Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Todd ·
January 10, 2012 at 12:00am
Here is Mitt Romney making a comment about how he likes being able to fire people (and replace them with someone else...)
He should not back down on this. Let's have this argument.
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Comments:
Jul '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
If conservatives would stop piling on about how horrible and disgusting and irresponsible it is that Romney said something the opposition will twist around, they might think about how Romney could diffuse this gaffe and maybe even make it work for him.
This election is about firing people. Fire Obama. Fire Geithner. Fire Holder. Fire Chu. Fire Sibelius. Fire Biden. Fire TSA. I could go on. Throw all the bums out.
It would only take a few well crafted sentences to communicate that firing is about getting rid of what doesn't work and that we need a firing frenzy to get our country back on track. Romney should allow the opposition to spout incoherently for awhile then double down on firing because that is precisely what this country needs.
Romney's strongest issue is the economy. He has had a successful career in and out of politics cutting budgets, adding value, and making things work, frequently to the benefit of thousands of people in the form of employment. Give the left and hypocrites on the right enough rope to tie themselves in knots about the evils of firing then give them both barrels.
-E
Dec '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Where, by the way, are the Romney campaign ads that feature happy workers or business managers saying, "Boy, we were sure in deep doo-doo until Bain Capital showed up. They straightened everything out and we're firing on all eight cylinders. Thanks, Mitt!"
Sep '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
As Rob Long would say, he needs to "hang a lantern on it." A competent campaigner could turn this mistake to his advantage by explaining what he means in a coherent, persuasive way.
Only problem is, I don't think Romney will do that. As a campaigner, he's incompetent.
Dec '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Todd, I have to ask: did you put up the out-of-context portion of Mitt's speech just to get us all riled up?
Let me backtrack here: based on what I saw of the expurgated clip, I went ballistic. That's because I've seen so many of Mitt's consultant ilk over the years. They waltz into a business that's a community of people and, without understanding the culture, start wielding a meat axe. But they were never the ones who had to do the actual dirty work. I was. Or someone like me was.
Alright, given the larger context of Mitt's speech, it's morally unobjectionable. But the fact that he put out a soundbite that is going to cost him millions of votes is just plain stupid.
Dec '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
The specific words a candidate uses matter as much or more than the ideas and intent behind those words.
Mitt Romney seems not to have realized that this is the world we live in:
Sep '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
James Pethokoukis makes the same point: "Why is Romney doing such a lousy job defending his record at Bain Capital?"
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Completely. Just play audio of Romney's clip while showing the picture of Obama below.
Nov '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Lovely. I'm hoping I'm not the only one to catch this.
Feb '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
wmartin
Xennady: PJ,
Romney has a knack for saying things that need explaining, and lots of it. ·
He does? Since when? As I said earlier, he is the least gaffe-prone of these candidates by far. ·
Note this very thread for evidence against your thesis.
Apr '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Xennady
wmartin
Xennady: PJ,
Romney has a knack for saying things that need explaining, and lots of it. ·
He does? Since when? As I said earlier, he is the least gaffe-prone of these candidates by far. ·
Note this very thread for evidence against your thesis. · Jan 9 at 6:58pm
Well, this is indeed a gaffe. But you have said that he "has a knack" for mispeaking, and that he "continually generates" statements that must be clarified. This language seems to be claiming that there are numerous statements of this kind. Can you point to a long list of gaffes that make him more toxic than the Perry, Santorum, the walking gaffe machine Newt Gingrich, etc?
Sep '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
What a boob. Between this and the ads with the tearful, laid-off workers and the photo of Romney and his buddies with wads of cash pouring out of their suits, this is making it waaaaaay too easy for the opposition.
May '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Wait, so GOP candidates are now channeling #OWS? REALLY?
Bain is/was kind of a combination ICU/neonatal care unit for companies. It did a fantastic job when Romney was there; the 78% success rate being thrown around is very impressive in light of its "patients".
In other news, Dennis Prager stepped from the ground onto at least the firt step of the Romney train today--makes me feel a lot better, since until today, the love/meh triangle was pretty painful.
Ace of Spades asked me what the Romney narrative was/will be. This was my answer:
Very good/decent, free enterprise-oriented executive with phenomenal, ability to fix and make profitable large organizations; who has successful serious executive government experience; someone unusually well suited to pairing-down, fixing, and running the biggest organization there is; re-balancing the private sector/government balance; and someone articulate who doesn't scare too large a swath of the electorate.
