The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Media Is The Gaff; That Romney Courts The Gaff Is The Worrisome Part

Posted on | February 3, 2012 | 13 Comments

by Smitty

As is so often the case, The Hill spouts piffle:

Congressional Republicans are worried Mitt Romney’s propensity for verbal gaffes will hurt him in the fall.
The former Massachusetts governor has had a series of foot-in-mouth moments that have set off alarm bells for the GOP and brought on gleeful attacks from Democrats.
The latest came the morning after his decisive win in Florida’s primary, when he told CNN he’s “not concerned about the very poor.”

What is so worrisome to me is not Romney’s words, which are relatively cogent to the rational audience. Rather, the indication that the media is so willing to distort an innocuous phrase to this extent, and the Romney campaign retreats.

It’s the appearance of spinelessness in the face of the the Postmodern media that moves the Not Mitt Romney crowd. Mitt has got to point out, loudly, this false propaganda mongering more or less daily, and not reprise John McCain’s complacency.

Category: Mitt Romney

Comments

13 Responses to “The Media Is The Gaff; That Romney Courts The Gaff Is The Worrisome Part”

  1. Jack Reno
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 11:51 am

    I agree. The Romneynauts must become more forthright in the position that, where the media is concerned, not a gram of a f**k shall be given.

  2. rosalie
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 12:22 pm

    Or Bush’s complacency.  They need to take a page out of Palin’s book.

  3. ThePaganTemple
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 12:23 pm

    You nailed it Smitty. And all you Gingrich haters out there, can you imagine for one minute Newt putting up with this crap? We deserve Obama.

  4. Finrod Felagund
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 12:32 pm

    In other news, the Susan J. Komen foundation has reversed itself and is going to start funding Planned Parenthood again:

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/03/politics/planned-parenthood-komen-foundation/index.html
     

  5. ThePaganTemple
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 12:39 pm

     I wondered how long it would take them to cave.

  6. Pathfinder's wife
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:08 pm

    Message to Romney: “I never said I was a man of the people, but I try very hard to be a man for the people”.

    This means you don’t like seeing them as indentured servants to the government dole Mitt — protect them when they are down and work to get them in a better state of being, not keep the status quo (which is dooming us all).

    Ah phooey, it’s probably too late for him to pick up that line and run with it…good job Mitt…

  7. Pathfinder's wife
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:11 pm

    well what could one expect — I’m sure PP and NOW made more than enough threats to destroy the Komen foundation, so the deal with the devil was almost a certainty

  8. Adjoran
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 1:50 pm

    It’s almost impossible to avoid this sort of thing because any phrase will be taken out of context, and it is hard in an interview to avoid any such combination of words in an answer.  Obama falls into the same trap all the time, but the only place you see his gaffes is the conservative blogosphere.

    Blaming the media plays well with the base, but it comes off as whining to the independents.  Most of the swing voters aren’t paying attention yet anyway.

    My rules for Republicans and the media haven’t changed in four years, but few paid heed as the rush for free coverage beats judgment most of the time.

    NO taped interviews for television or radio.  LIVE only.  They can still edit it later, but at least your message gets out unfiltered at first.  Remember GHWB’s live on-air take-down of Dan Rather in 1988?  If Bush hadn’t insisted on a live interview, the parts making Rather out the fool would still be on the cutting room floor.

    Bring your OWN videographer and tape the whole thing yourself if you are dealing with print journalists.  This way if the article distorts what you said, you have the tape immediately available to rebut it.

    Following those simple rules, Gibson and Couric would not have been able to cut and edit their hit jobs on Palin in 2008.

  9. richard mcenroe
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 3:00 pm

    We’ve already seen it.  He yelled at John King for the marriage question but stood there and took Brian Williams’ crap.

  10. Friday Roundup 2/3/12 Komen Caves Edition
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 3:07 pm

    […] The Media Is The Gaff; That Romney Courts The Gaff Is The Worrisome Part […]

  11. Finrod Felagund
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 3:17 pm

    Rush Limbaugh’s rules for being interviewed are very similar.  I figure that’s why they never interview him.

  12. Anonymous
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 5:14 pm

    Of course, you then have to deal with the claims you’re hiding from the press… which is what happened to Palin. Don’t know if she adopted those ideas or not, but it’s for damn sure they’ll refuse to agree and claim you were the reason there’s no interviews. 

  13. Quartermaster
    February 3rd, 2012 @ 7:35 pm

    With the new media there are now ways around that lie too. You record the interview and post it. Let them squirm.