(Doonesbury via GoComics.com)
__
… not the kind of ‘talent’ that your average politician would covet, and yet Romney’s been practising for half a century:
… Romney brings his entire family to New Hampshire these summers, but he hasn’t always spent his Independence Days in the Granite State, or even the U.S.
Growing up, Romney actually spent most of his Fourths in Canada, at his family’s cottage on Lake Huron where they would light off their own fireworks. George Romney, Mitt’s father and the former governor of Michigan, jokingly called himself a “Summer Canadian.” Campaigning for his father in 1962, a 15-year-old Mitt told a Fourth of July gathering in Michigan, “It’s really fun to be here in the United States for the Fourth of July for the first time!”It didn’t go over well. In August of 2006, he told the Boston Globe of that remark, “That wasn’t a great line.” He added, “[It] happened to be true, but it wasn’t exactly what the campaign folks were looking for … Yeah, I was not particularly adept at my communications with the media.”…
The NYTimes is shocked, shocked to report that MotU Rupert Murdoch is less than impressed by would-be BSD Willard:
Mr. Murdoch’s thoughts on the Republican presidential candidate’s prospects? “Tough O Chicago pros will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from the team.” Chances of that? “Doubtful,” he tapped out in a Twitter message from his iPad last weekend.
Then, on Thursday, Mr. Murdoch’s flagship newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, published a blistering editorial criticizing Mr. Romney’s campaign, accusing it of being hapless and looking “confused in addition to being politically dumb.”
Mr. Murdoch has never been particularly impressed with Mr. Romney, friends and associates of both men say. The two times Mr. Romney visited the editorial board of The Journal, Mr. Murdoch did not work very hard to conceal his lack of excitement. “There was zero enthusiasm, no engagement,” said one Journal staff member who was at the most recent meeting in December…
Also, while I have a certain amount of sympathy for a woman who’s been living in the Romney compound since she was sixteen — sort of like being a prisoner of the Koresh cult, but with way more frequent flyer miles — Ann Romney has got to stop auditioning for the Barbara Bush role.
PeakVT
All you Mitt-bashers need to stop bothering Ann’s beautiful mind.
AliceBlue
I’ve decided Ann’s an even bigger dick than Mitt.
Maude
Plz pick Sarah Palin for Veep.
Brachiator
Fixed for an easy contemporary reference.
Valdivia
@efgoldman:
I think it matters because the Village now has permission to say Romney is running a shit campaign.
I am convinced they are planning some Shock and Awe to go with the Olympics.
The Other Bob
Its not the campaign that is the problem. It’s the candidate, stupid.
Zifnab25
@AliceBlue: At least Mitt had a fucking job. Ann just managed to marry well. If there’s a poster child for Marie Antoinette-style blind assholishness, I’d say Mrs Romney might actually be the better face on the billboard.
amk
convention fight!!! come on paultards and sick rantorumites.
Steve in DC
@efgoldman:
You don’t have to have a dick to be a dick and you don’t have to have a c#nt to be a cunt. Everyone has assholes though…
And yes Ann’s worse than Mitt. She really seems to enjoy this.
Elisabeth
It’s July and Romney has to beef up his communications staff because he’s getting beaten up by the Left and the Right. Methinks it is going to be a long summer for Mittster. But they raised more than $100 million in June so there’s that.
Valdivia
@efgoldman:
that’t true but there is now a crack in the Romney Kicks Ass and they’re are the perfect campaign narrative. If everything he does from now on reinforces the No Details criticism we saw from Murdoch et. al. then it will resurface.
I am still sure the Romney team are betting they can make him
KingPresident through association with the Olympics.Jim, Foolish Literalist
@efgoldman: it’s true that the discontent itself only matters to us, but with every misstep, a whole bunch of Republicans who think this should’ve been their turn or that 2016 should be their turn get a little excited, and that can slip through and cause damage– from delusional freaks to serious candidates. Santorum, definitely, maybe Rubio, I don’t have a clear read on Jebbie or Daniels, and probably a few govs and ‘critters who aren’t on my radar.
