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Anyone Still Believe Me?
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Mitt on Marriage
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The One Constant
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Trudeaus and Terrorism
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A Further Perspective
Is Mitt Minding the Store?
What won’t he know and when won’t he not know it?
Mitt Romney’s performance in last Thursday’s GOP debate in Jacksonville was widely praised for his assertiveness against Newt Gingrich and it may have effectively neutralized the former House Speaker’s victory five days earlier in South Carolina. If Romney earns a decisive victory in Florida, it could prove to be the turning point in winning the Republican nomination. But his debate performance should have instead raised a big red flag.
Romney hoisted and waved the red flag early in the debate during a discussion about illegal immigration. When debate moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Romney about an ad his campaign was running which asserted that Newt Gingrich had called Spanish the language of the ghetto, Romney said, “I haven’t seen the ads. I’m sorry. I don’t get to see all the TV ads.” Romney then turned to Gingrich and asked him if he had said that Spanish was the language of the ghetto. Gingrich denied singling out Spanish and emphasized the importance of learning English. To which Romney replied, “I doubt that’s my ad but we’ll take a look and find out.” Blitzer said he would do just that.
A few minutes later, Blitzer informed Romney that it was one indeed of his ads and that it was running on radio stations in Florida with the tag line, “I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message.” The audience responded by jeering Romney. But Romney cleverly put the issue back on Gingrich and again asked him if he had said Spanish was the language of the ghetto. Instead of asking Romney if he had listened to what he said two minutes earlier, Gingrich again denied he had singled out Spanish in that manner. What he should have done was said something along the lines of, “If Mitt Romney doesn’t know what’s going on in his own campaign, how can we expect him to know what’s going on in the White House?”
Unfortunately, Newt didn’t ask the question and it may have cost him the Republican nomination. Nevertheless, it is question worth asking and it isn’t too late to ask.
To start with, Romney made a point of saying, “I haven’t seen all the ads. I don’t get to see all the ads.” Well, why doesn’t he get to see all the ads? How many new ads does the Romney campaign release in a day? One? Two? Five? Ten? Does he simply not have time to see his ads? If that’s the case, is Romney telling us he can’t spare thirty seconds during the day to preview an advertisement that is not only going out in his name but explicitly says, “I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message”? Well, how can Mitt Romney approve a message he hasn’t seen nor heard?
Then there’s the issue with Romney saying, “I doubt that’s my ad.” At the very least it suggests that he either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the content of his ads. It might be useful for Romney to vet his ads in case he comes across something that isn’t to his liking and can send his team back to the drawing board. At worst, Romney knows damn well it’s his ad and he’s just being dishonest about it. Either way, Romney might be able to get away with feigning ignorance against Newt but chances are he won’t be able to get away with it against President Obama.
But let’s suppose that Romney does get away with it and he defeats Obama this November. If Romney is sworn into office next year, I have a very bad feeling that we could spend a great deal of his presidency writing articles asking, “What did Romney know and when did he know it?”
Now I understand the need for a chief executive to delegate authority whether that chief executive is in charge of running a company, a charity or a country. You don’t want a micromanager like Jimmy Carter who early in his presidency personally reviewed requests to play on the White House tennis court. But there are also limits to delegation, as Ronald Reagan found out during the Iran-Contra scandal. There has to be a healthy balance between trusting your subordinates to carry out their duties and knowing what your subordinates are doing in your name and, more importantly, in the name of our country.
Mitt Romney says we should elect him President because of his experience in the private sector. But I have to wonder if he’s minding the store.
About the Author
Aaron Goldstein writes from Boston, Massachusetts.
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Vivian| 1.31.12 @ 7:15AM
Dead on!
Vern Crisler| 1.31.12 @ 9:31AM
In no way did Romney win the debate. Santorum won it. However, Santorum's win doesn't help Newt, but helps to split the conservative vote. In that sense, only it was a win for Romney. Romney is himself an empty-suited bore.
