The Silence of the Lambs
That means playing smart. The Gotcha brigade will be on triple overtime, just waiting for Mitt to stumble, while assiduously blocking any news likely to make Obama unhappy. Everything will be spun to put Romney in the worst possible light, while leaving Barry basking in the media’s warm glow of adoration. But so what? Surveys show that the American public hates the media and discounts their motives.
Mitt needs to be on TV, leading, as if he already were president. He’s tried it before, as when he headed for New Orleans after Hurricane Isaac, forcing Obama to play catch up — although this CBS News story is a good indication of the kind of coverage he needs to prepare for. But the dirty little secret of the media, as any journalist will tell you, is that people don’t parse stories the way the pros do. CBS may have thought it could wound Romney in New Orleans by making him look stupid and thus creating a new talking point/meme for the MSNBC crew. But to 99 percent of the public, the story was simply: Romney in New Orleans, Obama not.
In short, Romney needs to show some gumption and take his campaign to the people — and that means taking the media head on. Newt Gingrich showed that a little pushback can do wonders for a candidate’s popularity, especially with the conservative base (which Romney should not take for granted), and an occasional flash of temper in response to a particularly stupid question would not be unwelcome.
More important, Romney needs to learn that, when confronted by a media horde, you don’t have to answer any of their questions. You say what you want to communicate; the media serves your purpose just by showing up. Believe me, should the press corps start to sense that Romney might win this thing, the tone of their questions is going to change in a hurry, as the courtiers begin jockeying for position and currying favor with a new administration. Running from them, in other words, will not cut it — turning and facing them will.
So go ahead, Mitt: use the media and treat them with the exact amount of respect they deserve. For another dirty little secret, especially of the Washington press corps, is that deep down they know they’re losers — well paid non-entities with notebooks and cameras whose entire existence is predicated on the prior existence of politicians, and who in their fantasies see themselves as cut out for better things: writing deep-think books, like Bob Woodward, or becoming the next Aaron Sorkin. And they take out their revenge on people like you.
Show ‘em who’s boss. If you’re elected president you’re going to have to do it anyway, so you might as well start now.
Where have you been. It’s time to tear off the rapper and show the guts. You’re right the people who matter are barely paying attention. Give them something to pay attention to. Why was Stevens diary laying on the floor of a FBI crime seen for CNN to pick a week after the first ambassador killed on duty in 45 years, when , guess who was president. Jimmy Carter. Where’s the yellow crime tape where is a pissed off Jamie Fox! The bump in the road are dead Americans being thrown under the bus!
“So here I am, waiting patiently for the vaunted Mitt Romney for President campaign to begin. Have I missed it?”
Evidently. But I’m sure it will do just fine without you and Noonan and Brooks.
Right you are, Feral. It is ridiculous to expect a campaign. Romney will win by not campaigning. There is just enough unhappiness that a campaign this is gentle and invisible will probably do the job. And if it doesn’t, it’s not like this election is urgent. There is always another one coming. So quit the pressure on Mitt to actually campaign. It will all happen. Maybe the Tea Party “knuckle draggers” will get the job done for Mitt and save cost of running ads.
I’m with the Cat on this one…
Romney is neck-and-neck with a sitting President, with all the press, media and phony conservatives against him.
That’s an excellent position to be in. The only way to move the needle further is with the debates. Based on recent speeches and disastrous interviews, Obama isn’t taking debate prep seriously.
Romney is running the Reagan/Carter game plan. Put these guys on the same stage and see who rises. No amount of advertising will equal that moment and it’s worth waiting for.
So, Walsh is with Nitwit Noonan and Bonehead Brooks because he wants to see Romney actually, you know, campaign?
Romney couldn’t be doing a worse job if he were on the payroll of George Soros.
Oh, wait…
When I watch television, I mostly watch NTN and USA networks. I have never seen a single Romney ad on either, though Obama ads are on both. I just don’t understand why Romney’s non-presence.
I noticed that too. Obama has ads during every commercial break on every network I watch. Rarely do I see a Romney ad.
Get in the game Mitt! Take off the gloves and go after these guys!
I’ve seen obama ads on SciFi channel and A&E. The only channel I have seen Romney ads on is the Military Channel (it wasn’t a Romney Ad per say, it was a veterans group sponsoring it and it was anti-obama, don’t remember Romney’s name being mentioned) and since it is owned by the Discovery Networks, I was surprised to see it there. Something tells me if Romney were to run ads on SciFi, A&E, NTN, or USA, it would probably be run at 2 AM. I do not look for any media outlet to give anyone but the divider in chief a fair shake.
What state are you in? It doesn’t make any sense to spend a nickel in any but the 10 or so “battleground” states. If Zero wants to spend his money in California or Texas, by all means, let him.
