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As I went through the news this morning, I picked up on a subtle theme that seems to be permeating the political discourse right now.
The Hill quoted a GOP strategist saying Team Romney has "the stench of a losing campaign."
Politico quoted Greg Strimple, who worked on John McCain's 2008 campaign, saying, "The problem is the campaign is now in a spiral and no one knows how to pull out." The same piece quoted a senior Republican who's also deeply involved in this cycle's campaign, who said, "As a candidate, [Romney] is just not going to improve." A Romney bundler added, "[W]e're just ... imploding."
The New York Times reported that a "palpably gloomy and openly frustrated mood has begun to creep into Mr. Romney's campaign for president," and some Romney aides "are now wondering whether victory is still possible." A "flustered adviser, describing the mood, said that the campaign was turning into a vulgar, unprintable phrase."
The Daily Beast ran a piece from Mark McKinnon, a former Bush adviser, who wrote, "I honestly don't know what Romney can do to win support from the voters he needs to gain a majority. I thought the debates would be an opportunity, but he has dug his hole so deeply now, I don't know if he can pull himself out.... I loved Michelle Obama's line in her speech: 'A presidency reveals who you are.' So do campaigns. And mark me down as one Republican not happy with what is being revealed about Mitt Romney."
And the Huffington Post quoted a Republican consultant with deep experience on Capitol Hill and extensive contacts in the Romney campaign, who said, "There's a feeling of almost that this thing's in free fall."
Clearly, Romney is not where he wants or needs to be, but I'm rather amazed the panic is so widespread and public. President Obama's leading, but his advantage can best be described as modest, and Romney and his allies are sitting out a mountain of cash, which will finance "carpet bombing" that has not yet begun. There's just no need for this freak-out.
But the freak-out is nevertheless well underway.
There's a real danger of a self-fulfilling prophecy here, in which donors and activists simply start to assume Romney is doomed -- because Republicans keep telling them he's doomed -- and pull back from investing more resources.
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But beware; money talks and he has oodles of it to spend. New and improved version of Romney is being molded as we read. And given the history so far, I would anticipate some bigger lies ahead.
Remember, his campaign refuses to bow to fact checkers.
Yes...now I hear that Ricketts of the Ending Spending Action Fund will pump millions into the Rev. Wright/Obama connection. Are they still stuck in 2008 campaign mode or what?
Maybe his campaign doesn't have as much money as we thought. The Washington Post article today says the Romney campaign borrowed $20 million in the summer and still hasn't paid it all back. Big donors can give unlimited amounts to the Super PACs but the campaign finance rules apply to the campaign. Not enough grassroots donors, the article said.
Yes Dem organizers need to stay on their feet and keep knockin'.
The Romney campaign just needed a few days of heavy drinking while they sat around playing: You Could Have Had it Allalllll.... by Adel. Over and over and over.........
What I find very encouraging is that the majority of Romney's money is coming from a few (very rich) people, while a majority of President Obama's money is coming from a lot of (average income) people.
So, Romney has more money, but that may not translate into more votes.
Here's hoping . . .
Really bad for rummey,, the rich know to hedge their bets and will start pouring money on Obama,,, ya think?
I must correct myself. I read that Mr. Ricketts is donationg $10mil in ads helping Romney. What those ads will contain, I'm not sure. But with Romney's situation in fairly dire straits, I wouldn't be surprised if they "revisit" the Reverend Wright idea first bandied about in May.
The fact that Romney has a few major and not so many smaller donors means he can't "grow." Obama, on the other hand, just demonstrated last month that he can indeed "grow." I admit to getting irritated with all the "gimme gimme" e-mails but the fact is we can still smack the goobers.
We should not get complacent. Remember were John McCain was just weeks before his 2008 primary victory in New Hampshire.
I'm not saying that a Romney comeback is likely. I am, however, saying that it is possible. We still have the debates, he and the billionaires are still waging a serious air war, and the Washington press is unpredictable.
Complacency on our part would be a mistake.
