Tuesday, January 15, 2008
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Dean Barnett on the Mitt Romney He Knows
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
12:50 PM
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The former Townhall blogger and Romney supporter writes it in the NYT on his disappointment with the Romney campaign. I'm with him on this, though I've never been a Romney supporter.
In short, his take is that Mitt Romney is a decent man with a sense of duty to his country whose campaign has communicated that he's a insincere man of political ambition. Some of the responsibility for this-- if not the bulk-- undoubtedly lies with the candidate, but it's a shame it happened.
The feeling of insincerity was born of the fact that Romney tried to be the "social conservative" in the race when he was up against McCain and Giuliani. Now, I believe he's a social conservative and I trust his conversion on certain issues, but I don't believe that those are the issues he wants to be talking about, and it shows. By contrast, when he does talk about the issues he wants to talk about-- managerial and fiscal-- he's really a pleasure to listen to. The only time I've gotten a sort of energy from him, he was talking to a Club for Growth audience, and making his story of corporate success and his desire to change Washington interesting.
Before Romney started trying to please all the conservatives all the time, I was very interested in his early narrative-- that he had overhauled the Olympics and several businesses and had managed the legislature in Massachusetts, of all places, and could do the same in Washington. They lost me when he veered away from that.
Once you make his stance on life and family issues, to which he was just recently converted, central to the campaign, you've lost the authenticity and electricity he had talking fiscal issues. That leads to people thinking you've got a rich candidate who just really wants to be president.
That being said, though, I think Romney has been ill-served by the legendary wimpyness of the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire. God bless you guys, but the aversion to "negative" advertising borders on silly.
Romney was an unknown compared to the two front-runners-- McCain and Giuliani-- when he started the race. He had to run a bunch of ads, and he had to make clear contrasts between himself and his opponents. Why vote for a relatively unknown Massachusetts governor unless he tells you who he is and why you should?
Fully 30 percent of Republican voters, according to the N.H. exit poll, thought Mitt Romney ran the most "unfair" campaign. There was a line of questioning about Romney's "attack" ads during the last debate before the New Hampshire primary, during which K-Lo observed, rightly:
McCain sounds silly complaining about issue ads. Talking about issues is good. But to New Hampshire voters, he didn't sound silly. Romney ran some negative ads, but they weren't unfair or overly bare-knuckled. It's fair to remind voters what McCain stands for and that it's often been out-of-line--and belligerently out-of-line-- with the rest of his party and conservative values.
Frankly, it's a little annoying that the famously flinty people of New Hampshire and Iowa have to be treated with kid-gloves when it comes to simple campaign ads. I understand that they're inundated, but I was in New Hampshire for five days, I saw the ads, and none of them were even close to over-the-top. We should be grown-up enough to deal with the fact that candidates differ and want to point out their opponents' differences to gain ground.
I look forward to South Carolina's take on this stuff, where they have no such predilections about negative ads. In the meantime, Romney has to show he can win in Michigan to stay in this thing. Delegates aside--and Romney has collected a few-- you can't trudge through the entire primary season without an outright win under your belt, can you? If he doesn't get one on his home turf, where's he gonna get one without sloughing his reputation as the Michelle Kwan of the primary season? People like to vote for a winner-- even a winner that bugs the mess out of them, like McCain does-- and McCain has shown he can win in a primary and would be formidable in a general.
Allah's predicting an upset for Mitt, based on the fact that the Romney camp is confident enough to be running ads in S.C. He's still up two points in the RCP poll average, but I'm not sure I see it coming through for him.
Stay tuned for Townhall coverage of returns and the Democrat debate tonight...
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Brian Akira,
Sounds like you're resentful of Hugh Hewitt.
Are you a former student of his who failed his constitutional law class at Chapman ?
By the way, if you're looking for employment, I can get you an interview with the talent booker at The Laugh Factory in LA.
Here's to hoping that your career in stand-up is more fruitful than your career in law.
