Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Wonkbook: Romney campaign in disarray
WaPo ^ | Monday, September 17, 2012 | Ezra Klein

Posted on 09/17/2012 6:10:05 AM PDT by upchuck

Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei reveal the disarray within the struggling Romney campaign: ”Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s top strategist, knew his candidate’s convention speech needed a memorable mix of loft and grace if he was going to bound out of Tampa with an authentic chance to win... So Stevens, bypassing the speechwriting staff at the campaign’s Boston headquarters, assigned the sensitive task of drafting it to Peter Wehner, a veteran of the last three Republican White Houses and one of the party’s smarter wordsmiths. Not a word Wehner wrote was ever spoken. Stevens junked the entire thing, setting off a chaotic..., scramble that would produce an hour of prime-time problems for Romney.”

The bottom line of the Politico story: ”Romney associates are baffled that such a successful corporate leader has created a team with so few lines of authority or accountability.” Romney’s mishandling of the Middle East crisis was driven by desperation. ”Suddenly, the president was facing just the kind of externality that his team had been bracing for: a full-blown ­foreign-policy crisis less than eight weeks out from Election Day. And a campaign marked by stasis and even torpor was jolted to life as if by a pair of defibrillator paddles applied squarely to its solar plexus. Moments like this are not uncommon in presidential elections, and when they come, they tend to matter. For unlike the posturing and platitudes that constitute the bulk of what occurs on the campaign trail, big external events provide voters with something authentic and valuable: a real-time test of the temperament, character, and instincts of the men who would be commander-in-chief. And when it comes to the past week, the divergence between the resulting report cards could hardly be more stark…Here was ­America under attack, with four dead on foreign soil. [snip]

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-75 next last
Don't ya just love it when a LSM outlet posts an excerpt from another LSM outlet. Perhaps Ezra Klein can't do better?
1 posted on 09/17/2012 6:10:08 AM PDT by upchuck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Rmney DID NOT mishandle the middle east crisis. Btw, Obama DID CAUSE the middle east crisis.

I HATE the mainstream media.


2 posted on 09/17/2012 6:12:19 AM PDT by KansasGirl ("If you have a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."--B. Hussein Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Ezra Klein and Dana Millbank have catfights to see which one can be 0bama’s Monica.


3 posted on 09/17/2012 6:12:32 AM PDT by Perdogg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Shouldn’t that be “wankbook”?


4 posted on 09/17/2012 6:13:43 AM PDT by Fresh Wind ('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Ezra Klein, founder of Journolist, is at it again. Trying to create a narrative that Obama is ahead and Romney is in disarray and that the election is pretty much over. The article should have been entitled, “Go Home Conservatives, Romney Lost Already.”


5 posted on 09/17/2012 6:14:33 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

>> Romney’s mishandling of the Middle East crisis was driven by desperation.

The only thing setting this theme is the collusive behavior of the Mainstream Media.

America would do itself a great service by driving the figurative stake in the heart of deceitful Leftwing Media. No money, no Media.

We’re really not taking this problem seriously!


6 posted on 09/17/2012 6:14:41 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Demoralization is a weapon of the enemy. Don't get it, don't spread it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Romney’s campaign is terrible.

they are doing a terrible job and he is acting like a complete wimp.

They need to get out in front today. Hire a new manager, who is going to take the lead, say the things Paul Ryan’s been saying, but not being heard because it is Ryan and not Romney, but today.

This morning.

Now.


7 posted on 09/17/2012 6:15:55 AM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck
Go read the article. Excerpt after excerpt slamming Romney.

Politico
New York Magazine
WaPo
WSJ
NYT
etc.

8 posted on 09/17/2012 6:16:12 AM PDT by upchuck (If nobama is reelected and gets to choose more SCOTUS judges, this country is finished.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stanne

How many Presidental (or any) campaigns have you run?


9 posted on 09/17/2012 6:17:16 AM PDT by Perdogg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

>> Don’t ya just love it when a LSM outlet posts an excerpt from another LSM outlet.

It’s telling that klein didn’t mention the ORIGIN of allen/vanderhei’s gauzy chaos claims: “unnamed sources within the Romney campaign”.


10 posted on 09/17/2012 6:17:23 AM PDT by Nervous Tick ("You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Ignore these outlets all you want, they are what the voters read.

Romney had better figure out how to deal with them immediately.

There is no more time left for him to act reticent.

Time’s up.

He needs to take the lead now, after the Mideast crisis, while it is smoldering.

Now.


11 posted on 09/17/2012 6:18:45 AM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Romney doesn’t strike me as a man with a high tolerance for “disarray.” He strikes me as a man who knows how to plan manage a project so that disarray is prevented.


12 posted on 09/17/2012 6:18:51 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

If, in fact, the campaign is in ‘disarray,’ I can’t say I’m surprised. Romney is a moderate-to-liberal Republican, who has surrounded himself over the course of his political career with moderate-to-liberal advisors. Now, they have to figure out a way to appeal to (and motivate) a conservative base. That’s a tough task.


13 posted on 09/17/2012 6:19:00 AM PDT by Conscience of a Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

YES~! Romneys campaign is HORRIBLE

Obama has it in the bag!! No reason for Democraps to even go out to vote!!!

In fact, they expect so much Obama Support they added another day on Wednesday for Obama Voters. And you get some Free Obama Money if you show up to vote (only on Wednesday!)


14 posted on 09/17/2012 6:19:04 AM PDT by Mr. K (Reagan: “Washington is where good ideas go to die.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

I swear I heard the whole entire week of the RNC that ROMNEY wrote the speech himself. 17 drafts last I heard before the final night tweaking it.


15 posted on 09/17/2012 6:19:26 AM PDT by Qwackertoo (Romney/Ryan 2012 The Future of Our Children and Their Children are at stake.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

The lapdogs are dutifully donning their knee pads to expound on the meme set by Politico in their Sunday night article.

And the chicken littles on FR are predictably crying “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.”

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Go, Romney/Ryan!


16 posted on 09/17/2012 6:19:49 AM PDT by randita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Fact is, Obama’s foreign policy is in disarray, setting the entire world on edge, and not a peep.


17 posted on 09/17/2012 6:21:49 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (I'm starting a business. Who's going to build it for me?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Perdogg

I’d sure like to see Romney handle the media instead of it handling him.

Wouldn’t you?

Obama will move after the election very quickly whether he loses or not. I know this. The Romney campaign could show that they get what this guy is all about.

Not one thing would surprise me about Ob.

The time for them to quit pretending Ob is a nice guy is over - but way long ago.


18 posted on 09/17/2012 6:21:57 AM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

I’ve read the whole original article and it does not even remotely depict a campaign in disaray.


19 posted on 09/17/2012 6:22:08 AM PDT by Andrei Bulba (No Obama, no way!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

Yes, it is the left trying onceg again to lie, cheat and do anything they can to keep BO in the Whit House!


20 posted on 09/17/2012 6:23:12 AM PDT by JFC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-75 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson