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| Mitt Romney hypes up 'vote for revenge' rumpus | Mitt Romney hypes up 'vote for revenge' rumpus |
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| • It's fitting, surely, that an election race defined by imaginary gaffes based on absurdly selective quotations - remember "you didn't build that"? - should end with an imaginary gaffe based on an absurdly selective quotation. In Ohio on Friday, when Barack Obama fans booed a mention of Mitt Romney, the president told them: "No, no, no, don't boo – vote. Voting is the best revenge." Never mind he was paraphrasing a famous saying about the merits of not behaving vengefully: he'd said the word "revenge"; and that meant class war. "Vote for revenge?" said Romney rhetorically[, at an event soon afterwards: "Let me tell you what I'd like to tell you: vote for love of country." The campaign swiftly threw together an ad: "Revenge or love of country." Paul Ryan said during a campaign stop: "Just yesterday, Obama was asking his supporters at a rally to vote out of revenge." (The Washington Post's resident right-wing blogger, Jennifer Rubin, dutifully castigated the president for "an unseemly utterance").Amid the deafening sound of Democratic foreheads being smacked from coast to coast in disbelief at the Romney campaign's sheer gall, no one noticed that the Republican challenger, in attacking the "revenge" line, had committed a far graver gaffe of his own. He told the crowd: "Vote for … President Obama. President Obama [is] … the door to a brighter future." I've trimmed that quotation for reasons of space, and moved a couple of words around for clarity. But you get the gist. | • It's fitting, surely, that an election race defined by imaginary gaffes based on absurdly selective quotations - remember "you didn't build that"? - should end with an imaginary gaffe based on an absurdly selective quotation. In Ohio on Friday, when Barack Obama fans booed a mention of Mitt Romney, the president told them: "No, no, no, don't boo – vote. Voting is the best revenge." Never mind he was paraphrasing a famous saying about the merits of not behaving vengefully: he'd said the word "revenge"; and that meant class war. "Vote for revenge?" said Romney rhetorically[, at an event soon afterwards: "Let me tell you what I'd like to tell you: vote for love of country." The campaign swiftly threw together an ad: "Revenge or love of country." Paul Ryan said during a campaign stop: "Just yesterday, Obama was asking his supporters at a rally to vote out of revenge." (The Washington Post's resident right-wing blogger, Jennifer Rubin, dutifully castigated the president for "an unseemly utterance").Amid the deafening sound of Democratic foreheads being smacked from coast to coast in disbelief at the Romney campaign's sheer gall, no one noticed that the Republican challenger, in attacking the "revenge" line, had committed a far graver gaffe of his own. He told the crowd: "Vote for … President Obama. President Obama [is] … the door to a brighter future." I've trimmed that quotation for reasons of space, and moved a couple of words around for clarity. But you get the gist. |
| • Back in the world of non-imaginary gaffes, senior Democratic gaffologist Joe Biden did in fact unveil a classic over the weekend, by way of a campaign sign-off. "I tell you what – there's never been a day in the last four years I've been proud to be [Obama's] vice-president," he told cheering supporters. "Not one single day!" Meanwhile here's senior Obama strategist David Axelrod, in Ohio, getting sweaty with appreciation for his boss: "He believes in what he's doing. He believes in what he's fighting for. You can see in the speech that he's delivering that this is coming from his loins." Um, OK. That last part wasn't strictly necessary, but thanks anyway. | • Back in the world of non-imaginary gaffes, senior Democratic gaffologist Joe Biden did in fact unveil a classic over the weekend, by way of a campaign sign-off. "I tell you what – there's never been a day in the last four years I've been proud to be [Obama's] vice-president," he told cheering supporters. "Not one single day!" Meanwhile here's senior Obama strategist David Axelrod, in Ohio, getting sweaty with appreciation for his boss: "He believes in what he's doing. He believes in what he's fighting for. You can see in the speech that he's delivering that this is coming from his loins." Um, OK. That last part wasn't strictly necessary, but thanks anyway. |
| • Post-Sandy Hurricane days it's quite natural that Rudy Giuliani, though a committed Republican, should show solidarity with the president as he oversees responses to the aftermath of the storm. Entirely natural – but far from the truth. Instead, the 9/11 leader is spending time calling for Obama's resignation. "He should resign. He lied. He has been a disaster: the worst president for our economy in our lifetime," Giuliani told a Romney rally. "He doesn't want a second term. He wants a second chance because he screwed it up the first time!" Vicious words, but then at least Giuliani is bipartisan in that: in recent years he attacked a prominent Republican presidential candidate as "a man without a core … a man that will say anything to become president of the United States". Awkwardly, that man was Romney. "I've never seen a guy change his position so many times, so fast, on a dime," Giuliani said last year, stumping for Newt Gingrich. But perhaps it's unfair to call him wildly inconsistent. It's been clear for years that Giuliani, in his heart, believes there's only one person truly qualified to lead America: Rudy Giuliani. | • Post-Sandy Hurricane days it's quite natural that Rudy Giuliani, though a committed Republican, should show solidarity with the president as he oversees responses to the aftermath of the storm. Entirely natural – but far from the truth. Instead, the 9/11 leader is spending time calling for Obama's resignation. "He should resign. He lied. He has been a disaster: the worst president for our economy in our lifetime," Giuliani told a Romney rally. "He doesn't want a second term. He wants a second chance because he screwed it up the first time!" Vicious words, but then at least Giuliani is bipartisan in that: in recent years he attacked a prominent Republican presidential candidate as "a man without a core … a man that will say anything to become president of the United States". Awkwardly, that man was Romney. "I've never seen a guy change his position so many times, so fast, on a dime," Giuliani said last year, stumping for Newt Gingrich. But perhaps it's unfair to call him wildly inconsistent. It's been clear for years that Giuliani, in his heart, believes there's only one person truly qualified to lead America: Rudy Giuliani. |
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