Re: Romney’s Close (Watching in Alarm at Mitt's Negative Tactics in FL)

The National Review ^ | January 29, 2012 | The Corner: Daniel Foster, Andrew Stuttaford, Rich Lowry

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Daniel Foster: "Re: Romney’s Close"

I’m sorry but, on purely tactical grounds, what a bonehead move by the Romney campaign. Negative attacks, especially in a primary, have to be run on a careful cost-benefit analysis, and what exactly is the upside here? That at least Tom Brokaw isn’t Dan Rather? Romney is comfortably up in the Florida polls in large part because his campaign (with the unwitting collusion of NBC News!) managed to turn Gingrich’s flank on the wealth issue and cut him off from reinforcement via a Newt-versus-the-establishment-media moment. He now affords Gingrich such a moment with juuuuust enough time before the polls close to be impactful.

I’m not saying this is going to cause Romney the primary or anything, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s hard to see what at all this could have done to help him win it.

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Andrew Stuttaford: "Re: Romney’s Close"

Rich [Lowry: "Romney's Close"] whatever one may think about the Romney campaign’s use of that old newscast, the NBC response is a little odd:

Via POLITICO’s Reid Epstein, "NBC News and Tom Brokaw are loudly objecting to the Mitt Romney campaign’s use of footage from the 1990s in an ad blasting Newt Gingrich over his House ethics charges.

Brokaw, whose statement noted he was speaking on his behalf, said, “I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign.”

“The NBC Legal Department has written a letter to the campaign asking for the removal of all NBC News material from their campaign ads,” NBC News said in a statement, which added, “Similar requests have gone out to other campaigns that have inappropriately used Nightly News, Meet the Press, Today and MSNBC material.”

I would have thought that footage of the type that Romney is deploying was part of the historical record. If, of course, Tom Brokaw and NBC believe that the way it is now being used distorts what Brokaw was saying back then, they should explain why.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Calculations That Led Romney to the Warpath ...."If Mr. Romney does win here on Tuesday, it will have been through a blistering and unrelenting series of attacks. His campaign has pressed everything at its disposal into service to eviscerate Mr. Gingrich, painting him as an erratic, unreliable Washington insider in mailings and television advertisements, at two critical debates here (where his team made sure Mr. Romney had ample and vocal supporters in the audiences) and even by sending supporters to mock him at his own events.".......

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Including Bay Buchanan and Rep Jason Chaffetz both reportedly Mormon converts.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Newt Gingrich’s final push in Florida centered on pinning ‘dishonest’ label to Mitt Romney

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How hard is it to do that as Mitt has been so dishonest! Will the Sunday “Talk Shows” hit Mitt with this?????

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NBC asks Romney to remove news material from [HIT PIECE] ad

Blast from the past: Romney uses vintage video to hit Gingrich (charges Newt was cleared of)

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the campaign isn’t likely to stop running the ad.”

[Cincinatus' Wife]

NOW IT'S OUR TURN -- circulate this:

Mitt Romney's real record in Massachusetts [1:39 video]

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney returns a baby to his mother in the audience at a campaign rally at Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Florida January 28, 2012.

[Darkwolf377]

Sorry to say this, but Gingrich has put himself in a poor position to claim he’s being victimized by charges he’s been cleared of (which is the truth, as I’ve posted articles to folks off-board repeatedly showing he was cleared).

If he’s going to charge Romney with all that ‘raiding’ and ‘putting people out of work’ stuff, which knowingly distorts the reality of what Bain was all about, he’s really in no position to bitch when someone distorts the facts of his past.

A pox on both their houses.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Mitt Romney starts these fights with HIS negative ads against the others and then when he receives "incoming" he goes nuclear liar. We have one of these types in the White House now.

Even his supporters see that this sits on Romney's doorstep --- he owns it. He saw it got him the win in Iowa and he thinks it will pull out another squeaker in Florida and the Establishment will have "shut you up!"

Post#1: "The Calculations That Led Romney to the Warpath" ...."If Mr. Romney does win here on Tuesday, it will have been through a blistering and unrelenting series of attacks. His campaign has pressed everything at its disposal into service to eviscerate Mr. Gingrich, painting him as an erratic, unreliable Washington insider in mailings and television advertisements, at two critical debates here (where his team made sure Mr. Romney had ample and vocal supporters in the audiences) and even by sending supporters to mock him at his own events."......

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Oh! And when will Mitt Romney — the “oh so honest religious family man” - tell us he knows about this latest ad? Will he go on the record AGAIN pleading with his big eyes and thin smile, “I haven’t seen it! I don’t see all the ads that are out there.”?

[PhilDragoo]

[be-baw]

If he’s going to charge Romney with all that ‘raiding’ and ‘putting people out of work’ stuff, which knowingly distorts the reality of what Bain was all about, he’s really in no position to bitch when someone distorts the facts of his past.

I'm not so sure it distorts what Bain was all about. I would agree, however, that it was part of what Bain was all about, which should give us pause to wait and see what more unveils. It is in the voters interests to know more about Romney, Bain, their interconnections with the rest of the world, and will be most fascinating to see how this all plays out.

Romney started all this attack crap. His crap still needs more careful examination. Fortunately for him, his many minions are really good at keeping the stinky ones away from the public eye.

And Gingrich HAS been victimized. Nothing wrong with his pointing out the truth.

