Romney: Pwned!

July 29, 2007 by Alpha.

The most recently surfaced critique of Mitt Romney’s Presidential campaign is that he isn’t sticking to a message. He’s shown that he’s pretty willing to contradict himself depending on the crowd he’s with, not unlike the charges leveled against President Bush in his campaigns. Unfortunately for the former Governor of Massechusetts, attendees of Romney events aren’t screened as strictly as those attending Bush events. The gravest danger, Team Bush must have recognized, is a combination of video cameras and tough questions, which can add up to explosive moments, like then-Senator George Allen’s infamous “Macaca Moment.”

The “bad” moment in this sequence was what may be cordially described as a telling gaff at a campaign stop in South Carolina. Romney was shouldering up to some of his (tremendously impolitic) supporters. A sign gets shoved in his hand, and of course there’s a camera around. Here are the photos (via):
Now, I won’t go into my particular problems with the sign (though they be legion). I actually feel that the thing has a sort of folksy, down-home feel to it, that should really appeal to that coveted angry, racist, nationalist, chauvinist demographic. Their so-called “base.”

But then, that’s the problem, isn’t it. Whether he meant to be or not, there’s simply no way around the fact that he is materially supporting an ideology that is poisonous to the harmony of our republic.

And whether or not he had any idea what he was doing when he hefted that poster-board, there’s only one sensible solution. It’s a pretty obvious one, I’d think: declare that you had no idea what was on the sign, lifted it simply to be cordial and apologize profusely for hurting anyone’s feelings. This way you neutralize the event without totally alienating conservative Republicans.

Of course, if the Romney campaign had figured out how to deal with this situation properly, I probably wouldn’t be commenting. If the story stops there, it’s no story at all. Instead of eating a bite of humble pie and making an ugly face, Romney did the unthinkable: he moved to position himself to the right of the patriot demographic.

At one of his “Ask Mitt Anything” listening tour events in South Carolina shortly thereafter, Romney jumped on it. With both feet. The question came from a polite but persistent young man named Jarid Kurtz, who writes for the remarkably homey Buckeye State Blog. “I still remember where I was on 9/11,” Kurtz said. “I still don’t understand how you can compare any American to Osama bin Laden.” It’s a leading question, one with a hideously potent trap in the middle of it.

Romney jumped in with both feet: “Uh, nice try…. But I don’t really spend all that much time looking at the signs and the T-shirts and the buttons. I don’t have anything in particular to say about a sign somebody else was holding.” Then he made it worse. “I don’t stand for all the things I get my picture taken next to.”

After some words of encouragement and/or extreme frustration from the audience, Romney continued “You know what? Lighten up slightly. Lighten up.There’s plenty of jokes out there and I’m not responsible for every sign that I see, that I’m with. And just lighten up.”

I’d like to briefly respond to the claim at the center of this poorly executed pivot move. Romney argues that he is not responsible for every button, shirt or sign that happens to be near him. I disagree. Any Presidential Candidate has the responsibility to do the right thing. Or at the very least, appear to do so. Romney should not have been allowed anywhere near that sign, unless it was for the express purpose of asking the sign-bearer to consider a slightly more positive message.

Either Romney wasn’t properly coached for either of these occasions or he simply blew it or both. In any case, this signals a major mistake on the part of the Romney campaign, and not one that appears easy to fix. Sure, you might be able to prevent another gaff of this caliber with some staff changes, but that won’t put the kittens back in the sack. Romney just finished principal shooting on one of the best attack ads I’ve seen in a while.

Some of you playing along at home may wonder whether this event upsets my predictions about the Republican Primary race. I rate this a definite maybe. If this story sticks to Romney, it’ll hurt. With McCain in sharp decline and Giuliani wavering, we may see just the opening that Fred Thompson is looking for. And if Thompson turns out to be an empty suit, that may leave the way clear for Candidate Gingrich, which just might be the silver bullet Republicans need so badly right now.

The only certainty is that the Republican race just got a lot less certain, and I’m not sure anyone will make it out of the swamp without some mud on them.

To see the entirety of the Kurtz, et al. v. Romney exchange in New Hampshire, courtesy YouTube, click here. I warn you, it’s brutal.

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