@AliceBlue:
Mitt couldn’t have made five entitled knobs like the Mittlets all by himself. I have no recollection of Ann from ’08, and I remember the MIttlets all over the place trying to look like the lovable scamps from a ’90s ABC sitcom, roles they were too old for, like TV high school ‘kids’ with bald spots and crows’ feet. I think that it took so long to get them in the background is a sign of who hard it is for staff, the Vice Presidents, to tell CEO Mitt things he doesn’t want to hear.
ETA: I don’t think it’s my partisan bias. Do you think anyone is actually impressed by Willard and the Olympics?
Todd
Mount Gay Eclipse +somewhere in the vicinity of +10
Hammered, but honestly thinking that the Mittster is missing some essential elements of Real Murkan manhood….
Todd
BTW – Archer is the shizzle…
magurakurin
Romney says the mention of the fact that he has offshore accounts is “false and ridiculous.” Sounds like something a pol says just before the grand jury indictment. Except no one is accusing Romney of wrong doing in a criminal sense. So what exactly is false Mitt? You don’t have offshore accounts, but it is clear that you do. And what is ridiculous? That someone should mention the very existence of such accounts?
Fact: Mitt has offshore accounts.
I’m sure they are perfectly legal, but that more or less is Obama’s whole point. Rich guys like Romney use perfectly legal loopholes to avoid paying their fair share.
The Mittster is fucked. Proper fucked.
phoebes-in-santa fe
I cannot stand Ann Romney. I can’t stand her even more than I can’t stand Mitt Romney or those young Romney heirs who seem really privileged. Ann Romney is a c-word, a word I hate so much and have only used it to describe Barbara Bush.
Ann, it’s NOT “your turn”.
Elisabeth
@efgoldman:
That and all the money in the world can’t make any of the Romneys likeable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@magurakurin: who do you think will be the first to ride to Mitt’s defense: Politico, PolitiFact or Glen Kessler? If not some Wall St Liebercrat.
amk
pox news sez that ann sez that it’s going to be a wimmin veep.
foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/05/ann-romney-says-woman-being-eyed-for-husband-ticket/.
Ha, eat that obots.
freelancer
The only way the Average American voter could even relate to a person of the Romney’s wealth would be if in fact it turned out that Mitt Romney is Batman. He’s not Batman. He’s Bain.
magurakurin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Can’t say, but let’s hope against hope it isn’t Mayor B00ker.
magurakurin
@phoebes-in-santa fe: If you don’t like the “c” word I strongly suggest you don’t hang around Australians, particularly when they are drinking.
“gday c$%+”
“takin the piss, are we c&%+?”
and on and on and on…..
the Conster
@magurakurin:
The offshore accounts are disclosed in the returns he released, no? He lied on his returns? He’s lying now? Why does he suck at this campaigning business so much and why hasn’t he anticipated any of this?
different-church-lady
@amk: Again? But that trick never works!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
What I keep coming back to is, the man who called his landscapers to make sure there were no undocumented workers on the crew sent to his house (“I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake!”), it never occurred to that man that having money the Caymans and Switzerland and Ireland and Luxembourg and… (Ezra Klein got off a good line: Banking with Carmen San Diego) would play poorly with the proles.
Billy K
Seems to me we’re already seeing groundwork being laid for the losing sides’ excuses. “Mitt was a bad campaigner.” “The campaign was confused and not politically savvy.”
Again, conservatism can never fail, it can only be failed.
CW in LA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Heh – Mittlets. I am so stealing that, and I encourage others to do likewise.
Ann Romney’s mean-girl snottiness isn’t as blatant as seen in the state of the art, that of Dumbelina of the North. But the resentment and disdain are just as intense.
CW in LA
@amk: Sooo… Bachmann or the catcher’s mitt face lady from Arizona? Gotta convince the mouth-foaming nutbag base you’re one of them, after all.
the Conster
Mitt honestly believed at the outset that he’d never have to undergo such scrutiny. Born to privilege and surrounding yourself with yes men, while belonging to a highly secretive church and confining yourself to people only like yourself gives you no coping skills when confronted. The NY Times article today about Rupert’s unhappiness with Romney mentions that when asked about picking a cabinet, he’d “bring in McKinsey”. He’s just the worse candidate ever, and by the fall he’s going to be like Sharon Angle, literally running away from the press.
kamalokitty
It’s important to remember the tradition in which they are raised. Women have roles. Those roles are to be a homemaker, to serve, to be obedient. Don’t believe me. Check out the chalk board discussions here.
