The Daily Digest

1. Paul Krugman, "The Edwards Effect."

2. Edward Morrisey, "Has Ann Coulter Finally Jumped the Shark?"

3. Evan Thomas, "What These Eyes [John McCain's] Have Seen."

4. Ed Lasky, "Murdoch Takes on the New York Times."

5. Robert Bluey, "Romney Thinks Some Bloggers Are More Equal Than Others."

6. James Kirchik, "I Would Take Stronger Medication."

7. Amy Waldman, "The Truth About Jena."

8. Michael Barbaro, "Wal-Mart: The New Washington."

9. Steven Levy, "Yahooligans at the Window."

10. Richard Perez-Pena, "Frontline Blogger Covers War in Iraq with a Soldier’s Eyes."

[continue reading...]

Romney on Religion

Somebody at the Weekly Standard had fun writing this:

[continue reading...]

Mitt Romney Blankets Merriam-Webster.com

Screen shot from a few minutes ago (my 17-inch monitor isn't big enough to capture all three ads, but you can see enough of the bottom one to get the idea):

[continue reading...]

Crowdsourcing: The Next Big Thing

Here's the winning entry of Mitt Romney’s ad contest:



I agree wholeheartedly with Patrick Ruffini, who calls this

the best television ad for any candidate of any part so far this election. And it was created not by some big media consultant by Ryan Whitaker, a 23-year old student from Provo, Utah.

The raw footage, music, and speechifying was provided by the Romney media team. But it’s mixed together better than anything the campaign has released so far. It’s also head and shoulders above most of the other entries, showing that Ryan has a real eye for this kind of stuff—something that only an initiative like this could have brought out.

This is the spirit of crowdsourcing taken to a new level. Most organizations do user-generated content to get some free press or motivate supporters—but don’t expect the end product to be anything they can use in any strategic way. This is different, and a bar-raiser.

[continue reading...]

Quote of the Day

"[H]e's a machine calibrated to say whatever is most likely to emerge from a focus group of Republican primary voters."

—Reason's Jesse Walker, on Mitt Romney.

No hat tip, Soren?

[continue reading...]

Politicians Are People, Too

They have a sense of humor.

Romney: "I asked Ann, my wife, 'Did you ever in your wildest dreams believe I would be running for President?' She told me, 'You weren't in my wildest dreams.'"

Rudy: "To have a description of my mistakes in 30 seconds?"

Fred Thompson: "I am sitting here with a long face and broken heart as I contemplate sunsets on the Mediterranean, which I will not see. . . . We must remember the unspoken vow that all United States senators take upon entering the Senate: I shall have no money, and I shall have no fun. I, of course regarding myself as an unconquerable soul, am still determined to break the second part of that vow."

Karl Rove: When his resignation from the White House was announced, some staffers at a Seattle Times news meeting cheered. Rove responded by sending a basket of cookies to the newsroom, with a note saying, "My wife shares in your enthusiasm."

[continue reading...]

The Daily Digest

The Washington Post recently reported that a clutch of PACs founded by Linda Chavez serve mainly to enrich the Chavez family. Of the $24.5 million raised by four Chavez PACs (above) from 2003 to 2006, $242,000—or 1 percent—was passed on to politicians. Even less—$151,236—was spent on independent political activity, like mailing pamphlets. For comparison, David Freddoso, a newly named staff reporter for NRO, reports that in 2005 and 2006, the National Right to Life PAC raised $3.1 million and spent $2.7 million on independent expenditures and candidate contributions, while the Susan B. Anthony List PAC raised $292,000 and spent $248,399 on such activities. In the same period, the Pro-Life Campaign Committee (PLCC), a PAC run by Chavez's husband, raised $1.95 million and spent $14,432.

Why don't Democrats have an Ames straw poll?

Time for some tough love toward Korean peninsula: let's end Seoul's military dependence on America, recommends Doug Bandow. Counterargument: independence would spur an arms race between the South and North. Do we really want another country to go nuclear?

