Peggy Noonan: ‘Time to admit Romney campaign is an incompetent one’
A surprising column from Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal includes this:
It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one. It’s not big, it’s not brave, it’s not thoughtfully tackling great issues. It’s always been too small for the moment. All the activists, party supporters and big donors should be pushing for change. People want to focus on who at the top is least constructive and most responsible. Fine, but Mitt Romney is no puppet: He chooses who to listen to. An intervention is in order. “Mitt, this isn’t working.”
….Romney doesn’t seem to be out there campaigning enough. He seems—in this he is exactly like the president—to always be disappearing into fund-raisers, and not having enough big public events.
Consider this fodder for Romney’s private fund-raiser at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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90 comments Add your comment
Village Idiot
September 19th, 2012
11:40 am
Simple question: how does anyone expect to get elected after telling 47% of the population that he doesn’t want their votes?
Not so simple a question: how does a spoiled billionaire who has never had to worry about anything in his life have the gall to look down his nose at people who were not born into wealth and priveledge?
resno2
September 19th, 2012
11:46 am
Village Idiot: You know that Romney gave his inheritance to charity… right? You also know that he started Bain on his own… right? You also know that when he mentioned 47% he was talking about those that weren’t going to vote for him anyway, and that he wasn’t going to worry about changing their minds… right? And I bet you still think that the 13% he’s pays in federal taxes is computed the same way as the amount you pay… right?
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
11:48 am
VI-
Some names are apporpiate, you know what Romney was saying, that the 47% on the take from the federal govt won’t vote for him, he did not say he didn’t want them to vote for him.
Second- Yes he is well to do, is that wrong? Isn’t that what the great American dream is all about. BTW, do you know what Romney did with the wealth he inherited? Gave it away.
Obama has never had a real private job, now which is worse?
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
11:56 am
Typical. Republican says something that is completely retarded, and when the s**t hits the fan, they pull out the way back machine to pull up an Obama comment from 14 years ago. For the record, I didn’t see the issue when people were talking about some of the mean things that Romney did when he was a teenager. I can’t think of anybody who didn’t do stupid stuff when they were in high school.
resno2
September 19th, 2012
12:05 pm
DJ Sniper: Do you think for a minute that the obama camp would turn down the opportunity to use a discovered recording of Romney from 14 years ago with something on it that they could use to their advantage? Please! They went back more than 30 years to say he was a bully in high school.
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
12:10 pm
Resno, I don’t remember who it was who first brought up that info about him from high school. As I said, it was irrevelant to me.
Lifelong Repub
September 19th, 2012
12:10 pm
If there isn’t anything left in 2016, then we repubs need to get it together and reinvest ourselves. It’s our own fault that we’ve let Mitt be our leader. If you are honest with yourself, you’ll acknowledge THAT mistake is ours and no one else’s.
It’s OK. We’ll survive. Just not how we look right now. And that is a GOOD thing.
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
12:15 pm
If the Repubs want to get it together, they should start by cleaning out the crazy. The inmates have truly taken over the asylum.
Carrie
September 19th, 2012
12:16 pm
Face it, Mitt was a mistake. We’ll survive to fight another day. But Mitt is a disaster. Even if he could be electable, I wouldn’t feel confident about what he’d do. I’d be holding my breath. Sometimes it’s better to lose now so we can win in big ways later.
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
12:20 pm
When you look at the list of candidates that ran this year, none of them were a good choice: Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich, Paul, Cain, etc. The only one who seemed pretty decent was Jon Hunstman, but he refused to embrace the crazy, so that killed his chances.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
12:20 pm
Carrie-
It is better to lose to Obama than win with Romney? That’s nuts, just plain nuts.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
12:21 pm
DJ-
All were a better choice than Obama.
resno2
September 19th, 2012
12:26 pm
DJ: cleaning out the crazy inmates, like Pelosi, Reid, Waxman, Boxer, Waters and the Dems newly appointed champion for women’s reproductive rights Fluke?
