Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Now that it's clear that much of the GOP base is angry - as evidenced by the rise of Newt - Romney is attacking Newt head on and his staff promises he will go after Newt tonight in the debate.
I am doubtful that this strategy will work because frankly I think any attacks Mitt makes will backfire because that's not who Mitt is. By all accounts he is a genuinely polite and nice fellow and I think any angry persona he affects will be perceived as unnatural, which is not something Mitt should be reinforcing with voters right now.
Gingrich has no problem being mean and nasty because I think it comes naturally to him. His rise is a direct reflection of the very real anger present in the base. The issue for Newt is that the righteous anger approach probably won't work with the general electorate - but that's probably an issue for another post.
Can Mitt successfully make the attacks without seeming phony? We'll know by next Tuesday.
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Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
So dumb. The GOP base isn't angry at Mitt or Newt. The GOP base is angry at Obama.
Hey Mitt, you wanna appeal to the GOP base? Go after Obama!!!
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Misthiocracy
So dumb. The GOP base isn't angry at Mitt or Newt. The GOP base is angry at Obama.
Hey Mitt, you wanna appeal to the GOP base? Go after Obama!!! · 16 minutes ago
Of course the base is angry at Obama and the media, I assumed we all knew that (perhaps I should've clarified).
Mitt has gone after Obama pretty hard during the course of the campaign. If people want him to call Obama an evil Marxist that's not gonna happen and would be foolish anyway. Mitt has not gone after the media as Newt has but I think that much of Newt's righteous indignation is feigned anyway.
I think Mitt has to be Mitt and if the base demands anger from their candidate then they can vote for Newt.
Edited on Jan 23 at 1:49pmRe: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Frozen Chosen: Now that it's clear that much of the GOP base is angry - as evidenced by the rise of Newt - Romney is attacking Newt head on and his staff promises he will go after Newt tonight in the debate.
I am doubtful that this strategy will work because frankly I think any attacks Mitt makes will backfire because that's not who Mitt is. ...
Can Mitt successfully make the attacks without seeming phony? We'll know by next Tuesday. · · 25 minutes ago
Well, a few things. 1) Mitt has deployed his anger in many ways during campaigns. Sometimes it's done by himself and sometimes through others. 2) His danger isn't phoniness. In fact, he seems quite genuinely angry at times. But usually when he gets angry, his arguments come out sounding arrogant, defensive or condescending. That's what he needs to avoid.
My own thinking, though, is that the strategy will fail because Newt is not Mitt's problem. Mitt is Mitt's problem. He should focus on making a better argument for himself other than the now-lacking argument of inevitability.
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Frozen Chosen
Misthiocracy
So dumb. The GOP base isn't angry at Mitt or Newt. The GOP base is angry at Obama.
Hey Mitt, you wanna appeal to the GOP base? Go after Obama!!! · 16 minutes ago
Of course the base is angry at Obama and the media, I assumed we all knew that (perhaps I should've clarified).
To be clear, I didn't mean to suggest you're dumb. I mean to suggest that Romney's strategy of attacking Newt instead of Obama is dumb.
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Misthiocracy
Frozen Chosen
Misthiocracy
So dumb. The GOP base isn't angry at Mitt or Newt. The GOP base is angry at Obama.
Hey Mitt, you wanna appeal to the GOP base? Go after Obama!!! · 16 minutes ago
Of course the base is angry at Obama and the media, I assumed we all knew that (perhaps I should've clarified).
To be clear, I didn't mean to suggest you're dumb. I mean to suggest that Romney's strategy of attacking Newt instead of Obama is dumb. · 2 minutes ago
Thanks for the clarification. I just figured you thought my argument was dumb - which is well within the realm of possibility!
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Frozen Chosen: Now that it's clear that much of the GOP base is angry - as evidenced by the rise of Newt - Romney is attacking Newt head on and his staff promises he will go after Newt tonight in the debate.