[jessduntno]

Blood Money-Mitt Romney

http://www.mittsbloodmoney.com/

[John Valentine]

If he’s going to charge Romney with all that ‘raiding’ and ‘putting people out of work’ stuff, which knowingly distorts the reality of what Bain was all about...

I don't suppose that you are seriously claiming that this is behavior that Bain did not engage in, but that you are asserting that the predatory "private capital" behavior is overshadowed or more than balanced out by the company building activities of Bain acting as a true venture capital provider.

I'm sorry, but I can't buy into that notion.

Good deeds don't balance out bad deeds. Bad deeds are bad deeds and have to be evaluated and judged as they stand. This is so obviously true that I won't bother giving examples to bolster my point.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Shouldn’t Marco Rubio [VERY PUBLICLY] call on Romney to pull this unfair ad?

[nathanbedford]

Darkwolf:

Until Romney was unmasked, or better put, took the gloves off, in the last debate, the model had been Romney goes negative by proxy through surrogates and Gingrich, who was relatively broke, had to ignore the attacks as he did to his sorrow in Iowa or go on the offensive personally as he did successfully in South Carolina in the debates.

In the wake of the South Carolina victory and before this blowup in Florida, I posted my belief that Romney would try to make Florida look like Iowa and Gingrich would try to make it look like South Carolina. Gingrich failed because he failed in the debates. Indeed, it was Romney who went on the attack in the debates and changed his persona by becoming an attacker. Inexplicably, Gingrich went relatively passive.

Given that model, Gingrich had to clearly win to overcome the media blitz against him which was to be reinforced by the Republican establishment. A tie was a loss to Gingrich. Gingrich failed to win, in my judgment he also failed to tie and therefore he lost momentum in the Florida primary as I predicted he would immediately after the second debate.

I think Gingrich now must marshal his surrogates to attack Romney as not just a flip-flop but as being a two-faced individual. Since the mask came off in the second Florida debate, the public will now accept that Romney is not a nice fraternity boy who knows how to make business deals. They now will see him as a gutter politician if the surrogates can make that case. He is a phony, a phony who flip-flops and a phony who is two-faced.

I understand Gingrich now has money enough to wage a decent media war in Florida, but it is probably too late. I think Gingrich must somehow salvage what can be salvaged out of Florida and be ruthlessly aggressive in the next venue. It goes without saying that he must regain his form in the debates.

Gingrich must be careful because the Republican establishment is looking for a "Macacca" moment. That means that when Gingrich attacks Romney for false claims about Bain's job creation record, the Republican establishment attacks Gingrich for attacking capitalism. That is the equivalent of a "Macacca" moment.

[Diogenesis]

“I poop on Backstabber Romney for RomneyCARE and his endless lies.”

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Romney's bad behavior Exposed by Seamus

"Romney Loses Nomination Over Dog Abuse? - Romney was traveling that summer with his wife, five sons, and Seamus to his parent's cottage on Lake Huron. But hours into the ride, Seamus apparently suffered diarrhea, which ran down the back window of the car. .David Kravitz wrote on BlueMassGroup, a liberal blog. "It also strikes me as classic Romney: it solves a problem efficiently, in a business-like manner, and with no regard whatsoever for the suffering that the solution may cause."

"But the details of the event are more than unseemly - they may, in fact, be illegal. Massachusetts's animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal "in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon. "An officer for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation saying "it's definitely something I'd want to check out." The officer, Nadia Branca, declined to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law but did note that it's against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a pick-up truck, and "if the dog was being carried in a way that endangers it, that would be illegal."

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"Dog on Roof? What Was It Like for Romney's Pooch? - Scientists Say Dog Likely Experienced Wind-Whipped, Uncomfortable Trip - "Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. e'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog,".. Jordan Kaplan, the owner of Petaholics, a dog walking service in New York City,
and a lifelong dog owner and dog lover, said Romney's actions were uncalled for"

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"Romney's dog - This is a distinction Mitt Romney probably could do without, but he is surely the first presidential candidate to be attacked for putting a dog with diarrhea in a carrier and tying it to the top of a station wagon. Romney's defense: Seamus liked it. [like the citizens under Romney's RomneyCARE, etc.?] "

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"As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours. As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway."

"Story about dog on car roof comes back to bite Romney - 200 comments from readers complaining of animal cruelty"

[Cboldt]

The writers of the OP completely miss an important point. The issue is not just that the ad is negative, the issue is that it is negative, BASED ON A LIE.

Even truthful negative ads carry risk for a candidate; but here we have a candidate who is demonstrating mendacity, with vigor.

Anyway, what the pundits are deliberately not saying, Newt will bring up, again.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Mitt Romney is cynically going after the older voters with this “Brokaw” ad — They watched Tom Brokaw for years and this is to influence Florida’s aging voter demographic. Tell them they’re being had. Remind them Newt was exonerated of these charges!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The writers of the OP completely miss an important point. The issue is not just that the ad is negative, the issue is that it is negative, BASED ON A LIE.

AND the MSM isn't going to say it either (until of course (and if) Mitt is nominated and THEN they will point out that HE IS A LIAR!).

[mimaw]

Explain to me what Paul Ryan had done to Newty to excuse Newt for attacking Ryan when he came out bravely with his road map to a balanced budget? He attacked it as right wing social engineering. Newt is as nasty and devious as Mitt and we are screwed. A pox on both their houses.

[vmivol00]

Wow. You are defending the gun grabbing socialist in this race? You have been trained well.

[be-baw]

Do you people even think before you post

Clearly you don't unless your objective is to come across as a complete pr!ck