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/o2012-donate-today
Agreed - DO NOT TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE GAS PEDAL, folks. As hard as it is to make calls or knock on doors to talk to strangers, to get them registered to vote, to get them to sign up for early voting, or even to commit to voting at all, it is our ground game - regular people talking to regular people - that must combat the current barrage of lies and carpet-bombing of attack ads headed our way. Millions of people don't pay the same attention that we do out here on The Maddow Blog, so we have to educate them to facts and explain why it is in their best interest to re-elect President Obama.
I agree with everything you say but one. It's not hard to talk to people on the phone or knocking doors. Your local campaign will provide you with all the training and materials you need. It's just talking to people. Simple as that. Once you get over your initial butterflies it's one of the most rewarding experiences you'll ever have.
Nah, his campaign already had to borrow $20 million before the convention. He's not broke, but he doesn't want to spend his own money.
Mitt's "investors" have been working on the assumption that they could buy the election. And if Mitt can deliver them a tax cut, even a fraction of what he proposes, then the return-on-investment is huge.
But that was assuming a 50/50 shot at winning the election. OK, 40/60. But you start laying the odds at 3 or 4 to 1 against, and they start getting skittish. Especially since all of their spending to date has not moved Mitt's numbers in a positive direction.
So, time to cut their losses. I agree.
The fact that the great "businessman" ran out of money and had to borrow $20M for his campaign is Exhibit #1952 that we do not want this man in the White House.
He didn't run out of money. He just couldn't, by law, tap into the funds he'd raised for the general election until after he was officially nominated at the Republican convention. It was a short-term loan using the funds already in the bank for the post-convention period as collateral. His campaign is still very flush, make no mistake.
What's really sad is that he's spent all that, AND had all this shadow-money spent for him, but he's still circling the drain. That's because money can't buy him a soul, or evidently a filter between his brain and his mouth.
Forget the campaign and follow the money; it's the super PAC's that will spend like made and carpet bomb Obama with lies like ending welfare work requirements or this year's version of death panels.
The Republicans simply engaged to many people in the 2010 midterms. They thought they could simply lie their way into the White House without stirring up the hornets nest, and they were wrong. We all have cable TV and the internet, and only the true devotees will ignore what is in front of them. Congress did not steal the 9% approval rating, they earned it.
hornet's nest = MSNBC
I am surprised that more has not been made of the down-ticket races. I hope those voting for Obama don't think they are guarding the "balance of power" by voting for a Republican congressman or senator. Not much can get done with the House we have now.
they didn't earn the 9% approval rating. they bought it. using other people's money and jobs.
9% approval rating - Republicans built that.
All those disgruntled comments!
When rats desert a sinking ship, they usually do not speak to the press on their way ashore. . .
Have Mitt Romney come out and Gangam Style. That'll get his ratings back up.
Since you asked...
http://www.papermag.com/uploaded_images/tumblr_m9hk7ftRnj1rtxen9o1_400.gif
Holy crud, that is classic.
The palpably gloomy and openly frustrated mood was there from the beginning. Especially when Romney decided to play it his way by, standing in the dark shadows and not responding to any outside stimuli. His conniving may have worked in the primaries, the others being his equael as far as cleverness, but, when actual intellegience is needed he will lose. He has none, if he did he would have gotten out of politics a long time ago. His policies are old and dusty and that is the stench we smell.
Mitt had the happy face during the Republican primaries because he was using his money to kick the bejesus out of his opponents. He was all talk about big shoulders and politics not being beanball and that nonsense. Now, Mitt would give his right arm for some beanball. LOL
and bear in mind the quality of those "opponents"
He beat up on the clown show at the circus and remeber , that Santorum was giving him a run for his money at one point
The turning point will come when Fox News changes its focus from the presidential race and starts putting more effort into propping up downticket races. At that point, it will be clear to the GOP that the presidency is lost and that they need to make a full-court press to hold the House and possibly snag the Senate. Basically, when Fox News cuts Romney lose, it's done.
Yep, and as Frank Rich (or maybe Howard Fineman?) said, watch to see if Rove through American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS pulls their money from the presidential race and focuses on downballot races instead.
IMO - funding for the presidential race will "stabilize" or be "adjusted" (reduced) to beer money (Romney style).