TrueBlue | 2.1.12 @ 2:30PM
I still can't figure out why the Conservative vote is split between Newt and Santorum. Santorum is much more consistent and has no baggage to hit him on, unlike Newt. Newt is a great speaker, no doubt about it, but we already have a Speaker in Chief in office right now.
Newt did good things in the past, but he flips back and forth too much. In the end he wants to be liked by the general population if not his colleagues in government. He can be put in an advisor position to take advantage of his (sometimes off the wall) ideas, or make him the press secretary so he can squash the annoying media during WH Press Releases, but he should NOT be President. Newt and not Santorum is the one that should drop out.
Brian Mc| 1.31.12 @ 7:31AM
I have a headache and I'm beginning to understand why. We should be debating who has the best plan to overthrow this socialist juggernaut. Instead, we get this and more crap like it and why? Because socialists are running the debates and gearing the talking points to THEIR political ends, that's why.
And now nausea...I think I'm contracting flea-bag flu. Who will finally stand and say what needs to be said? "Socialists, get the hell out of these United States". Oh, that's right, it was said just this past week by Allen West. Is this why the powers-that-be are attempting to redistrict him out of a job? God help us.
former Republican| 1.31.12 @ 12:49PM
The Party isn't debating how to overthrow the socialist juggernaut because they don't intend to overthrow it. The intend to run it. How else do you explain the party hacks' preference for the godfather of socialist medicine in the US?
bull-gator| 1.31.12 @ 7:53AM
romney is a gutless wonder...how do we keep winding up with these wimps as candidates?
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 8:37AM
We end up with these so-called "gutless wonders" because your preferred candidates, unlike Governor Romney, evidently don't have the guts to run.
bull-gator| 1.31.12 @ 12:00PM
my preferred candidate crashed and burned during his first debate performance.
TrueBlue | 2.1.12 @ 2:31PM
Not so much guts as knowing ahead of time that they'll have their entire lives torn through, with the tiniest events making massive headlines and blown all out of proportion. And if the media and libs can't find anything, they'll make stuff up and repeat it often enough that people believe it like they did with Cain.
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 8:31AM
I don't expect Governor Romney to personally vet all the TV, radio and print ads put out under his name, even if it has the stupid legalistic disclaimer, "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message."
By the way, even though I sign them, I don't read rental car agreements, either.
Redatheart| 1.31.12 @ 8:38AM
Renting a car is a rather poor comparison to asking for the job of overseeing and managing $15 trillion and counting in debt. When a candidate runs on his business expertise, yet doesn't even know where his own money is, doesn't impart alot of confidence.
Michael| 1.31.12 @ 8:42AM
Are you saying that you don't mind if the guy with his finger on the nuclear button isn't fully informed? If so, you're the reason we have the government we have had for the past few decades.
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 8:51AM
Well, if you guys were running for president and insisted on reading, viewing and listening to every print, TV and radio ad put out under your name in dozens of media markets every day, you'd never get out the door in the morning.
In our much smaller world, we all nevertheless pick and choose every day what we're going to entrust to others and what we're going to check personally.
I trust my electricity meter is accurate. I don't calculate and write down the wattage every time I turn on a light.
Dai Alanye | 1.31.12 @ 9:56AM
In other words, when Romney says, "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message," he is stating a falsehood?
Just as I thought.
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 5:41PM
Yes, if that's the way you prefer to see it.
Purp| 1.31.12 @ 11:34AM
Banks didn't bother to make sure they knew what they were signing, and now they face millions of ppl they foreclosed on illegally. It matters...
Joe Gause| 1.31.12 @ 6:50PM
For once I agree with you Purple People!
TrueBlue | 2.1.12 @ 2:35PM
The forclosures weren't illegal. People defaulted on the loans and the banks reclaimed the property. Should the bank have given the loan in the first place? Honestly no, but it wasn't illegal, and in many cases due to FDIC-issued quotas they were required to do so. Many smaller local banks were shut down due to being unable to meet the quotas because of their location.
