Posted on 02/26/2013 4:03:57 AM PST by IbJensen
Meaning Romney Was Also An Idiot For Not Noticing ...
Sometime before Election Day, before the debates, people already knew Stuart Stevens and his team were in over their heads. From the utter fiasco of Romney’s convention speech, which he stripped down to a thin gruel of bland forgettable pablum (and of course, stripped of any mention of America’s servicemen and women abroad), throwing aside Bush’s micro-targetting programmed wholesale, allowing his Hollywood aspirations to make him give the prime speaking slot at the RNC to Clint Eastwood (without any vetting) instead of people who would humanize his candidate, I just thought at the time, that Stu Stevens was simply disorganized.
Then, we found out about ORCA, and the fact that Stevens and his team (Moffat, et al.) still thought the system performed well because … “metrics”. Then came the revelation that Stevens had no concept of the idea that what voters tell pollsters is often quite different from what would actually influence them in favor of candidate A or B.
Then we discovered the wide disparity in both quality, quantity and reach of advertising (in Obama’s favor), despite the fact that this was supposed to be where Stevens was going to dominate and make up for months of unanswered attacks – down the home stretch the Obama Campaign and its allies outperformed Romney and every single Conservative SuperPAC on every possible measure; “[Obama] spent less on advertising than Romney and his allies but got far more — in the number of ads broadcast, in visibility in key markets and in targeting critical demographic groups, such as the working class and younger voters in swing states … Romney not only paid more for his ads but also missed crucial opportunities to advertise, for instance during the political conventions and on Spanish-language television …”
When it came to online advertising, the graph to your right tells you the entire story.
Considering the horrendous amount of what was very rightly called campaign malpractice in that WaPo piece, there actually is a viable argument that Mitt Romney could take Stuart Stevens and Co. to court for fraud.
But as they say; never attribute to malice what can just as easily be attributed to abject stupidity.
Top Romney Strategist Stuart Stevens Says Media Not ‘In The Tank’ For President Obama.
Ever since then-Senator Barack Obama first took a lead in the 2008 Democratic primary, the political news media has faced the accusation that they are “in the tank” for the now-second term President Obama. On Sunday morning’s Reliable Sources, the press got a qualified defense from a surprising source: Mitt Romney chief strategist Stuart Stevens. Host Howard Kurtz asked Stevens if ” much of the media is in the tank for Barack Obama,” to which Stevens replied, “In the tank? I would say no.”
“Do you believe, today, that much of the media is in the tank for Barack Obama?” Kurtz asked.
Stevens replied, “It’s not a yes or a no question. In the tank, I would say no. So, yes or no question, I would say no.”
Kurtz pressed the line of questioning several times. “Too sympathetic to the President? How would you put it?” he asked.
“I think after the election, you’ll have a lot tougher questions that will be asked because you’re out of an election environment,” Stevens replied. “I think you’re seeing that this past weekend with this whole golf outing. I think they will be more critical now.”
A surprised Kurtz asked, “You’re saying the press should be finally more critical about the fact that President Obama went golfing with Tiger Woods?”
“The degree to which there is not a choice between him and a Republican candidate makes it easier for them to be tougher on the President,” Stevens replied. “That’s natural.”
In hindsight; there was no way Mitt Romney could have won with the team he assembled, and I am truly flabbergasted that I was so wrong to assume that Romney would bring the same A-game he brought to selecting teams to turn around failing companies to his campaign.
The fact that Stu Stevens and his team do not see and actually never saw the media’s heavy bias in favor of the President during the campaign means there was not, at any point, any path to victory for Mitt Romney. People this blind and lacking in perception would have eventually snatched defeat from the jaws of victory no matter what had gone right; these are the people who quickly advised Mitt Romney to “tone it down” after his excellent performance in the first debate and go into prevent-defense to “appeal to Independents and women.”
Even worse is the fact that these people continue to give themselves high marks for the utter fiasco of a campaign they ran.
Considering what we went through with Steve Schmidt and prior to that, the tragedy that was the Bush White House’s political and communications operation, I’ve had to come to the sad conclusion that right now, when it comes to political operatives, electoral experts, campaign strategists, etc, Democrats get the cream of the crop, while Republicans are stuck with the slimy fetid fungus that feeds on the decaying scum encrusting the bottom of the barrel.
Voter fraud in Ohio, Florida and Virginia did him in.
