R.I.P., Mitt Romney, by Robert Shrum

[DonViejo]

by Robert Shrum Nov 2, 2012 3:20 PM EDT

Mitt made multiple mistakes that will lead to his defeat on Tuesday. Some of them date all the way back to 2008.

The campaign has come down to a race between Mitt’s media and Mitt’s mistakes—and the mistakes are winning. We have now crossed the billion dollar mark in ad purchases. In Ohio alone, the two sides, Super PACs and all, are spending $30 million in the closing week—and in the battleground states overall, Romney forces are outspending Obama by $30 million.

But the contest is not as unbalanced as the numbers. The Obama money goes further because more of the total buy has been placed by the campaign itself, which by law pays less for television time than outside groups. Obama’s strategists also got more for less than the Romney enterprise by buying well in advance, when the so-called lowest unit rate was lower. In any event, the airwaves in the swing states are saturated. The Thursday before the election, the noon news on the CBS station in Columbus, Ohio, featured 22 political spots one after another. A lot of it, perhaps most of it, is so much electoral wallpaper.

What matters more is what happened months or even years ago, when Mitt Romney inflicted serial damage on himself that can’t be wiped away by a last-minute ad barrage or a barnstorming tour through the final hours.

Go all the way back to Nov. 18, 2008, when Romney wrote that op-ed in The New York Times headlined: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Few pieces have had as long or relevant a political life. Michigan, Mitt’s original home state, and Ohio, home to 850,000 auto industry-related jobs, have proved stubbornly resistant to a Republican nominee who seems so conspicuously hostile to their livelihoods. If the President carries both states, Romney’s prospects next Tuesday look about as promising as the Edsel’s in the 1950s. For those too young to remember it, the car was a landmark flop. Wikipedia offers a commonly accepted explanation: it was “a supreme example of the corporate culture’s failure to understand American consumers.”

Romney’s op-ed was a supreme example of a corporate guy’s failure to understand American voters. He can quibble that he favored “a managed bankruptcy”—without the use of federal funds. The Obama campaign—and most experts—respond that in the depth of the financial crisis, there was no private capital available to keep the auto companies in business while they were reorganized. That’s true, but almost beside the point. What’s indelible, immediately apprehensible, persistently top-of-mind is the headline itself. Romney could have claimed he didn’t write it; he didn’t. He could have argued it wasn’t what he meant. Instead, he doubled down, telling an interviewer: “That’s exactly what I said—the headline you read—‘Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.’”

more:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/02/r-i-p-mitt-romney.html

[ginnyinWI]

1. Romney's mistake

Thinking that the majority of America thinks his ideology makes sense. Or at least thinking that everyone not in his parasitic 47% would wholeheartedly embrace him.

I am supposed to be in his prime demographic, except maybe my college degree disqualifies me. Anyway, I have enough brains to know that we are all in this together.

[Dubster]

2. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[Mr.Bill]

10. The 47% comment

was a big nail in the coffin, too.

[Buddaman]

3. BYE BYE mitt................ya' fuck!

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. Wow ...

that would be a devastating take-down, if anyone currently in the gop had any contact with reality.

And this confirms in my mind, anyone currently in romney's camp is there because they want to "put the white back in the whitehouse", period, end of thought, nothing following.

[mzteaze]

5. This...

This article made me think that given the general yet thoroughly inept campaign Romney has ran, perhaps we give them just a tad too much credit for a potential steal of the vote.

That doesn't mean they won't TRY.

[whttevrr]

6. Comment at DB

Is it safe?

"best is death how hell after death obama satan believers obama is way to the hell."

nope...

Who taught these people how to get on the internet?

[budkin]

7. Bob Shrum calling the race already?

I remember on election day 2004 him telling John Kerry "Congratulations Mr. President" when the exit polls were looking great for him. There's still a ton of work to do!

[Condem]

8. Exactly!!!

"May I be the first to congratulate you Mr. President.." Tough to forget that.

[Tenleytown]

9. just read this

devastating analysis.. excellent read

[NCLefty]

11. "Romney's crowds were old and looked like an American Legion convention"

One of the comments below that article (LOL):

Last night I pointed out to friends how the split screen shots of the crowds were shocking -- Obama's crowds were young and racially diverse while Romney's crowds were old and looked like an American Legion convention.