Same with Hulu. Full of Obama ads. I don’t think I’ve seen a single Romney one.
“Romney in NEW ORLEANS , Obama not”
David Brooks
The Conservative Mind
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/opinion/brooks-the-conservative-mind.html?hp
I actually think there is good advice here. The media need to be treated like an ambush. When ambushed you do the opposite of your instinct, you turn into the incoming fire and attack which gives you the chance to overwhelm the ambushers headon or by flanking them. Romney needs to do the same now.
Complaining is useless. Confrontation is the key. Pull them to the back of the campaign plane and turn on the camera. Engage them in a give and take and ask them questions. Put ‘em on the spot. Ask them how the economy works and recovers and how business turns around in bad times. When they fark up the answers tell the dumb b@$tards how ignorant they are about economics and the founding ideals of freedom and liberty. Tell ‘em how much they underestimate the resiliency of the American people with their fawning over liberals and their silly notions about redistribution. These are European recipes for demonstrable failure, not American formulas for comeback and success. Kick these clowns right in the nuts with facts during an engagement and do it often. That’s turning into the ambush and flanking it.
It ain’t going to transform press relations into roses and honey bees, but it creates an opportunity for a different and much better dynamic. It shows intelligence and fight, something voters respect. Americans hate the media, 60% think they out right lie to us. That presents an opportunity.
Ryan needs to do it too.
The time to start was yesterday.
This.
The way to get the media to publish YOUR words is by using colorful metaphors, slogans and rhymes – “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” is much more effective than a long speech about evidence and causation.
Media people are very verbal and can rarely resist a good line, even if it goes against their ideological bias.
Romney must LEAVEN his speeches and short answers with such verbal nuggets. He also needs to come up with a few all-purpose disarming response along the lines of Reagan’s “there you go again”.
Yes.
Playing by their rules is a sure way to lose.
The media has the whole Republican Establishment in groveling, cowering, hand-licking, “please don’t hurt me” mode, and has for years.
It’s long past time to rumble.
The best response to a hostile question is an even sharper question. For example:
Reporters expect political figures to curry their favor. They aren’t used to the above sort of smash to their backhand. It tends to leave them sputtering or speechless. It’s exactly the sort of treatment they deserve for their undisguised partisanry, and likely to gain Romney and Ryan several points with the electorate.
Your right on target Francis. That’s exactly the sort of thing Romney needs to do. It’s the use of smart power to disarm the assailant.
My bet:
Romney pulls a Newt in the debate by sharply questioning the biased terms of a media question. This will bring their (media) fawning slovenliness to the foreground and their bodyguard relationship to president guppy guts.
disarm the bodyguards
Ambush the ambushers
it requires just a little stealth
show your whole hand only when you got their full attn/ and its too late for the censors to bleep
ok, my hope.
I miss Newt
me too…
Me three.
Me four
Me five… /sad sigh
I know I could and did make people with no experience in public speaking, no experience in adversarial situations, and often minimal education better prepared to handle hostile questions than any National level Republicans I’ve seen other than Reagan and Gingrich. GWB was maddening as were all of his press types other than Tony Snow’s brief shining moment. I don’t know who I wanted to shake more, David Gregory for his half-assed lawyering with questions assuming facts not in evidence or gotcha leading questions or GWB and a sucession of press secs trying to bumble and stumble their way through an answer to a question they never should have taken.
I don’t know that it is often wise to just not answer them, but you can certainly rephrase and refuse to play their most common game of mistating something and asking you to agree with it, also the most common tactic of union and other lefty advocates. I does take a delicate balance however, much of America simply cannot stand any show of anger or any confrontation, so one must be careful not to cross the line. Newt Gingrich to my mind could never have won the votes of those suburban women; they’d all be afraid that the might say something mean to them or, especially, to their children.
The place where the media will pose the most difficulty is in the debates. Too many people are putting too much stock in the debates. Only a tiny fraction of the electorate will actually watch and almost all of those involved enough to watch will have long ago have made up their minds. The only thing that most will know of the debates is what the major media tells them and it doesn’t matter how well Romney does, he will be destroyed by the media’s beloved great orator. If Romney does have some Reagan moments in the debates, he’d better have them in TV and radio commericials and on the air within an hour or two because that is the only way most of the electorate will ever see any telling blow land on Comrade Obama.
While I agree that the Romney Campaign needs to be agressive with the media, I think too much emphasis is placed by Republicans on the National media. Nobody in the BoWash Axis of Evil or in Ecotopia, Seattle to San Diego west of the mountains, is going to vote for any Republican, so why bother trying to make news or get fair coverage there. Republican Presidential candidates should have their pressers and make their news in the Red states and regional centers where even leftwing owned media has to be fair enough to keep from alienating their viewers and readers. The dominant print media in my State is the leftist McClatchey-owned rag, the Anchorage Daily News. Their editorial positions are reliably to the left of Chairman Mao, but they have to play their reportage reasonable straight to avoid alienating their largely conservative readers and advertisers. The NY and LA Times and the WaPo and the NY-based electronic media don’t even have to play the reportage straight for their largely lefty audiences.
