Posted on 08/04/2012 5:53:39 AM PDT by upchuck
[The author is a left-wing lib. Please be kind to the messenger :]
If Mitt Romney's purpose in traveling abroad this summer was to prove his credentials as a potential world leader, the verdict is mixed at best. Neither his tendency to utter bizarre insults nor his shallow, ideological approach to policy inspired much confidence, although he managed to garner support from Israel's right-wing prime minister and an eccentric former leader in Poland. (Our allies in the United Kingdom may never want to hear from him again.)
On the trip's final leg, the world saw the most unattractive side of the Romney campaign, when the traveling press secretary loudly told reporters to "kiss my ass" and "shove it," in a display of the attitude that trickles down from the top.
Contempt toward the press is an important aspect of this attitude. For most of the campaign so far, Romney has pursued a media strategy that has become increasingly typical of Republican presidential candidates: Speak with Fox News, and avoid the rest of the national press corps. That is because Fox journalists (an oxymoron?) are far less likely to ask questions that the candidate doesn't wish to answer, such as the inquiries shouted at Romney in Warsaw on Tuesday.
Why were they shouting at him? Because during the entire trip, he had essentially refused to engage with reporters at all.
According to a CNN transcript, American reporters were calling out questions in frustration as Romney walked away at a public plaza near Poland's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, when press secretary Rick Gorka confronted them.
CNN: "Gov. Romney, are you concerned about some of the mishaps of your trip??"
NYT: "Gov. Romney do you have a statement for the Palestinians??"
Washington Post: "What about your gaffes?"
NYT: "Gov. Romney, do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip?"
CNN: "Gov. Romney, just a few questions, sir. You haven't taken but three questions on this trip from the press!"
Gorka: "Show some respect."
NYT: "We haven't had another chance to ask a question ..."
Gorka: "Kiss my ass. This is a holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect."
Within moments, Gorka told Jonathan Martin, a reporter for Politico, to "shove it."
Although Gorka called reporters later to apologize, his blustering attitude revealed the Romney campaign's fury over the negative fallout from the trip -- and its arrogance toward the press, which it regards as an obstacle to its ambitions.
The emerging truth about the man who will soon accept the Republican presidential nomination is that -- like Sarah Palin -- his handlers cannot trust him to cope with unscripted questions. That was particularly true on this trip, where his plenteous gaffes would only have multiplied if anyone had been able to ask a tough question.
And as with Palin, the difficult task faced by the Republican campaign is to protect Romney from the press scrutiny that is so essential to our process, and so damaging to his prospects.
Let me translate:
We are the press and the only way we can protect Obama is if Romney allows us to destroy him.
Therefore, he is not playing nice by blocking us from distorting his words and asking him all sorts of things we would never ask the Annointed One.
Good on 'em.
anyone who tell the press to shove it has my respect...
i still will not vote for him
The press translates the Republican candidate’s refusal to talk with jounalists as fear of gaffes.
The rest of us know it is really because the moronic media play “gotcha!”
Oh yeah, that Lech Walesa guy. What a weirdo, huh?
...such as the inquiries shouted at Romney in Warsaw...
lol -- "inquiries".
Isn't this Conason guy supposed to be a somewhat serious commentator or something?
The press hates him, reason # whatever for voting for him.
Cameron, Obama’s best bud, hates him, reason # whatever for voting for him.
He ticked off the snobby elites in GB, that’s just funny.
Maybe they need Sarah, who also has no problem telling the press how much they suck, out there as VP
Joe Conasen and the MSM are living proof of my tag line.
It should be pretty obvious that the US public hates the press, almost as much as they hate politicians, panhandlers, ambulance-chasing lawyers and used-car dealers.
It's just wonderful to see the 'rats grasping at straws! "I love the smell of napalm in the morning... smells like victory."
Good for Romney!
Just another disgusting attempt of the media trying to tear down one candidate in order to inflate their choice. If they had EVER asked these same questions of the Won, it wouldn’t be so bad.
They have no character, no values, no standards....it is shameful and embarrassing.
What is so utterly damaging to our country is how the press has voluntarily given up that scrutiny with regards to the democratic candidates, especially Obama, but they do it in one way or the other for all liberals/democrats.
They've replaced that scrutiny with reverence, support, and clever phrases and word choices to make democrats appear more mature, reasonable and sympathetic.
Republicans, especially conservatives and TEA party supporters; not so much. If it's not "gotcha" journalism, it's ridicule and snarky derision. Sarah Palin is THE shining example.
Stopped reding right there...this guy is an idiot!!!
You know, items and even polls from Rasmussen seems to have drifted over to the occupied media since little bammy was crowned by the communist agenda “liberal and progressive” donks.
Is it just me?
Why would Scott let this commie garbage be rehashed in his backyard?
.
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reding = reading
Conason is a dyed-in-the wool Commie bastard.
To put the lid on this pot— it is not a question of Mitt Romney being a great candidate or will he make a Great President. The answer is NO to both questions.
We cannot even answer the question will he be better than Obama.
The question is: Can he possibly be worse?
My answer is: Nothing could possibly be worse than what we have.
Obama has been and continues to be a DISASTER.
We cannot continue 4 more years of this disaster.
“YOU SAID WHAT I DIDN’T SAY NOW SHOVE IT” Theresa Heiz Skerry.
Can anyone provide me the link to that article?
/s
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