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Mark. 11 January 2008. "Romney in Seven Words"
http://www.redstate.com/blogs/mark_i/2008/jan/11/romney_in_ seven_words
On Wednesday, after his loss in the New
Hampshire primary, Gov. Mitt Romney returned to
Boston to lick his wounds and conduct a telephone
fundraiser before heading off to his next must win
state of Michigan. ABC Radio microphones were
there and they featured an audio quote from
Romney in their top of the hour news broadcasts.
Romney was encouraging his phone bank
volunteers with a little pep talk when he
unintentionally summed up his entire campaign;
ironically hitting upon the reason why he has failed
to gain any traction with conservatives despite
spending the most money of any Republican. ABC
News Radio was contacted by telephone and
confirmed the following quote from their report.
"Hit the phones today make all the promises you
have to, and…make sure that we get the funds that
we need to keep on propelling this campaign
forward with power and energy."
“Make all the promises you have to.”
That’s Romney in a nutshell. Of all the Republicans
running, he alone has sought to clarify, cover, and
indeed change past positions in an attempt to curry
favor with conservatives. In the process, Romney
has developed a reputation not as a principled
conservative, but as a politician who will say almost
anything and take almost any position to win votes.
==
Many of Romney’s supporters who are perplexed by
his many positions or who feel abandoned by their
candidate’s focusing on Michigan....
more comments
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952384/posts
Advocates for gay and abortion rights and the environment say the GOP
candidate misled them on his positions
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/25/78/
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Thanks for the heads up, another knife in the back of conservatives by GWB. I can hardly wait to see what McCaneon Bonaparte has in store for us. |
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[Mundus on January 15, 2008 3:56 PM]"To hear Romney discuss Michigan, advocate for the Automotive Industry, and relate an understanding in context of the importance of the industry and Detroit and Michigan to the world, knowing what it was and giving hope based on his experience and background as a businessman to those of us who grew up, here, as he did, makes one
realize how abandoned we are."
SCM employees on businessman Mitt's job-cutting
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/05/30/these-ads-kept-mit t-romne_n_49954.html
Club for Growth. 21 August 2007. "Mitt Romney's Record on Economic Issues"
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/08/mitt_romneys_record_on _economi.php
He opposed Ballot Question 1 to eliminate the state income tax and proposed an auto excise tax on SUVs and a greenfields tax on the development of ocean space.[13]
==
on the campaign trail offers hope that Governor Romney's previous ambivalence on tax policy is more a function of Massachusetts politics than his core beliefs. |
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in MI by a landslide of 1%. Hugh also declares that Romney wins South Carolina by another landslide.
And any future debates Romney is the winner. Fran Putz's focus group meter was off the charts. |
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go on record as sayin' that I'm gonna go all in with Mitt (**if Fred doesn't make it)
Mitt's gotta stay in- and he and Fred gotta git rid of McCain, Huck, and Rudy.
They HAVE to make sure folks know about McCain's Amnesty bill- heck some Michigan folks said they didn't know fer sure but they were CERTAIN that McCain is FIRMLY AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!!
Folks don't know how liberal Huck is either.
It's gotta be Fred or Mitt. But Mitt needs to RELAX and be himself! He's GOT TO QUIT TRYIN' TO BE ALL THINGS TO ALL FOLKS! |
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I am sorry, but the Romney you describe is not the Romney campaigning in Michigan.He was and has been on the mark in Michigan by highlighting the economy for months.Michigan has been not only abandoned by Washington,its own senators and most of its representatives, and most in the state government,but it has been slammed by legislation.
To hear Romney discuss Michigan, advocate for the Automotive Industry, and relate an understanding in context of the importance of the industry and Detroit and Michigan to the world, knowing what it was and giving hope based on his experience and background as a businessman to those of us who grew up, here, as he did,makes one
realize how abandoned we are.
You have to understand what has been happening here.Over 300K, possibly, 500K,have lost jobs since 2000.Families have had to split up to find jobs. So incompetent is the Governor and her economic team, they misread a $500M surplus as a deficit, and proceeded to
raise taxes and assess a service tax across the spectrum from astrologers to auto companies.
It has been hopeless, here, but his experience , understanding of the state and globalisation and its dynamics, and what Michigan is about supported by his character and demeanor does make communicates on a personal level with the voters.
