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What line did “Veep” steal from Mitt Romney?
Sen. Mitt Romney has run for president twice, winning the GOP nomination in 2012. He’s been a governor and headed up the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic games, all on top of being a wildly successful businessman.
But, the Senator told me last month that one of his career highlights was spending a few days with the cast and writers of HBO’s Veep.
“The show is hilarious. I wish the language were a little less colorful, but the show was hilarious,” Romney said.
I first learned of Romney’s Veep experience in 2017 when I attended a panel discussion featuring several writers and cast members at Politicon in Los Angeles. Showrunner David Mandel said they invited Romney in following his 2012 loss to Barack Obama to help them understand how a person might deal with that situation.
Romney says he accepted the invitation mostly for one reason.
“Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a brilliant actor. I just wanted to get the chance to meet her and to meet her staff and the writers,” Romney said.
Romney seemed most proud that one of his lines made it into an episode.
“Bob Bennett said to me when I ran the first time. He told me in politics if you’re explaining, you’re losing. They put it in one of their shows,” Romney said.
Here’s what you need to know for Wednesday morning
🏛Utah lawmakers will once again attempt to abolish the death penalty. Rep. Lowry Snow is backing the effort, which is the third since 2016. [Tribune]
🏛 Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and police chief Mike Brown call for peace after a weekend of gun violence in the city. [Tribune]
🦠 On Thursday, President Joe Biden will present a six-pronged strategy to fight the spread of the coronavirus delta variant and to increase the number of adults who are vaccinated against the virus. [Reuters]
💉 75% of U.S. adults have had at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. [Bloomberg]
🦠 More than a quarter of a million children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19 last week. [WaPo]
🚨 Idaho hospitals have started rationing healthcare as hospitals are buckling under an influx of COVID-19 patients. [AP]
📢 Biden said climate change is “everybody’s crisis” and called on Americans to get serious about the “code red” danger after touring flood-damaged areas of New York and New Jersey. [AP]
📉 The U.S. expected an economic boom in September, but the ongoing pandemic is throwing cold water on those expectations. [WSJ]
🏛 Sen. Joe Manchin has warned the White House he will not support the massive $3.5 trillion spending bill winding its way through congress. He has reportedly said he could only stomach about $1.5 trillion. [Axios]
⚖️ Mexico’s supreme court decriminalized abortion. The court ruled a law that punished women who underwent illegal abortions was unconstitutional. [WaPo]
➡️ The Taliban announced the formation of a hardline, interim government. [CNN]
👀 Former President Donald Trump endorsed a primary challenger to Rep. Liz Cheney in Wyoming. [Politico]
🤔 Texas Governor Greg Abbott defended the state’s new restrictive abortion law that does not include an exception for rape or incest, saying the state will “eliminate all rapists from the streets.” [Insider]
🤧 Health officials are warning this year’s flu season is coming quickly and could be miserable. [NBC News]
🚨 A massive 7.1 earthquake struck near Acapulco in Mexico, killing at least one person. Tremors were felt as far away as Mexico City. [WSJ]
📱 Apple is expected to unveil new smartphones and other products next Tuesday. [CNBC]
😭 I’m not crying. You are. Steve from “Blues Clues” returned with a heartwarming message explaining he left the show to go to college. [Twitter]
Thursday morning’s Utah news roundup
Utah
Salt Lake City apartments keep rising while rents show no sign of falling. [Tribune]
Brett Mathews, Utah man who fought ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in court, dies at 49. [Tribune]
Number of human-caused wildfires in Utah fell by two-thirds in July and August. [Tribune]
Nine cases of West Nile Virus confirmed in Utah horses in record year for positive mosquito tests. [Tribune]
COVID-19
27 more Utahns died of COVID-19 over the Labor Day weekend. [Tribune]
For this Utah County business owner, requiring employees to get COVID-19 shots came at a cost. [Tribune]
Weather
High temperature records could fall this week — and smoke will linger across Utah. [Tribune]
In-depth: Farmers look to native crop to keep going through drought. [Fox 13]
Religion
Can a ‘unique’ BYU really be true to its two missions: faith and scholarship? [Tribune]
Politics
‘Please do more,’ says Utahn seeking to get his family out of Afghanistan. [Tribune]
Education
Grand County faces substitute teacher shortages, other districts hope to meet demand [KUTV]
In the opinion pages
Michael A. Kalm: We must restore our checks and balances. [Tribune]
— The Tribune’s Jordan Miller contributed to this report.
