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The Spectacle Blog
Both David Axelrod and Jim Messina put out the bait and unfortunately Mitt Romney took it.
Joe Ricketts, formerly of TD Ameritrade and whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, proposed putting together a series of Super PAC ads highlighting President Obama’s relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Both Axelrod and Messina said that Romney should take a page out of John McCain’s book and not focus on Wright. Well, of course, Axelrod and Messina would like that because, gee, McCain lost to Obama. Romney responded it would be “the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign.”
So Axelrod and Messina got Romney to condemn ads that haven’t been even made. Score one for Team Obama.
Now while one could certainly argue that Romney is better off highlighting Obama’s three plus years in the White House rather than rehashing Reverend Wright, I think Romney took the wrong approach here.
What Romney ought to have said something along the lines of, “We’ll take your suggestion under advisement. In the meantime, when is the Obama PAC run by Bill Burton going to return Bill Maher’s $1 million?”
That would have put the ball back into President Obama’s court instead of having Romney juggle a hot potato he shouldn’t have touched in the first place.
Clint| 5.17.12 @ 5:49PM
Axelrod Played The Race Card For John Street, In The Street Vs. Sam Katz Philadelphia Mayoral Election.
PattyMor| 5.17.12 @ 6:06PM
You know when the Left is yelling foul or unfair
you have hit pay dirt. I don't know why the Republs always mea culpa and run with their tails between their legs. Maybe its making a deal with the aligator and the lion betting on who will eat you last?
Marvin E. Fox | 5.17.12 @ 6:19PM
Good analysis PattyMor. Some of the straw Republicans seem to have straw falling out of their pants and onto their shoes. Maybe the need to understand why the socialists are always trrying to force everyone but themseoves to be civil. I believe in truth. But, in the defense of our Republic, civilty and liberality may be liberally sacraficed! (Pun intended)
Marvin E. Fox.
Occam's Tool| 5.17.12 @ 6:44PM
I'm sorry---Romney should have said that Obama had his kids baptised in the man's church, considered him a spiritual leader, and sat in his pews for 20 years, and unlike McCain, there was going to be vetting this time.
Oh, and by the way, why did you accept that foul mouthed swine Maher's money.
Marvin E. Fox | 5.17.12 @ 6:08PM
Mitt Romney is an honest man with honest goals for our Republic. Honest people are sometimes the victims of clever people who in no way aspire to the morality of the honesty that demands the best for the American people. I am not going to reject voting for Romney because he might occasionally be outmaneuvered by clever plotters. I am going to vote for Mitt Romney because honest governance outmaneuvers all clever plotters. We need to go forward with Romney while making our departure from the retro Marxism of BO and company. We need the good government that is ahead for our republican people and our Republic.
Marvin E. Fox
Bob K.| 5.17.12 @ 7:52PM
He didn't ask the question Aaron posed and he won't bring up Reverend Wright because he is playing to lose. And if he is playing to lose he is not an honest man!
This is what it is beginning to look like to me. I don't believe anymore that he is being outmaneuvered. It's beginning to look to me like he intends to throw the election.
Chuck| 5.17.12 @ 8:24PM
There is still time for the GOP to nominate somebody else. Romney will take shelter and collapse when the Democratic big guns open up on him. This particular incident is just a flare and look how the presumptive Republican nominee handled it...he surrendered even before the Wright issue got off the drawing board.
Ken (Old Texican)| 5.17.12 @ 8:54PM
Folks,
remember...the pacs can run whatever adds they want. I think this shows crafty on Romney's part.
tonypal| 5.18.12 @ 12:13PM
Ken, I agree with you completely. I see this as a very sly move by Romney, remaining above the fray while allowing others to do his dirty work.
Romney is no McCain. Let's all recall that Romney laid waste to Gingrich and Santorum when the going got tough during the primaries. It may not have been anyone's ideal of how to nominate our candidate, but it was a recognition of what it takes to come out on top. Just as Romney has clearly sharpened his game in terms of public speaking and delivering his message, he has also shown that he is more than willing to go for the jugular.