In the end, those people shouldn't have even applied for the loan when they knew they couldn't pay it back, and the federal government shouldn't have guarenteed that they'd foot the bill for any loans that people couldn't be paid for (which they ended up not doing because even they couldn't afford it).
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 5:59PM
PCC, I do expect him to vette them before they air. If not, how is it any different from passing a 2700 page bill that you never read? He might be busy, but he's certainly not that busy that he can't listen to/approve of a 30 second campaign ad.
Redatheart| 1.31.12 @ 8:34AM
Being oblivious about ads w/ his voice tacked at the end is only part of Mitt's selective knowledge.
Martin Gould reports today at Newsmax that at least 23 off shore accounts were left off Mitt's financial disclosure required of his campaign. During the last debate, he admitted he's too busy to manage his own money so a trustee is in charge of his finances. Everything is 'blind' so Mitt can't be held accountable? He doesn't know why he has foreign accounts or why his money is used to prop up foreign banks rather than banks in this country. Thousands of bank employees here have lost jobs in the past few years due to closures. As a compliment to his plan to repeal Dodd-Frank, Romney could announce that he's ordered his trustee to bring all his money back to this country to help American bank employees keep their jobs.
Americans have an expectation that our presidents don't just know what's going on in the country but also have a good grasp and working knowledge of their own personal finances and business involvement. For a man running on the basis of being a cracker jack business person, there seems to be alot of important info regarding his own business that the perceived GOP nominee is lacking. If he has little knowledge of what's going on in his own fiscal house, how can we feel confident there will be transparency and accountability when he's in charge of ours? "Blind" involvement is the last thing we need.
Purp| 1.31.12 @ 11:36AM
Exactly, and especially for a guy who doesn't work for a living - what does he do with his time? He isn't reviewing attack ads apparently. If he's been so used to not working for 10 years or so, how in the h* is he going to be able to be President?
SUBVET| 1.31.12 @ 5:43PM
ROMNEY = EMPTY SUITE
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.31.12 @ 8:38AM
Simply ludicrous .
VonMisesJr| 1.31.12 @ 8:42AM
Like Obama, Pelosi and Reid; Romney is part of the machine. The former did not read the Provisional Personhood and Annulment of the Constitution Act (PPACA) or the Dudd Fwank Financial Stragulatory Bull. They knew pretty much what was in it.
I guess the GOP is pulling a Pelosi and telling us "you have to elect Romney to find out who he is."
Purp| 1.31.12 @ 11:37AM
So, tell me, is it regulations that's holding you back from becoming a millionaire? Is it that you don't work hard enough? Is it that the government is holding you down? Just why aren't YOU a millionaire?
VonMisesJr| 1.31.12 @ 11:59AM
Perp, If your beloved government had not taken so much in taxes from hard working couples, and crashed the markets four times in 25 years, perhaps everyone with a good job would be a millionaire.
In 1987 the government engineered the S&L Scandal, in 1999 caused the Tech Bubble with cheap money, 2001 they failed to protect the homeland with Jamie Gorelick and BJ Clinton erecting a "wall of separation" among our defense agencies, and now the Barney Frank subprime meltdown.
But quite frankly Perpy, I am doing just fine. I live very well and earn money with my brain trading stocks. See, I am the modern "Atlas" who "Shrugged," and said "go figure out how to pay for your own welfare, loser." I doubled my money on silver knowing what Marxist would do to the currency. And you probably just benefited by getting a free EBT card.
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 8:42AM
So now it's a crime to have trusted financial advisors, especially when you've got the kind of wealth Governor Romney has earned? Even Bill O'Reilly says his monthly mutual fund statements run to 18 pages and he doesn't read or understand them.
John - TMF| 1.31.12 @ 9:34AM
Lemme see now...
Romney can't possibly personally vet his campaign's ad material?
