Guest Blogged by Alan Breslauer
This two-minute video of Mitt Romney on C-SPAN today represents much that is wrong with his candidacy. He gives lame answers to easy questions like claiming to be unable to participate in a Republican YouTube debate as “September is a tough month” because “it is the end of a quarter.” Thus, he must fundraise rather than answer questions from possibly the most egalitarian media outlet on the planet that comprises mainly the nation’s youth trying to do their civic duty by participating in the political process. His message is clearly that it is all about the money and not the people.
Romney then seems to imply that he wouldn’t participate in a YouTube debate anyway, because the format was not (cough) respectful enough. Laughable on its face coming from a member of the party of the Swiftboat, Southern Strategy, and Voter Caging, Romney adds to the foolishness by admitting that he never even watched the recent Democratic CNN/YouTube debate but for a couple of excerpts. Finally, after first being too busy and then claiming that the format was not proper, he kinda sorta backtracks and says he would not rule out doing a more respectful YouTube debate in the future.
UPDATE:
And a bit later in the day, now speaking in a townhall meeting in Iowa, Romney slammed YouTube again. This time he asked his audience if they watched the debate before saying, “No, I didn’t think so. You were peeling carrots or, you know, something else critical at that time…and, ah, just like me, I was doing something else. But you saw the excerpts, and perhaps on YouTube, you saw one of the presidential candidates on the left talk about what he’d do in his first year in office.”
ADDENDUM FROM BRAD: Can there be any better indictment of the Mainstream Corporate Media than Romney and the others chickening out from appearing at the YouTube debate? These GOP Presidential Candidates (both Guilliani and Tancredo have also stated they are not likely to take part) would rather answer questions from Wolf Blitzer or Brit Hume et al. They know what those questions will be, and how to answer them. God forbid actual human beings should ask them something they aren’t prepared for. “Give me Brian Williams!,” says Romney. How pathetic.
Soon enough, Romneys campaign will fizzle out as John McMains has. Bu-bye!
The headline should be, “Flip-flopping religious-right apologist ‘Cardboard Mitt’ Romney who tied his dog to a car roof and spent $2000 on make-up doesn’t like real people asking him questions”. You can change the headline to this, if you like…
Respectfullness = shill audiences
“We need a degree of controlled shill audiences and controlled questions”
“How DARE they have you-tube kids asking us questions??? Do they even vote???”
Did anyone get that new CD by “Cardboard Mitt and the Big Dig”???
My son goes to college in Boston, and he said the “Big Dig” is a disgrace and the laughingstock of the whole Northeast, and Romney’s being investigated for it. Part of it caved in on a car and killed someone. I’ve driven through the spot that caved in, many times. Great job as governor, Mitt! Notice THAT not being brought up in the RNC debates??? Why not??? Shouldn’t they be checking the track records as governors of these candidates???
“Feds want to know: did Mitt check tunnel?”
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=162187
Bock bock chickenhawk.
– Tom
“His message is clearly that it is all about the money and not the people.” What? Are you implying that he is running for president for financial gain? Have you not read about his enormous success in business? He could make way more money in business than he ever could make as president.
DAVID #8 Wrote: “Are you implying that he is running for president for financial gain? Have you not read about his enormous success in business? He could make way more money in business than he ever could make as president.”
I wasn’t implying but stating that Romney cares more about fund-raising from wealthy individuals, corporations and special interests than he does about the American people. He could not have found a better way to make this point. In fact, he even goes on to state that he prefers taking his questions from professional journalists.
Adding insult to injury was his absolutely ridiculous reasoning for missing the debate which was the need to fund raise two weeks before the end of the quarter. But there is no difference between raising money today or raising money on the debate day. Further, one would hope that candidates would go out of their way to reach such a large, young and enthusiastic audience of potential voters. Also, lets not forget that Romney recently gave his campaign $8.5 million which, if anything, is evidence of the insignificance that a single day of fund raising means to him.
Lastly, even if you had not misread what I wrote, your suggestion that Romney could not make as much money as president as he did in the private sector is hardly fact. Take VP Dick Cheney who became a rich man during his few years running Halliburton but became a filthy rich man as VP when the value of Halliburton options he owned skyrocketed primarily due to the Iraq war and huge, no-bid, contracts his office helped get his former company.
Or, what if Romney were to succeed in abolishing the estate tax (which he supports) or lower capital gains taxes. These types of things could potentially make his estate worth tens to hundreds of millions more. And that is merely the tip of the iceberg.
But again, that wasn’t my point.
Seems no one (of importance) wants to participate in the U tube debate. Maybe it is because of the results of the Democrat debate, in which not a single, straight forward answer was ever given. It was almost a farce.
I’ve been following this campaign for nearly a year and was one of the first to donate to this good man. I find it strange, all of the negative comments on so many websites and in many articles and I’ve read hundreds, that some seem to not see any good in Romney. Why is it that so much time is spent cutting him down? Tell us who you like and why. Or is that too difficult and requires study instead of opinions. I would quite enjoy seeing Romney win and then watch all of the good he will do, as he has before.
I have basically lost any respect I may have once had for Mitt Romney. I needs to stop being such a baby. If he isn’t man enough to take on a few silly videos from youtube users how on earth are we supposed to expect him to take on Bin Laden?
Instead of just viewing the youtube video, you can download youtube videos http://www.youtubex.com and watch the Romney clip all you want