This is the end of a lengthy post I wrote on this very subject two months ago. We need to ju jitsu both the Obama campaign machine and their media accomplices, this was the best way to do it. Romney himself is too much of a boy scout to make a credible attack dog. And a presidential candidate should never descend to the level of bickering with the liberal girly men of the press.
“What must be done is a very straightforward attack on the narrative contorting machine that passes for the MSM these days. And the best way to attack these passive aggressive charlatans is with mockery and derision. A constant stream of commercials mocking the Obama campaign handlers as ring leaders of a ten ring circus. Make it an ongoing series with shadowy voices discussing how to spin the narrative into the irrelevant pseudo-controversies that they are shoving on us over shots of the media headlines reacting to their nonsense. Have an obviously Axelrod looking stand-in diagraming the daily petty little attacks on Romney to a roomfull of slimy looking reporters.
As the campaign progresses have them discussing their contrivances over shots of headlines detailing the falling economy. This should be done by the PACs and not the Romney campaign, call it the “Committee For Economic Responsibility”, or such, and once this narrative is established through repetition have Romney himself refer to it in the debates when Skippy tries to dodge responsibility for his ridiculous economic policies. In other words, make the Obama phenomenon of a half-talented fraud propped up by a complicit media machine a central issue of the campaign. Once the issue becomes overt it will be more difficult for Obamas cheerleaders to be so blatant in the propagandizing. Let’s face it, these people are professional liars and we can never beat them at their own game so we might as well hammer them over the head with the truth.
I haven’t contributed any money to the Romney campaign, but set up a PAC that puts out commercials like that and I will gladly fork over my hardly won money. Sorry for the length.”
It might be too late now as it might smack of desperation, but what we are seeing now should have been anticipated and dealt with as soon as the boy scout was the nominee.
You got it, lock and load!
Press asking baiting question: Do you want to start another war?
Romney reply: who will you and your news agency be voting for?
Press: How much are you going to raise taxes on the middle class?
Romney: Would you rather invest your retirement with Bain Capital or Obama’s green dreams?
Press: Why are you denying homosexuals their civil rights?
Romney: Do you really believe that Obamacare will lower the health care costs?
Press: What are you hiding in your tax returns for the last 10 years?
Romney: How do you think that printing more money will help with unemployment?
Spot on! He knows full well that the people who show up to ask questions are merely Obama re-election campaigners dressed up as reporters. So, admit they are biased and hostile. Earth to Romney:
Push back.
Don’t accept their premises.
Don’t let them frame the debate.
Get your points in, regardless of the question.
Show some outrage at their blatant biases.
Shame them when appropriate.
Use THEM to get your message out.
Use their own words and turn it on them. More(crude)examples. (Yours are better.)
Question: What is your position on evolution?
Answer: The most important thing I’m concerned about right now is the tragic results of the evolution of our foreign policy.
Question: Why are you against abortion?
Answer: What I’d like the American people to know is how this president is aborting the future of the middle class.
Question: Do you think the common citizen can identify with you as a wealthy person?
Answer: What I would like to take this opportunity to say is that we must stop demonizing successful Americans and start again giving everyone the shot at being wealthy. Don’t envy me, join me, outperform me!
Question: How do you expect minorities to vote for you?
Answer: Why do you guys inject race into everything? I don’t see Americans the way Obama does, as simply different competing interest groups, such as sexes, classes, races, etc., which he uses to divide and conquer for his own benefit.
Nope, that won’t work. Romney was the most pro-homosexual governor this country has ever seen, and continues to be militantly pro-homosexual.
I too gotta give you props. I was going to call it “questioning the questioners”; you got there before I could. And I think you did a better job than I might.
I only add: Not only turn it around so it becomes a question about Obama, rather than about Romney, but also questioning the premises planted in their questions. Those premises are almost always left-liberal and are usually fairly obvious.
Romney must be saving his campaign as an “October Surprise”. I know there’s a lot of “ABO” sentiment among people paying attention but I suspect the vast unwashed might be thinking “Romney probably won’t be quite as bad as Obama”. That’s like saying McCain would have been a better President than Obama, but he’d still have been a disaster, just not an Obama-level disaster. The election looks more like Carter vs. George H.W. Bush everyday. We’ve got reasons to vote against Carter/Obama but no compelling reason to vote for Bush/Romney and that’s not a winning plan. “Obama reeks, I just stink” isn’t much of a rallying cry.
