Several years ago, I coined the phrase "Vichy Republican" to more aptly describe sell-out members of the GOP.
Of course, Vichy refers to the weakling French president during World War II, Marshall Philippe Pétain, and the town of Vichy, France.
It was there where the Nazis formally took over France and how Petain knuckled under so easily to the Nazis. As a result, France's Third Republic collapsed.
Marshall Petain even tried to make France a part of the larger German order.
France joined the Nazis enthusiastically and always exceeded its quota of Jews handed over to the murderous Nazis each month.
Five French divisions also marched with the Nazis against the Allies.
When I came up with the phrase at the time, I was thinking of Nicolle Wallace, a one time Bushie who 15 minutes after Bush left office heard the jingling of 30 pieces of silver offered by the little watched MSNBC.
A cable network which is the closest thing we have to Tass in the United States.
Make no mistake, MSNBC can be relied upon to mouth the Democratic, or other left-adherent party lines, absent any genuine intellectualism whatsoever.
And Wallace sold out to them so easily.
You’d never want to be in the foxhole with Nicolle, or follow her into battle.
But another person the phrase Vichy Republican applies to is Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, as he judges others, it's time to equally judge Romney.
Let's never forget, he came into politics bashing Ronald Reagan and the GOP.
The former governor of Massachussets and 2012 presidential contender is now going out bashing Donald Trump and the GOP.
Yep, the very same party that once foolishly nominated him for president.
Talk about buyer’s remorse.
No wonder the GOP has been called the Stupid Party.
He never understood American conservatism probably confusing philosopher and economist Friedrich Hayek with Selma Hayek.
Yes, we are all trying to forget about that low patch in American history.
Yet, it also must be known about Romney, is that he is seemingly from a family of weaklings. John McCain was once overheard in a Green Room remarking about Romney's sons, "Five sons and not one put on a uniform for their country?"
We all know and honor McCain’s honorable life of Navy service (including years as a POW) as well of that of his father the Navy admiral, his grandfather the Navy Admiral and the rest of his family including a son who followed his father into the Navy.
My own family has its own history of an unbroken line of service to America. My son Andrew was a corpsman in the Navy; my nephew drove a tank in the Iraq War.
My father and his brother all served in or around World War II.
My uncle and my father’s brother made the ultimate sacrifice, getting shot down in the Pacific on his 20th birthday birthday in January of 1945.
Both of my mother’s brothers also served in and around World War II.
This unbroken line goes back to the Revolutionary War, when my mother, Barbara Cone Shirley Eckert’s great grandfather, Henry Cone, fought under George Washington’s command for all seven years of the war.
And many American families have members who served with many making the ultimate sacrifice, heroes all.
But not the Romneys.
There is nothing in the Mormon faith that prevents a man from serving his country, and there is in fact an entire website dedicated to Mormons who served America in the military.
Men like Brent Scowcroft who served honorably in the Air Force and later was a national security adviser to presidents Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush.
But as many know, Mitt also never served in the Vietnam War, never served in the military, content instead to count his inherited wealth.
He claimed a religious deferment.
Mitt's father George, who was later governor of Michigan, was of service-age years ago during World War II.
Yet he never saw a day of action, never spilled his blood for his fellow man, never fought to oppose Nazism or the totalitarianism of the Empire of Japan.
He was a spokesman for the auto industry, comfortable in his confines at his home in Michigan. Research shows he had no disabilities precluding him from military service.
It gets better.
Or worse, if you are a Romney supporter.
Mitt's grandfather, Gaskill, apparently did not serve in World War I, though like George and Mitt, he was of age. He was a little old at the time but he could have served earlier in the Spanish American War, like Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders did.
Gaskill failed to do that as well.
There you have it; an unbroken line of Romneys, all avoiding military service to their country at those times when their county needed them most.
It is not up to me to make a judgement about the moral and physical courage of Mitt Romney, but the facts are the facts about the Utah senator and his family.
And as a public official, he must be judged on those facts.
As Mitt departs from the public scene, it's important to remember him as ultimately being nothing more than full of sound and fury . . . signifying nothing.
Craig Shirley is the Chairman of Citizens for the Republic, as well as a Ronald Reagan biographer and presidential historian having written six books on Reagan. He's also written The New York Times bestseller, "December, 1941" and also published the companion book, "April, 1945." He's also the author of the book "Mary Ball Washington," which won the People’s Choice Award from the Library of Virginia. His book on the 1980 presidential campaign, "Rendezvous with Destiny" was named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the five best campaign books of all time. Read Craig Shirley's Reports — More Here.
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