Definitely No Straight Talker

January 28th, 2008 By: Michael van der Galien | Tags:
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Via Memeorandum comes something that sounds about right to me: ‘McCain has distorted the meaning of a nine-month old quote from Romney. While Romney has mentioned “timetables and milestones” to be met by the Iraqi government–some secret, some public–he has never proposed setting “a date for withdrawal.”‘

Justin Gardner comments:

What’s more, these attacks seem to be hurting McCain as the Republican base begins to rally around Romney. He has pulled ahead in Florida and he’s gaining on McCain in other bellwether states as well.

Also, I’ll give Mitt this, he knows which way the wind blows and will follow it without apology. Now he has refocused on the economy and that seems to be helping him and hurting McCain. I think John knows this, that’s why he’s attacking Mitt right now. And it’s unfortunate to see him mischaracterizing Romney’s stance because this is hardly “straight talk.”

This story has been debunked now. What Romney needs to do is to put the focus back on the economy. If he doesn’t do so, he could very well lose… even though most people know that McCain was lying about Romney’s stance on timetables.

As for McCain: the attack is utterly dishonest, but politically quite smart… I think. It could blow up in his face, sure, if people say “that’s a lie” and start rallying around Romney, but if it works it could help him greatly. They’re fighting over 1 perhaps 2%. 1 or 2% could make a major difference here.

Everybody hates negative campaigning, yet it works… which is why McCain does it.

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  1. Rudi666
    January 28th, 2008 at 19:10
    Reply | Quote | #1

    Duncan Hunter said the same thing about Romney months ago.
    http://www.eyeon08.com/2007/04/03/duncan-hunter-attacks-romney-over-iraq-plan/
    http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/04/romney_absolute.html

    Duncan Hunter attacks Romney over Iraq plan <!– digg_url = ‘http://www.eyeon08.com/2007/04/03/duncan-hunter-attacks-romney-over-iraq-plan/’; digg_title = ‘Duncan Hunter attacks Romney over Iraq plan’; digg_bodytext = ‘Has Mitt Romney joined his father as one of the rare "peace candidates" in a GOP primary? Is he trying to suck up Chuck Hagel’s space? Or does he just think that Sam Brownback might have been on to something? In any case, Duncan Hunter found his prey and is attacking: "Romney is absolutely wrong in recommending [...]‘; digg_skin = “compact”; digg_topic = “political_opinions”; ( function() { var ds=typeof digg_skin==’string’?digg_skin:”; var h=80; var w=52; if(ds==’compact’) { h=18; w=120; } var u=typeof digg_url==’string’?digg_url:(typeof DIGG_URL==’string’?DIGG_URL:window.location.href); document.write(”"); } )() –> Has Mitt Romney joined his father as one of the rare "peace candidates" in a GOP primary? Is he trying to suck up Chuck Hagel’s space? Or does he just think that Sam Brownback might have been on to something?
    In any case, Duncan Hunter found his prey and is attacking:

    "Romney is absolutely wrong in recommending a secret timetable," Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., tells ABC News in a telephone interview while campaigning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "Secret timetables are bad because in the end they all become public and the enemy uses them to estimate the limit on America’s endurance."

    Later on in the day, ABC noted that the "secret timetable" approach was similar to the discredited plan offered by Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR):

  2. Michael van der Galien
    January 28th, 2008 at 19:18
    Reply | Quote | #2

    I stopped reading when I read: "Duncan Hunter said the same thing about Romney months ago"

    Not quite relevant is it

  3. Rudi666
    January 28th, 2008 at 19:30
    Reply | Quote | #3

    It’s relevant because Hunter used the same tactic to label Romney as a "Demonocrat defeatist". It didn’t get much of a response because Romney was ambiguous about Iraq before he officially entered the race. When Mitter jumped in he swerved hard right. While refreshing my memories about Hunter, I found Human Events also being critical of Romney. Maybe this is where the cynisism comes from.

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