Inside the campaign: How Mitt Romney stumbled

[Born_A_Truman]

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 the presidency. 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.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/091...z26gL2a9ct

[SeattleGirl]

That was a very interesting article!

[Myra]

What do you get when you have a room full of conservatives?

A room with all the air sucked out of it.

[DGarr]

DESPERATION.

The Romney campaign, with all the money in the world, has no vision, no ideas, no policies to propose.

They thought they could win an election without saying anything at all.

Wrong.

Then they thought they could make political points off of the tragic deaths of our ambassador and consular staff in Libya.

Wrong.

Now, they are starting to realize that the American public would actually like to hear something other than generalized platitudes.

And they are panicking.

Too late, too late.

We need a commander-in-chief who is cool headed and has an understanding of the complexities of foreign policy. Not a venture capitalist.

DESPERATION.

[Myra]

(09-16-2012 08:11 PM)DGarr Wrote:  And they are panicking.
Too late, too late.
DESPERATION.

Romney have been calling the shots all along, and it shows. Like you said;

Too late, too late.

[janedrake]

Well said, DGarr.

Further, is the Romney campaign on crack, or what?

“The incumbent president is trying to lower the expectations of our nation to the sorry level of his own achievement. He only wins if you settle.”

Complete nonsense, and f*cking delusional. (Excuse my going all "The Thick of It" - love that show.)

[jaxx]

Looks to me like Willard is getting what he's paying for.....yes men. He owns the screws ups, like most of his waffly positions....he just can't take a stand.

Good article.

[Treestar]

He is really trying to lose, i sometimes think. He should have told Bibi to keep his mouth shut. Next he'll be stupid enough to have some banker form Switzerland tell us how it is best to vote for him.

[Born_A_Truman]

davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(1) This AM's Politico story about Stuart Stevens being to blame for Romney campaign's troubles utterly misses the point.
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(2) The Romney campaign has a messaging problem because it has a policy problem.
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(3) The policy problem is that the Romney campaign offers nothing but bad news to hardpressed Americans and the broader middle class
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(4) How do you message: I'm doing away w Medicaid over the next 10 yrs, Medicare after that, to finance a cut in the top rate of tax to 28%?
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(5) I don't care if you hire the people who produce the ATT ads that make my wife cry, there's no lipsticking that pig.
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(6) The problem isn't the campaign leadership; it's the party's followership
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(7) Over course of campaign, Romney has changed from a pragmatic, capable manager into a dog-whistling culture warrior.
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(8) Candidate cd have and shd have resisted that pressure - but it's rich for ppl who demanded the change to complain about consequences.
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(9) I thought Stevens' - drafted Tampa speech did good job of humanizing the man, Mitt Romney
davidfrum‏@davidfrum

(10) But voters do care about the q: what will this presidency do for me? And "dick you over" is not a winning answer