Well, at least the political press won’t be talking about Todd Akin during the weekend leading into the Republican National Convention. Mitt Romney on Friday, showing off his less-than-world-class sense of humor: “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate.”
Just approaching this from the point of view of campaign strategy: Yikes! This can’t possibly be any good for him. I mean, where to start? First of all, it’s certain to put the Romney campaign on the defensive over the weekend.
The national press is pretty clear that birther nonsense is out of bounds; make up stuff about welfare and you’ll get burned by MSNBC hosts, the liberal blogosphere and the fact-checkers, which have a combined audience of approximately zero undecided voters — but make birther jokes, and you’re going to get the (negative) attention of the national press.
But that’s not all! Romney has been arguing that he’s the one running a policy-oriented campaign while Barack Obama has been making personal attacks; birther jokes completely undermine that. The Republican National Convention, we’re told, is going to be all about introducing a very likable Mitt Romney. Spending the weekend before it talking about his birther joke is hardly going to be helpful to that.
Now, I do need to point out that none of this is apt to shake a lot of votes one way or another. It’s a late-August blip, and at the very worst it will be a big deal through the first day or two of the convention, and then fade away. (Although you can be sure that Democrats will be quick to raise it the next time they are accused of cheap shots or personal attacks.)
It does, however, remind us of the real dangers of the conservative closed information feedback loop. If you spend all your time in a world in which birther and teleprompter jokes are really funny, Solyndra was a major national scandal, and Barack Obama and the Democrats are encouraging gun crimes so that they’ll trick the nation into strict gun control, it can be hard to know what’s appropriate to say in mixed company and how it’s going to be taken.
After all, at every event a Republican politician is at, it’s stuff like that that’s getting the big reactions. It’s not surprising that they lose a sense of how it plays with the rest of the world.
Remember, while there’s nothing inherent in conservative ideas that causes that feedback loop, it doesn’t currently exist equally for both parties; Republicans have built their epistemic closure by systematically demonizing and discrediting the neutral press and encouraging their supporters — and themselves — to listen to only the Republican-aligned partisan press.
Which means that Mitt Romney’s joke and Todd Akin’s garbled biology have more in common than one might think, and there’s every possibility that we’re going to see more of these sorts of gaffes before the election is over.
Jonathan Bernstein is a political scientist who contributes to the Washington Post blogs Plum Line and PostPartisan.
no, we just would like to see your taxes.
we know you were born here. where you hide your assets to avoid paying taxes, that’s another story.
He should show one tax return for each transcript of President Kardashian’s from Occidental and Yale. And maybe one more if the president answers why he spent $4 MILLION to hide all his documents. And maybe one more after that if the press finally admit they did a crappy job of vetting the guy sitting in the oval office.
Yawn.
president Kardashian?
if you had a point to make, you lost me with your ridiculous hyperbole.
Do you really think he would be running for president if he didnt pay taxes Nobody asked McCain to see his returns Wanna guess how many years he showed? Iwouldnt give the Obama campaign the satisfaction. The only reason they want them to show anything is to use them to dig up dirt. Obama has already showed us how low he is willing to go to make something stick As mentioned earlier here 1 year of taxes for one year of transcripts That would put an end to the tax story once and for all
One of the better reasons for avoiding Progressives is that they confuse being humorless with being serious.
Mitt Romney wasn’t just being humorous. He was throwing a little red meat to the Birther crowd to let them know he’s their man. Romney will go as low as he can go to get elected. You have to wonder who he’ll try to please if he gets elected. I wouldn’t count on him to help the middle class and poor.
Good thing obama runs a clean campaign, like accusing Romney of murdering a steelworker’s wife, committing a felony, etc.
obama’s had 4 years to prove his socialism is better, it isn’t (gee what a surprise) & he’s completely failed.Beat the heat, get a clue, go watch the nations’ #1 movie: http://2016themovie.com/
Your comment is full of misinformation. Those were pro-Obama ads, but they’re not ads from Obama or the Obama campaign. By law PACs don’t coordinate with campaigns.
Like his VP Jokin’ Joe Biden throwing red meat to black Americans with the “chains” comment?
