Romney wants a new campaign message

[Iosif]

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/01/20/mitt_romney_of_course_the_economy_is_getting_better.html

Do you have a better one?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

"Yes we can...live with that."

stolen from SNL

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

"I have absolutely exceptional hair!"

"At least I LOOK like a president!"

"I'm rich and I know about money!"

[Eraserhead]

It's becoming more and more apparent that this guy is a disastrous candidate.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

It's becoming more and more apparent that this guy is a disastrous candidate.

This...

[Thomas D]

"IT'S MY TURN!"

[useful idiot]

Well Republicans can take solace in the fact that Obama's going to get nothing done in his second term and they have a decent bench going into 2016. It's now obvious that Romney is the worst general election candidate of the three finalists, and he's going to lose spectacularly. Gingrich would lose too but he could at least give Obama some hell in the debates.

And for four more years we're going to have to listen to the right-wing media bitch about how nominating "moderates" always ends in defeat...

[Simfan34]

It's becoming more and more apparent that this guy is a disastrous candidate.

This...

[minionofmidas]

It's now obvious that Romney is the worst general election candidate of the three finalists, and he's going to lose spectacularly.

No, he's the best of them, and he'll lose handily. It's 1996 all over again, including the Republican primary dynamics.

I wonder how many million people fewer than in 2008 will vote... the absolute number will probably be higher than 2004, though possibly not.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

It's becoming more and more apparent that this guy is a disastrous candidate.

This...

[useful idiot]

It's now obvious that Romney is the worst general election candidate of the three finalists, and he's going to lose spectacularly.

No, he's the best of them, and he'll lose handily. It's 1996 all over again, including the Republican primary dynamics.

I disagree. I just don't see how Romney does significantly better than either Gingrich or Santorum once the heat is really on him. He's not the generic Republican people thought he was, his persona is built on sand and he's shown a propensity for nastiness when attacked (at least Gingrich's nastiness is mildly humorous and somewhat endearing). Romney is not Dole, who was at least respectable even if doomed to defeat. Of course my prediction that Gingrich would do better is predicated on the assumption that he does well in the debates against Obama and nothing else that could seriously wound him comes out. And yes, I honestly think Santorum would be the strongest of the three.

The comparison to 96 is valid of course, in my mind most strikingly in the fact that the best candidates got nowhere (Huntsman/Alexander). Of the two moderates in the race, the GOP decided to go with the weakest of them.

[Oakvale]

Well it's not really debatable that the economy is improving, and has improved. "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" isn't going to work since four years ago it looked entirely possible the United States would experience a second Great Depression.

The debate should, and will, be about the pace at which the economy is improving.

[Yelnoc]

And for four more years we're going to have to listen to the right-wing media bitch about how nominating "moderates" always ends in defeat...

And this is why I was hoping against hope that Santorum would catch fire after Iowa.

Ya know, if Gingrich crashes and burns after winning South Carolina, I wonder if Santorum could stage a comeback in Florida?

[Mehmentum]

I've actually started thinking that Ron Paul is the strongest candidate in the general election.

[minionofmidas]

I've actually started thinking that Ron Paul is the strongest candidate in the general election.

And I thought useful counted him rather than Santorum as one of the final three. Though I actually thought of asking "final four, no? Santorum's hardly out?"

I said best. I didn't say best by a significant margin. Though the risks of crash-and-burning really hard are clearly much the smallest with Romney.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Classic Romney, "My campaign message is whatever you want it to be."

[useful idiot]

I've actually started thinking that Ron Paul is the strongest candidate in the general election.

And I thought useful counted him rather than Santorum as one of the final three. Though I actually thought of asking "final four, no? Santorum's hardly out?"

I said best. I didn't say best by a significant margin. Though the risks of crash-and-burning really hard are clearly much the smallest with Romney.

I think it's almost a certainty that Paul will come in second in the final tally, barring Gingrich capitalizing on an SC victory (which I don't have much hope for, not that I'd hope for that). However, I still think Santorum has a better shot at this moment than Paul at actually getting the nomination.

If Paul had gotten good media coverage, then who knows. But he got slapped with that "he can't win" tag. The fact that he can't win because he got slapped with that tag from the beginning is immaterial at this point.

Your point about Romney completely crashing and burning is well taken. I think he can crash and burn, and at this point I'm almost sure he will, but you're correct, Gingrich would have the possibility of sinking to Goldwater levels if he flew off the handle in a way he's capable of. I don't think Romney is going to get below 40%, no matter how much the electorate thinks him a rich plastic flip-flopping snob....

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

Well it's not really debatable that the economy is improving, and has improved. "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" isn't going to work since four years ago it looked entirely possible the United States would experience a second Great Depression.

The debate should, and will, be about the pace at which the economy is improving.

The economy sure isn't improving in the way that trillions of dollars in easy money should result in, and it isn't facing good prospects if the way western European countries and Japan are both going to hell in a hand basket.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

If Paul had gotten good media coverage, then who knows. But he got slapped with that "he can't win" tag. The fact that he can't win because he got slapped with that tag from the beginning is immaterial at this point.

No. Paul is a polarizing figure who appeals greatly to some parts of the Republican coalition and is disliked just as greatly as to other parts of it.  The he can't win tag was fairly applied to him.  The only chance he could ever have of getting the nomination would be if the political landscape was like 1964 for the Republicans or 1924 for the Democrats.

Santorum is the one who got unfairly slapped with the he can't win tag to his detriment, not Paul.

[King]

If Romney keeps this u, he'll be fighting with Santorum to become the Anti-Gingrich.