>>Mitt Romney didn’t lose this election for ten reasons; he lost it for one: The media campaigned for Obama for four straight years, and suppressed Romney’s message.
You just identified a key reason why Romney was such a terrible candidate: He is completely unable to punch a message through and around the unfavorable media environment. Newt and Cain were the only candidates in this cycle who showed any ability here. This is a *must have* skill for a Republican Presidential candidate.
Let the record also show, incidentally, that the MSM waged no less vicious, feral (un)holy war on one Ronald Wilson Reagan for eight years as well, all-out and non-stop... and (mirabile dictu!) that never seemed to prevent him from:
a.) ... campaigning as an open and unapologetic conservative; and --
b.) ... W-I-N-N-I-N-G. ;)
“Newt and Cain were the only candidates in this cycle who showed any ability here.”
They would have done no such thing; they were allowed to be heard because the media saw them as no threat who could only weaken the real candidate in the end. Romney wasn’t a great candidate, but McCain/Palin were no better against the slings and arrows of the press.
ANY candidate will be attacked like this, and their response, even if brilliant, will only be seen by a small number of people (while their Dem opponent has praise showered on them). Just think about the state of the economy, and realize that Obama WON RE-ELECTION in this.
It is absolutely frightening how the campaign of mis-information can have such an impact on all of our lives...