LOL, your comment is completely false and also completely irrelevant.
So Jokin’ Joe DIDN’T make the chains comment? Siiiigh.
Yes, he was pandering, which is what he does, he’s a sweet little pander bear.
Right, hahahaha, some people aren’t white and it’s funny to immediately assume they’re not from around here, hahahaha, good one.
Seems to be your preoccupation with supposed racism that is at issue here, wolfie.
Pee-Wee Herman’s “I know you are, but what am I?” isn’t an argument. Pointing out that someone is engaging in racism isn’t racism in itself — that’s ridiculous.
Being the arbiter of what is racist or not must keep you wicked busy.
Ask the gay kid that Romney Wrestled to the ground and cut off his locks in a Prep school Romney humour event about the differance between serious, and humorless!
I think that the Poor Kid took it pretty serious!
Proven not to have happened the way MSNBC breathlessly reported it. But, hey, don’t let the TRUTH get in the way of your reasoning! Good try, Dill.
Actually, yes, it did. But, hey, don’t let the TRUTH get in the way of your reasoning! Good try, Kouch.
Who’s laughing?
On the evidence provided here, I rest my case.
Just too bad that the BDN won’t publish columns from Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams; two respected and respectful economist and analysts instead of the blather from the Washington Post, NYTimes
Their archives can be read at: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams1.asp, http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell1.asp
Speaking of blather …
Romney made a statement of fact. If the President acted like an American, nobody would question his background or make jokes about him.
White with a non-foreign sounding name?
And just how does an American act? Does he have to wear pajamas made out of American Flags, carry signs proclaiming that he is a ”REAL AMERICAN’, does he have to blame the poor and homeless for all of the problems in our society? You say that no one would question his background or make jokes about him. Really? If I remember correctly , and I do, the jokes started within hours of his being elected. I seem to remember a picture of him where half of his face was white and the other half black. His Presidency was declared a failure even before he took the oath of office.
He certainly hasn’t changed that perception especially after having had two years of TOTAL control of Congress and the Executive Branch. Not much to show there except the hugely unpopular Obamacare, the huge stimulus failure and the cash-for-clunkers farce. In the meantime he has strangled private businesses with government regulations, poured millions down the sink-hole of “green” energy, almost killed the coal and oil drilling industries, turned GM into Government Motors, enabled his corrupt Attorney General, spent millions on crony capitalism and Friends Of Obama, and launched a nasty form of class-warfare pitting people against each other. All this with higher taxes, higher gas prices, higher food prices, and near double-digit unemployment. And people REALLY think he deserves four more years?!
how does an american act? I’m a little confused, please explain. Actually explain to us how obama is not acting like an american? You think romney acts more american by putting al his money into foreign accounts?
By not bowing to foreign leaders is one good example. And what about President Kardashian’s refusing to acknowledge American exceptionalism? Want more?
Many presidents have bowed to foreign leaders as a gesture of respect, even your precious Ronald Reagan.
American exceptionalism is a ridiculous concept dreamed up by jingoists with deluded ideas about the United States being vastly and incomparably superior to every other nation on earth.
In Romney’s case, it is clearly a sub-type of American: The Wealthy American. Relatively rare, out of touch with how most of America lives, and mostly concerned about maintaining life in the style to which they have become accustomed.
Nobody laughs at “Romneys Jokes” !
Except his butler !
This writer from the Washington Post reveals what a dream-world he inhabits when he says “Republicans have built their epistemic closure by systematically
demonizing and discrediting the neutral press …” The NEUTRAL PRESS—this from the Wash. Post. After I picked myself up off the floor, I had to respond. Anybody who, at this late date, thinks the “main-stream” media, including the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Boston Globe, the “major” TV networks etc., etc.,……..are “neutral” is suffering from a very severe case of willful self delusion.
I have not actually figured out if “reporters” like this (Dan Rather may be the classic exemplar) really believe that they are “neutral”, or if they have decided that they have to pretend, in order to have the least shred of credibility left.
Typical conservative delusion. Every media outlet that’s not part of the right-wing noise machine has a “liberal bias,” right? What a joke.
OMG,—- look at all the Romney Bobbleheads!