Funding for "critical" Republican House (and Senate) seat elections will magically double/triple/quadruple or more in order to buy the influence they desire.
Meanwhile, the funding for the ongoing voter suppression campaign in every possible configuration will also be significantly increased.
The Republican determination to buy this election is only exceeded by their prejudice, misogyny, bigotry and apparently limitless pockets courtesy of Karl Rove and company.
This country is an interesting place to be this election cycle. Who doesn't love being front and center for a good trainwreck ala reality show style GOP campaign meltdown? It's as if Mitt and his "brain trust" will fight to the finish no matter how cockamamie the idea/speech/answer happens to be coming from their side.
Hannity, Limbaugh and Ingraham are like toddlers sitting in time out with a barrage of yelps and screeches in an attempt to drown out the common sense of the American public that are on to their game and the clock is running down.
Too many old ideas, radical conservatism doesn't work and they can't let it go. It's obvious the GOP needs a major facelift. Now that would be patriotism!
Yeah but the face lift they're going to get is moving from "A-men!" to "Seig! Heil!"
They're panicking because Mitt's losing. I'm nervous because he's not losing by enough.
Seriously. I know this has been a bad economy and the Republicans have been great at driving a narrative that it's either a: all Obama's fault or b: a good President would have fixed it by now no matter how much THEY continue to break it. They've done a great job of insisting ANY success Obama's had isn't REALLY a success, or not a success attributable to him, and anyway it's not really what THIS election is about. They've had the upper hand there, I grant them that.
But Romney has come across as so inept, so out-of-his-league. He's a man who's always been able to buy his way out of trouble but many of the nation's problems can't be solved with a blank check (especially when you're presumably running on a campaign of fiscal responsibility). The base still doesn't trust him, so he can't Etch a Sketch into General Election Mode Romney. And there's not a thing about his policy (what we know of it anyway) that seems like it would benefit a majority of Americans. Worse, we now know he's not even TRYING to reach the general electorate. He honestly seems to believe tax cuts for the wealthiest solves all, so if he can appeal to the one percenters, their collective funds will be what he needs to buy the election though as I wrote above, not enough to buy the solutions to the problems we face.
MAYBE they're starting to panic because they realize in order to make him palatable to a majority of voters between now and Election Day, they're going to have to sink into a place so dark, not only sell their souls to the Devil but their children's souls as well, and come up with a campaign so nasty, so filled with lies and scandal, that it's almost not worth it. Maybe they're panicking not because of what they've done to keep things THIS competitive, but what more they'll have to do.
Oh, and he's a laughingstock to the rest of the world, and he lunged at camera time to gleefully attack Obama for an attack on American soil that was still going on.
When you stand at a podium and give advice in support of corporations to sell out before they have to pay worker pensions, your sunk.
Slappy, he's not losing 'big enough' because so few voters are paying any attention- and won't until after the debates. If then.
As I always say, he with the most yard signs, wins. And they have yet to bloom in the nation's front yards.
Standing at a podium and smirking while chaos erupts in the Middle East...is there anything to compare with this? Willard is in so far over his head. No one in their right mind should envision him as even the least bit presidential.
And yet he remains within striking distance...
That is how we know what deep doo-doo the country is in, party. Just the fact that the Republicans can behave the way they have during an economic tragedy they caused, and still be even considered for the Presidency, much less being favored to retain the House (especially the House), and only slightly disfavored to retake the Senate, is proof positive this country's citizens have shamed their past. We might not be at the point of being ashamed of the country, but we sure are at the point of being ashamed of a very good many of our fellow citizens.
If Mitt wants more people to pay federal income taxes, he needs to talk about how.
Does he want to take away the child care credit? Does he want to make social security taxable? Does he want to soldiers stationed overseas to pay taxes?
Come on Mitt share your plans with us.
C'mon, he's already said if "Americans knew his plans, they wouldn't vote for him" but still he wants US to "trust him", yea right! Mittens is sinking his own battleship!
Those abandoning hope know where the bodies are buried. They can run early and perhaps escape the coming ShMitt storm that hopefully will marginalize the extreme right long enough to fix some of what they broke the last time.