His messages did not change or waver.He was talking to the choir and rang with sincerity.We know, what happens in Michigan will occur in every other state over time. By saying this, we know he knows Michigan.
He's authentic.The people love him wherever he goes.He is strong, but kind and gracious.Ann is a treasure.Given half a chance, he can be like his Father, who was liked by Democrats as well as Republicans.
Even the Media has come around with one big exception, the actual numbers of past primaries and Iowa.It has to be held to account.McCain, Huckabee, and even Edwards have taken his message point by point.
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Sam posted this link to my blog yesterday about Bush's sellout on gun rights.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59 674
The stock market is going through its worst start since 1978. That is no accident since we have been suffering through the GOP Jimmy Carter since 2000. Yeah, I know, the millions of new government jobs. Talk to the hand. |
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McCain has had his chances. It seems that no one wants to take a look at his voting record, I mean lack of voting record for 2007. I want someone new in the White House. No more of the good ole gang. I support Romney for the "Change" that I want. |
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This will doom Huckabee....
"And that’s what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards"
He said this yesterday at one of his rally's.
Can you spell T-H-E-O-C-R-A-C-Y ? |
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Romney DOES already have a first place win...and two second places. He is the ONLY candidate who can stop the liberals Huckabee and McCain. Vote Romney! |
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People who are supposedly disgruntled with Romney are running into the arms of who? Huckabee? McCain? And these guys are better how? |
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All the McCainiacs and Huckabots?
No worries Joe and company will show up soon. |
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MKH wrote;
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"Frankly, it's a little annoying that the famously flinty people of New Hampshire and Iowa have to be treated with kid-gloves when it comes to simple campaign ads. I understand that they're inundated, but I was in New Hampshire for five days, I saw the ads, and none of them were even close to over-the-top. We should be grown-up enough to deal with the fact that candidates differ and want to point out their opponents' differences to gain ground."
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I agree.
However, you don't have to travel as far as to New Hampshire or Iowa to find self-righteous folks who melt down upon seeing an ad by candidate X which crticizes candidate Y.
Your Townhall buddy Matt Lewis has written numerous posts slamming Romney for running "negative" ads. And even the normally tough-fibred Michael Medved has used his radio microphone to rail against Romney for running "negative" ads.
Personally, I don't think Romney's ads are negative.
Romney is merely reminding voters of the records of his opponents.
It's pretty ironic that Lewis would assert that Romney's ads constitute "negative" campaigning, especially considering Lewis is the guy with a Townhall archive full of "negative" posts slamming Rudy and Mitt during 2007.
Lewis is the fellow who focused a lot of attention on Rudy's w-i-f-e when Rudy was the frontrunner, and Lewis also wrote that ridiculous post about Jeri Thompson a few months ago where he reported that some bitter old guys were sore that Jeri didn't spend enough time shaking their hands at fundraisers---boo hoo !
In Lewis' universe, those posts are all 'fair play,' but Romney running ads which point out how McCain voted or what Huckabee did as Governor is somehow 'out of bounds.'
But unlike Lewis, at least Medved is publicly honest about being a McCain supporter. |
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Hillary is still singing the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" tune (all the Dems, really), not realizing it is her swan song.
The only issue I have ever seen 75-80% of Americans agree on is stopping illegal aliens. Any GOP candidate that is credible (not Rudy, McCain, or Huckabee) on this issue could win in a landslide.
The biggest problem is the RNC has sold it's soul to the cheap labor express. They are determined to nominate an amnesty candidate, even if it means losing the election. Stupid Party, indeed.
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No, I'm not Jack M., so it's not going to be an epic poem. I'm still working over what Allahpundit would call "SECOND LOOK AT ROMNEY!", but there are a couple of notes I'm going off of.
First, I have to agree with our lovely hostess that Mitt Romney exudes energy when talking about the economy. I do believe my exact words after listening to him speak at the Defending the American Dream summit were, "Romney blew me away". That speech was all about the economy and storming Washington.