Romney’s selection of Ryan said this would be a campaign of “big ideas” but that’s futile if the big ideas stay in Romney’s head. He needs to actually sell the notion that he’s not a useless George H.W. Bush clone. Maybe he’s just waiting for Halloween to bring back Reagan’s ghost.
Obama reeks
The problem is that the proud grandfather of Obamacare, is at best, sending out some very mixed messages in this regard.
Focusing on the economy isn’t going to cut it:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/obamacare-bowl_652884.html
On CBS (a network not known for its conservatism): Obama said Libya and Egypt were a “bump on the road”. He said our high unemployment was also a “bump on the road”. He claimed Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear intentions were “noise”.
IF THIS WAS THE BEST MATERIAL CBS COULD OFFER OF OBAMA, WHAT THE HELL WAS LEFT ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR????
Hmm. You mean something like Romney meeting Netanyahu in NY while The Wan meets with Letterman?
and on the couch schmoozing with the ladies, and calling himself “eye candy”
I live in a Midwestern State that apparently is not in play. I don’t watch TV at all so I’m not sure if there are ads running here. However, when I visited Virginia two weeks ago I was shocked to see almost non stop political ads running 24/7. I’m not sure if this is typical, but perhaps the Romney campaign is carpet bombing in the swing states and using precision guided munitions out in the other states?
The really odd thing I’m seeing in my circles is people who dislike Obama intensely, but when asked will also say they dislike Romney too. That anyone would still like Obama after 4 years of soiling our nest is probably the greatest question mark of our generation…
Here is a question I constantly ask – “who are the GOP hiring as campaign managers?” Are they democratic operatives? Are they “Mr Rogers wannabees”? Are they people who took anger management and took it to heart too too much?
Who provides the advice? It seems to me that we never have a candidate who is willing to fight for the office. They mince around on little feet, trying not to upset the apple cart. They bring a pillow to a gun fight.
When will they get it through their thick heads that the democrats don’t play fair, that the media hate, HATE, the conservatives and the GOP, that putting up videos on You Tube is crap!!!! Who sees the videos? mostly conservatives. They waste their time and energy creating pretty videos that no one sees. Obama is a complete failure, other than Osama’s death Obama hasn’t done anything. Everything he now says is a lie, yet what does Romney do? “oh, Obama’s a nice guy, he’s just over his head.” Obama in not a nice guy, he is an arrogant jerk who is purposefully taking this country down the road to hell.
If Romney screws this up then the GOP is dead (at dead as this country will be). Mittens is not just fighting to be elected, he is fighting for the soul and future of this country. Will one of his G-damned advisers tell him that!!!!!! Man up Romney, you can be nice and still kick Obama’s campaign in the crotch!!!
The GOP is dead either way.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here I go: After watching Romney take down, one after the other, all the other Pubbie candidates during the primary season, there can be no doubt that he can come down on his adversaries with talons fully extended. Not so with Obama, our first affirmative-action POTUS; this is key! Romney has to tread carefully in order to dodge the fatal “raaaaacccciiiissssst!!” label that could undermine his campaign to the point that he loses too much support. Lesson here: Don’t ever support an affirmative-action candidate for POTUS; I hope the American voters have learned this.
Evidently, conservatives inspire talons in Mitt, there have been plenty of examples. So he expects us then to vote for him? What do you see now? Answer: angry conservatives. What you see is a crony capitalist Leviathan with two heads, one is the Democrat party and one is the GOPE. Threatened by the Tea Party gains in 2010, they have declared war on conservatives and intend to consolidate both heads into the Democrat Party after the Romney loss. They will then marginalize both ends.
Romney and Ryan need to frame this election as:
“A vote for us is a vote against the Mainstream Media and their not-so-hidden neo-Marxist agenda.”
Treat the media personalities thst cover the campaign like pieces of broadcasting equipment that they actually ARE.
I think a good tactic would be to announce that upon his Inauguration, President Mitt would evict the White House Press Corps from their White House offices…can you imagine the coverage and the outrage by the talking heads over such an announcement? It would send the desired message though…that the occupant of the White House is determined by the Electorate, and NOT those whose corporations pay for them to occupy a closet there for DECADES.
Remember the media mini-tiff over who would get Helen Thomas’ old seat in the Briefing Room?
George Washington: “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes.”
With polls ‘tied’ (with D+10 samples), it’s difficult to quell the growing impatience. This past week Romney exposed Harry Reid as the lying sack of moribund feces that he is. Even Howard Dean admitted that Reid now has a credibility problem. Timing is part of an effective strategy, and I’m willing to give Romney a little faith here.