It bothers me greatly as I have a sister who is a devout follower, with wonderful nieces who are very active in the church’s Young Women association, who ask me to participate, and I give subversive advice on the importance of being independent, economically, financially, intellectually. No strings, no ties, be your own girl. Control your reproductivity. I am going to hell. Obviously.
My cynical view. The women are raised to be breeders. Nothing less. And I will venture to say, that if you are that dependent on a man for your next breath, your next meal, your children’s best interest. You’ll say anything. She’s identified with being a divine homemaker. Don’t expect anything more. That is what god has intended for the vag.
Are we surprised Miss Ann doesn’t understand why we don’t see her husband as she does? We’ve got him all wrong? Yeah. That’s because we were raised to be critical thinkers. We are encouraged to call bullshit like we see it. We are not obedient. We are not here to serve. (Well, not all the time, but we do it because that’s what we feel like doing, and not because it’s sacred God bullshit).
danielx
Especially the media, but as far as I can tell Mittens is not particularly adept at communications with anybody who has a net worth of less than seven figures. Personality-wise, the Marquis is kind of the anti-Clinton – Bill Clinton could express empathy with a Jivaro headhunter, while Romney seems to have trouble even establishing human contact. And from a class standpoint, he comes across as an even more maladroit version of Bush Senior; Bush Senior Squared maybe. Not a guy the proles can all warm about having a beer with, even if there wasn’t that pesky Mormon prohibition thing going. “My wife owns two Cadillacs!”…well, really.
Hill Dweller
Axelrod called Romney the most secretive candidate since Nixon this afternoon. And I think the Obama campaign is going to try and prove it.
They’re going to tie it all together. The offshore accounts; his refusal to release his tax returns; his refusal to release the name of his bundlers; taking the hard drives with him when he left the Governor’s office; the shady Bain deals, etc.
Romney will look like the shadiest fucker to run for President since Nixon.
freelancer
@CW in LA:
I’d be amazed if I ended up calling it from way back in January.
Linda Featheringill
Murdoch’s criticism of Romney is quite logical and probably accurate. But I don’t understanding the public dissing of Romney.
What’s he trying to do? If he spreads the word the Mitt is a nincompoop, is he proposing to replace him with someone else? Is he laying the groundwork for a coup at the convention, when the Big Boys swoop in, take over, and Save The Party? Install a candidate by fiat?
The Dangerman
@amk:
Someone (I forget who; + ?) was predicting Meg Whitman.
As a Californian, please, PLEASE choose Meg. She makes Mitt look colorful by comparison.
the Conster
@Hill Dweller:
His secretive religion and his secret underwear. What does a Mormon bishop do in those temples anyway?
kamalokitty
@Hill Dweller:
“Romney will look like the shadiest fucker to run for President since Nixon.”
One can only hope. There’s an angle I didn’t see coming, but I hope you are right. Because it’s pretty damn good.
CW in LA
@The Dangerman: Likeable, too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Dangerman: Whitman’s at least nominally pro-choice, isn’t she? Mitt can’t do it. I think Santorum would declare as a pro-life write-in. Kelly Ayotte is the only woman I can think of who would meet all the different purity tests. She was part of the original Tea Bag movement, wasn’t she?
The Dangerman
@CW in LA:
Yup…
…and I’m sure her undocumented housekeeper will play well with the base (“I’m running for VP, for Pete’s sake”).
Choosing Whitman would be the sign that no real candidate would sign up for this sinking ship. She’s annoying in the extreme.
kamalokitty
@Linda Featheringill:
Good point. I wonder. You would think someone like Murdoch would have access, right. You go in there, grab him by the collar and say, WTF are you doing? Here’s what you’re going to do.
Which leads me to believe, perhaps the power brokers are being denied access. Wouldn’t that be awesome? He raised a kajillion dollars without “standard bearers” perhaps. He don’t answer to no one but the homeboys from Utah.
