As I see it, political reporters love party-magician tactics. So it’s not enough for Peter J. Boyer at Newsweek/The Daily Beast to crank out the standard “party in disarray” boilerplate…
… “Romney’s just not a fighter,” says Jenny Beth Martin, head of the Tea Party Patriots, the largest of the activist groups. “That’s why it would be good for him to have someone like Palin speaking at the convention. He needs to do something to rile up his base, to make them enthusiastic. And I don’t mean just the Tea Party. I mean die-hard Republicans. I live in the second-most-Republican county in the state of Georgia, and the folks around here are not enthusiastic about him.”
Palin would certainly light up the base at the convention—her 2008 vice-presidential acceptance speech was, in terms of partisan enthusiasm, the high-water mark of the McCain campaign—but a jolt of Palin at Romney’s convention seems most unlikely. The Romney campaign prides itself on a slavish adherence to script, and Palin cannot be trusted to avoid the impulse to go rogue. That is why, perhaps, the Romney campaign has not asked Palin to speak at the convention nor contacted her about even attending the party’s marquee event in Tampa. Queries to the Romney camp about any possible Palin role at the convention meet with a stony silence….
… he looks for a properly prestidigitous “nothing up my sleeve” alternative:
[All emphases mine.] Loki, Lord of Misrule, does not love us Democrats enough to grant a live-on-camera Tea Party push for Romney to accept Herman Cain as his vice-presidential candidate. But wouldn’t it be awesome, for us, if he did?… At that meeting at the [Breitbart DC headquarters] in May, Cain urged the activists to put all that behind them. It was time to unify, he said, and to defeat Barack Obama. Cain said he planned to meet with Romney soon and offered to convey the Tea Party concerns to the candidate directly. The activists gave him a list: they wanted Romney to fashion a sharper defense of free enterprise, to come up with a clearer vision for shrinking the size and scope of government, and a clear plan for tax reform. They also wanted to meet with Romney personally, perhaps over dinner.
The following week, Cain and his aide, Mark Block, met in Boston with Romney and his campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, and Cain presented the Tea Party case, prefaced by Cain’s own pitch for some version of his “9-9-9” tax plan. Romney was receptive, Cain says, although he notes that Romney made no commitments. The hoped-for dinner with Tea Party leaders has not been scheduled.But Cain believes that the grassroots will eventually rally around the Republican nominee. “Romney is not Ronald Reagan,” Cain says. “But Romney is not Barack Obama. The Tea Party people, the citizens-movement people, they get that.” (Cain plans to continue his role as emissary between the Romney camp and the Tea Party, and plans a unity rally in Tampa on the eve of the convention.)…
danielx
Well, hey, what’s wrong with Herman Cain? He’s a distinguished business type and corporate leader, no? I mean, aside from all that serial adultery business, which as we all know is forgiven by Republicans as long as the adulterer is otherwise a good family values candidate.
I have to admit that I’m looking forward to watching at least a portion of the Republican convention. We could start a new drinking game: take a drink every time you see a Republican with bloodstains around the mouth from biting his or her tongue too hard.
bjacques
When narratives collide: horse race vs. party in disarray. Will pundits’ brains explode in classic “I cannot yet I must” fashion, with an entertaining shower of sparks where their heads used to be? Or will they surpass themselves in sophistry that would make a Jesuit blush, and synthesize an overarching narrative that’s both floor wax *and* dessert topping?
Stay tuned…
RedKitten
I think there might be money to be had in selling clothespins to all of the right-wingers who are going to be holding their noses and voting for Romney.
geg6
Hey! Mittens, following closely on Obama’s heels as is his wont, is coming to Pittsburgh today!
Sadly, he will be speaking to a non-open-to-the-public crowd at the Duquesne Club. I’m sure that the Fricks, Mellons, and Scaifes will shake their jewelry with as much enthusiasm as the five to six thousand who showed up in 98F temps to see Obama here a couple of weeks ago.
tjmn
The ‘baggers forgot to ask for the sparkling ponies that emit glitter.
Villago Delenda Est
@bjacques:
Just this. Media confusion as the two narratives fight for supremacy…a clash of the titmice!
Triassic Sands
Not enthusiastic about Romney?
How is that possible?
The base thrives on lies and no Republican has ever lied more than Mitt.