The ‘likability’ of Romney is a puzzle. Could it be that the ‘likable’ candidate was such a disappointment last time that likability is not a preeminent sought-after component in the decision-making process this time, and people are less likely to throw their affections around. Fool me once….
I’m confident Romney cannot rope the wind, but he doesn’t seem carried about by it either. Conservatives used to appreciate that.
Just this minute saw a fine example of Romney doing what the author suggests. Romney spoke at the Clinton Global Inititive. Introduced by Pres. Clinton he outlined his (Romney’s) vision of global aid. It was a great speech, well delivered and he got a standing ovation from a lot of the international opposition at the end. Flipped around to CNN and MSNBC (who both covered it) and the talking heads had nothing bad to say. I think even they were taken aback by their inability to find something to critisize.
The biggest problem Romney seems to have is the lack of coverage. The media knows Romney is very impressive so they simply don’t cover him; unless he makes a gaff. Obama smiles and the news reports it. Romney could save a small child from a storm drain and there would be no pictures taken. That’s how they are handling it.
I need to add this one thing to what I said above.
Not only does the MSM refuse to cover Romney as a candidate the alternative media of the right does Romney no favors either.
From Brietbart to Rush to FoxNews they are good at covering Obama’s many faults and they sometimes defend Romney’s gaffes but they never cover Romney like a candidate for President of the United States. Like the afore mentioned speech will be a footnote on the day’s news if that. Then bloggers and pundits pile on saying: “Why doesn’t Romney put out a plan?” “Why doesn’t Romney go head on with the media?” He does. But if a tree falls in the forest……. If you had just seen Romney give the speech I saw him give and realize it won’t be covered by anyone, left or right, you might understand what I see. You need to know what you don’t know.
Thanks for the heads-up, Ione! I just finished watching Romney’s and Obama’s speeches at CGI (by googling “Romney’s speech 9/25/12″, then clicking on the National Journal.)
First, I watched Romney’s which I thought was awesome! He seemed at ease and didn’t use a teleprompter, at least not that I saw. It was full of hope–everything he said was presented in a positive manner. He covered the economy, free trade, foreign policy, and more. Clinton, to his credit, gave him a wonderful introduction.
Obama’s speech, on the other hand was all negative. He covered only 3 topics: slavery, human trafficking, and a bit about how wonderful Hillary is. Teleprompters were in full view (of course), and there were lots of pauses for applause. I was in a good mood until he started speaking. Now, I’m feeling “down,” again. I’d suggest watching this one first; you’ll be in a better mood after 40 minutes (20 min. each.)
Ione, you are 100% correct. They will not cover Mitt Romney “looking presidential”. He’s been making great speeches, impressive interviews, and attracting huge, enthusiastic crowds, little of which is covered by the mainstream media. They simply will not allow people who may be interested in voting for Romney to see any positive images of him. It’s going to come down to the debates-they HAVE to cover them. Yes, they’ll try to trip hum up while tossing roses disguised as questions at Obama, but I believe that Romney is substantial enough to rise above the clear bias. I’m also expecting the media to be so obvious in their bias that some fence-sitters are going to notice and be turned off.
Romney doesn’t have a lack of coverage. In fact, lots of people, including groaning Republicans like me, not-so-eagerly await the latest blunder when Romney opens his mouth. The latest gaffe: wondering why airplane windows don’t roll down so people can get out quickly.
Romney has now unveiled his grandiose plans for space exploration. He also wants to add 100,000 uniformed military, with a major increase in defense spending.
Can somebody please give this clueless candidate the news flash that we can’t afford his grandiosity when the federal deficit is running at 1 trillion dollars per year.
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine unveiled the MSM for what it probably always was; biased. Don’t you think maube that’s why the Fairness Doctrine was instituted in the first place?
Bias in the media is a given. The author is right. If Romney doesn’t engage on the field of battle he chose he could very well lose.
The fear I have is that being at the top of the heap as a businessman and a red governor in a blue state has not trained Romney for in your face politics; something for which Obama has a graduate degree.
“Newt Gingrich showed that a little pushback can do wonders for a candidate’s popularity, especially with the conservative base (which Romney should not take for granted), and an occasional flash of temper in response to a particularly stupid question would not be unwelcome.”
Exactly. This is the time for that. Newt’s pushback won him a primary in South Carolina and A LOT of respect from the Republican base. A real leader takes the battle to his enemies and does NOT wait for his enemies to consume him. Call it what you will, the best defense is a good offense, whatever. The bottom line is that Romney has to show some backbone and aggressiveness. He may be a nice guy, but nice guys are eaten up and spat out in politics.