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
12:27 pm
Retired Soldier, it’s a shame that Obama is trying to make this country a decent place, yet is the victim of so many lies and so much BS from the right. Ever since he took office, the right has run out a laundry list of lies against him:
He wasn’t born in the US
He’s a Muslim
He’s a socialist, facist, Marxist Nazi from Kenya
He’s spent more than any other president
He’s raised taxes more than any other president
He wants to take away your guns and get rid of the 2nd Amendment
The list just goes on and on. Is he perfect? No. Do I agree with every decision he’s made? Of course not. Still, when you put him against any of the nutjobs that ran this year, he was the best choice. I just don’t see how anybody could be comfortable with any of those Repub choices in the White House.
resno2
September 19th, 2012
12:28 pm
Carrie: you can hold your breath is Romney is elected… I’ll hold on to my wallet if far worse happens.
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
12:30 pm
Sorry Resno, but you can’t even begin to compare that list with the names I posted. Those people you listed definitely have their flaws, but their level of bats**t insane doesn’t even come close to what’s in the GOP today. They want to take this country back all right……back to the 19th century.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
12:35 pm
DJ-
1. Born in the U.S. not my issue
2. Muslim- Not my issue, his muslim policy is though
3. Socialist- Yep he has that tendency, look at his policies
4. Absolutely true, if a four year period
5. Republicans have stopped him from raising taxes
6. If he had the votes, you bet he would restict the 2nd amendment
Nice try DJ
resno2
September 19th, 2012
12:38 pm
Well we weren’t $16 Trillion in debt back in the 19th century… but then again we were only $10 trillion in debt when he took office in 2008.
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
12:43 pm
I’m not an expert economist, but I’ll go so far to say that the increase in debt is not Obama’s sole doing. There are plenty of people who love to blame Obama for a lot of things, such as high gas prices. These people don’t understand that the president, no matter who he/she is, has no control whatsoever over gas prices. I even saw someone the other day blame Obama for rising food costs. I guess they missed the memo about this thing called a drought that’s affecting food prices all over.
honested
September 19th, 2012
12:48 pm
retired,
Item 5, yest republican obstructionism has certainly prolonged the Bush Depression and exacerbated the deficit.
When will republicans come to grips with the fact they have to pay the bills they approve?
Oh yeah I forgot, the ‘Iraqi War of Choice will pay for itself’. What is the daily debt carry charge on that 4 trillion dollar fiasco?
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:01 pm
Honestead-
First, I am nor have I been a big fan of Bush the younger and yes I agree a President needs to pay as he goes. I wish Obama would learn that lesson.
Your obstructionism is my principled stand. And speaking of Iraq, why did Obama adopt the Bush plan of withdrawal if it was so bad? Why didn’t he pull the troops out of Iraq as soon as he was in office? Don’t say he couldn’t, that is exactly what I would do in Afghanistan if I could tomorrow.
A supporter of Obama does not have the moral highground to lecture on dent and deficits.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:04 pm
DJ-
Again you are wrong. Remember Truman? The buck stops at the president’s desk. Has Obama submitted a balanced budget to Congress? Has Obama vetoed a spending bill? Has Obama offered to cut spending? Come on now, we are all smarter than this.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:06 pm
honestead-
That was supposed to be debt and deficits.
Carrie
September 19th, 2012
1:16 pm
Retired Soldier–
Yes, I would rather endure another 4 years of Obama than risk 4 years of wild card Romney. You don’t know Romney. No one does. He is such a loose cannon. I don’t even know what he stands for! Better the devil you know than the one you don’t. I’d rather hold out for a better GOP tomorroe and a better future.
resno2
September 19th, 2012
1:21 pm
You don’t know Romney, but do know obama, and would still vote for him?
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:24 pm
Carrie-
Thank goodness there aren’t many republicans like you. It is truly a shocking viewpoint. But isn’t that one of the many reasons America is a great country.
DJ Sniper
September 19th, 2012
1:25 pm
RetiredSolider, the fact that you believe that nonsense about Obama and the 2nd Amendment shows me where your head is at. Obama has said nothing about getting rid of people’s guns, and he definitely hasn’t even thought about repealing the 2nd Amendment. This is nothing but a bunch of tomfoolery that the right started spreading the moment he won the election.
As for spending, there’s quite a bit of info that shows that Obama has spent less than quite a few of our previous presidents.
