Romney has only himself to blame
The Romney’s have buried their measuring tape. You know, the one with which they wanted measure the Oval Office drapes. They’ve returned to the media spotlight.
Ann Romney was appearing on the same media (albeit marginally, since it was Fox News) of which she blamed for the downfall of Mitt Romney. It was a complete misreading of reality.
The presidency of Barack Obama was supposed to have been easy pickins’. Instead, it was Mitt Romney, not the media, who did in Mitt Romney.
Here are 20 reasons to support the previous paragraphs.
20. Romney says he doesn’t follow NASCAR very closely but has some good friends who are team owners. Just another indication he lacks the “common touch.”
19. He refused to release his tax returns to the extent of past presidential candidates — including his own father.
18. Romney’s campaign staff booked him to give a “major economic speech” at Detroit’s Ford Field. Only 1,200 people showed up at a venue that holds 65,000 people. It became a visual campaign blunder.
17. Romney’s first campaign ad against Obama dishonestly showed the president saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’ll lose.” The problem is, Obama wasn’t talking about his own campaign. He was repeating words attributed to John McCain’s 2008 campaign staff.
16. “I’ll bet you $10,000,” was a wager Romney offered fellow presidential aspirant, Rick Perry, during a Republican debate. An odd gesture when you’re trying to lure working-class voters.
15. Clint Eastwood’s empty chair during the Republican National Convention. Romney’s campaign should have known that was doomed to backfire.
14. Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s advisor, set-off national titters of laughter when he claimed Romney could hit the “reset a button” after the Republican primary season. “It’s almost like an Etch-a-Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again,” as if Romney hadn’t had a well-documented history of hitting politically expedient “reset buttons” for years.
13. “Middle income is $200,00 – $250,000 a year and less.” This Romney quote, and the one that follows, needs no explanations.
12. “Corporations are people, my friend.”
11. “They didn’t build that,” was an Obama statement taken completely out of context, that was used to little effect against him.
10. “Self-deportation,” was Romney’s bizarre answer about what to do with undocumented aliens. That didn’t endear him to Hispanic voters. Nor did the reason below for making sure the undocumented lawn care workers didn’t return to care for his lawn.
9. “I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake. We can’t have illegals.”
8. Romney’s inability to convince anybody that the RomneyCare mandate was materially different from the one in ObamaCare.
7. “Proceed Governor,” was Obama’s request, when Romney claimed he’d not used the word “terrorists” in the wake of the Benghazi attack. Debate moderator Candy Crowley corrected Romney, and thus gave Obama some public vindication.
6. “We had binders full of women,” was Romney’s awkward off-the-cuff debate response to a question about pay equity. That certainly didn’t help him win many female votes.
5. Romney’s campaign ad that claimed Jeep was moving overseas. A false ad, that Romney still tried to justify.
4. “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” was an op-ed Romney wrote in November of 2008, and before the auto bailout that saved the industry. Once again, Romney couldn’t quite get out of the way of his own words.
3. A disastrous foreign trip that proved Romney can tick-off people around the globe and look silly doing it. Just ask the mayor of London.
2. Romney claimed he’s, “Not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.” I know stink bugs that have more charm.
1. That infamous 47 percent tape, of which Romney still hilariously claims, “What I said is not what I believe.”
Really?
Uniontown native Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net