Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Mitt Romney "Tries to show his sensitive side"

The title of the article is "On the trail, Mitt Romney is trying to show his sensitive side."   The Yahoo headline page says 'Romney tries to get emotional'...
HERE is the linked article but I had to publish it all here so we could discuss it...and I could interject:

DENVER—Mitt Romney has long campaigned as the economy's Mr. Fix-It, the man who would "restore America back to its greatness," as he frequently says. Emotion is something he has rarely talked about, much less exhibited on the campaign trail.
(Z:  I wonder what presidents on the campaign stump have ever 'talked about' emotion?)

He is not a candidate who lingers with voters. His interactions along the rope line or at meet-and-greets are usually succinct. At stops throughout the early primary states, Romney spent a lot of time shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for photos—but not much time actually talking to people.
(Z:  Again, most presidential candidates have to keep moving....and we've all seen plenty of Romney talking to people in diners, etc.  Good thing he hasn't spoken to anyone as badly as Obama did with the man who became famous as "Joe the Plumber")
At a stop in Charleston, S.C., last month, a man approached Romney and told him he lost his job and was planning to vote for him in hopes that he could get the country back on track. "Thank you," Romney replied. He didn't press the man on details and instead kept shaking hands as he moved down the line.
But as he has struggled to hang on to the mantle of the frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, Romney has tweaked his stump speech in subtle ways to counter the perception that he's too robotic and stiff—or maybe even too rich to care about average people. He has begun diverting from his usual stump speech, which was heavy on his explanations of his love and faith in America, to talk about the people he has met during his second presidential run.

"I've had the opportunity over the last several months to go across the country and meet people in this great land of ours, and these have been challenging times," Romney said at a stop in Colorado Springs. "I was getting my hair cut in a place in New Hampshire, and the barber, in his seventies, had expected to retire but couldn't afford to."
In Elko, Nev., Romney spoke of how "heartsick" he was to have recently met a group of seniors "who thought they would retire but are working minimum wage jobs to keep food on the table."
In Reno, Romney spoke of a couple he met who "used to think about where they were going to send their kid to college," adding, "Now they are wondering if they can put food on the table until their next paycheck comes in."
In Las Vegas, he spoke of "college kids" who pressed him on whether there will be jobs when they graduate. And at a stop just outside Denver, Romney spoke of a married couple he met who learned they were pregnant with their second child on the day they lost their home to foreclosure.
Romney never names the people he talks about, but he uses them as a way to talk about what he believes is the failure of President Obama's time in the White House.
(Z:  He never names them?  What's the assumption there, he's made it all up?  Could it be he didn't hear a name or didn't write every name of everyone he spoke to down?)

"These have been a tough three years," Romney says at virtually every stop. "This president has failed the American people."
There have been rare public moments where Romney has had intimate encounters with voters. At a stop in Sumter, S.C., last month, an ABC News reporter witnessed Romney reach into his wallet and hand an unemployed woman cash as he shook hands with voters after a rally.
(Z:  the ABC reporter 'witnessed' it so it wasn't done with flourish that demanded notice, was it.  And, just how intimate do the encounters need to be other than shaking hands, hearing people yell information like 'my daughter graduated and can't find a JOB'  at the candidates like they do, sometimes having enough time to really hear a constituent?  Just how intimate...this isn't Clinton, after all! :-)

Romney's aides and supporters say that, behind closed doors, he is far more at ease than his persona on the stump suggests. They say he is someone who has a big heart—and is nothing like the rich, aloof man that his rivals have tried to define him as.
At a stop in Centennial, Colo., a supporter introduced Romney by telling a story of how the candidate rescued the 14-year-old daughter of a coworker at Bain Capital—a story that was mentioned repeatedly in 2008 but has been rarely mentioned during this campaign, four years later.
And Romney briefly mentioned his time as a Mormon lay pastor during a campaign stop last week in Atlanta—a subject he has mentioned only fleetingly during this campaign. He used the moment to talk about his experience in dealing with people who were struggling.
"In my church, we don't have a professional ministry, and so people are asked to serve as the minister, or the pastor of their congregation from time to time, and I had that privilege for, I think, over 10 years," Romney said, the Washington Post reported. "And in that capacity, I had the chance to work with people who had lost their jobs, in some cases, or were facing other financial distress, losing their homes. And I found that those circumstances were not just about money or numbers. They were about lives, and they were about emotions."
Asked about Romney's anecdotes, an aide to the candidate downplayed the idea that they were evidence of a shift in strategy—insisting that Romney was merely trying to define America's struggles "in personal terms." (end of article)

Z: Do our candidates take enough time to speak one-on-one, and is that even really possible?   What would he have to DO to convince our liberal media Romney's heart's still ticking?  And do you see the media's headlines and how they can sway? "ROMNEY HAS NO HEART, NO EMOTION"  (how ridiculous......effective, but really ridiculous)

z

23 comments:

Always On Watch said...

