Mitt Romney
August 31, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
That’s what my friend Bill Otis calls Romney’s speech: I thought Romney’s speech was a bundle of wasted opportunities. If the idea was to introduce “Romney the good family man,” to soften his image as a rapacious Bain capitalist, the idea was all wrong and poorly executed to boot. It was wrong first because it buys into the Democratic idea that the country wants and needs a President “who understands
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August 31, 2012 — John Hinderaker
I agree with Paul’s brief comments last night about Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech. Under the circumstances, Romney was more than good enough. With the exception of the last moments of the speech, he wasn’t as impassioned as he is on the stump. His speech wasn’t as crowd-pleasing to the delegates as Paul Ryan’s or some of the others, because it was soft-edged and lacked red meat. But the delegates, and
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August 30, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
So how did Mitt Romney do tonight? I think it depends on how high the bar was. If he needed to deliver a virtuoso performance, it didn’t happen (that was last night). If he needed to portray himself as a decent, highly competent guy who would make a solid president, I think cleared that bar. I don’t believe he needed a virtuoso performance. Given Romney’s solid speech, Paul Ryan’s great
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August 30, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Excellent testimonials from Olympic stars. Mike Eruzioni captain of the 1980 Miracle on Ice team does a nice job of praising Romney. But Derek Parra, a speed staking gold medalist from the 2002 games that Romney saved, is the show stopper, with his recollection of the opening ceremony in which he carried the tattered flag that had flown at the World Trade Center. That’s two powerful themes — the Olympics
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August 30, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
The Romney campaign is dealing with the potential political problem raised by his Mormon faith the same way he’s dealing with all other potential political problems this year — head-on. A friend and close associate from his church has described how hard Romney worked to help those in their parish. Now an elderly couple is recounting what Mitt Romney did to help bring joy and comfort to their young son
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August 30, 2012 — John Hinderaker
These are the extensive excerpts from the speech that Mitt Romney will deliver tonight that have been distributed to the media. It looks like a relatively soft-focus, conciliatory speech: Four years ago, I know that many Americans felt a fresh excitement about the possibilities of a new president. That president was not the choice of our party but Americans always come together after elections. We are a good and generous
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August 28, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Rich Lowry argues that “of all the tasks for the Romney campaign at this week’s Republican convention, burnishing the personal image of the candidate should be the easiest.” According to Lowry, Romney “is a man utterly committed to his family and his faith, whose life is studded with acts of devotion and generosity.” In offering this assessment, Lowry relies, as he should, on the book The Real Romney, written by
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August 25, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Both presidential candidates must be feeling reasonably happy as we head into the conventions. President Obama should be satisfied that, from all that appears, he leads Mitt Romney by a point or two in polls of likely voters, despite the economy’s weak recovery and the mostly bad economic news of the past few months. Romney should be satisfied that he stands only slightly behind Obama, including in key states like
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August 24, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
According to a reporter at the Huffington Post, as reported by Politico, Mitt Romney’s campaign manager says that a Romney presidency might resemble the tenure of James K. Polk. What does Team Romney find appealing about our 11th President? Polk, who served from 1845 to 1849, presided over the expansion of the U.S. into a coast-to-coast nation, annexing Texas and winning the Mexican-American war for territories that also included New
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August 22, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Lee Smith argues that Mitt Romney is no more likely than Barack Obama to stage a preemptive strike against Iran. Romney, Smith contends, will not want further to burden our economy by destabilizing the Middle East and sending oil prices skyrocketing, nor will he want to be tagged as a war-mongering Republican who bombed Iran. Thus, Romney will persuade himself that Iran can be deterred from using its nukes by
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August 14, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Today in Chillicothe, Ohio, Mitt Romney delivered a speech that was admirable in several respects. But what I most appreciated was that Romney confronted head-on the despicable campaign that Barack Obama is waging: [Y]ou don’t hear any answers coming from President Obama’s re-election campaign. That’s because he’s intellectually exhausted, out of ideas, and out of energy. And so his campaign has resorted to diversions and distractions, to demagoguing and defaming
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August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
The Washington Post finds few policy differences between Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, but has identified five. First, Ryan supported the auto industry bailout four years ago, while Romney opposed it. Second, Ryan opposes abortion under all circumstances except when the procedure is necessary to save the mother’s life. Romney favors that exception, plus exceptions in cases of rape and incest. Third, Ryan has advocated eliminating the capital gains tax.
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August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
At a fund raising event in Chicago yesterday, President Obama said of Paul Ryan: “I know him. I welcome him into the race. He’s a decent man, a family man, an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney’s vision. . .a vision I fundamentally disagree with.” Sounding the same theme with less elegance, David Axelrod added on CNN that Ryan “is quite extreme — good, good person, you know, genial person —
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August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Some leftist pundits have described Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as a panic or desperation pick. This gets the pick precisely wrong, in my view. By selecting Ryan, Romney demonstrates a confidence in the conservative course he first charted, or was forced into, during the primary season. The response to Team Obama’s attacks on that course is “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” To be sure, the Ryan pick
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August 12, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
First, the selection of Paul Ryan is very unlikely to change the outcome of the election. Only once in my lifetime has the VP selection probably changed the outcome (the selection of Lyndon Johnson in 1960). This may be the only such case in American history. Even taking into account that this election is likely to be closer than average, I doubt there is more than a 5 percent chance
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August 10, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Charles Krauthammer argues that Mitt Romney should not limit his case against President Obama to attacks on his economic stewardship. Romney must also make the ideological case against Obama: If you run against Obama’s performance in contrast to your own competence, you stake your case on persona. Is that how you want to compete against an opponent who is not just more likable and immeasurably cooler but spending millions to
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August 10, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
MSNBC is preparing hour-long documentaries on both presidential candidates. Naturally, it would like to include interviews of both. Mitt Romney agreed to an interview. Chuck Todd conducted it yesterday. But President Obama declined to be interviewed by MSNBC. Chris Matthews would have interviewed him, but will not get that thrill. Instead, he will settle for Joe Biden and David Axelrod, among others. I’m sure both campaigns know what’s best for
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