Sure he’s a hypocrite, but since when has hypocrisy ever bothered a Republican?
JPL
@Triassic Sands: It’s not the hypocrisy and lies, it’s the media starting to pay attention to the hypocrisy and lies. It’s embarrassing. The media is suppose to call the President a so.c.i.alist, fas.cist, marx.ist and all the other ists.
Valdivia
I see from TPM that the Romney Team is once again just copying and reacting to the masterful O by releasing a web ad with Obama singing. What the fuck is up with those people. So pathetic.
JPL
Romney is so use to lying that he doesn’t understand that the simple truth could set him free. If he admitted that he was legally responsible and the buck stops here, the outsourcing story could be used but he wouldn’t look like a jerk.
R-Jud
@Valdivia: I knew they would do that! As soon as I saw the “Firms” ad, I thought, they’re going to retaliate with an ad that features Obama singing.
Which is sort of like “retaliating” in a boxing match by kicking yourself in the nuts.
Ben Cisco
There is but one Emissary, and Cain is not it.
Kirbster
Recently, a local Tea Party group sponsored a showing of the documentary “Inside Job”, presumably as a fundraiser. If you’ve seen the film, it’s a very strong indictment of the financial firms that caused the Great Crash. Perhaps it was a heavily edited 5-minute version that only retained the criticism of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (those irresponsible poors caused the crash in collusion with the government!) and naturally stoked their rage anew over the TARP bailouts (more government interference in the perfectly self-regulating free markets!). Otherwise, it makes no sense, although cognitive dissonance is nothing new with the teabirchers.
Handy
The teahadists will save the GOP from becoming some mushy liberal arm of the DNC.
They will vote for Rmoney because they hate Obama not because they support their candidate.
Valdivia
@R-Jud: exactly!
JPL
Evangelicals are going to have to preach that investing in Steric.ycle is okay because it was about making money.
hahahaha
Southern Beale
Romney has a wee bit of a credibility problem. On his “leave of absence”:
This is just more of the Olympic-style flip-flopping we’ve seen from Romney but Jesus. It’s the mother of all flip-flops.
Mark S.
I almost felt sorry for Mitt there.
MikeJ
Romney is getting desperate to change the subject. Political Wire says he’ll name a veep this week. And TPM says Thune(!) has been to Boston.
Patricia Kayden
@Valdivia: Singing beautifully, I might add. Not surprising that since The Bot is on the defense, it is now acting childish.
PeakVT
@MikeJ: Oh, sweet FSM, the media will go on about Thune’s sun-chapped good looks for weeks if he is picked. But I think I could live with that since he would generate no enthusiasm from the Replicant base.
Mark S.
@MikeJ:
Well, that would change the subject for a couple of days. What are they going to do when the next inevitable crisis erupts? It’s kind of like using your lifeline on the $100 question.
I thought McCain ran an inept campaign, but this one is really fun to watch. I’m going to need to stock up on popcorn.
bemused
If only Mitt’s personality was a combination of Ted Nugent and Chris Christie, hard-core Republicans and Teahadists would swoon and pee all over themselves in excitement.
PeakVT
Here’s a good news story for your Monday (though the accompanying photo is kinda gross): Guinea worm on verge of elimination, which is due in large part to the greatest ex-president the country has known, Jimmy Carter.
Cassidy
This really is good news for John McCain. It’s like Rmoney is trying to shoot past all of McCain’s mistakes on an assrocket and create a whole new level of screw-up.
mai naem
The only way they’re going to change the topic is if he nominates Dick Cheney as his veep.And John Thune, is this the Ken version of Sarah’s Barbie? I can already see the Biden/Thune debate.
Watching Morning Ho this morning. Even Joe can’t defend the Mittster. I wonder if Kevin Madden stormed into Eric Thermstrom’s offic after the MSNBC interview and handed inhis resignation.
El Cid
@PeakVT: jimmy carter only wants to save all them Africans so that they can come to America and get all that Obama welfare and then ACORN will make sure they vote for the Kenyonesian Obama and his shania law plans.
NotMax
@MikeJ
Don’t see that happening. Mitt still has the party structure and the backroom bigwigs to kowtow to.
1) He is not yet the official nominee.
2) Announcement of the veep is one of the very few things left which draws eyes and ears to the convention. Other than that, it has become mostly media trivia such as wondering if the rest rooms will run out of toilet tissue or if the balloon drop will come off unencumbered.