Now Romney can't possibly read or understand his financial statements and work with his trustee to have that organization (it's no individual with that amount of money being managed) make sure that the investments are in non-problematic ventures?
Humm... sounds to me like Romney is just the perfect Establishment guy to run the White House; clueless about the details and flexible on the issues. He sure thinks that he would look "good" doing it though.
Yeah, he does sort of remind me of Billy Crystal's over the top portrayal of "Fernando".... "Yooouuu loook mahvelous dahling.... I looook mahvelous, too... Yes?"
ugh..
Boar Hunter| 1.31.12 @ 11:47AM
It's called "Plausible Deniability." Just like all cowards in politics, Romney needs to be able to stand on both sides of every issue. If it blows up, well I can't be held responsible for everything can I?
Dai Alanye | 1.31.12 @ 10:01AM
I trust an accountant to do my tax returns, but I know who's responsible for them. That would be me. Likewise with Romney, of course.
Doesn't this remind you of a certain President famous for buck-passing? That would be Slick Willie Clinton.
PCC| 1.31.12 @ 5:44PM
He's never said he's not responsible for them.
bull-gator| 1.31.12 @ 12:03PM
adjust your meds, dude
Bill| 1.31.12 @ 10:17AM
PLEASE VOTE NEWT GINGRICH!
-Orchestrated the 1994 GOP Revolution
-Balanced the budget 4 times
-Reformed the welfare
-Impeached Bill "Serial Rapist" Clinton
-Passed the Crime Bill
Gingrich will REPEAL Obamacare, the Dodd-Frank Bill, and the Sarbanes-Oxley law. He'll also drop litigation against AZ, SC, AL, GA over immigration and the Voter ID laws.
Gingrich is the "Shadow of Ronald Reagan."
SC voted Gingrich, FL will do so.
DEFEAT ROMNEY!
-Romneycare
-pro abortion
-pro gay marriage
-pro gun control
-pro cap & trade
A "New England big-government liberal RINO."
cicero| 1.31.12 @ 11:25AM
"The Buck Stops Here." And Harry was a Democrat. The problem with Mitt, and for that matter, Obama, is that they have no touch with the working class. Mitt was raised in incredible wealth and political power. Obama was raised to disdain the middle class of this country. Although Newt is now wealthy, he was raised in a solidly middle class household. I have no problems with those who earn whatever wealth they can manage, but I shy away from those throwing candy from the carriage to the huddled masses. Mitt is saying anything he thinks will put him first in line. He REALLY wants to be president. Newt is a student of history. He knows what the next step will be if we don't get this ship turned around.
RJ| 1.31.12 @ 11:49AM
Romney's comments during that exchange with Newt reinforced his "Elmer Gantry" image. This guy will say anything and who knows what he believes in. The Tea Party movement gave life back to the GOP; we deserve a much better candidate than Romney.
Bill| 1.31.12 @ 11:51AM
Romney's "Bain $" and the "Mormon Brigade" cannot save his ass in FL, just like he was sucked in SC. It's the "Great" South. No Country for RINO!
Boar Hunter| 1.31.12 @ 8:47PM
Sadly you were not correct. Romney unfortunately will be our nomination. God help us all.
Boar Hunter| 1.31.12 @ 8:49PM
The only good thing about Romney is that he does not seem to be a communist like Obama, but I'm sure if he was pressed on the issue he would figure out how to reach common ground with them..the gutless coward.
Clint| 1.31.12 @ 11:57AM
We Are Being Set Up By The RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooges For The Ruling Elites' Frontman Mittens Romney.
These Are The RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooges Who Gave Us The Serial Traitor To Conservatism, John McCain Of McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy,McCain-Lieberman,Gang Of 14, Opposing Bush Tax Cuts Of 2001 & 2003,TARP.