Jul '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
@ Nobody's Perfect,
Since you seen interested in personalizing this issue, allow me to do the same. You may be aware that a number of refineries are closing in Pennsylvania. The workers will be laid off, the culture destroyed, and the communities abandoned. The owners of all the refineries sought buyers and failed to find them; buyers perhaps like Bain? True, if Bain took over, they would have taken a meat axe to the company, but that would have at least given the plants and their workers a sporting chance.
I currently work at a refinery that is still around because another company took a chance, bought the plant, invested in it and is managing it. And saved jobs.
-E
Apr '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
dogsbody
As Rob Long would say, he needs to "hang a lantern on it." A competent campaigner could turn this mistake to his advantage by explaining what he means in a coherent, persuasive way.
Only problem is, I don't think Romney will do that. As a campaigner, he's incompetent. · Jan 9 at 5:32pm
Mitt is almost certain to achieve the Iowa/ New Hampshire double as a non-incumbent, for the first time in American history.
If his marketing is incompetent, his substance must be awesome.
Aug '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
HIs superPAC's ad against Romney, which Newt seems to be endorsing and may have even helped with the message, is a disqualifying issue all on its own.
I find it terribly depressing that other Republicans are attacking Mitt over this issue. 'Creative Destruction' is a core principle of Capitalism, and Gingrich and Santorum are acting like left-wing populists.
This whole episode made me a Romney supporter for the first time. He's the only one of the bunch acting like someone who actually likes capitalism.
Aug '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Here are the CEOs of Sports Authority and Staples pretty much saying what you mockingly suggest. I imagine these guys will be in an ad or two along the way eventually. There is something to be said for keeping your powder dry too...
Apr '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Xennady: PJ,
There's an old saying from politics that goes something like this: When you're explaining you're losing.
Romney has a knack for saying things that need explaining, and lots of it. That's not a sign of success, or of political competence.
Disaster, he will be. · Jan 9 at 2:56pm
It depends on how useful the explanation is. When Mitt had to explain that the ethics attacks on Newt were fair, and hence had to enumerate those attacks, he was able to make quite personal attacks without being cheap in making them; Newt forced him to (Mitt's earlier response was less good).
With Bain, it is in Mitt's interest to have Obama and his team obsessing about this as the vulnerability, because attacking the free market in labor makes Obama make explicit his preference for European (and, what the heck, Soviet; ty Diane!) economics. 2012 will be a very good year to run on being an American capitalist running against a European socialist, as Europe goes down in flames. With Newt, it is odd, but not fatal to sound like a student socialist agitator, because it is so against stereotype. Not so Obama.
Dec '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
EThompson
The King Prawn
You seem to think the truth matters. I hope I'm not breaking news to you that in politics it is barely 3rd or 4th on the list.
If you agree to spare me the patronizing commentary, I would be willing to share this opinion: the Romney campaign must spend some of the war chest highlighting his sound economic principles to the general public in a forum that is not controlled by the MSM. I'm no Lee Atwater, but certainly, an extensive TV ad campaign would be a good start. · Jan 9 at 5:19pm
I apologize for coming off as patronizing. My intent was to be comical, but apparently it was not received as it was intended. Ironically, that is exactly what is happening to Romney with this clip. He had a valid point, but the delivery, or the removal from context, ruined the point. If I screw up my joke I just come off as unfunny. His misfire with the analogy will do much more damage regardless of how hard he or his supporters try to explain it. It's a tough position he's in now and possibly an unforced error.
Jul '11
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Frozen Chosen
Here are the CEOs of Sports Authority and Staples pretty much saying what you mockingly suggest. I imagine these guys will be in an ad or two along the way eventually. There is something to be said for keeping your powder dry too... · Jan 9 at 8:03pm
Good find, Frozen.
Aug '10
Re: Mitt, Don't Back Down on This
Stuart Creque: The specific words a candidate uses matter as much or more than the ideas and intent behind those words.
Mitt Romney seems not to have realized that this is the world we live in:
Stuart, I would love to see you give 5 speeches a day every day for 10 months. I'm sure you would never make a mistake or use an inartful phrase.
The other candidates make a gaffe a week and when Romney makes a minor one every 3 or 4 months suddenly he's a gaffe machine.
I am anxiously awaiting your list of candidates who never make a mistake on the campaign trail.
Edited on January 10, 2012 at 5:11am