And I don’t even want to think about what foreign leaders, especially Islamic ones, do to nice guys. They destroy them. There is a reason why no American embassies were attacked during the George W. Bush administration. There is a reason why Gaddafi gave up his nuclear program during the Bush administration. There is a reason why there was no major terrorist attack on US soil during the Bush administration. And there was a very, very, big reason why Putin actually visited Bush’s ranch in Texas and why they actually respected each other. It was all because Bush showed strength and always tried never to show any weakness. And the world feared that and respected that. These are concepts totally foreign to Obama, and now we’re seeing the results of that.
Time to show some backbone. It’s what is usually known as leadership. If Romney shows even just a little of it, people will see the stark contrast between him and Obama, especially during the debates. And if Romney does this, he will win in a landslide, just like Reagan did.
There is a reason why there was no major terrorist attack on US soil during the Bush administration.
You mean after 9/11, right?
Alot of us are convinced that the 9/11 attack was planned long in advance of Bush’s inaugeration, Snakey. You know when Slick Willie was getting blow jobs after the first attack on the WTC.It’s going to take alot better thinking than that to get you out of Mom’s basement, Snarkey.
And now, winning handily in the “Well, DUH!” category!
It’s still true….there is considerable doubt whether the Romney campaign wants to win.
Frankly, I think Romney personally does want to win. Essentially, he has devoted his life to the effort for several decades now. If you step away from the day-to-day of the campaign, it seems clear that this is a man driven by the desire to fulfill his father’s legacy.
But unfortunately, the campaign is run by the staff. And the staff is the McCain staff. The same staff that CLEARLY was, at best, conflicted about actually winning in 2008. And hey, it worked out, didn’t it? Here they are, making their big bucks right on schedule four years later. That is what they are interested in. Winning doesn’t necessarilly make that happen does it?
Now here is the disclaimer. It’s possible, unlikely but possible, that Romney or somebody knows something we don’t. And what they may know is that Romney has it in the bag if he doesn’t do something really stupid or totally f*k up the debates. a) he’s a better candidate than McCain (although still a pretty bad candidate). b) every issue is against obama. The guy is a total clusterfark. c) enthusiasm is totally on Romney’s side. Even blacks are not going to turn out for zero like they did in 2008, and the Tea Party is a powerful force. d) every detail Romney supplies will be twisted and turned against him. So, again, is possible that keeping his hand away from the flame is the best strategy.
Remember, the American voter isn’t exactly over informed. But what everybody does know is that Zero is a zero. And they also probably know that while Romney isn’t a very good candidate, he is a good person and a person who has made things work in the past.
Romney needs to take a course in “Correspondent Combat” by Chris Christie.
Something very strange is happening.
First this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-fineman/barack-obama-floating-like-a-butterfly_b_1911017.html
And now this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/25/how-mitt-romney-can-win-the-first-debate-with-obama.html
What’s up with this? Criticism of O from the far left? Help with the debate from the mid left?
Maybe they are feeling bad about the press coverage so far? Maybe they are having second thoughts about O?
Weird.
With a few exceptions, it feels like Romney is mailing it in.
In my darker moments I think he is controlled opposition, designed to take the fall for the lightbringer.
Michael Walsh: I think he may have started that today when addressing Clinton’s Initiative group. Of course, the President also made a decent speech to the United Nations: as impatient as I felt about it owing to his equivocations, it seems to me that it will be celebrated by most listeners who do not so surely object to his evasions of courage in standing up for this nation. The result would seem to me to be Tit and Tat on the public scale of balance. Winner, then: the man already in office, sorry to say. Still, it appeared to me that Romney ‘came out’ today and did so with that firmness I want from a President, and with the valuable statement of insights and motivations that would drive a sensible Administration to make essential progress for the nation — and deal with a sorrowfully wanting world being distorted by raving forces in some locations and dithering in others. Thanks for a sound article, Michael.
Mr.Walsh,clearly you have Mr. Romney confused with someone else,because you ascribe to him characteristics he doesn’t possess like backbone,CONSERVATISM,leadership and accountability,morality,courage! Have you not followed his career as Governor of Mass.and his flagrant history of “Flip-Flopping”(whoring for votes),or that he’s a big-government proponent as The Answer( WRONG!)and that he’s 100% a Republican-Elite “Company man”.Romney fights as hard and in ways proscribed by The Republican-Elite and continues to fight Obama with kid-gloves as they tell him to! Take off your rose-colored glasses,and also realize The Republicans are part of “THE PROBLEM”,not the solution!here’s to hoping Romney wins but realize he’s not saving anybody,he’s just buying time!
HOW MANY DEMOCRATS IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? IS IT ALL THE ROYAL REPUPPIES LIKE PEGGY NOONAN, JOE SCABOROUGH,BILLY KRISTAL?
LETS FACE IT ROMNEY IS NOT GOING TO WIN THE FREE SHET VOTE. HE IS NOT GOING TO WIN THE PORNOWOOD VOTE.
