a cheapskate (remember the poor dog, transported on the car roof, for reasons of economy?), the envelopes he included for response were not post-paid. He's not getting anything from me, not even free advice.
Skip on July 13, 2012 1:49 PM:
Just watched Fast Food Nation this week. The food part didn't surprise me, though I was getting pretty worried about Morgan toward the end.
What caught me was the mention of a bill the House of Reps passed in 2004/5 to block lawsuits against the fast food industry with regards to obesity, aka the Hamburger Bill.
Don't save the kids, save the corporations. More pink slime anyone?
lou on July 13, 2012 1:55 PM:
Add Jimmy of Jimmy Johns sub shops. After Illinois increased our income taxes last year, Jimmy, in protest, moved his family from Illinois to a very, very exclusive gated community in Florida. He was also considering pulling the company headquarters out of IL but I don't know if he carried through on that threat.
Consider this: Jimmy got his start by opening sub shops in two state college towns in Illinois, a start that was heavily reinforced by Illinois taxpayers and parents of students attending those schools. He followed up with shops in every college town in IL. Talk about biting the hand.
So, yeah, I gotta be desperate before I'll purchase any fast food.
zandru on July 13, 2012 5:53 PM:
Caffeine in Coke
There are a couple of varieties of Coke WITHOUT caffeine - the corn-sweetened and the diet, at a minimum. Willard COULD have enjoyed Cokes without consigning his immortal soul to Hell.
My guess is, however, that on the campaign trail, the Real Amurkins providing the refreshments would only offer fully corned-up, fully-caffeinated varieties.