So, guys, you may have heard about this video. It supposedly makes Mitt Romney look really bad and stuff, like a total jerkwad with no chance of recovering from the stupid things he said. This might be true, but we’d like to make another argument: That Mitt Romney really wasn’t doing all that great in the first place and therefore a spare idiotic comment shouldn’t really surprise anyone. “What are you talking about, casually inquisitive blogger?”, you ask. Well … we’d like to remind you that Mitt Romney is already the unloved candidate. And has been for a really long time. Examples:
» A footnote: On this week’s Saturday Night Live, the cold open with Jay Pharoah playing Obama (about time, he deserved it) tells you everything you need to know about this race. Say what you will about Obama, but these races are won on perception, and Mitt has the effect of reminding us that, whatever frustrations folks might have with Obama, Mitt makes him look better every day.
Mitt Romney should be seriously worried about Ohio. Recent polls, and interviews conducted with about two dozen Ohioans in recent days, show that he’s dangerously underperforming in the must-win state.
There’s a growing concern in Republican ranks, and even within Romney’s campaign itself that the GOP nominee is dangerously underperforming in Ohio — and that was before yesterday’s Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed Obama jumping to a 7-point lead in the state. The Buckeye State’s 18 electoral college votes are critical to Romney’s White House hopes. No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio, and even if Romney sweeps seven swing states carried by Obama in 2008, including Florida, Virginia, Iowa and North Carolina, he still can’t win if he loses here.
So goes Ohio, goes the nation.
Mr. Romney has made some of these points, and we would not expect him to re-argue them all, politics be damned; obviously a majority of Americans do not share our views on a number of them. But he should be presenting a broad, positive vision of how and where he would lead the United States in the world. If he thinks Mr. Obama is betting on and therefore accelerating the decline of U.S. leadership, don’t just call him nasty names (“Jimmy Carter,” for example), but explain to the American people why U.S. leadership is sustainable and necessary in the coming decades.
Instead, there have been too many cheap shots and miscues that have only called attention to Mr. Romney’s inexperience in foreign affairs. This week’s accusation that the Obama administration sympathizes with rioters called to mind Mr. Romney’s over-the-top attack in May when U.S. officials were in the midst of delicate negotiations in Beijing to win freedom for human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng. “If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom and it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration,” Mr. Romney said, shortly before Mr. Chen flew to New York City.
His jeering at Russia has seemed unbecoming a great power (“Under my administration . . . Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone”), and his threats of a trade war with China are both unconvincing and unproductive. He appealed to the worst in the American people when he failed to stand up for religious tolerance by condemning the bigoted anti-Muslim movie trailer that incited riots this week, even as he rightly condemned the violence itself.
The Post suggests, instead, that Romney stick closer to saying things like this when discussing foreign policy issues: “The idea of using something that some people consider sacred and then parading that out a negative way is simply inappropriate and wrong. And I wish people wouldn’t do it.” Appeal to our best, not our worst. It’s not that hard, Mitt!
$2m Amount VP hopeful Paul Ryan is set to spend on additional campaign ads…for his reelection to the House of Representatives, that is. Just in case Mitt comes up short. source
The violence took a domestic political turn, in part thanks to a statement released early Tuesday by the staff of the Cairo embassy, which condemned the film and the “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”
The Romney campaign’s statement seemed to be an attempt to capitalize on the appearance that the Obama administration — which has overseen the Arab Spring, and the rise of Islamist governments in both Egypt and Libya — was capitulating to the sensitivities of an unruly Muslim crowd, rather than backing the right of an American citizen to release a disrespectful film.
But the statement criticized by the Romney campaign came early in the day, before the attacks on the two embassies, and was put out not by the White House, but by the Cairo embassy itself.
The White House later disavowed the statement as not approved by Washington, according to a senior administration official speaking to Politico.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt also commented on the statement from the Romney campaign. “We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack,” LaBolt said in a statement. [more]
One has to wonder if Terry Jones will feel the smallest amount of regret over what his hate has wrought.
A poorly-timed attempt by Romney’s camp to find a leg up on the president during a tough campaign. Frustrating in more ways than one.
I will not take God out of our platform, I will not take God off our coins, and I will not take God out of my heart.Mitt Romney • Speaking in Virginia Beach today. His remarks have stirred up discussion over the implication of the words above – is he suggesting President Obama aims to remove the word “God” from American currency? Romney is clearly ramping up his rhetoric on faith to try to take advantage of the Democrats’ embarrassing platform fracas at the DNC last week. source
Secret Service investigates reported theft of Romney tax files, $1 million extortion threat
“At this time there is no evidence that our systems have been compromised or that there was any unauthorized access to the data in question,” said Chris Atkins, a spokesperson for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
naturalpatina asks: Isn't it unfair to compare those photos of Romney & Obama watching their wives speak? I may not be a fan of Romney at all, but, there's a big age difference between the kids in both photos. From personal experience, if I were any of the younger ones, I'd be completely disinterested in what was going on. To use their facial expressions in one photo to gauge how Romney's overall viewing experience was is unfair. Obama's kids are older, and better able to understand the significance of the speech.
» SFB says: We just thought it was intriguing that there were intimate photos of literally the same type of moment. We didn’t add anything to it other than the phrase ”Who had the better viewing experience?” Why overthink it? You can talk yourself out of anything by overthinking it. We decided to talk ourselves into posting the two photos side-by-side. — Ernie @ SFB
EDIT: And to be fair to Mitt, though that post was a reblog, there were other pics, like this Getty Images shot:
Here’s how social media helped Obama steal Romney’s convention thunder last week. Let’s see if the tables will turn now that it’s the Dems show.(via How Obama Stole Romney’s RNC Thunder With Clever Social Media | TechCrunch - Image source)
“Sure, Obama has the spotlight advantage because he’s the President, but it goes to show that all the money and staging in the world can’t compete with cleverness.”
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Mitt Romney accepts Republican presidential nomination
“I am running for president to help create a better future. A future where everyone who wants a job can find one,” Mitt Romney said after accepting his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
“And unlike the President, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. Paul Ryan and I have 5 steps.” Read Romney’s prepared remarks on CNNPhoto: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan onstage at the RNC after Romney’s speech. (Getty Images) via CNN
And in case you missed it, Clint Eastwood talked to a chair for ten minutes, just because:
So basically, if you’re sick of the 2012 election, you didn’t miss anything outside of the video above.
A gun belonging to a member of Mitt Romney’s U.S. Secret Service detail was found unattended in the bathroom of the candidate’s charter plane Wednesday afternoon. The Republican nominee was traveling from Tampa, Fla., site of his party’s convention, to Indianapolis, Ind., for a speech.
The weapon, presumably left behind in the bathroom by accident, was discovered by a CBS News/National Journal reporter, who alerted a flight attendant about the gun. A member of the Secret Service on board the plane was informed and retrieved the gun.
A spokesman for the Service has confirmed that they are aware of the matter, and that it will be dealt with internally “in an appropriate manner.” 2012 really hasn’t been a great year in PR for the Secret Service, has it?
![apsies:
Mitt Romney and five of his grandchildren watch the Republican National Convention on TV. [REUTERS/Brian Snyder] (via Reuters 2012 Election)
Mitt Romney experiences the same feeling most of us have about watching the convention on television. Who wants a slice of pepperoni?](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9jt889Mhb1qznj5do1_500.jpg)
Mitt Romney and five of his grandchildren watch the Republican National Convention on TV. [REUTERS/Brian Snyder] (via Reuters 2012 Election)
Mitt Romney experiences the same feeling most of us have about watching the convention on television. Who wants a slice of pepperoni?
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