Another Reason Romney Lost: He Had A Full Blown Idiot Running His Campaign.
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yes he did have..
and it wasnt Stuart Stevens..
Romney’s own son said the man wasn’t really interested in the job....
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That in itself is treasonous...
More proof Liberal two times draft dodging Willard doesnt love or respect America...
If he did he wouldnt have run but would have got behind one of the Conservatives who ran...
Read Zombies “The Secret Life of Willard Mitty” for a good take on the Mitt Mind. I think Steve Sailor has the best summation for the failure that was the Romney 10 year Campaign!
I read that from the son and your reaction was my reaction: treasonous.
If not to the nation, then certainly to those who yearned for the guiding hand of a conservative president. (Which Mitt wouldn’t have been....but...can of worms...)
I think the loser Romney was picked by the GOPe w/ the intention to clear a nomination for red Jeb Bush in 2016. I loved how all the hard-on for Romney/Ryan Freepers were so Full of Shitte stupid and meek but erupted into savage warriors with the mere mention of PAUL! I will not vote for any BUSH in 2016.
Right on. The GOP is not stupid or spineless. Its not bad luck, idiot voters, the "liberal" media, or those wascally ol' Democrats.
Mitt Romney took a dive like a Don King boxer. And it wasn't for money or fame or pride. It's because he agrees with Obongo's agenda or, more precisely, the agenda of the men that pull Barry's strings.
Mitt was there to keep any real Christian conservative from winning. He relished that role because he hates Christian conservatives like his Dad did.
The "plan" was a Bush dynasty---until stupid Dubya got duped by the pukeneos---and installed them in the WH Office of Special Ops. ONLY the pukes had the list of Mideast countries the US was to invade without provocation.
War profiteering were never from the pukes sordid little minds---Puke guru Richard Perle is starting an oil company in Iraq with his share of billions.
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Now, when we hear "Bush" we think "debacle---trillions of US dollars down those hellholes and rivers of young blood shed."
BTW---the opportunistic pukes are still loitering around politicians --- Rubio hired a puke for his planned 2016 campaign (barf bag, please).
I guess Perle needs another couple hundred billion US tax dollars for his oil business. (cackle)
” Who could believe there was a candidate stupider than McCain-—but there was-—and his name was Romney.”
I shudder to think who the next stupid, nonconservative fool will be....
Romney could do fine when focused on making money with his largely Mormon friends, and with the Mormons behind him to boost his efforts and public profile and coming from a family of wealth, power, and celebrity, but he is terrible when trying to operate in the world of regular Americans, and in elective politics.
I call it Madonna smarts, Madonna has made three times Romney’s money, not because she is broadly, widely, brilliant like a Reagan, but because she is bright, and is single mindedly focused on making money, kind of the way a cat can appear smart because his focus is so narrow and concentrated.
-PJ
“free stuff” works.
I know of one, yes an anecdote, conservative who went to the evil side because he applied for disability and thought obama paper pushers would be more likely to give it to him. (no clue what his disability is or would be since he does not show) Either way, he is a person not to hire or go into business with.
I think that it was running pro-abortion ads is what hurt him, especially in Ohio.
Running pro-choice ads, and coming out against the party's pro-life platform just before the election, is no way to turn out the voters of the pro-life party.
He also ran a very INcompetent campaign. Orca failed miserably, along with Rove, whose playbook Stevens used.
A friend of mine has been on the inside of over 25 campaigns. He said he this was among the worst he's seen. If he had half of the money Romney and his PAC's did, we'd have a different winner.
Geez. I could write a volume, but why bother?
Romney wasn’t Conservative.
I do.
A lot of CEO's delegate. I see it with candidates quite often too. They like to meet people and focus on what they can control. Admin is someone else's job. Their manager sees this slick new program that sounds great. ORCA. Perfect. It evens the score from the dems. Right? If it works....
Consultants from DC are in a bubble and use that to try and affect campaign message. Doesn't work either.
Not even close. Obama was a privileged kid like Romney.
The other parts I don't disagree with, but an old school fighter would have at least given us all a chance.
The power of incumbency, the "historical nature" of his presidency, his celebrity status and pitch for a mulligan ensured Obama had a lock no matter who or what Republicans nominated. It was further undermined by the strategy of divide-and-conquer that ensured Pontius Pilot "conservatives" sat out at the polls and GOTV efforts.
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