Seven weeks out, Romney oversees campaign in disarray

[ProSense]

Seven weeks out, Romney oversees campaign in disarray

By Steve Benen

With the presidential election seven weeks from tomorrow, it's clear that Mitt Romney is not yet where he wants to be...Making matters considerably worse, however, is the evidence that Team Romney is itself in disarray...While "talk of infighting within the Romney headquarters" has been "percolating for months," we've clearly entered a new stage. Politico published a lengthy piece last night filled with unnamed aides pointing fingers and casting blame -- for Romney's muddled message, ineffective ads, disjointed convention, and useless speeches.

<...>

It gets worse. Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei also report that Team Romney, just 50 days before the election, is going to "abruptly" shift its strategy, after Romney advisers concluded "they had to make a painful course correction."

<...>

The talk about Romney's inevitable electoral demise still seems premature, but when it's mid-September and campaign insiders are turning on one another, and disagreeing with one another about the campaign's basic strategy, there's clearly a significant problem. We expect this from a campaign after it has lost, not before.

What's more, this isn't just inside baseball for campaign junkies; we're learning something important. One of Mitt Romney's principal selling points is that he has tremendous managerial skills thanks to his lucrative private-sector experience...And yet, Romney appears to be struggling due in part to a failure in leadership. What does that tell us about the kind of president he'd be?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/17/13915913-seven-weeks-out-romney-oversees-campaign-in-disarray

[kentuck]

1. It tells us that governing or even running a campaign is different...

from running a corporation. Businessmen do not make good Presidents.

[ProSense]

4. Especially ones who gained

"Businessmen do not make good Presidents."

...their advantage in business by being privileged and treating the rest of Americans as losers for not having the same opportunity.

[stopbush]

21. Mitt will go down in flames while claiming a Pyrrhic victory for not having released his tax returns

[Major Nikon]

24. That's OK

He can go away mad if he wants.

[Major Nikon]

23. Except who does Rmoney pick as his top strategist?

Is it one of his Bain buddies, or perhaps a former CEO of some blue chip corporation?

Nope.

It's Stuart Stevens, who has been working inside the beltway since Bob Dole's run.

Rmoney already knows government people run government better than private industry folks. He just can't say it.

[Blue Meany]

2. I think he resigned from the campaign in 2011...n/t

[Melissa G]

10. retroactively. n/t

[shireen]

16. +1

[Spazito]

3. I think this paragraph is a particularly important point that needs to be repeated...

"What's more, this isn't just inside baseball for campaign junkies; we're learning something important. One of Mitt Romney's principal selling points is that he has tremendous managerial skills thanks to his lucrative private-sector experience...And yet, Romney appears to be struggling due in part to a failure in leadership. What does that tell us about the kind of president he'd be?"

Excellent point well made, imo.

[avebury]

7. K&R nt

[JPZenger]

5. Recommended

[Cha]

6. What Romney's campaign

has told me is that he's a pathological Liar and he's not fit to serve. Steve knows that too..

"Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXIV"

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/14/13865583-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xxxiv?lite

TAX RETURNS, MITT? 5 YEARS.

Whatever Shifty Mitt Shifts, to..it's Guaranteed to be LIES and More LIES.

[summerschild]

12. Excellent article! Blow by blow - lie by lie!

Thanks for posting, Cha!

[Cha]

15. You're welcome, summerchild..

I try to get that in the conversation as much as possible..after all the work Steve Benen did for us.

How torturous..Chronicling Mitt Romney's Lies.

[summerschild]

17. LOL! Poor Steve has got to be plumb-worn-out-EXHAUSTED!

[Vincardog]

8. A fish rots from the head down. How does a campaign rot? Piss poor leadership.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Apt. He is visibly incompetent to lead his team or his party, let alone a nation or super-power. nt

[FSogol]

9. K & R. n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

11. As they've said on MSNBC today, Romney never was a problem solving businessman

He was a corporate raider, whose skill was not to reorganize and save failing companies, but to load them with debt and skim off the cream.

[hifiguy]

22. Rmoney was never a businessman, he was a financier.

A businessman makes things or provides services, a financier is most often Blackbeard in a Zegna suit.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. People for the Democratic party need to be Steady-As-She goes. Keep up the good work, folks! nt

[xxqqqzme]

20. Yep - stand back and

let it happen.

[Major Nikon]

18. The complete meltdown is starting and it only get's better from here, folks

Perhaps I'm just the perennial optimist on this, but I can see the entire GOP completely collapsing. Just because it hasn't happened in the US in a long time, doesn't mean it can't. If the Republicans don't at least hold on to the House, I don't see how they can survive as a party. 4 years from now there's going to be a lot more dead old white Christian people. The old people they have aren't going to change. If anything they are going to get worse which is going to translate to even more irrelevancy. They are ripe for a hostile takeover from a 3rd party and I just don't see that 3rd party being one of moderation. Rmoney of all people should understand this.