Still, why publicly embarrass your boy, and tip your hand?
Inquiring minds want to know.
freelancer
Something needs a reboot.
danielx
@The Dangerman:
The only possible female VP candidate for Mittens is Meg(an) McArdle. She’ll bring that nice human touch to the ticket, with a fine disregard for facts and some badly needed seasoning to a candidacy which badly needs a little spice, some Elvis, if you will. Including pink Himalayan salt, naturally…
The Dangerman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
As I recall, yes; tells you something about California Republicans that they nominated someone pro-choice.
MikeJ
@kamalokitty: Rupert has been a little busy this year. Listening in on voicemail takes a lot of time, and denying it even more.
Ash Can
Now that I think of it, the VP pick could very well be Jan Brewer. And by fucking hell, it’d sink Romney’s sorry ass.
Frankensteinbeck
@Linda Featheringill:
Murdoch is arrogant, entitled, a little crazy, an asshole, and Angry Old Man Conservative. Mitt is not the he-man abuser of dusky skins he wants. Like the rest of his ODS addled GOP brethren, he feels like he deserves a candidate as insane as he is now. Murdoch just happens to be rich enough he gets to yell this at the world.
EDIT – Remember, do not ever think they’re a cabal, a bunch of rich people all working together. They’re a bunch of rich people all as fucking crazy as their patsies, and as the patsies stop playing nice with each other, so do the ‘power elite’. In fact, the power elite pulling against each other has a lot to do with the patsies being divided into groups.
amk
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: methinkssotoo. kelly it’s gonna be.
millekat
their strategy was. It was kill Romney,” she said, adding a message to Obama: “Not when I’m next to him you better not.”
millekat
their strategy was. It was kill Romney,” she said, adding a message to Obama: “Not when I’m next to him you better not.”
amk
tpm tweet
so, how is etch-a-sketch working out forya, mitt?
Firebert
I think Rupert was just dropping a hint that Mitt can win him over with a nice big ad buy on Newscorp-owned media with all that cash.
CW in LA
@Firebert: Why would Willard buy ads from Murdoch, when News Corp. is one giant ad for his party already?
Firebert
@CW in LA: Because Willard is too cowardly to take any chances.
Redshift
@amk:
Ah, Republicans. The problem is always the marketing, not the product.
Personally, I’m looking forward to Romney’s additional “press handlers” contradicting each other, getting fired because they have the temerity to decide on a message that isn’t personally approved by the Alpha CEO. The problem with the Romney campaign’s messaging isn’t the flunkies, it’s that no one is allowed to tell Mitt what to do.
amk
@Redshift: And this is despite the press practically licking his ass 24×7. Just imagine what mittbot would do if the fucking press actually did its fucking job.
FlipYrWhig
@efgoldman: I was REALLY surprised that the Romney campaign allowed their guy to be photographed on the _back seat_ of a jet ski. With Ann driving. A Democrat would have a hard time living that down. It’s the kind of thing Chris Matthews would blow into a ten-day news-ish bender.
Origuy
I don’t think it will be Meg Whitman; she’s been CEO of HP less than a year. Since she’s my ultimate boss, I see all of her announcements to the company and they don’t sound like someone who is looking to move on. I think she may have gotten running for office out of her system. Even if she hasn’t, I doubt she would do it this year.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FlipYrWhig: What do real Americans think when they see that? The guys down at the pool hall and the corner tavern, having a beer after a day at the plant, guys who go on fishing trips, sometimes to get away front their wives-hah!– they go up to the woods with their lodge brothers*, they see this guy, sitting on the back of a JetSki, behind his wife, they think, they wonder, they think that’s a guy I want in charge of the button? That’s the guy I want going toe-to-toe with Putin, and saluting our troops? Are those guys gonna vote for that guy?
*cuz Tweety’s understanding of people who don’t own waterfront property on the Cape is formed by vague memories of his father, and that Honeymooners marathon he saw on cable.
MikeJ
@FlipYrWhig: I hadn’t seen the pic, but I had to go look when I heard that Mitt was on what the less enlightened bikers call, “the bitch seat.”
