Posted on 06/08/2011 7:00:37 AM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm
This is a follow-up to my post yesterday, Michele Bachmann's First Big Mistake - Hiring Ed Rollins, regarding Rollins out-of-the-gate attacks on Sarah Palin:
Hiring Rollins is an enormous mistake for Bachmann. It could be campaign killing. The people who hate Palin are the same people who hate Bachmann, and no amount of trashing of Palin by Rollins will change that. Bachmann needs to focus on building, not tearing down.The profound mistake Bachmann made by bringing Ed Rollins on board cannot be overstated.. (Several commentators to my prior post think Bachmann is a stalking horse, but I'll prefer to call the Rollins hire a simple mistake.)
Salon.com gets it right, Rollins is instigating a fight which is damaging to each candidate and the Republican Party:
For weeks commentators have tried to set up Tea Party darlings Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, both of whom may end up launching presidential bids, in opposition. Both women have, however, fought the catfight narrative. Bachmann, for example, told "Good Morning America" last week, "I like Sarah Palin a lot, we're friends."Bachmann and her supporters are kidding themselves if they think bashing Palin will immunize Bachman from the treatment. The mocking of Bachmann started long ago, but now will kick into full gear. They will portray every slip of the tongue or error by Bachmann as reflective of a lack of intelligence and wingnuttia.
But that was before Ed Rollins, Bachmann's new campaign manager with a checkered path of dirty and aggressive tactics, entered the scene.
Witness TPM's article about Bachman's hire of Rollins:
Of course, this has often lead to some amusing off-the-cuff fumbles. She once told a conservative rally at the Capitol: "It's the charge of the light brigade!" (The Light Brigade lost) She also misplaced the historic Revolutionary War towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, into New Hampshire. And in an infamous House speech, she blamed Franklin Roosevelt for something call the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs.
But at the end of the day, the same qualities that often lead Bachmann to the edge of rhetorical cliffs, are the same that ignite fervor among her base in the far right wing of the GOP.A successful career and lifetime of achievement is turned into a caricature based on a handful of misstatements or mistakes. That's what Rollins is doing to Palin, and it's what will be done by others to Bachmann.
Update: Nice job Ed (h/t commenter Viator), is this how you wanted to launch your campaign, Michele?
the other thing that is odd about this is that we really shouldn’t know who the campaign hires. What sort of campaign sends out a presser that says who they hired?
Well, its the type of campaign that is trying to appear serious, when it’s not.
real campaigns simply execute a plan and don’t talk about who their big name consultants are. to try to turn your consultant into a campaign asset (”look how tough we are!”) is a loser.
Rollin is not one of us. We’re under constant attack from the Liberals, and what Rollin do? Attempt to split our base even further. He’s working for the establishment
This is OLD SCHOOL politics that I hate with extreme prejudice.
You NEVER win by destroying your opponent, when you are both supposed to be on the same side. You just bring everyone down.
Bachman could take an enormous jump in the polls, further marginalize Romney, and gain enormous potential as Palin’s running mate by dumping Rollins and personally traveling to meet Palin (ostensibly to apologize)
WHAT ???
No attacks on the liberal Romney ???
The so called “frontrunner” ???
Is it going to be not kosher for campaign staffs to diss lil Mitty ???
Yep. She’s already toast IMO. I definitely view her as a suspect RINO now in any case and not completely trustworthy anymore. She did hire the guy afterall, can’t backtrack from that one.
No, now my support is being thrown behind Palin & Cain. Not sure in what order yet, time will tell. But these 2 are the ones who SHOULD be duking it out for 1st and 2nd spot in the primaries. Romney SHOULD be a distant last.
Praying people wake up before its too late.
Her choice of him indicates that she plays the political games the rest of the Republican dwarfs play and indicates also that her judgement and research abilities are poor.
Listen up you Republican dwarfs: STFU when it comes to Sarah Palin!
The damage is irretrievably done by this incident and the media, like a dog clamped onto a juicy bone, will never let it go away.
To tell the truth, I can't find myself getting all worked up over this flap, anyhow. IMO, Bachmann is only a minor league player in the presidential world series.....and will continue to be so. Her role is/would be only as a gadfly or spoiler.
Although her principles are commensurate with conservative thought, she is lightweight presidential material in the grand scheme of things, she will never be president, and becoming all emotional over this Bachmann/Rollins gaffe is a waste of energy and time.
Leni
She’s going to suffer for this regardless of what she does. She’s hemorrhaging support badly now. She can stop the bleeding by firing Rollins and apologizing, but she can’t undo the damage completely.
Basically, her choices are to do nothing and lose her entire base of support or apologize and fire Rollins and only lose 1/2 of her support.
I never supported her for president either, but I have given her money for her house seat. I won’t be making that mistake again. I think she may have done irreparable damage to her entire image, not just her nascent presidential campaign.
what is even more telling is that she just can’t control the guy....not a very good leadership quality...if she is controlling him, then she is officially beltway, and toast
Wasn’t Rollins in charge of McCain’s campaign. The nicey nicey, don’t attack the democrats but skewer the conservatives campaign.
No, he ran Huckabee’s campaign.
I think this is all symptomatic of what, to my own theorizing, is Bachmann's over-estimation of her own standing. Like a case of believing one's own press clippings, Bachmann acts as if she is the "TEA Party queen", to the point of setting up her own caucus in the House.The problem is, while she may talk the talk, who follows her? She was rebuffed for a House leadership position. Even without that, how many freshman TEA Partiers have joined her caucus and follow her as a leader? What significant legislation owes its passage to Bachmann? What executive experience does she have? And yes, I'll throw in the fact that she's also never won a statewide election.
Just being a "TEA Party favorite" isn't going to cut it. One of the defining features of the movement is a lack of a single leader or small group of leaders. Self-identifying TEA Party sympathizers have wildly different views on a potential nominee, and no one candidate is going to capture all of them. Bachmann will get some, Cain will get some, as will Palin when she runs, but so will Pawlenty, Paul, and even Romney (don't have the link, but a not too distant survey had Romney at over 10% support from self-identifying TEA Partiers).
Oh, ok.
If she’s got Rollins on board, she lost any chance of getting a vote from me. That guy is a complete weasel.
Against other conservatives? While letting the real threat of Mitt Romney off the hook? Cowardly sending a surrogate out to attack someone who isn't even in the race with ad hominems? When the person you are attacking has held fundraisers for you and supported you?
You think we should be pleased by that? Your screen name has it right. That's a bunch of Bull, Man.
I thought it was Charles Black that ran McCain’s campaign. I don’t know who’s worse, Black or Rollins. Black also ran Bob Dole’s campaign, and I think the 2nd George H.W. Bush campaign. Rollins also did the first Ross Perot campaign. He’s a divider, not a uniter.
The Weekly Standard didn’t think much of Ed Rollins.
ED ROLLINS AND THE END OF HONOR
12:00 AM, Sep 2, 1996 By ROBERT W. MERRY
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Protected/Articles/000/000/007/306ymoeo.asp
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