HE IS NOT GOING TO WIN THE CHOP SHOP VOTE. HE IS NOT GOING TO WIN THE FOLLOW THE OCCUPPY CROWD VOTE. IT WILL BE UP TO MAINSTREAM AMERICANS ESPECIALLY TEA PARTY PEOPLE TO DRAG HIM OVER THE FINISH LINE. HE IS FOLLOWING THE MCCAIN FORMULA. LOSE WITH DIGNITY. THE PUTIN PRESS WILL DISTORT HIS RECORD AND THE MAJORITY WILL BELIEVE IT. 40% OF ALL AMERICANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE SARAH PALIN SAID SHE COULD SEE RUSSIA FROM HER KITCHEN WINDOW. 50% BELIEVE BILL CLINTON WAS ACTUALLY IN LOVE WITH MONICA LEWINSKY
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YOU TUBE FLAG BURNERS OF RECORD
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Where were the Tea Party folks this summer? There was a Tea Party convention, then they just sort of faded into the woodwork. Where were the men with the tri-corner hats and muskets? The ladies with Lipton tea bags hanging from their hats? Are they going back and working for their Congressmen? Where’s the theater? Were they an ephemera, a meteor, a passing comet? Are they going to be remembered like Abbie Hoffman and the Yippees? OK, the Yippees didn’t elect anyone to congress, I’ll give you that.
Hey, get a clue! Quit with the ALL CAPS!
It’s RUDE!
This is going to be a close election. Repeat: this is going to be a close election.
Everything everyone is doing is trying to manipulate opinion going into the critical last two weeks.
What this all has been about is one thing, and one thing alone: depressing Romney’s fundraising. Most political pros know that all of the polling and other crap is meaningless without accurate turnout models.
O strategy: disqualify Romney enough to get an insurmountable lead and cash advantage going into the debates. Play it safe otherwise. Use the convention to gain momentum.
R strategy: Play it safe going into the debates, then go for broke with all the cash you have during them and after them. Make the case that O is a failure (shouldn’t be too hard), and propose solutions.
This election looks like 2000 or 2004. If it is anything other than right down to the wire, I’ll be shocked.
The reason Ohio is so hard to tackle for R is the leftover D organization from the repeal of the public sector bargaining laws in 2011. The Wisconsin is in play is due to the R organization for the Walker recall. That’s the important thing here.
I just wonder if Romney et al played it a bit too safe with their strategy, leaving a bit too little room for error. We’ll find out soon enough. It’s their strategy, and to their credit, they have been disciplined enough to stick to it, despite a real pound by O and his lackey press.
But this polling nonsense? Put it away until after the debates. It’s just feel good/feel bad noise being used with mischief by both sides to suppress and increase fundraising at this point.
Good comment. I disagree on how close it will be. I read an article by Jeffrey Lord on American Thinker today. He reviews polls and media in 1980. Reagan was “losing” in most swing states according to the polls. Turns out he creamed Carter and it was proved the media was doing it as payback to their candidate and the democrats. I foresee another 1980 this year.
If Gov. Romney took everyone’s advice on how to run his campaign, what ads to run and when, where to campaign, etc. wouldn’t that be just beautiful. As Ann Romney said, lay off, this is tough. You pundits (this one, Noonan, Kristol, et al) sit behind your little keyboard and issue directives. I’m sick of these armchair know-nothings. I would say he’s doing just fine. There are plenty of morons who’ll support him and name him in a poll. Fortunately, they don’t outnumber us….yet. If you saw Romney at Clinton’s place this morning you heard a wise leader, a thinker. I hope some folks on PJ discuss that.
General question, why does PJ Media have their stories’ bottom borders covering the faacebook connection? Whenever I want to post something from this site, I can’t. Pretty irritating.
I made a post at about 9AM and it still hasn’t posted even though I see many posts that were made later. What gives?
The level of attack dog campaigning is determined in the primaries. What is with this infernal GOP practice of nominating a lethargic poodle and then just before the general election everyone start chanting “fight back now.” Sorry people, when you settle for “the most electable” candidate, as claimed by the Ruling Class, the one feature you can’t get is a real fight. He’s surrounded himself with the same Ruling Class advisors. His 47% comment indicated he’s doing exactly what Rush warns against, just fighting over the tiny middle that might change their mind. Romney is faithfully following the McCain, Dole pattern. Mayne Obama is so odious Romney will pull it off, I hope so, but don’t expect Romney to be more active fixing things than GWB. Likely he will just feed the socialist monster at a slower rate and further devalue the GOP brand.
The people voting for Romney seem to think a vote is all they need to do to reverse our socialist decline. The Dems fight 24/7 to advance their cause. We show up every 2 or 4 years for a few minutes and then are shocked we have a socialist country.
