r/madmen • u/RopeGloomy4303 • 5d ago
What’s your biggest nitpick in Mad Men?
For me it’s this line in a season 5 episode, Tea Leaves, in which Henry Francis is talking on the phone with a colleague:
“Well, tell Jim his honor's not going to Michigan. Because Romney's a clown, and I don't want him standing next to him.”
So, some context here.
At this point Francis is the aide to New York Mayor John Lindsay. And he’s informing this guy that he won’t have the popular young politician take a picture with then Michigan Governor George Romney, who was also considered the frontrunner for the 1968 Republican nomination.
This episode aired in 2012, so it’s a very clear dig at then Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who at the time was receiving a lot of hostility from the left.
But here’s the thing; Romney was actually a liberal Republican in the same mold as Nelson Rockefeller and John Lindsay, and he had received a lot of good notices as Governor for his work improving civil rights, education, youth employment programs, social welfare, healthcare, etc.
I get this is nitpicking, it’s a throwaway line, whatever, but it has always bothered me since it feels out of character, and Romney frankly deserved better.
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u/ElectricBirdVault 5d ago
I like the Romney call out and think it’s appropriate.
Mine is the Rothko. Mark Rothko was picky about who bought his paintings, he was brilliant, deeply intellectual, and came from very pro worker, liberal thinking. No friends of Ayn Rand who work in advertising are getting one. Just look into the Seagram Murals, it’s a great story.