I am doubtful that this strategy will work because frankly I think any attacks Mitt makes will backfire because that's not who Mitt is. ...
Can Mitt successfully make the attacks without seeming phony? We'll know by next Tuesday. · · 25 minutes ago
Well, a few things. 1) Mitt has deployed his anger in many ways during campaigns. Sometimes it's done by himself and sometimes through others. 2) His danger isn't phoniness. In fact, he seems quite genuinely angry at times. But usually when he gets angry, his arguments come out sounding arrogant, defensive or condescending. That's what he needs to avoid.
My own thinking, though, is that the strategy will fail because Newt is not Mitt's problem. Mitt is Mitt's problem. He should focus on making a better argument for himself other than the now-lacking argument of inevitability. · 18 minutes ago
I do think that Mitt can use surrogates to make effective atttacks as long as he does not do so personally.
I also think he needs to improve his message as you say.
Apr '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Frozen Chosen:
My own thinking, though, is that the strategy will fail because Newt is not Mitt's problem. Mitt is Mitt's problem. He should focus on making a better argument for himself other than the now-lacking argument of inevitability. · 26 minutes ago
When has Mitt used the argument of inevitability?
Frozen Chosen:
Can Mitt successfully make the attacks without seeming phony? We'll know by next Tuesday. · · 1 hour ago
Just as Newt would make the general about Newt, saving Obama, he's probably going to succeed in making Florida about Newt. If he succeeds or fails, it will be more about him than about Mitt or anyone else, much like Mitt in New Hampshire. The surge is coming at a heck of a time, but the test of Mitt's skill is not in stopping it so much as in riding through it, wearing Newt down. It'd be awesome if it crashes in the next week, but the more plausible test is if he's able to maintain his path correcting victories through February.
If he can do that, his stability should see him to Super Tuesday victories and renewed comfort.
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
James Of England
Just as Newt would make the general about Newt, saving Obama, he's probably going to succeed in making Florida about Newt. If he succeeds or fails, it will be more about him than about Mitt or anyone else, much like Mitt in New Hampshire. The surge is coming at a heck of a time, but the test of Mitt's skill is not in stopping it so much as in riding through it, wearing Newt down. It'd be awesome if it crashes in the next week, but the more plausible test is if he's able to maintain his path correcting victories through February.
If he can do that, his stability should see him to Super Tuesday victories and renewed comfort. · 7 minutes ago
See, I think it's important for Mitt to do much more than just ride this out. I mean, let's say he wins the nomination just by riding things out and winning a few states where organizational failures kept others off the ballot ... is that going to give him the grassroots support he needs in the coming year?
Dec '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Frozen Chosen:
I am doubtful that this strategy will work because frankly I think any attacks Mitt makes will backfire because that's not who Mitt is.
One does not accumulate a $250 million dollar net worth operating as a milquetoast. To quote my favorite NFL terrorist, Lawrence Taylor: I had to hit Jaworski that way--with an over-the-head ax job.
The second part of LT's comment would unfortunately qualify as a violation of the CofC, but hopefully, Chosen, you get my point. People who succeed in competitive arenas aren't simply lucky or NGBs...
Edited on Jan 23 at 3:22pmApr '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
James Of England
See, I think it's important for Mitt to do much more than just ride this out. I mean, let's say he wins the nomination just by riding things out and winning a few states where organizational failures kept others off the ballot ... is that going to give him the grassroots support he needs in the coming year? · 28 minutes ago
I didn't mean to suggest that he can make do with winning Virginia, and the first, delegate free, Missouri. I think he needs to work unbelievably hard to catch up through February, and for Super Tuesday needs to push Ohio, in particular, to develop a campaign for him that can be re-purposed in the general. I just don't think that he needs to be hugely angry, or necessarily needs to stop Newt right now, although it would be much better for him and the party if he did. Mitt needs to be steady and resilient, to keep working at it, and to focus endlessly on the general.