Mitt Romney today became the fifth Republican presidential candidate to undergo the scrutiny of the Club for Growth. The Club's conclusion: "His record on trade, school choice, regulations and tort reform all indicate a strong respect for the power of market solutions. At the same time, Governor Romney’s history is marked by statements at odds with his gubernatorial record and his campaign rhetoric." Given this mixed assessment, Jonathan Martin induces that "unless [Fred] Thompson tells them what they want to hear, it seems like Rudy [my link] has the inside track on getting the Club's support."

[continue reading...]

The Daily Digest

Shanghai skyscape

Cherry-picked Michael Gerson: In the field of environmentalism, "brows tend to be frozen in furrow and despair is a professional credential." But there is cause for hope, and it's not because people are pedaling to work instead of driving. Example: Innovation, not austerity, reduced smog in Los Angeles. Writ large: "The answer to global warming will eventually be technological—the production of energy without the production of heat-trapping gases."

Ninety-six members of Mitt Romney's family traveled to Iowa to help him win the Ames straw poll. By contrast, Rudy Giuliani's son will not campaign for his dad, and his daughter is supporting Barack Obama.

Racism, vile and visceral, remains alive and well in Louisiana.

[continue reading...]

The Price of a Vote in Ames

USA Today breaks down the numbers:

• Third-place finisher Sam Brownback says he spent about $325,000 to win his 2,192 votes. That’s $148.27 for each vote.

• Second-place finisher Mike Huckabee spent about $150,000 and received 2,587 votes. That’s $57.98 per vote.

• Winner Mitt Romney has not said how much he spent. The reporting in this Washington Post article suggests at least $2 million and possibly more than twice that much. Assuming $2 million for 4,516 votes, that’s $442.87 per vote. But it could top $1,000.

How did Huckabee do it? Soren's guess: Americans for Fair Taxation turned out bodies for him.

"What great irony. The farthest left candidate on taxes 'wins' the straw poll because of his taxes coalition group."

Related: "Huckabee’s Rise Hurts Romney, Helps Rudy."

[continue reading...]

How to Retract a Misstatement

Misstatements on the modern campaign trail, when everything you say is YouTubable, are inevitable. The trick is how to get past them.

Mitt Romney (again) shows how it's done: first, promptly make public audio or video of the controversial remarks, then apologize without recrimination or qualification.

Misstatement:



Q: "How many of your five sons are currently serving in the U.S. military? And if none of them are, how do they plan to support this war on terrorism by enlisting in our U.S. military?"

A: "[O]ne of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping to get me elected because they think I'd be a great president. And my son, Josh, bought the family Winnebago, and has visited 99 counties, most of them with his three kids and his wife, and I respect that and respect all of those and the way they serve this great country."

Retraction: "I misspoke there. I didn't mean in any way to compare service in the country with my boys in any way. Service in this country is an extraordinary sacrifice being made by individuals and their families. . . . I'm very pleased and proud of my boys and the help they're doing for their dad, but it's not service to the country. It's service for me. And there's just no comparison there."

Not only does this strategy benefit Romney; it also benefits the transparency movement.

Update (8/15): Media Matters catalogs the indifference of both the MSM and blogs to Romney's offensive remark. "In the end, it took nearly 96 hours for a big-time journalist," Chris Wallace of Fox News, to confront this "pro-war Republican with no military connection or tradition."

By contrast, when the news broke about John Edwards's costly coiffure, the media jumped on it.

[continue reading...]

Debate About a Debate: Huckabee vs. Romney

It's hard to make Mitt Romney look bad, but Mike Huckabee pulls it off. The topic is the forthcoming GOP YouTube debate, to which all the Republican candidates have now committed—another online grassroots victory!—except Romney.

The irony is inexplicable: of all the candidates, Republican and Democrat, Romney boasts the most number of videos in his YouTube account (284, as of Sunday night; Huckabee has 81).

Here's Romney:

Here's Huckabee:

Melissa Jenna was unsuccessful in trying to change Romney's mind (ironic, huh?). Perhaps Billiam the Snowman will sway him:

[continue reading...]