Does Ann have a T shirt that says, “if you can read this the bitch fell off”?
theoaklandpress.com/content/articles/2012/07/05/news/politics/doc4ff5c676e913f283474838.jpg
Joseph Nobles
@CW in LA: And when News Corp. in the last election cycle gave out a million or so to reliable Republican groups like the US Chamber of Commerce who were buying ads on Fox local affliates?
David Koch
Ooooof.
MTP’s ratings are down 41% since Gregory took over and the show’s viewership is at a 20 year low.
The only question is whether the house cleaning occurs before the conventions or after the election.
The Invisible Hand turned the channel.
Anne Laurie
@Linda Featheringill:
If Romney loses — and I read this as ‘right now, Rupert thinks Willard’s gonna lose’ — Murdoch is the prescient elder whose advice should’ve been heeded. If Romney wins, what’s he gonna do, cut off access for Fox News and the WSJ? As if.
Besides, Rupe’s brand of rich-guy crazy, “the Dirty Digger who clawed his way up from the antipodes via tit pics & celebrity dumpster-diving, and he’s never forgotten where he came from” is diametrically opposed to the rich-guy crazy of our very own Thurston ‘Mitt” Howell III. Romney couldn’t even keep Donald Trump in line, and Trump desperately needs whatever media attention he can scrounge by standing next to a semi-viable political candidate.
Calouste
@Linda Featheringill:
Murdoch is an archreactionary 1% of the 1% of the 1%-er. But the guy has been influencing governments for about half a century and he does know very well that it all means shit if you back the loser in an election. Just ask John Major, when it was clear the Tories were going to lose in 1997, Murdoch switched to Labour. Basically Rupert is telling Mitt to clean up his act, and pronto, otherwise he will, well, not go as far as backing Obama, but definitely not do much to antagonize him, and Rupert will certainly not throw good money after bad wrt Romney.
Kane
Lets not make the mistake of vactioning on the Fourth of July in Canada at the family’s cottage on Lake Huron as it might remind voters of Seamus. Instead, lets take a vacation at our $10 million estate with a three-boat garage on Lake Winnipesaukee and ride one of our massive speedboats and jet-skis.
Brilliant!
Hill Dweller
Why would Romney announce to the world that, after six years of running for President, he still hasn’t mastered messaging?
I can understand wanting to “shore up his messaging operation”, but why tell the media today? It’s obviously reactive, and looks panicky.
Yutsano
@Calouste:
He may not do that anyway. He can buy a lot more influence by taking ownership of Congress.
Anne Laurie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yup, that’s why she’s a US Senator now — the only entity she considers as pure and holy as an unborn fetus is a major corporation. And she was playing the submissive sister-wife to Romney during the media-friendly Fourth parade, too, so she thinks she’s got a shot. Two drawbacks: Not sure she can ‘Cheney’ a finesse on the prez-and-veep-candidates-must-come-from-different-states rule. Last I heard, Romney switched his voting registration to NH, just in time for the primary. Don’t think Ayotte can give up her day job on the hope that she’ll be living in the Naval Observatory rent-free come January… and Willard can’t move his primary residence to La Jolla, or Utah, or back to his pied-a-terre in Taxachusetts without raising the “Willard’s entire life has been lived under various flags of convenience” narrative, again. Assuming his touchy touchy ego could stand to be the ‘bottom’ in such a switch, anyways.
Second drawback, Ayotte’s got a “deleted the emails on her way out” perception problem from her last job. Which would not be too significant, except that Willard baredly skated on his own “destroyed the hard drives on his way out” problem the last time the media got all curious. What’s emerged since then has been merely “politically problematic” — the stuff that hasn’t come out (yet) may or may not be worse, but Romney will greet any excuse for the media to keep sniffing with as much glee as he would a case of shingles.
My guess: If he picks Ayotte, it means all the more prominent possibilities have turned him down. And I don’t think Jake Tapper or Candy Crowley are going to be so adamantly sisterhood-is-powerful feminist that they aren’t going to interpret her as much above a third- or fourth-tier choice, either.
