Rick Perry's Stumbles vs. Romney's Campaign Ad Kiss of Death

19 Comments

by: Colorado Pols

Regret enough for everybody, writes columnist E.J. Dionne at the Washington Post:

Rick Perry had a goal going into last night’s debate. He wanted to put Mitt Romney on the defensive for being an inconstant flip-flopper. There is plenty of ammunition for this change.

And when Perry’s moment came, he blew it. More than that, he created doubt in the minds of viewers (including the important ones, Republican primary voters, and not just people like me) as to how he would fare against a rather good debater named Barack Obama…

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the nominal Republican frontrunner, looked very weak in last night’s FOX News debate against Mitt Romney and seven other Republican candidates, fumbling in response to a number of questions and failing to pin Romney down on his long list of position reversals and gaffes. On the other hand, writes conservative Mark Thiessen:

Mitt Romney was the John Kerry of tonight’s debate. He was far more articulate than Perry (who flubbed what should have been an easy attack on Romney’s flip flops). But it was Romney who made the gaffe that will almost certainly appear in campaign ads that are probably being written as you read this, when he declared: “There are a lot of reasons not to elect me.”

The fact is, Romney was substantially better in last night’s debate over all–but campaign ads are not made from two hours of fumbling and failing to deliver anything really memorable, which is the night Perry had. Romney’s good performance in last night’s debate is meaningless if his “lot of reasons not to elect me” line emerges as a campaign meme later.

If we were running against Romney, we would make sure it does.

19 thoughts on “Rick Perry’s Stumbles vs. Romney’s Campaign Ad Kiss of Death”

ArapaGOP says:

September 23, 2011 at 9:47 pm

That the kings of the out of context political smear predict doom from an out of context political smear.

Log in to Reply
1. Car 31 says:
  
  September 23, 2011 at 10:43 pm
  
  that there were plenty of reasons he shouldn’t be president. Republican or Democrat – that’s shit you don’t want your most electable candidate saying.
  
  This isn’t smearing – it’s reality.
  
  Log in to Reply
2. BlueCat says:
  
  September 23, 2011 at 11:05 pm
  
  cited by Weekly Standard, were you, ArapG?
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. VanDammer says:
    
    September 23, 2011 at 11:20 pm
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BlueCat says:
      
      September 24, 2011 at 3:48 am
      
      I was for it before I was against it
      
      became, in ArapG’s own words….
      
      an out of context political smear.
      
      Of course Romney’s words, if he bcomes the 2012 GOP presidential candidate will be used in exactly the same way. Now I’m really sure ArapG isn’t the bright young conservative who e-mailed the Weekly Standard.
      
      Log in to Reply
sxp151 says:

September 24, 2011 at 12:42 am

Log in to Reply
Gilpin Guy says:

September 24, 2011 at 12:45 am

OK maybe GrOPer is watching but he is holding his pud in his hand hoping for a glimpse of Rick Santorum.

Log in to Reply
ClubTwitty says:

September 24, 2011 at 3:29 am

Perry has the largest total number of ‘pants on fire’ and ‘false’ poltifact-tracked claims, but Bachmann lies the most relative to how many statements are graded.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.n…

Mr. and Mrs. Huntsman raised a decent boy.

Log in to Reply
1. RedGreen says:
  
  September 24, 2011 at 3:54 am
  
  Only one in five times Bachmann opens her mouth does anything that’s at least half true come out? That’s pretty disturbing …
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. ClubTwitty says:
    
    September 24, 2011 at 4:15 am
    
    You have ‘tell it like it is’ crazy (Paul-actually decent at identifying problems, way out of proportion solutions); and the ‘totally-make-it-up’ kind of crazy (Bachmann).
    
    Log in to Reply
2. BlueCat says:
  
  September 24, 2011 at 3:59 am
  
  most recently today from Mitch McConnell: that the American people are all demanding something be done about the debt and cutting spending. That’s their number one concern. Pretty brazen considering …ummm… every poll says the opposite.
  