That having been said, I cannot forget, or ultimately, forgive him for forcing government-mandated health care down Massachusetts' throat. There is precious little difference between a public-private combo mandate and a purely-public one.
Morever, we're entering the 8th year of somebody who "worked well with 'Rats at the state level", and I believe we all know how poorly that went.
There's more on both sides, but I don't particularily-like hijacking. |
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A fair critical article on Romney. I am sick of all the articles attacking Romney in a nasty misleading way, this is what a critical article on Romney should look like.
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While Dean makes a good appeal, the facts are this - it is how Mitt Romney wanted his campaign run. Don't go blaming the consultants or the campaign. This is the way Mitt Romney wants his campaign run. He now needs to live with the flip flopper image which will haunt him in the general.
A Romney nomination will lead to a Clinton or Obama win. John McCain has always been the only Republican that can beat either one in head to head match ups. Go visit Real Clear Politics to see the truth:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/nati onal.html
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I read Dean's article in the link above.
Evidently he knows Mr. Romney personally which gives his observations credibility in my world.
Because I have family members who have worked with and for Mr. Romney in various capacities, I also have enormous respect for Gov. Romney.
He has not been the favored child of the media; in fact, he's been the favorite target of the media, alway tacking on a phrase to diminish what was the good news with a "yes, but..." disclaimer to take away any positive information.
What remains is the man is honest, hard working, principled, disciplined, skilled, successful in many executive venues, and willing to serve this country. He brings skills and leadership skills to the table that no other candidate can match!
It appears he tried to tell the American voters too many things that needed fixing in Washington and the voters had an information overload. His detractors were able to take his openness and multi-pronged programs to fix Washington and distort his message as a flip-flop.
Too bad he hasn't had more allies in the media. He certainly has the endorsement of a wide spectrum of experts supporting his candidacy.
One of Dean's points was that Mitt is too decent
in the muddy world of Ted Kennedy and the current crop of opponents who are willing to stoop low and plant unfair ideas in the minds of the voters. Mitt has stuck to debating voting records, policy records, and leadership experience - not injecting personal issues into his debate.
Wake up, America. We all need a smart, prepared, experienced executive leader in the White House. We need Mitt. |
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I agree. I too have ruled out voting for the open borders candidates.
What is wrong with these voters? Why didn't Duncan Hunter catch on? I'm still scratching my head about that.
I like Thompson, as you do, but I see so little energy in him. I'm doing him a favor by not contributing to putting him into a office he'd rather not hold.
I have concluded that, unless Hunter has a miraculous jump in popularity, I will vote for Romney, despite the misgivings I have had about him. Romney has, as you point out, gotten right on the issues. In addition, he has a lifetime of success in various venues. He is bright, articulate, energetic, and skilled in management. We could do worse, and we certainly have done worse since Reagan.
We simply don't have an ideal situation this year. |
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Mitt got his advice from people like Hugh who made him communicate something he wasn't..so he naturally came across as a panderer given his prior positions..he finds himself in this predicament and will continue to feel that way..
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llee, Relax stud, We are going to see McCain Scream in a few more hours in anger ! I can not wait. I feel like a little kid. I am so giddy.
It will be so sweet watching that old F**k, go bananas. I am going to go eat some steak and lobster hahah.
I am so confident, because Romney according to precincts in most of the Detroit area, are heavily breaking for Romney. While the Democrat and independent voters are being outnumbered by Republicans by roughly an 8-1 margin, according to people who are working at these polling locations.
Republicans as you well know "llee", in the past 3 contests all broke for Romney. So it looks like team Romney, is now just waiting for the polls to close. The loss for McCain, will end his inflated support.
A win tonight in Michigan for Mitt, will allow him to re-gain Voters that had little hope. A fire will be ignited that will burn white hot.
I estimate the Romney win tonight, will lower "Amnesty McCain's" South Carolina's numbers by roughly 5 % off his numbers.
This is likely to happen, in my judgement, because it will allow "fence sitters" to break towards Romney and away from Liberal McCain.
As Mitt's Support is material. McCain can only win in closed Primaries, if Romney had lost tonight which is not going to transpire.