Applejinx
@tjmn: Dude, if you were at Bronycon you would know how crazy that is.
John DeLancie’s geared up to make a documentary about the sparkling ponies (and the adults who love them) and in his appearances, he was scathing and just short of flat-out political- at Fox News, specifically. And nobody particularly objected.
Sparkly ponies, friendship and working together to better the world are for LIBERALS (and the ‘Q continuum’, apparently)
Anya
@mai naem: I am gathering there was no Stephanie Cutter or Robert Gibbs to counter the Romney camp? Did Scarborough say something stupid like: Obama doesn’t understand the private sector, he’s never worked a day in his life?
Hal
Breitbart headquarters? There is such a place?
I’m picturing the Hall of Doom from the old Super Friends cartoon.
Cassidy
@Hal: I picture a basement.
“MOM! Don’t interrupt me when I’m doing my show”
cmorenc
@MikeJ:
Smart move: that probably will take South Dakota off the list of swing states.
NonyNony
@Triassic Sands:
It isn’t the hypocrisy – it’s the trust. They don’t believe Romney when he speaks. We cast around looking for why they would believe George W Bush and not Mitt Romney when Bush was a serial liar as well, and it makes no sense to us.
But the difference is that they believed that Bush was one of the tribe. That he was a conservative, evangelical Christian who hated taxes and liberals as much as they did. It didn’t matter what he said, you could see in his heart that he was a good man.
Romney, on the other hand, is the Mormon former governor of Taxachusetts who introduced Obamacare to the world. He’s also a caricature of every mine owner they’ve ever worked for, every overbearing Director they’ve ever tallied numbers for, and every CEO who has taken the credit for their hard work while running off to play golf. The more Obama hits on that stuff, the harder it is for the base to trust him, let alone reach out to independents.
The Stericycle stuff plays into that narrative. Not in the way that most folks around here may think (because of their deeply held passionate pro-life beliefs), but because if you understand the conservative myth of Planned Parenthood you know that one of the lies they pass around is that vile abortionist liberals are running an “abortion industry” that encourages young women to get pregnant and have abortions to line the pockets of the “abortion industry”.
Lo and behold what do we have here? It’s someone making money off of abortions. And that someone is Mitt Romney. It isn’t their fervently held pro-life beliefs that will make this blow up in his face, it’s one more thing that confirms that he’s a “lieberal” in their eyes.
It isn’t the hypocrisy – rumors spread that W paid for an abortion and they didn’t blink an eye. If W had invested in Stericycle and it came out, they’d rush to defend him. They won’t do that for Romney. Because they hate him.
tjmn
@Applejinx:
I was just thinking “Yeah, like that is going to happen” about their wishlist/demands when I wrote that comment.
Sincerely,
Liberal Dudette
Bulworth
I’d actually be really surprised if Palin didn’t speak at their convention.
Also too: I am terribly sorry that the little dinner date between Romney and the teabaggers hasn’t happened yet.
Jess
What if he picks Ted Nugent for his VP?
Bulworth
This almost makes it sound like the teabaggers and Republicans are the same group. How about that?
Bulworth
I sure do hope that crazy birth certificate lady gets a prime time speaking slot at this convention.
I wonder if at least one night of the convention week will be Teabagger Night, with every teabagger group’s spokesperson in patriot-garb getting a chance to show the nation how much they hate that blah guy in the WH.
Ash Can
Hell, I’d be on board with any tea party disruption of the convention at all. And in light of how smart and disciplined the tea partiers are, I doubt I’ll be disappointed.
And if John Thune really is named Romney’s VP, 1) yes, all the Village closet cases will be masturbating over him for the rest of the campaign, 2) the Republican base (read: loons) will reject him as just another northern RINO, and 3) Thune’s future for running for higher office is in the tank. So, hey, do it, Mitt!
@Valdivia: They’re running an ad with Obama singing? A Romney ad? These people just don’t know enough to come in out of the rain, do they?
RaflW
@Valdivia:
What a crap ad. It was made in about 10 minutes, and the audio of a large crowd obviously swooning to Obama’s singing makes it clear that he’s singing to them and not to donors.
They really are stupid and incompetent. They’re a desert wax and a floor topping.