Now They Are Trying To Give Us RomneyCare,TARP, Cynical Flip-Flops On Abortion, Gays, Refuses to Sign Pro-Life Pledge, Illegal Immigrants, "Little Chain Saw Al" At Bain, Crony Capitalism Campaign Money Trail.....
Silver Fox| 1.31.12 @ 12:21PM
Really, Mr. Goldstein? A whole piece on *this*? Without a doubt, Gov. Romney messed up in last Thursday's debate when he not only failed to acknowledge his own ad, but seemed to distance himself from it. Wolf Blitzer was right to call him on it, and the audience's response was understandable and appropriate.
However, there are any number of valid and important concerns that can be raised about Gov. Romney (and the other candidates). Running a campaign is a chaotic affair, and it is absurd to make the leap from noting a dumb mistake in a debate to concluding that a President Romney will run his administration ignorant of what's going on around him. Really, this piece isn't even worthy to have made Spectator's blog.
Bill| 1.31.12 @ 1:09PM
BREAKING NEWS: President Obama just endorsed Mitt Romney! Obama said "I expect Romney to win the GOP nod, it'll make my life easier since I will beat Romney in a landslide. By the way, thanks to Romney, for implementing ObamaCare." He also promised that he would give Romney a job since Romney would have been bankrupted by the time the election is over. Obama also invited Romney, Chris Christie, Ann Coulter to his victory party after the 2012 election, saying "I did it again!"
You get the picture, don't you!
David| 1.31.12 @ 1:37PM
It is clear that Santorum has been the adult in this race. It is also clear that he has been the true, principled, consistent conservative his entire politcal career.
If you want to know why the republican congress was decimated after taking control, just read Joe Scarborough's article in Politico. It details how Newt did orchestrate the contract with America and a republican takeover, but what came next is scary.
Take a look of you want to know how and why the repub congress lost its way and allowed the dems to takeover again.
Vote Santorum all day long.
Ward Bond| 1.31.12 @ 8:13PM
I just wonder what ambassadorship obama will give Romney next year?
POST American| 1.31.12 @ 11:03PM
'BAR-Rockefeller' Obama meets 'SUB-Mitt ROME-knee' 2012.
Globalist USURY, TREASON and utimate
EUGENICS management WIN either way.
RED China receivership and, yes, aggressive
receivership ----coming down the Albert Pike,
maybe as soon as 2015.
------------------THIS IS TREASON--------------------
2012 may very well be the year of the
blank vote.
------------------------REALLY--------------------------
Fall| 2.1.12 @ 4:35AM
Obama was raised to disdain the middle class of this country. Although Newt is now wealthy, he was raised in a solidly middle class household.
http://www.abercrombiefitchoutletsale.co.uk/
POST American| 2.1.12 @ 5:53AM
Gingrich was, and IS, a KEY advocate
and front man for the end of American
sovereignty, carbons taxes (20% on
everything) ----and 'seamless blending'
of the corporate monopoly-USURY
model ---and the bureaucratic Soviet
management system.
World CON-solidation, cultural
standardization and annihilation
and long term orderly extermination
of 80-90% of mankind is the
UN's open agenda for 2050-2100.
"--And WHEN did you EVER have a say,
let alone a vote, about any of this?"
NEVER ---that's when, thanks to
CON-job 'conservatives like Gingrich,
Clinton and the Bushes.
Gingrich was brought in in the early 90's
to head off, and co-opt the GENUINE
consitutional awakening of that time.
The CFR Globalist RED China handover
would have been impossible without his
soft sells and shepherding assists.
His open border, extermination of the unborn,
carbon taxes, end of the family and sovereignty
stances are ON RECORD.
---WE ARE DEALING WITH HIGH TREASON---
------------------------against the-------------------------
------------borders/ economy and culture------------
----------------of every nation on earth----------------
Given the scale of plunder and horror
at work around the world even
as we write -----there is NO higher crime.
Joel A. Gordon | 2.7.12 @ 6:55PM
Romney is definitely the man!