I was not a Romney supporter. In fact, I can probably think of 20 people right off the top of my head that I would prefer as President. But I've become very confident in Romney's abilities as a candidate and his willingness to play according to the rules as they are. That means being willing to destroy his opponent. Obama obviously has nothing to recommend him, so he will run the most wicked campaign ever imagined. Romney and his people really seem to get that. Consider the primaries a dry run for a Romney candidacy. Again, a very sly move in my opinion regarding the whole Rev. Wright issue.
Questions| 5.17.12 @ 11:34PM
Romney's people have a point; THE ISSUE IS the economy, and anything other than is something of a distraction.
Gingrich, Santorum, and four years ago, Giuliani, McCain, Huckabee, they didn't have an economic record like obama has hanging around their neck like a millstone. Obama's record IS the economy, and that's the issue that should be pushed and pressed home.
tonypal| 5.18.12 @ 12:17PM
Again, something I agree with. Between contraceptives, the war on women and all the other bullshit that Obama and his allies in the media have tried to conjure, it's clear that the Obama campaign will be based on deception and distraction.
Romney has a plethora of issues to run on. But the only one he really needs to focus on is the economy. Romney will run rings around Obama during the debates because he actually understands economics. So he and his people need to focus on that and that alone. By repudiating these ads, he eliminates the distraction. Let's make no mistake, it was just another distraction waiting to take place. Now it's done with. Well done.
GoldenEagles| 5.18.12 @ 3:09AM
Willard M. Romney - The Rat and Horror Connection
I would recommend that people stop using the name Mitt in relationship to Romney.
His name is Willard M. Romney, and there is horror movie associated with that first name, it is called "Willard" and it about a person who unleashes an army of rats on his enemies, but of course, calls them back when it comes to his friends.
Please See:
Willard M. Romney - The Rat and Horror Connection
Casey Abell| 5.18.12 @ 11:31AM
I doubt Wright will sway many votes in an election overwhelmingly dominated by the economy. But resurfacing the name in a way that allows Romney to look like the good guy...well, it is a clever ploy by the GOP.
Brian72| 5.18.12 @ 12:53PM
I think it may have something to do with the specific quotes Bill Maher was being criticized for. They involved Sarah Palin, and it has become clear that many of the top people in the Romney Campaign hate Palin themselves as much as the liberals do. Whenever the left goes off on another Destroy Sarah Tirade, these people quietly watch and say nothing, because they want her gone from the scene. It is personal, they hate her and all she has done to promote and support Tea Party candidates in 2010 and now 2012. Do not expect Team Romney to stick up for Palin in any way ever.
Clemmie| 5.18.12 @ 1:42PM
Romney will not win by being Mr. Nice Guy. Like McCain, he will keep getting kicked in the teeth by the Obama campaign and then say excuse me. We need someone who can go for the jugular. Romney was nasty against his primary opponents. Why he is jelly spined against Obama is beyond me.
Brian72| 5.18.12 @ 1:54PM
The Obama campaign has their own SuperDuperMegaPAC, known as the Media.
They will do all the dirty work, so that Obama the Great can hover above all the nasty partisanship, hands clean.
randyinrocklin| 5.18.12 @ 3:09PM
Mitt is like the Repubs leadership, wimps like Boehner and McConnell who go along to get along...what a loser.
Al Adab| 5.18.12 @ 3:40PM
Simple answer: Because Romney is a gutless, "gentlemanly" republican ala Ford, Dole, McCain, when what we need to overcome thuggery is a real streetfighter. Here we go again, following the accomodationists to defeat.
Bob S| 5.19.12 @ 2:51AM
Why didn't Romney demand Obama return the tainted money from Maher?
Because Romney doesn't have the stones to attack Obama. He said it himself he will not attack Obama, handcuffing himself by refusing to call Obama a socialist. Romney doesn't have the stones to expose the truth about Obama. He's too concerned he will alienate his liberal supporters.