President “Rick”?

Tex Atlanta writes:

Why would the American people fall for the same Texas trick and vote in GW Bush the Second (Rick Perry)? How many Texas scams do we fall for?

And here’s our President—Rick. Rick, Rick, Rick. Not Richard but Rick. The first President with a backyard BBQ name.

LA replies:

Not that this makes it OK, but we’ve had presidents before who used their nickname as their formal name: Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Except that Clinton at least took his oath of office and signed state papers as “William” Clinton.

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Howard Sutherland writes:

As a son of the South, it gives me no pleasure that both presidents who have used nicknames in office and the nicknamed candidate of the moment are all Southerners. (But what is “Mitt”? Is that Romney’s given name, or an unusual nickname?) [LA replies: Apparently Romney’s given name, as stupid as it is, is Willard Mitt Romney.]

While it is no excuse, I wonder if Carter’s decision to use Jimmy officially as Governor of Georgia and then President has anything to do with his given names’ being James Earl, infamously shared with a certain J.E. Ray who had made himself notorious in 1968 by murdering notable Georgian Martin Luther King. Carter became Georgia’s governor at the beginning of 1971; memories of James Earl Ray were fresh, and raw, in Georgia at the time!

For Clinton, as usual, there’s really no excuse. As for Perry, maybe he prefers Rick over Richard because it is easier for Mexicans to pronounce.

Gary Moewrites:

I believe Romney’s middle name is Milton. “Mitt” would be a somewhat unconventional diminutive, I suppose, probably the result of a sibling unable to pronounce his or her brother’s name correctly as a small child.

LA replies:

Wikipedia routinely gives person’s proper name along with his nickname, and it gives Romney’s name as Willard Mitt Romney.

However, there are numerous references to Willard Milton Romney on the Web.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 26, 2011 10:15 AM | Send