There's a real danger of a self-fulfilling prophecy here, in which donors and activists simply start to assume Romney is doomed -- because Republicans keep telling them he's doomed -- and pull back from investing more resources.
My guess is a lot of Romney's supporters are already quietly pulling back. The big money boys didn't become big money boys by making bad investments. They aren't in it for the principle or because they are racists. They are in it because they want the Romney tax plan. That doesn't look likely so they will pull their money and put it in plan B.
Or maybe they feel that if Romney is capable of lieing to the American people, he can also certainly lie to them, it's even easier, since he believes he is better than...even them. He is a God now, don't you know. But, God is known to be jealous, which is why Romney will never succeed in politics.
Popular Wisdom: "This campaign is Romney's to lose." And by golly, gosh dimmit, Romney is sure enough losing it! And who will be blamed? The MSM, of course!!! What a hoot!
@ John at NB
"And who will be blamed?" In many ways that is the $64K question. Will the Repubs get it that their ideas are not popular with mainstream voters or will they need 1 or 2 more defeats before they get it? I hope for 2 more defeats being necessary.
The 2010 election was so strange to me. I just could/can not understand how the Repubs could do so well. It was so obvious that what the nation needed was more Dems in Congress not less.
I hope the voters will see this as they vote down the balot.
I won't say it isn't Romney's fault but I will say it is the Republican Party's fault. Why? In order to serve 'The Party' Romney has to placate the crazies. In order to win an election any Republican has to appeal to the middle.
The Republican Party is asking the impossible of their candidate. Me? I blame the Koch's and all the other Plutocrats that are so damned greedy they can't see they are screwing their own pooch. Ad a liberal though, I'm hoping they keep this up.
I admit that while I predicted the GOP slowly going to pieces over the course of the election season, I hadn't the slightest expectation the most boring and seemingly most electable GOP candidate would produce this much of a flaming circus typhoon of cluster@!$%#. Way to go, Mitt!
Whew! We wouldn't want an out-of-shape GOP freak-out.
This may be off subject, but Anne just gave her response to Fox news about the 47% comment. I hate to say this but, she looked and acted like she was drinking.
I think it'll just get worse as soon as the debates start. We'll have Romney with his smirk and his inablity to handle facts.
Let's not forget Peggy Noonan, who wrote yesterday that the campaign is "incompetent."
It has a stench no matter whether it's losing or not.
This isn't over. Team Romney and Team Republican is going to go absolutely nuke the airwaves with nauseating vomit. My guess is this whole obnoxious scene is getting ready to be much, much more obnoxious and is going to be really hard to take. The whole country isn't going to know what hit it it is going to stink so bad.
Will it get the Lyin' Sack of Mitt 2, 3 more percent? Never underestimate the stupidity of the American public. Never.
The NY Times article...the unprintable phrase has to be "clusterf***" right?
The GOP still thinks it's about packaging, rhetoric and visual aides. They don't understand that the problem they have with the voting public is that their message is alienating, divisive and not reflective of American values -- even traditionally conservative values!
Reagan loved the EITC. He loved unions. He loved insurance programs for poor kids. He was interested in helping the poor while promoting policies that they thought would stimulate growth so that they'd have the opportunity to not be poor anymore. It doesn't even matter if he was right or wrong about his policies. The fact is, he was elected in landslides twice precisely because he demonstrated he cared about everyone and sought policies that he believed would help them.
Todays' GOP honestly and actively despise not merely the programs that help the lower and middle class families, but the members of those communities.
Unlike Reagan, who looked at the out-of-work African-American unionized steel worker in the rust belt and saw a fellow citizen and whose vote he could win over with his policy ideas and who he would help if allowed, the GOP looks at that same person and sees someone they consider their enemy.
They don't merely deserve to lose for that reason, they must lose for that reason. This country can not be effectively led by those who hate it.
This is the Republican party - freaking out is what they are best at.
I think he ought to give up public speaking at least until he can find someone who knows about this politics stuff and pay them lots of money for their brains........his are MIA.