The Daily Digest

The Yangtze River Dolphin

Patrick Ruffini has fast become one of my favorite new-media pundits (others include Rob Bluey, Todd Zeigler, David All, Micah Sifry and Josh Levy). His post explaining why Ames was "the perfect place to roll out an SMS program" evinces his expertise: it's an eminently sensible proposal yet remains unembraced (the only candidate to avail himself of texting was a noncandidate, Newt Gingrich, who also did so at this year's CPAC).

The National Review editors defend our recently announced $20 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. They are quick to note that these so-called desert rats play "both sides of the War on Terror," but argue that with a weak Iraq, the U.S. needs a new counterweight to Iran. The deal "passes the realist’s most important standard in such matters," they conclude. "It’s better than the alternative."

Contrary to reports that George W. and George H.W. Bush have grown distant, the NYT's Sheryl Stolberg discovers that "[t]hey talk almost every morning by phone," and the father "has passed on his own foreign policy wisdom to the president."

Taking a cue from the latest Obama Girl video, David All produces two new mockumentaries for the Majority Accountability Project. He thinks it's his "best work yet," and I agree.

Jonathan Martin files another admiring Romney profile, which paints him more as a reformer than a Republican. Money quote: "Frankly, the only thing I’d be worried about having behind my name is ‘United States Senator,'" Romney said. "Somebody who's been in Washington, that’s the challenge."

[continue reading...]

Ames: Instant Analysis

As expected, Romney wins, and does so by a healthy margin, which will sustain his momentum.

Huckabee's second-place finish is the story of the night, especially because he didn't have any buses, and will inject some much-needed adrenaline into his fund-raising.

Brownback spent heavily here, so barely coming in third is a major disappointment.

As promised, Tommy Thompson will drop out (finally!). Duncan Hunter should follow suit.

Update (8/13/07): Ryan Sager has trouble expressing his opinion:

The face of the Republican Party in Iowa is the face of a losing party, full of hatred toward immigrants, lust for government subsidies, and the demand that any Republican seeking the office of the presidency acknowledge that he's little more than Jesus Christ's running mate. The pandering from the stage told the story. Mr. Romney promised not a chicken in every pot, but "a button on every computer" for parents to block obscene material. Anti-immigrant ranter Tom Tancredo nearly brought the house down decrying the fact that Americans sometimes have to "Press 1" for English. Mr. Huckabee earned his second-place finish in part by making the specious claim that farm subsidies safeguard America's food independence. (You think it's bad depending on foreign oil, Mr. Huckabee asked? "Wait until our country messes up and has to depend on foreign food.") Senator Brownback of Kansas, the third-place finisher, declared as he often does in his stump speech: "All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus. All for Jesus."

[continue reading...]

The Daily Digest

Al Gore's Nashville digs

"Mitt Romney continues to make John Kerry look like the model of consistency," opines Phil Klien. But this time, the latest flip flop only took six months. In February, on ABC's "This Week,"Romney said that "we should allow a federalist approach as it relates to the issue of abortion." Then, several days ago, asked about a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, he declared, "I support that being part of the Republican platform."

Related: Radley Balko argues for the Romney 1.0 approach. "Abortion policy . . . is about drawing lines and setting community standards. Such issues are best dealt with in those diverse laboratories of democracy, the states. A federalist approach would allow a wide array of abortion policies that better reflects the spectrum of public opinion on the issue."

BarelyPolitical.com releases its third Obama Girl video.

Did you know that it's illegal to tout a stock publicly without disclosing that you're being paid to do so?

[continue reading...]

Romney's Too Perfect? You're Too Envious

One of the less-analyzed refrains about Mitt Romney is that he’s flawless. Whether it’s his Liberace locks, George Washington probity, Norman Rockwell family or Bill Gates success, “Romney may ironically turn off some voters by being too, well, perfect,” writes Matt Lewis.

The reason for this topsy-turvy attitude, Matt argues, is that Americans have always been anti-elitist. This is true, but we disdain privilege over merit, not success itself. We frown upon those who are born rich, but we "want to be like Mike."

Leaving aside anti-Mormon bigotry and Romney's lack of spontaneity and warmth, the root explanation for the "too-perfect" sneer is more insidious. People are naturally drawn to people like ourselves, for both positive and negative things. But since Romney's life has been so strikingly charmed, it's hard to identify with him. Instead, we cling to a Bill Clinton who snacks at McDonalds, or a Michael Bloomberg who rides the metro, or a Jimmy Carter who tells Playboy that he has "looked on a lot of women with lust."