"Fair and Balanced" Dave
@danielx:
If you’re really in the mood to drink a lot, take a drink every time Reagan is mentioned.
grandpa john
@JPL: telling the truth and accepting responsibility is not part of the GOP play book, I thing to be a repub you have to swear an oath to never do these things
Cassidy
Can we hope for a Jonestown moment? Is that too much?
No thank you Mrs. Palin. I do not want a cup of your tasty punch.
redshirt
@Ben Cisco: The Prophets be praised!
grandpa john
Jenny Beth, ( a good ol southern double girl name, however not as popular as say Sue Ann, or Betty lou) but back to the subject, Jenny being a teabagger, can’t be given much for credit for critical thought,OR awareness, but hell Jenny you live in the middle of the bible belt, good ol’ Baptist country , and Mitt is a (pay attention here JENNY) M-O-R-M-O-N. Does that fact bring you out of your fog of dumbness just a little?
maya
@Jess:
You’re getting warm. It’ll be Chuck Norris. Wouldn’t the Repub/Teatards go apeshit over that?
burnspbesq
@El Cid:
And the near Attorney General and his stooges in the lieberal legal academy will pull out all the stops to make sure they can vote without having to show 47 different forms of picture ID that can only be obtained between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. on alternate Thursdays at a state office 200 miles from where they live. I mean, what a cockamamie idea, using the 24th Amendment to attack state voter ID laws that have the same practical effect as a poll tax. That’s crazy talk.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-ackerman-texas-poll-tax-20120715,0,6684651.story
catclub
@Bulworth: That would be neat.
Anti-flouridation. Anti-United Nations. Anti-Global warming.
The US was secretly taken over in 1871. Lincoln was the worst, most big government president of them all. Except for FDR. Anti-NAFTA Highway, or whatever it is. Followed by Pro NAFTA Canadian pipeline.
catclub
@burnspbesq: I want the Romney tax forms that claim NH residence in 2010. When he voted in Massachusetts. Tax fraud Projection writ VERY large.
Steve
Sarah Palin is the biggest rockstar in the Republican Party. Yes, yes, of course she’s a lunatic. But the idea that the GOP might not even invite her to their convention is mind-boggling.
Beauzeaux
Dinner? Does anyone think that Romney will sit down and eat with these people?
Obama has been very successful with his “Lunch with Obama” and “Dinner with Barack & Michelle” because he is completely at ease with just about anyone. He works the rope lines at campaign events with enthusiasm.
Mitt? He studiously avoids the Great Unwashed. Mormons prefer to associate only with each other — though Mitt makes an exception for the very rich. Having dinner with Tea Partiers must fill him with horror.
Nutella
@Anya:
That’s not a very good line for the Repubs now, either, since counting hours worked in the private sector is embarrassing their candidate these days.
Mike in NC
This won’t end well!
Chris
@NonyNony:
This, all of it.
burnspbesq
@catclub:
Romney claimed deductions on his 2010 Federal return for about $700K in state income taxes. That makes it unlikely that he claimed New Hampshire residence.
However, there is this:
http://articles.boston.com/2012-07-13/opinion/32646257_1_tax-returns-mitt-romney-income-taxes/2
Citizen_X
Oh, I want that too, but only because it’ll backfire so badly.
patrick II
You mean Cain actually believes that 999 shit? Hell, I thought he was scammin. Next you’ll tell me Mitt actually considers his business experience at Bain will be useful as president. Maybe he will force the U.S. into bankruptcy, take a profit, sell us to Germany at a discount and solve the American and European financial crises simultaneously.
Villago Delenda Est
@maya:
Well, he’d sew up the fucktard WoW player vote. Not that any of them actually vote, you know…
danimal
@maya: Chuck Norris for Veep won’t happen.
The tea partiers would be too tempted to, ahem, remove Rmoney in a 2nd Amendment kind of way.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@redshirt:
Aw, shucks.
(I know, I know, wrong Prophets…)
AA+ Bonds
This is all useless advice. Sharper? Clearer? What the fuck
AA+ Bonds
I’m just waiting around until Herman Cain’s labor-law-free “opportunity zones” become a mainstream idea, because they will
That’s the Tea Party’s day, when that happens
AxelFoley
@Hal:
I was thinking Mos Eisley. A wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Jebediah
@El Cid:
Sharia Twain can perform at the Kenyocommiemuslifascisocialistical Coronation!