Posted on 02/12/2008 9:31:35 AM PST by greyfoxx39
Newton - Brian Camenker of Auburndale was a major force behind the derailing of Mitt Romney’s massively expensive and impeccably organized presidential campaign. One recent national press release called Camenker the “lynchpin” of Romney’s demise. Political insiders have to acknowledge that he was the unforeseen nemesis the Romney machine couldn’t stop.
It’s evident that since stepping down from leading the Newton Taxpayers Association in 2004, Camenker’s been getting a lot more traction outside of Newton than in it. For years Newton liberals had made an industry of publicly berating him, largely due to his relentless challenges to their political sacred cows. And Newton conservatives, most of whom had quietly agreed with him, nevertheless proved to be too timid to stand against the entrenched Newton liberal establishment. So Camenker took a hiatus from the Newton political-cultural wars to target the-man-who-would-be-president, Mitt Romney.
By late 2006, many “real” conservatives had become disillusioned with Romney. The governor was spending the majority of his time in places like Iowa and South Carolina while his administration was on auto-pilot, his socially liberal top officials were running amok, and the state Republican Party was collapsing. Meanwhile, Romney had already begun depicting himself a conquering conservative hero. It was incredibly disingenuous, but his consultants made it all believable.
So over a six-week period, with the help of a half-dozen colleagues, Camenker wrote “The Mitt Romney Deception,” a 28-page paper that documented (with footnotes) Romney’s actual statements, actions, official positions and record as both candidate and governor in Massachusetts on a wide variety of issues ranging from homosexuality and abortion, to gun control and economics, and above all, to his bungling of the same-sex “marriage” debacle.
On Nov. 20, 2006, “The Mitt Romney Deception” was finished and e-mailed to about a dozen activists. The fallout was immediate. Within a few days, about half a million people had received it. Most of the major conservative Christian leaders read it and commented on it. Web sites posted it. It sparked arguments on blogs. Within weeks, the report had been picked up by the Washington Times, National Review Online and Fox News. On Jan. 12 last year, the Associated Press covered it with a big story that appeared in newspapers around the country. The next day, the Romney campaign sent out a bizarre press release personally attacking Camenker. (Needless to say, that only fanned the flames). A few days later, the Boston Globe did a prominent front-page article on Camenker and “The Mitt Romney Deception.”
The mainstream pro-Romney conservative media didn’t quite know what to do. National political correspondent Robert Novak wrote that Camenker was a “nobody” and should be ignored. National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez and Ramesh Ponneru, columnist-radio host Hugh Hewitt (who had just written the book “A Mormon in the White House”) and other “conservative” commentators attacked Mr. Camenker and his statewide activist group, Mass Resistance, which continued sending out the paper and posting it on its Web site MassResistance.Org. The conservative Web site TownHall.com, which usually attacks liberals, posted several articles by pro-Romney columnists bashing Camenker.
That mainstream Republican leaders attacked the messenger, Camenker, for berating their anointed hero Romney came as no surprise. The very concept that he was able to wage an effective guerilla campaign against the Romney crowd only caused them to react hysterically.
The Romney campaign’s army of bloggers and hired guns went on the warpath against Camenker, doing their best to discredit him, attacking him all over the net. One Web site, “Evangelicals for Mitt,” run by a Romney staffer’s husband, wrote a long harangue attempting to debunk Camenker’s paper. Yet despite all their efforts, the anti-Romney treatise resonated with conservatives around the country.
As the early caucuses and primaries heated up in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, an army of independent Camenker-inspired activists continued to spread the word. Volunteers independently e-mailed portions of “The Romney Deception” to every list they received. One even sent out a half-million e-mails around Florida. Activists distributed fliers door to door in New Hampshire. Some radio shows around the country interviewed Camenker at least once a week, sometimes every other day. In Iowa, he was on the state’s top talk station for an hour the day before the primary. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback even asked Camenker to introduce him at a major dinner.
Eventually, all the remaining opposing Republican campaigns used material originally from the “The Romney Deception.” A Mike Huckabee e-mail included direct links to it. Columnists, newspaper editorials, magazines and Web sites used material from it, though almost always without attribution. Even during the Republican debates, other candidates “borrowed” damning tidbits from it to attack Romney.
The damage was done. The ragtag army of conservative activists had prevailed. In the end, the gulf between Romney’s actual record and the spin produced by his expensive consultants was, according to numerous political experts, a huge part of what did him in.
And when Mitt Romney finally dropped out of the presidential race last week, Brian Camenker of Newton could relish in the knowledge that he played a big part in his political demise.
Ping
Thank you Brian Camenker for exposing the fraud Romney.
So what explains McCain’s success?
Romney wasn’t a household name, that’s what did him in.
“One Web site, “Evangelicals for Mitt,” run by a Romney staffer’s husband”
A poster on FreeRepublic.
The ONLY thing good about McCain winning is Romney lost.
ping
His life time liberal record didn't help.
Agreed. Lack of name ID was Romney’s biggest problem,
Camenker may have sped things up a bit, but from what I could see, the Romney campaign was a self-derailing organization.
Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure it.
Agreed. Lack of name ID was Romney’s biggest problem.
Great Find! Thanks for sharing! One man CAN make a difference!
One thing this is becomeing obvious is that that so called Mainstream Conservative Media, they resort to same dirty underhanded techniques as a Klinton Scorch Earth Team would.
Someone ask Ms. Ingrham who the “Conservative’s Conservative” is.
Maybe Ms. Ingrham would reply it all depend on what your definition of “Conservative’s Conservative” is.
Credit goes to Republican Primary Voters who are NOT ready to become sheeple like Dem Voters, who follow their Massas blindly. Same can’t be said about me, because I gave my vote to Romney anyway.
“Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure it.”
That is a GREAT point! I wanted to say that but couldn’ come up with the proper words!
Too bad he didn’t put some of his effort into stopping the real problem, John McCain.
Didn’t hurt McCain.
McCain won by not being quite as fake as Romney.
(And no, not remotely a McCain supporter; just recognized Romney for the fake that he was.)
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