This.
Mitt Romney has no chance with the lamestream media, they will edit him, cut him off and lie about what he says. There is enough new media that he doesn’t need the 5th Column 4th estate to beat Obozo like a drum!
Mitt needs to become much more passionate.
Maybe watching “2016 Obama’s America” can fire him up.
If he fails at passion, he’ll fail all of us at beating the guy who wants a second term to complete the destruction of this Country and all is stands for.
Believe me, should the press corps start to sense that Romney might win this thing, the tone of their questions is going to change in a hurry, as the courtiers begin jockeying for position and currying favor with a new administration.
Really? So why was the MSM exactly the opposite of supportive during the administration of George W. Bush? Didn’t they want to curry favor with him?
I’m sorry but I see no signs that today’s MSM is prepared to be supportive of anyone that doesn’t share their views, whether a genuine conservative or a RINO like Mitt Romney or George W. Bush. If the candidate isn’t an adherent of the Left, the farther left the better, they are going to get a bumpy ride indeed from our dear old MSM.
I would truly like to see Romney ban the MSM from his press conferences if he gets elected. Present it as an experiment and see what happens. He can readmit them when and if they learn to do their jobs in something resembling an objective way.
If Romney did as you suggest and banned the MSM from his conferences the media’s cry of freedom of the press, suppression of the news and Republican censorship would be heard from coast to coast, not a good idea. It would be a better strategy to assign chairs and put them in the back of the room and not call on them. Then fill the front row seats with news people from the conservative websites like this one. The so-called Media of Mainstreet are hoping for Romney’s defeat so put them all in the backseat, now that change would be sweet.
Perhaps the campaign is concentrating its resources in swing states. We see plenty of Romney ads and superpac Romney ads in Central Florida. They have had some very large rallies. The media tries to ignore the rallies, but that’s to be expected. If the media has decided to ignore everything except those comments that can be used against the campaign, what can they do? It is up to us to do our part when conversing with neighbors and friends.
If bumper stickers give a clue to support, I’d say Romney/Ryan are doing pretty well around here.
“The abandonment of American journalism’s former allegiance to objectivity”
Now that’s funny right there.
Romney’s strategy is crystal clear. Just read about his loss in 1994 to Ted Kennedy and his win as governor in 2004 to get the general drift.
It is all about the debates, and nothing else. He feels he lost in 1994 with a bad debate, and won in 2004 with an excellent debate.
He also believes in carpet bombing with ads. These will come with the debates to maximize impact.
Obama’s never had it hard in a campaign yet, and in unprepared events, he generally sucks. His campaign knows it, and is trying desperately to get to a big lead prior to October when the debates begin. They also want as many people to vote early as they can. October for them is all about turnout, and less about forming opinions. They’ll do enough, but I’m not sure they have a plan other than turnout for October.
So they are doing two things to try to spin things their way: (1) get everyone in the mode of looking for the Romney gaffe, so at the debates that’s all everyone is concentrating on; and (2) get everyone thinking negative things about Repubilcans in general.
Here is what Romney should do at the first debate, right out of the gate, since Harry Reid has teed it up:
“Mr. President, you and I are both lawyers, so we understand the meaning of stipulation. Can we stipulate for the remaining 5 weeks of the campaign that your side refrain from calling me a mean spirited corporate raider who is not an example of a good Mormon, and I’ll have my side stop calling you an ultra-left wing socialist sympathizer? Can we both agree that we are decent people, and fight this election over where we want to take America, and not degrade the office to which we both seek by mean spirited personal attacks?”
I’d love to see that one, and my guess is that it will be trotted out early. Once the personal side is neutralized, what else is left to talk about but policy and direction for the next 4 years. Does Obama have a policy and a direction?
“Can we both agree that we are decent people, and fight this election over where we want to take America, and not degrade the office to which we both seek by mean spirited personal attacks?”
The Democrats’ response to a handshake is a kick in the nuts. This is a street brawl, and the fate of the country hangs in the balance. Romney needs to bring out the brass knuckles and maybe hide a razor blade or two in his socks.
This is both dumb and wrong. Mitt would be a fool to listen to nonsense like this from the peanut gallery. The LSM is totally in the tank for “The One” and is intent on destroying Romney. I guess this writer doesn’t watch the alphabet networks or read the NYT and WaPo. Romney needs to go directly to the public with paid advertising and public appearances. That’s his only path for success. Too bad this writer can’t figure that out.
Corrupt liberal(leftist) media -the just formula,but not everybody understand the cause of the leftist media majority.The definition of the western media as the forth estate explains the nature of the leftist media.The leftism as the authority opposition makes the media-power.We hate the leftist-self-serving media.
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