FlipYrWhig
@Anne Laurie: Also, has Ayotte, like, accomplished anything, or have an interesting life story? The actual Sarah Palin was a crazy person, but the _idea_ of Sarah Palin is interesting. Is there any way in which the idea of Kelly Ayotte can be made interesting?
Kane
The regurgitation of the same failed policies that were rejected in 2008 aren’t about to excite anyone in 2012. But rather than adapt their policies to a changing world, republicans convinced themselves that all they needed to regain the White House was a a catchy marketing slogan and a slick frontman willing to deliver dog whistle encouragement to the far-right base.
Hunter Gathers
@FlipYrWhig:
No and no.
She’s being vetted the same way Marco ‘Obama gave me a sad’ Rubio is being vetted. It’s nothing more than a head fake while Mittens chooses between Miracle Whip (Rob Portman) or Hellmann’s Mayonnaise (Tim Pawlenty). It’s a hell of thing to have the biggest decision the campaign has to make (other than how sad a concession speech to give) being a choice between 2 bland salad dressings.
Anne Laurie
@FlipYrWhig:
Yeeeeah, like Bishop “Mitt” Romney, King of Bain, was going to pick a veep who might be considered more interesting than he!
There’s a reason even the Midwestern white men are busily pretending to be even more bland and boring than they actually are.
Remember the business rule: First-class minds want to hire first-class people. Second-class minds want to hire third-class people. Mitt is not one of those leaders self-confident enough to choose employees who might be smart or experienced enough to argue with the boss.
Cacti
@Ash Can:
I don’t think it will be Jan for one big reason. She’s got a booze problem. Her nickname around the State Capitol is Otis (i.e. the town drunk from Mayberry).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Cacti:
Huh. ANy talk she was schnockered in the great brain freeze moment?
cckids
@Anne Laurie:
We’ve got to remember, Faux News was built on the Clinton impeachment & “scandals”. Without a Democrat to rant & froth at the mouth about, their ratings will drop further. I think Murdoch likes having a Dem in office – it gives his network of evil a target to foment the hate against.
Calouste
@Anne Laurie:
Yep, Romney sure as hell doesn’t want to be outshone by his VP pick. So I can’t wait for Obama to suggest in a debate that Mitt’s VP is better in some regard than the Romneybot and see an epic meltdown.
scav
Another thing about Rupe Pere is that he’s also go a cover-story to sell. I think it’s really in his interest to prove he’s not manipulating the back-room nod to this leader v. that leader so taking to the twitter makes him just “one of the people” voicing his personal opinion “just like everyone else”. Might even help with the cranky old guy has lost his marbles defense too. I’m not exactly believing that twitter feed doesn’t have billable hours behind it.
gibsojj
The sad thing about the state of our nation is that this electon may very well be decided by how well Ann Romney’s horse dances at the Olympics
lacp
The only thing that was ever going to get the Republicans juiced was a surge of Santorum. Fucking cyborgs just don’t cut it.
NonyNony
@Billy K:
The Republicans already have their excuse handy for if/when Mitt loses. It’s an oldie but a goodie:
“Romney lost because he wasn’t conservative enough.”
It’s a nice all-purpose excuse. And it gives them a reason to push to the right even more than they have been.
rikyrah
Rupert and ’em have already bulldozed the Romney campaign, pretty much telling them to sit down and STFU. they’re taking over his campaign, and since Willard only wants to ‘BE’ President, he’ll do what they tell him to do.
JCT
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: When it happened – oh yes, lots of laughter and “tipple signs” (pretend imbibing). Pretty much well-known that she’s a drunk, though I hadn’t heard the “Otis” nickname. That’s awesome.
The FSM does not love us enough to have dumb Jan be the VP pick.
@rikyrah: YES, this is the narrative I am waiting for — “Romneybot as a “puppet” of others. Honestly, how else to you read his reaction to the public scolding he received the other day? So sorry, I’ll do better next time, how high two you want me to jump again?
It’s frightening.
Frankensteinbeck
@Kane:
And then for some reason they chose Mitt.
The Other Chuck
@Hill Dweller: Nixon got elected twice. You’re banking on the country becoming smarter since then.