re: #281 Obdicut

What straight guy looks at Romney and goes ‘Wow, he’s handsome’.

He’s not matinee idol good looking.

This may sound far-fetched at first, but it really is the most accurate analysis of Mitt’s “anti-charisma” that I’ve seen (h/t recusancy):

The Uncanny Valley: What Robot Theory Tells Us About Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is the storybook presidential candidate. He’s successful, good-looking and a family man, to boot. Yet one of this political season’s enduring puzzles has been the former governor’s consistent inability to bond with voters. It’s been suggested that Romney’s robotic persona may be to blame — and perhaps the analogy isn’t far off. Much as people are repulsed and disturbed by automatons that mimic humans closely but imperfectly, Romney inexplicably turns voters off despite looking like the textbook image of an American president. Roboticists call this unsettling effect “the uncanny valley” — and Romney is stuck deep at the bottom of it.