Top Romney Official: Mitts A Lousy Candidate In The End, Its Mitt By Mike Allen, Jonathan Martin and Jim Vandehei | politico | 9/28/12 4:31 AM EDT Excerpts: It isnt the chair or the ho-hum convention. Or the leaked video. Or Stuart Stevens. Or the improving economy. Or media bias. Or distorted polls. Or the message. Or Mormonism. * Its Mitt. With Republicans everywhere wondering what has happened to the Mitt Romney campaign, people who know the candidate personally and professionally offer a simple explanation: Its the candidate himself. * Romney himself has been a tough self-critic, telling 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley he has only himself to blame for missteps such as the secret video of him writing off 47 percent of Americans as ungovernable and out of reach to him politically. Thats not the campaign. That was me, right? * And thats the problem: His résumé and his personal style seem ill-suited for the moment. Hes a son of privilege who made hundreds of millions in private equity who is running in the first election since the 2008 meltdown many blame on rich, Wall Street tycoons. And hes a socially stiff relic of a pre-ironic America, who struggles with improvisation and personal connections when the constant lens of the Web demands both. * James Fallows described why Romneys offer of a $10,000 bet with Texas Gov. Rick Perry reinforced the worst caricature of him. If Romney had said a million bucks, Fallows explained, it would obviously have been hyperbolic; if he had said a hundred bucks, it would have been a serious sum but comprehensible. Romney had instinctively found exactly the wrong number. * Take his remarks on the eve of the Summer Olympics. With people feeling good about the festivities ahead, he said it remained to be seen if London would get the security right. Romney, said one friend, was doing what he does best in private: making an honest appraisal of the risks and rewards of a situation. Sure, someone should have told Romney not to say it publicly. But a natural politician would have known it instinctively: Even if what youre saying is accurate and logical, dont trash your host as soon as you arrive. * One of the things that inspires me as I go across the country is seeing people who have built enterprises to lift themselves and, by the way, to employ others, Romney told many of his fellow corporate types at a fundraiser last weekend in San Diego... Rare is the moment where Romney sings the praises of the working stiff, the cop on the beat, the waitress pulling a double shift. In military terms, he seems to be under the impression that the American electorate is filled with colonels, not privates and corporals. *And now, with the campaign taking on water, he hits the president on anything he can rip from the headlines: welfare last month, Libya at the start of this month, China this week and debt today. Romney is cautious by nature, which paid off in business. But in politics, rather than chart a bold course and stick with it, he winds up trimming and dodging in ways that, cumulatively, sink in with voters. * His past willingness to change or shade his views for apparent political advantage resulted, over time, in one of his biggest political vulnerabilities. One close confidant said Romney sees the process like buying a company from a reluctant seller: Just do and say what you need to do to get the deal done, Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81772_Page4.html#ixzz27q4JepZR ..... Interesting politico read on Romneys campaign implosion in which the authors describe his various character flaws as the campaign progressed, to the current same vicious attacks on his opponent telling us that he will never change his basic unlikeable persona. Whether this is an ego problem, or rather another problem Mitt has pertaining to his fathers political ambitions remains to be seen. I am beginning to love the moment that is sure to come when Romney throws out another soul-searing gaffe that is destined to ruin his carefully prepared plans. It only proves that a private equity corporate vulture is not wired to be a leader of a great nation like ours.
He's a narcissist, sure. Republicans seem to love him, though. Democrats love Obama. This election --and I love this--will be decided by those 6-10% of this who hate both parties. It will be a tossup.
I'm not sure that Republicans love Romney as much as they hate the President. Romney's support may be wide, but like the Susquehanna River, not deep. Conservatives have the fodder, thanks to these obvious criticisms from the Politico, to bray and whine about the leadership in the Republican party and a scapegoat come November.
I stopped caring about "conservatives" when Fox News blatantly lied about Ron Paul and didn't apologize until caught by a liberal. It's been downhill from there as far as my opinion of them goes. The RNC's dirty tricks sealed the deal for me.
Maybe Huntsman? lol Certainly not Bachmann or Perry. But for just being rated as a candidate and campaigner any of them might very well been better.
We have a winner ... the last thing todays conservatism needs is a man of civility, moderation and sense ... so Huntsman was the first to get tossed ...
You know there was a time when that's how many would have described Mitt. The Mitt who was pro abortion rights, got health care passed as Gov of Ma., etc. He has tried to become somebody he really is not to appeal to the extremes of the republican base I think. It worked enough to get him the nomination but is really not him and now that is really showing. He really is wrong guy to be running at this time anyway. No matter what the right may think the country is not real happy with the 1% right now and don't want them to get even more power.
This is true ... however, we saw Romneys *transition* in the primaries ... so he emerged as the least drunk of the designated drivers .. LOL.
Mr. Paul, in an interview, said convention planners had offered him an opportunity to speak under two conditions: that he deliver remarks vetted by the Romney campaign, and that he give a full-fledged endorsement of Mr. Romney. He declined. "It wouldn't be my speech," Mr. Paul said. "That would undo everything I've done in the last 30 years. I don't fully endorse him for president." my mistake...... thats whats makes it hard not to like RP at least a little bit.....the guy does have 100x the conviction of most politicians.... but some of his positions in the GOP debates made me wonder just how much
Well, you have to trust man to rise to the occasion philosophically and utilize primordial survival instincts to be a libertarian. I liken it to Jefferson's position against Adams. [video=youtube;QcWaCsvpikQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcWaCsvpikQ[/video]
There are some tyrannosaurs and smart mouthed women on here who do, yes, seem to love him. To each their own...