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
My apologies for being unclear. I take great pains to never make personal attacks on other posters. Presidential candidates, on the other hand, are fair game. ;-)
Aug '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
No, but that doesn't mean they're skilled at making the attacks themselves. Maybe he's used to underlings doing the dirty work, and therefore is on unstable ground as a political candidate that has to do it himself.
It's kinda like saying that a bomber pilot would automatically make a good boxer. After all, if he can kill lots of people at one time, surely merely beating up a single opponent must be a piece of cake.
Edited on Jan 23 at 3:27pmDec '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Misthiocracy
No, but that doesn't mean they're skilled at making the attacks themselves. Maybe he's used to underlings doing the dirty work, and therefore is on unstable ground as a political candidate that has to do it himself.
Mitt Romney surely had a Lee Atwater, James Baker and Karl Rove at Bain Capital. Where are these 'game-changers' in his political circle? They must certainly exist.
If not, darnit, I'll take the job in a midwestern minute. ;)
Edited on Jan 23 at 3:52pmApr '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
James Of England
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
James Of England
See, I think it's important for Mitt to do much more than just ride this out. I mean, let's say he wins the nomination just by riding things out and winning a few states where organizational failures kept others off the ballot ... is that going to give him the grassroots support he needs in the coming year? ·
With a little more thought, I'd like to rephrase my response down to: Mitt does not win in November by being more exciting than Obama. He wins by patiently, reassuringly, explaining why that the debt and regulations of the last 4 years have to be undone (albeit, for the former, not in 4 years).
Spending cuts, his big aim, are simply not something that you can make exciting, and it does not win accolades. How many conservatives worship at the feet of Harding? Presidents are remembered for what they build, not what they dismantle; how many people know that Bush '41 was the greatest dismantler of Medicare so far? Being angrily and excitably in favor of spending cuts makes you look like hostile to those the spending helped.
Apr '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Misthiocracy
So dumb. The GOP base isn't angry at Mitt or Newt. The GOP base is angry at Obama.
Hey Mitt, you wanna appeal to the GOP base? Go after Obama!!! · 4 hours ago
I just said something similar to this in the Paul Rahe "Glorious Revolution" post, but I'll say it again here- Romney DOES go after Obama. He finds a way to turn virtually every question in the debates into an attack on Obama. He goes after POTUS incessantly. I can only assume demeanor is the reason he gets no credit for it. He'll never be able to do sweaty, red-faced outrage as well as Newt since Newt is, as Frozen states, a genuinely nasty individual.
Jan '12
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
Mitt will appear robotic no matter what rhetorical mode he attempts. Mitt programmed for anger will be more a cause for snickering than for sympathetic outrage.
I may be showing too much partisanship, but I believe that Newt is learning how to use his anger rather than letting it use him. If so, it will become something like righteous indignation. It appears already to have withered a few talking heads, and it just might wither Obama.
Dec '10
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
I am not sure what Mitt does do, politically.
Here's Romney "ripping" on Obama -- a damp squib.
And here's Newt in the same forum, actually ripping on Obama.
Though Newt can do it with humor, too.
Nov '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
wmartin
I just said something similar to this in the Paul Rahe "Glorious Revolution" post, but I'll say it again here- Romney DOES go after Obama. He finds a way to turn virtually every question in the debates into an attack on Obama. He goes after POTUS incessantly. I can only assume demeanor is the reason he gets no credit for it. He'll never be able to do sweaty, red-faced outrage as well as Newt since Newt is, as Frozen states, a genuinely nasty individual. · 4 minutes ago
I've wondered this too. (He even said at the last debate he'd spent more time going after Obama than fellow Republicans. Chances somebody reminds him about that tonight?) Might be demeanor; I think also he sometimes sounds like he's going after Obama as a way of ducking a question -- like he's trying to skip the primary and go straight to the general.
Nov '11
Re: Mitt Doesn't Do Angry
By way of encouragement for the Romney people, it is indeed completely possible for a robotic candidate to become the leader of a major political party.