As most things that come out of his mouth the “Shiny Objects,” comment has got to rank up there with the stupidest s%!t Romney has said in his bid for the White House. A few days ago before our embassies were attacked and we lost American lives, Romney, feeling the pressure of poor polling, poor convention, and poor substance tried to turn the race back to the issue he believes will win him the election.
Here is a quick recap...
When asked about the Presidents mentions about foreign policy on the campaign trail Romney team said this…
foreign policy advisor Robert O’Brien called the Obama campaign’s tactic a transparent ploy to distract from the sagging economy, including a recent jobs report that was “a disaster for them.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that they’re raising foreign policy because it’s another distraction from the Administration’s terrible economic record,” O’Brien told BuzzFeed. “They’re going from one shiny object to the next.”
THIS CAME FROM HIS FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR!
This is not the first time team Romney used the "Shiny Objects" line. Back in June of this year his team called women’s rights and other social issues a distraction and again "shiny objects"…
Mitt Romney is pro-life. He'll govern as a pro-life president, but you're going to see the Democrats use all sorts of shiny objects to distract people's attention from the Obama performance on the economy. This is not a social issue election.
This was a comment made when Romney's senior campaign advisor Eric Fehrnstrom was on ABC's This Week. He was on the show trying to court women voters and tripped all over himself. You would have thought after that misstep they would have nixed the words Shiny Objects from all their material… but they didn’t and the hole was dug deeper after our embassies were attacked.
This is what Americans get and Romney and his team don’t… Being President is about doing more than one thing at a time. The rest of the world does not stop till you fix what you are working on. Yes, the economy is important, but this great blue marble is still spinning and life is pushing on. The President does not get one item on his desk each day or a pause button, he gets hundreds of items that come across his desk each day. Healthcare, Women’s rights, Immigration, our Military, Environment, Taxes, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Deficit, Parks Systems, and of course foreign policy. EVERYTHING is important, and answers will change from voter to voter on what is most important to them personally. These are not “Shiny Objects,” this is everyday life for Americans.
The days of a campaign being about just one single issue are over. 2004 was in my opinion the last election that was truly focused around one issue (National Security). Eight years later, the age of social media overload, internet hotspots on just about every corner, YouTube, instant news from multiple outlets, micro-social groups that meet online and via meetups, this is the new age of campaigns.
Years ago, campaigns would have been able to control the narrative in much more restrictive fashion. Who knows how much play the embassies would have received if we were living in an age where local TV and the evening world news was our primary source of information. Today there are no more “Shiny Objects,” every issue is important to someone and you better have substance to talk about when asked about them and some class when lives are lost.
So what does Team Romney do a day after they step in poop and track it through the house? They revert back to outdated arguments. BLAME THE MEDIA. and try to go back in time two weeks with an attack.
"I love all these reporters saying that they thought the Democratic convention was better," said one senior adviser sarcastically. "Of course they did. It's like a steak lover saying they like a steak house. They served what 90 percent of reporters love. And they liked it? Shocking."
And this
"I mean, I was expecting this narrative in October," he said. "You know, the polls are close, and so the media starts cheering on their guy, saying Romney's doomed. But I didn't expect it to happen this early. They just seem really eager."
Of course it hurts when they realize the media is
starting to do the math
and really stings when they look at Nate Silver's Math
This "blame the media," is an attack that resonates with no one but the extreme base. Once again a tactic developed in old campaigns. They are sloshing through a mess they made hoping that by changing the subject voters will forget. Problem is, as I mentioned before, this is the new age of campaigning. The internet does not forget.