It is ironic that Melinda Richardson titled her letter to the editor ‘Misunderstanding Mass. Politics’ because she clearly doesn’t understand politics (Nov. 7, pg. 6). Of course, neither does Caroline Linton, to whom Melinda was responding (‘Romney’s reign bad for state,’ Nov. 6, pg. 3).

Both Caroline and Melinda are of the belief that Mitt Romney is a political ‘outsider,’ but this is simply not true. You don’t need a title like ‘governor,’ ‘senator’ or ‘councilman’ in order to be heavily involved in politics. Outside the formal political world there are many people who strongly influence the government, including interests groups, social leaders (like Jesse Jackson), university presidents and chancellors and, of course, business leaders. Mitt Romney has obviously had a strong involvement in politics. You don’t get a job running the Winter Olympics unless you have friends in high places. You certainly don’t get to run for governor of an important state as a member of a major party, and in turn get to force the incumbent governor not to run unless, of course, you have serious political ties.

The term ‘outsider’ is simply the new buzzword in politics. President Bush was even referred to as an ‘outsider.’ Bush is one of the most obvious political ‘insiders’ in this country his father was the president, for God’s sake. That’s like calling one of the Kennedys a political outsider.

Sadly, there are very few real outsiders in politics and those few people rarely hold positions as high as governor. The term is only used by politicians and by those that believe every word that politicians say. As a student of political science, I am saddened but certainly not shocked to see that two of my fellow students, people who I’m sure are very intelligent, simply believe Mitt Romney is an outsider just because he calls himself one. What is even more disheartening is that a lot of people in Massachusetts think the same thing.