It is now all fun going on to Nevada. Romney will easily win this state with it's heavy Mormon population. It is only going to get more improbable, that McCain can win states going past South Carolina, for the simple reason that there are few "OPEN PRIMARIES LEFT IN THE UNION".
The reason I say McCain's support is based on "inflation" is because it is. He is hated by the base.
Now that people can see Romney is BACK IN THE GAME, ask yourself this question.
Why would Most Republicans vote for McCain, when we can WIN with a Conservative ?
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Rather than run in the GOP primary as the "conservative Republican" candidate, I believe the primary strategy Romney ought to have taken is that he has been elected in blue state Taxachusetts and thus is the "most electable" GOP candidate to beat a Democrat in a general election. (Rudy ought to be likewise trumping his election victories in NYC)
Romney could have made his vast business and managerial experience as well as his "Washington outsider" status as his trump card in order to attract independents and moderates in a general election.
I know that the "usual" strategy in a GOP primary is to campaign as the most conservative, but since there is some serious GOP/Bush fatigue among the general electorate, the strategy among Republicans ought to be, "Which Republican can win a general election against a Democrat ?"
Now that Romney's campaigned in the GOP primary as the "conservative candidate," he risks not appealing to independents and moderates in the general election, if he's the nominee.
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Is any ad that mentions another candidate's record now considered negative? I don't get it. Romney's ads pointed out the record of Huckabee as AR governor and McCain's voting record in the Senate.
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but having moved to CA, I speak from personal experience to how insulated NH is from the realities the rest of the increasingly non-white America has had to deal with. Their attitudes would be completely different if the state wasn't almost completely white. It's one thing to invite the only black or Latino couple you know to the wedding or party to prove you are tolerant. It's another thing when everywhere you go, non-whites are present in significant numbers if not the majority. Most of the country has accepted this reality and moved on. NH is still stuck in the 1950s while looking down on the rest of us. It is easy for a McCain to march in and pander to NH voters because they live in a make-believe America. |
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I find it incredible, even ludicrous, that the Republican Party would essentially let non-Republicans determine who OUR candidate will be, or at least the direction of the campaign. Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan all allow cross-party voting. There is a specific campaign from Moveon.org to have Democratic voters vote for a specific Republican so that they can knock a guy out. And even sillier is that two of them, Iowa and New Hampshire are so small and otherwise so insignificant. Heck, in New Hampshire, you don't even have to be a resident to vote in the primary.
Now, I understand why the RNC has penalized the State Party iin Florida (understand, not agree). It seems to me that the States that should really be punished are those that allow cross-party voting. What they are doing to Florida Republicans is for a technical thing, a violation of the rules; what cross-party voting permits is, to a degree, for non-Republicans to decide our future, and it gets to the heart of the primary process. |
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No Rudy, No McCain, No Huckabee
Romney and Thompson are saying the right things now, but haven't always. Hunter and Tancredo have been working on this for years on our behalf. Longer than most of you have been alarmed about it, they have been trying to sound the alarm. Choose carefully in the primaries, your future depends on it. |
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It's really ridiculous that Michigan is decided by independents and to some extent democrats. I can't conceive of an election more geared to benefit republican mavericks. So it is studpid to insist that Romney must win Michigan. Iowa and New Hampshire were at one time good opportunities for Romney, but once Huckabee began his Pastor-in-chief campaign it was a lost cause. Evangelicals turned out to support him in record numbers. Romney won the largest percent of voters that voted on issues other than religion. In New Hampshire the independents voted in large numbers and their man has always been McCain. Again Romney won the highest percentage of voters that consider themselves conservatives and republican. He won Wyoming. Now the attention is on Michigan. Why would a candidate have to throw in the towel for the Republican nomination because he didn't win the independent or democrat vote? Most of those voters will vote for the democratic nominee anyway. And so it goes... Do we get rid of all the nominee's that can't win a state that is heavily influenced by independents and democrats, or do we wait to see what the mainstream republicans want? Personally I am from a state out west and I want a say in this to. Let me cast my vote before you throw Romney under the independents bus. |
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