[Cosmocat]

25. eh

they were dead in the water after 06/08, then trumped up the TEA PARTY fit that got them the House in 2010.

They also have a pretty strong control of state houses/senates and currently Governors.

They are mean, they play dirty, and their stock and trade is selling fear and anger.

They WILL find something to rally people around just enough to get their lunatics elected, because those are two products people over time have shown to ALWAYS lap up.

I mean, this is a party that won elections over putting fluoride in water ...

If it isn't communists it is terrorists.

There will always be a good core that can't wrap its head around gays, always people who will take advantage of religion to get them votes, guns to appeal to that culture ...

[Major Nikon]

26. The problem is they are always looking to blame the messenger rather than the message

I just don't see the message changing and it has to or they will continue to lose influence. The Teahaddists have taken over what's left of the party and they are the only thing keeping it breathing. They aren't happy now and they sure as hell aren't going to be happy with only local influence. I think it's inevitable that they are going to claim that the thing that's wrong with the Republican party is that it just isn't batshit crazy enough. They tried putting up a so-called electable candidate. If that person can't get elected they are going to want to try something else and all they have is just rerunning the same ideas they had when Bush got elected. So it may not happen after this election, but I see it happening. They will only put up with losing for so long before revolution takes hold.

[Cosmocat]

30. yeah

I said this at the time.

The movement teahidists, just throwing a fit over losing the election, not TRUE political activists and people who are VERY self absorbed.

They are LONG removed from DOING anything. They threw their fit, now they are back to collecting disability and engaging in what truly interests them. The morons they got elected in 2010 have ALREADY been assimilated into Washington, their only concern is keeping their jobs, and all that principle is about faded.

There might be a handful of true believers, but most of them are high on the power and dying to be career pols.

The establishment types, however, remain.

I know these types of Rs, and they will put up a Jeb Bush or someone like that in 2016.

They will let the squeeky wheels throw their fits, scream about not having a TRUE conservative, and like this time, let them put up a slate of Bachman types. But, the powers to be will gel around someone who is their guy.

EITHER WAY, whatever they do with president, make no mistake, they WILL remain a force in politics in this country, again, because the fear/anger they sell will ALWAYS sell. And, they are MUCH more cut throat than the Ds will be.

[Raine1967]

19. It's not a shift in strategy....

It's an Etch-A-Sketch moment. AGAIN.

[SDjack]

27. Rmoney: Quick! Do something business like! Sell yourself

short. You have made money on other people's demise -- make some on your on.

[ProSense]

28. Re-re-re-re-re-re-introducing Mitt Romney. Again. Some more.

Re-re-re-re-re-re-introducing Mitt Romney. Again. Some more.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/17/1132825/-Re-re-re-re-re-re-introducing-Mitt-Romney-Again-Some-more

[TahitiNut]

29. The MittWit has NO "managerial skills" whatsoever.

He likes to fire people. That's not "management" ... that's mismanagement. In order to have "managerial skills," he would have to be operationally-oriented. He's NOT. This is NOT a person at all interested in or experienced in operations. That's "shop floor" stuff ... actually focused on DOING something. That's where we discover things like "craftsmanship" and "quality." The operations of an enterprise (whether it's a manufacturing company, woodworking shop, or political campaign) are almost totally distinct from the financials of an enterprise. The MittWit is, as a result of both interest and experience, all about the money. He's interested in cost, expense, profit, and salvage value ... not about "how" but about "how much."

Thorstein Veblen described the two distinct interests in any economic activity over 100 years ago. He described the "engineering" attitude ... people involved in some economic activity because they loved the product or service that the enterprise provided ... and the "financial" attitude ... people involved in an economic activity solely because they loved the money. The latter types are typically unconcerned with the product or service except insofar as the economic cachet.

This is what ruined General Motors. When the company was run by engineers who loved cars, it produced the '57 Chevy and the Corvette and was the most dominant automobile company on earth. Then, along came Roger Smith and his ilk. All they cared about was economic power ... getting rich and sucking dollars out of the company. They merged the various product lines (e.g Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac) into generic operations (e.g. assembly, fabrication) with a mindset that ignored the product-orientation of the labor force. LOTS of auto-workers LOVED cars ... took a tribal/familial pride in the vehicles they were producing.

Roger Smith and his ilk knew nothing but dollars ... no pride. No craftsmanship

The MittWit, unlike his father, would get lost (or killed) on the shop floor. He cares nothing about craftsmanship. He's a liar and a cheat, entirely consumed by his love of money. Notice that when he talks about the federal government, he doesn't give a shit about what is done or how it's done ... only about what it costs and how much it pays (profits for his cronies, not wages). It's never about "better" except when that means "cheaper." When he talks about Medicare, it's 99% about cost and less than 1% about health. No matter what he talks about, it's the same. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$