Nothing Romney does or says is going to convince people of his sensitive side.

Does he really have one? I haven't a clue. He's a politician, after all.

Always On Watch said...

Was it Romney who mentioned the safety net for the poor?

Well, it's not a safety net. Not really. Or at least the way that people seem to think a safety net should be.

Brooke said...

Bottom line: No matter what Romney does, it will not be good enough for the MSM.

Were I him, I would drop the 'sensitive' crap like a bad habit. People sense that we need a real ball buster in office. Romney needs to take the gloves off.

Chuck said...

Z, they ran the same article when Obama refused to see the troops in Germany in 2008 because the media was not allowed.

Yeah right.

Just another article written by Media Matters for the MSM.

sue hanes said...

Brooke - '...we need a real ball
buster in office.'


Good One.

: ]

Silverfiddle said...

Romney's problem is not that he has no heart, but that he has no core principles and no record that would inspire confidence that he would act in a conservative manner as president. Same for Santorum and Newtie.

Fredd said...

I just wonder when sensitivity became a criterium for the presidency.

Did voters care how sensitive Teddy Roosevelt was? NO, I say. Did the electorate care about Dwight Eisenhower's feminine side? Not one bit. Teddy was elected (twice) for charging up San Juan Hill amid a hail of bullets, and Ike was elected (twice) because he killed butt loads of Nazis.

Sensitive, schmensitive.

Ducky's here said...

The guy has the personality of a hydrant.

Z said...

AOW, he's a person, there's something inside there..a person with a wife who apparently loves him and who's raised five apparently very good sons.

My point for posting this is the utter nonsense of a media who'll be coming up with this kind of stuff until November...only it'll get so much worse.

and yes, there is a safety net for the very poor. YOu and I can't go to a downtown hospital and get treated, we'd have to sell our car and house and drain our savings first. Illegals get it free, the very poor gets it free.


Brooke: that's exactly right..NOTHING he does will be good enough. If ONLY he'd take the gloves off.

Chuck...Exactly!

Silverfiddle..I think his core principles are good, I think he had to hide some of it in his ambition to become Mass. governor....If we keep the House, which there's almost no doubt about, and even win the Senate, which could very possibly happen according to the polls, he can't go too far left.

Fredd, I'm with you. But, this is all part of the media blitz that won't stop for a while.

I watched FOX some of this morning and they're talking mostly about Iran's nukes and the military cuts, etc........CNN's had nothing but WHitney Houston and smirking comments about Santorum up in the polls. I saw nothing about the Iranian threat and how they're promising to cut oil from six EU countries, tho I kept clicking back/forth.
amazing. No wonder people like CNN...one doesn't have to worry about the truth :-)

Ducky, he was very engaging this morning on an interview...more than I'd seen him. But he sure has a type of demeanor that's calm and controlled. I hope it's a 'hydrant', maybe he'll finally start gushing? Maybe he can put the fire out on the Obama Media Blitz?

Z said...

CNN is now going to cover a piece on a small group of dog lovers in New York who think "Mitt is Mean" to canines. :-)
Well, I GUESS this is yet another important story liberals flock to CNN for..?

To their credit, they also just ran an interview with Ari Fleischer, who had very interesting points about our relationship with CHina and CHina's future.

None of the many reports from Iran yet. No Keystone Pipeline reporting from this morning in Canada.
But, a piece on people with dogs who don't like Romney. :-)

Bob said...

"Do our candidates take enough time to speak one-on-one, and is that even really possible?"

Is this important? Do you really want someone to take the time to give you slobbering attention like Clinton or Obama? Neither one of those guys give a crap about the nation, just their personal gain and power. People who buy into this false affection are brain dead.

What we really need is somebody that is passionate about our nation and getting us out of the financial ditch the "caring" Presidents got us into.

I don't feel any sympathy for those out of work who have gotten 99 weeks of unemployment. I didn't get that much, just a few weeks before the sad words of "no longer eligible" appeared in a letter.

Since then, I have had to make do and take on some situations beneath my dignity, like selling cars. Big deal!

So, don't get all teary eyed about Romney not getting teary eyed in a greeting line. It is a meaningless gesture, anyway.

Millions of us have been unemployed for the past decade, and are now listed as having given up looking for jobs. We had no chance with the Democrats in office.

If there is anything I can do short of committing a crime to get Romney into office, I will do it. The idea that he is not conservative enough is meaningless in the face of the cancer that Obama represents.

Ticker said...

The man has no 'passion', no real feeling for what he is saying. In other words he's about as dull as Saint Santorum.

sue hanes said...

Fredd - I never heard that about President Eisenhower's feminine
side.

Was he a closet gay?

Ducky's here said...