What Muslim policies? Oh, I forgot: anybody who has a funny sounding name and doesn’t try to bomb the living hell out of Muslim countries must have Muslim tendencies.
As far as the socialist claim, there are plenty of socialists who will gladly tell you that Obama is not one of them.
Lastly, let’s not forget about the Republican obstructionism that’s been going on. The GOP is determined on making Obama a 1 term president, and they don’t care if they take the rest of the country on the express elevator to hell in order to accomplish that.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:32 pm
DJ-
Didn’t say anything about repeal of the 2nd.
Please, his budgets are higher than any previous budgets, fact.
I believe Yemen, afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are muslim countries, Obama has bombed all four.
Name one socialist that backs your claim, cite the source please.
And the democrats where all about making Bush successful. Please.
ANGRY AS HELL
September 19th, 2012
1:33 pm
DJ Sniper’s got it right. The best thing to happen to Obama’s campaign was the parade of Republican whackos who ran during the primary. The Grand Old Party ain’t so grand when the best it can produce as presidential material is a guy who obviously doesn’t know the first about running a national campaign, keeping both of his feet out of his mouth or who the 47% are. The GOP worried more about “connecting” with “Birthers” and every other kind of right-wing nutjobs Tea Party wonks. The GOP needs to take a close and honest look at itself and push all these radical crazies out of its ranks. And the first one that needs to go ….Paul Ryan, then Rick Santorum, then Michelle Bachmann, then………
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:33 pm
And I forgot about Pakistan, my bad.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
1:36 pm
Angry-
You are correct, you have a wonderful candidate, he is beloved in all 57 states. I rest my case.
Let’s see Angry, you obviously dislike republicans and we are supposed to take your advice? Remember the 2010 election, we did just fine thank you.
resno2
September 19th, 2012
1:48 pm
Angry: It’s nice to know that the only think that makes a great leader and a president is their ability to run a successful election campaign. If that were true, shouldn’t Alexrod then be president?
resno2
September 19th, 2012
1:50 pm
Retired Soldier: I think that instead of $2 billion we should give Pakistan enough flags to burn so that they’d eventually run out of protesters from inhaling the fumes.
Retired Soldier
September 19th, 2012
2:06 pm
Sounds like a plan to me resno2. Cheaper and supports American flag makers.
retiredds
September 19th, 2012
2:56 pm
resno2: I don’t waste my time answering the conservative spin lines.
Shar
September 19th, 2012
4:14 pm
From the exchange above I have to think that Peggy Noonan is correct. Clearly, those who have made up their minds are hardened in their beliefs, and if their preferred candidate chose to say that he likes to slit open babies for relaxation they would leap to the ramparts and try to shout down any “negative spin” the “wrong side” might put on such a statement.
The most interesting responses, and clearly the ones Ms. Noonan was referring to, come from posters such as Carrie, WAW, and the other kinda-sorta undecided/independents. Even in this most red of states, Romney’s campaign has failed to convince them that he is worth supporting. Either they have decided to vote for Obama or they have decided to not participate in the election.
The purpose of a campaign is to motivate the faithful, convince the undecided and cast doubt on the alternative. The Romney campaign has failed in all three categories, and time is running out.
resno2
September 19th, 2012
5:55 pm
retiredds: What’s the spin line? All I did was ask a question.
Laserbeam
September 19th, 2012
7:53 pm
Only paid earn income tax on $374,327 (not very much) not concerned about the poor thay have a safety net, 47% . “My job is not to worry about those people,” Mitt Romney said. “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Thinks middle income is $200-250000 – talk about out of touch – his loose lips will sink ships!
S
September 19th, 2012
9:05 pm
Willard Mitt Romney’s staff can’t fix what is irreparable. Romney has a problem, he doesn’t have a lick of common sense, not a lick! He is so above it all he just does not understand how this country runs, he just doesn’t get it, and never will. While his not understanding how this country works is disturbing, his clueless Foreign knowledge is just down right frighting. I hope the voters out there that are undecided, will take a pause and think about what they are about to do if voting for this Romney person.
Georgia Voter
September 19th, 2012
9:40 pm
Every time Mitt opens his mouth, he sounds less presidential than the time before. It’s really kind of sad.