  But those are not the real world facts you’re looking for, little GO(T)P troopers. Look over there! Gay marriage! Illegal aliens voting fraudulently! Obama hates Israel! Big corporations want to give you all well paid jobs but they are so scared and uncertain they are forced to sit on all their record breaking profits! Honest, they don’t want to cut jobs and outsource! They just need more breaks and less regulation. Really! Would we ever lie? Only when our mouths are moving.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. ClubTwitty says:
    
    September 24, 2011 at 4:11 am
    
    (sitting on the sidelines) then isn’t that basically acknowledgement that we are being extorted?
    
    (I am of the opinion that they are not really the ‘job creating’ class they are made out to be…)
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BlueCat says:
      
      September 24, 2011 at 7:32 pm
      
      Log in to Reply
ClubTwitty says:

September 24, 2011 at 4:34 am

I t seems like just two weeks ago Rick was the darling of the party, the rising star, the Golden Boy…oh wait, it was only two weeks ago.

Politico:

A scroll through the posts on the conservative blog RedState provided a good cross-section of the head-shaking.

Contributor Ben Howe, in a post called “I Need a Hero,” called the GOP field “a panel of damaged goods best relegated to sniping at each other or making statements that cause their staunchest allies to stare in bewilderment.”

Of Perry, Howe said: “I feel that I’ve seen what he’s made of, and it makes me sad.”

The site’s editor, Erick Erickson, also a CNN contributor, deemed Perry “a train wreck.”

An exasperated Steve Deace, a conservative Iowa radio talker, suggested that Perry might have handed Romney the nomination.

“Willard has never looked more presidential then when he’s standing next to Perry,” he wrote, derisively using Romney’s first name, which the candidate chooses not to use.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/s…

Log in to Reply
1. Gilpin Guy says:
  
  September 24, 2011 at 6:39 am
  
  This is tough talk but they’ll all fall in line once the candidate is chosen. Unfortunately conservatives need help to win and Willard is going to have to stand next to Obama who is going to be more prepared than Perry and let independents decide who is less of a flip-flopper.
  
  Log in to Reply
2. BlueCat says:
  
  September 24, 2011 at 7:46 pm
  
  wanting to allow children brought here illegally to attend college and not wanting to build the fence.
  
  Secondary sin; wanting to mandate inoculation against an STD that can lead to cervical cancer. I mean if abstinence only is the only way to go then girls don’t need to be inoculated and will turn into promiscuous sluts if they know that, while they might get pregnant, or contract any number of other STDs including AIDS, they won’t get cancer, right?. Not to mention the matter of individual and parental rights.
  
  The secondary sin probably isn’t insurmountable but I believe that the sin of not sufficiently vilifying all illegal immigrants down to the last infant will prove insurmountable. Hate mongering bigotry is definitely a bottom line requirement with the TP wing and grass roots foot soldiers of the party.
  
  Log in to Reply
  1. dukeco1 says:
    
    September 24, 2011 at 8:10 pm
    
    a conservative friend of mine who is quite dismayed by the source of all those new jobs in Texas.
    
    Did Perry think no one would check his record? The fun part is watching a barracuda in a pirhana tank.
    
    Yowza…what action!
    
    Log in to Reply
    1. BlueCat says:
      
      September 24, 2011 at 8:26 pm
      
      don’t see another TP favorite who can pull it off. Rs would probably have to settle for Mittens the way the far righties had to settle for McCain in 2008, in spite of all of the Big Fat Idiot’s best efforts.
      
      Log in to Reply
      1. dukeco1 says:
        
        September 24, 2011 at 8:40 pm
        
        I come from a family of folks of very modest means. Most of them really resent him, Romney, for his obvious elitism.
        
        for my Mom, though (who has lived in Texas for many years) it is a clear choice between a good Christian and a Mormon. She does not equivocate.
        
        It will be interesting to see if the immigration thing will chill her ardor for her homeboy, as she routinely expresses her exasperation with “Mexicans”.
        
        Log in to Reply