Well, z, I don't think you're going to see anything to slow down Obummer.

Right now, he has Santorum's folks all lathered up and, thanks to the birth control edict, he has brilliantly consolidated support from independent women while weakening his only real opposition in favor of loser Santorum.

The guy may be a cheap (or expensive) corporate stooge but he's taken the opportunity the Tea Party has given him and just played it masterfully.

Blame the MSM, the lunar cycle or whatever you like but the Tea Party has demonstrated that the Republican party has gone too far right and it's over.

Lisa said...

If there is anything I can do short of committing a crime to get Romney into office, I will do it. The idea that he is not conservative enough is meaningless in the face of the cancer that Obama represents.

Mega Dittos Bob

Z your Fire Hydrant response to Ducky was good.

Ducky it is far from over. People who know the don't want Obama,and there are plenty aren't going to change their minds over free birth control. Everyone who depends on a paycheck are looking at the economy and they know Obama sucks at it.
Even the college kids who see how Obama is gutting their future are beginning to get it.

shoprat said...

Romney is not my first, second, third, or fourth choice, but if he is the candidate to against Obama then I will vote for the lesser of two evils ... again.

Trekkie4Ever said...

I don't think he actually has a sensitive side. I think he is a miniature Obama in disguise.

I do not trust him.

Z said...

Well, everyone, we may not trust Romney, we may not find him conservative enough, but I'm glad to see most of you'll vote for him anyway.

I can't tell you how many people who voted for Obama are telling me they won't vote for him this time. Black friends, too, who felt they had to vote for the first black president; which doesn't say much about my friends' allegiance to our country, but....that's what happened.
I sympathized with Whoopi Goldberg when she said, after the election, "I can finally unpack my luggage" but to see what he's done since, how COULD anybody vote for him?

Ducky, I don't think Santorum has a chance, so don't worry about that. He's a very good guy with the kinds of values America needs again to save her but it's not going to happen.

And, yes, the Left is more devious and can play people like violins because they've paved the way for people confusing rights with entitlements, and making people question our own country's motives over our enemies'....but, some of us still hope our country will survive as it is; with freedom and opportunity for all. ..with a people ashamed to take welfare as was the case before liberalism took over our souls.

Sam Huntington said...

CNN reported today that Romney and Santorum’s tie in the polls illustrates that there are serious ideological issues within the GOP. I know —it redefines the concept of analysis. CNN failed to observe serious ideological issues in both political parties, or explain to their mentally deficient leftist viewers that the purpose of primary elections is to sort out ideological differences.

No surprise, CNN has a dark horse in this race, and they know very well that if you lied to the people long enough, eventually the lies become the truth. Chuck hit the nail on the head: media matters copy from the first paragraph promulgated on air by elements of the state media. Amazing.

SCdottr2012 said...

Not showing a sensitive side is the most absurd notion on what to look for in a presidential candidate that I ever heard.

Yes, this is what was done in 1992 against the first Mr. Bush running for president.
According to the talking heads, he was out of touch, lived in a privedged world, didn't even kmow what a scanner was in a grocery store.
Same old crap.

And I tell you this, all this beating up of potential nominees on each other has just made for lots and lots of stories by certain powers that be.
It is disgusting and even more disgusting watching people willing to blow up the whole thing because someone is not their 100% idea of pure something or other.

And I hate to say it, but this Ducky guy has a point about this so called TEA party gang and their hold on the Republican Party right now. It is causing extreme chaos.

SCdottr2012 said...

Let me clarify my blowing up comment.
By that I mean, there are some who would cut their noses off to spite their faces if they do not get their way.


Is there seriously another human being on this earth that anyone agrees with 100% of the time? Really?



Right now I am not concerned about birth control, who sleeps with who or how tender a candidate can be to show me he or she can tear up on cue.

I want someone to show me the money.
SHow me how my taxes won't keep increasing , how my pensions or pension won't be stolen.
How another country won't come stick a gun in my face or take my home and property.

How the heck will anyone even get to work if gas is $5, 6, 7 per gallon??
What do you think the crime rate will be ? What do you think a loaf of bread will cost?


People wake up.

Rome is burning!

Z said...

SCdottr...SO WELL SAID...very good points (even Ducky's, I have to sadly admit:-)

The sensitive thing is NUTS, isn't it? But see how it reads to dopey lib americans "Ya, that guy isn't EMOTIONAL!..." And they seriously won't vote for him.

the drip drip drip of the media will annihilate any Republican candidate; why anybody'd give big money to any rightwing candidate is beyond ME because there's no way we can win unless Obama's overheard and taped saying he's a muslim and hates whites and despises America, and even THEN the leftwing media will say "it was said out of context!"

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Romney As the choice of the Tea-stablishment, well, you get what you pray for.

At least it won't be a conservative candidate that loses to Obama in November.