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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
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To: ScottinVA

Sigh.

No kidding.


61 posted on 09/17/2012 7:12:42 AM PDT by stanne
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To: stanne

I dont think so. This is the memo for the week to avoid talking about barrys failures. Just keep chugging along,releasing ads and forcing barry to act(like he just did with China) and all is well


62 posted on 09/17/2012 7:15:06 AM PDT by italianquaker ( 17 percent of the tea partiers support barry obama, the fox poll said so lol)
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To: upchuck

Disarray, no. They’re just experiencing the same cranial explosion as the rest of us trying to figure out why Obama’s not down twenty points.


63 posted on 09/17/2012 7:17:09 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: italianquaker

And it works for his voters.

They do not care about this country, just what Ob can do for them.


64 posted on 09/17/2012 7:17:19 AM PDT by stanne
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To: stanne
Ignore these outlets all you want, they are what the voters read.

It's called, "Singing to the choir!"

65 posted on 09/17/2012 7:17:50 AM PDT by lonestar (It takes a village of idiots to elect a village idiot.)
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To: upchuck

Ezra Klein is an outright liar. He is a democrat through and through, and in fact, is lying and doing anything he can to stop Romney.


66 posted on 09/17/2012 7:25:50 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: stanne
Huh?

You're laboring under the delusion that Romney can somehow get the media to fairly present his message and get it in front of the electorate? You think all Romney needs to do is "get in front of this" and the msm will willingly make his message available to millions of voters in language even the most stupid voter will understand?

Are you for real?

67 posted on 09/17/2012 7:32:28 AM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: stanne
Romney is showing leadership. He didn't back down from his comments on the Middle East when reporters tried to make him sound like he committed some horrible gaffe. What do you mean he "won't get out in front of the media about this Mideast thing"

You think if Romney campaigned by calling Obama a horrible person would really play well in most of America?

I don't even like Romney and I hate being put in a position to defend the guy, but damn get it together and show a little backbone. The sky isn't falling. Romney is ahead in the national polls, way ahead in independent voters, and ahead in battleground states.

68 posted on 09/17/2012 7:58:01 AM PDT by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: KansasGirl; All

The MSM is set on talking points:

-Romney is Desperate
-campaign is disorganized
-Romeny campaign is like Kerry Campaign (an effort to attack via conservative dislike of lefi-cusettes)
-Romney’s true and accurate statement on libyia was a gaff. (specifically all outlets use the word “gaff”)
-Obama win is inevitable.

There is one definite unforced mistake: Romeny needs to take on the drive by media. HARD. Take out scarburough or the mouthpiece coordinating press corps.

____

in related news: anyone been watching becks channel 212?


69 posted on 09/17/2012 8:05:40 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Qwackertoo

I suspect this crybaby was a sacrifical annode to distract the media. They did not trust him so they gave him busywork.


70 posted on 09/17/2012 8:13:45 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: CapnJack

Medicare voters, those who pelosi will EASILY scre with “take your social security check away”, are still dependend on the slum of network news. They don’t get it. They still think walter cronkit was honest insteal of a left leaning scum.


71 posted on 09/17/2012 8:18:20 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Durus; Mase

“You think if Romney campaigned by calling Obama a horrible person would really play well in most of America?”

I never suggested this.

“You’re laboring under the delusion that Romney can somehow get the media to fairly present. . .”

I never suggested this either.

I did suggest that Romney will do a very good job as president (that’s a quote) and that it won’t be pleasant to watch him continue as he’s done and then get creamed in the debates by people actually campaigning for Ob.

NOT looking forward to that.


72 posted on 09/17/2012 11:36:26 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Durus; Mase

Oh, OK here we go.

From an article by Thos. Sowell dated Sept 18th for publication tomorrow:

Why lose to a lie because you didn’t bother to explain the truth?
- Thomas Sowell


73 posted on 09/17/2012 11:40:05 AM PDT by stanne
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To: stanne
Too bad Romney doesn't own a whole bunch of newspapers and television stations. Then he could get his message out, in the manner he chooses, rather than rely on the leftist filter.....which, by the way, you seem to believe Romney can influence or manage.

Let me know when the liberal media stops being liberal.

74 posted on 09/17/2012 1:47:48 PM PDT by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: Mase

Well, it’s what he’s up against, so he’d better get it figured out one way or anotther.

His staff lacks the comprehension of the situation. so does the GOP in general.

Rush gets it. So does Mark Steyn, Thos. Sowell, Monica Crowley, Laura Ingraham, even Paul Ryan.

His staff needs to get with it and tell him what’s going on and how to handle it.


75 posted on 09/17/2012 2:44:54 PM PDT by stanne
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