Such shortcomings reveal humanity, but they also bring down our icons to a "real" level. As Matt puts it, "To some people, extraordinary is creepy."

Consider: Was Martha Stewart convicted of insider trading? See, Mrs. Perfect isn't so perfect, after all! Did Britney Spears shave her scalp and then attack an SUV with an umbrella? See, America's sexkitten is really a nutcase! Did Mitt Romney strap the family dog to his car roof for a 12-hour ride? See, the square family man abuses animals!

Such schadenfeude exhibits what novelist Ayn Rand termed “hatred of the good for being the good.” The corollary is that only when our stars fall from grace—only when we can see them behind bars or in tears or simply squirming—do we open our eyes.

That's a shame, because the candidate who's truly inspiring is already before us.

Update (7/15): Here's an elitist custom Americans rightly disdain: when the Queen of England finishes her meal, everyone's meal is finished.

[continue reading...]

The Daily Digest

Prepared remarks for George W. Bush, with handwritten corrections, on the podium after he officially opened the remodeled Brady Press Briefing room at the White House

Patrick Ruffini advises politicians how to embrace the Web 2.0: "[C]andidates shouldn't Twitter; they should TwitterGram. They shouldn't blog; they should videoblog. That solves the authenticity dilemma of campaign Web sites—we'll know for sure it's them, in video or voice, delivering a message many times more compelling than plain text."

It's now a cliche that Dick Cheney is the most influential and powerful person ever to hold the office of vice president. The question everyone wants to know but few do: how does he do it? In a fascinating four-part series—the kind of journalism that makes us remember why bloggers need the so-called MSM—the Washington Post "examines Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment."

Cato's Gene Healy is hard at work on a new book, tentatively titled, The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Romance with Executive Power. Nut: "If the public expects the president to solve all national problems, physical or spiritual, the president will seek—or seize—the power necessary to handle that responsibility. As a result, powers that the Constitution leaves to the states or the people increasingly flow to the center, and increasingly become concentrated in the hands of one person."

You know who Mitt Romney is. Now meet his dad, courtesy of a Time cover story from 1959. Related: Jonathan Cohn asks if George Romney would be proud of his son's presidential politicking?

[continue reading...]

The Daily Digest

The WSJ documents how different presidential candidates are using Google AdWords. For instance, John McCain buys ads on queries for "president," his name and the names of his main opponents, among other things. Mitt Romney, who employs Google for a "couple hundred" words, which change daily, targets locutions like "Olympics," "health care" and "cutting spending."

Continuing the CEO campaign theme, Jonathan Martin reports that Romney's organizational structure in Iowa—20 full-time staffers, coordinators in most of the state's 99 counties and a group of about 50 "super volunteers"—has virtually locked up the state for him.

The newly renovated White House press room will open on Wednesday. Mike Allen provides a vicarious tour of the new facility and of its storied history.

Check out the Capitolist, an anonymous, uncensored message board for congressional staffers (to post, you must use a computer with a Capitol Hill IP address).

[continue reading...]

In Praise of the Boston Globe

Unless RealClearPolitics links to an article there, I don't read the Boston Globe. Three recent articles, however, impressed me that this is a very much a serious newspaper:

"Giuliani Watchers Wonder if He Will Overplay 9/11 Card" examines Rudy's exploitation of our national tragedy.

"Not All Would Put a Heroic Sheen on Thompson's Watergate Role" investigates Fred Thompson's role as minority counsel during the Watergate hearings.

And "The Making of Mitt Romney" is the most comprehensive and fascinating profile thus far of the Mormon from Massachusetts.

[continue reading...]

The Romney Lovebirds, Continued

Jonathan Martin picks up on a theme I noticed in May (part one here; part two here):

As close watchers of the GOP race know, he [Mitt] gushes over Ann Romney at public events, calling her "sweetheart" and even explaining how "they're still going steady." But watching Romney interact with her out of the direct public eye reveals an even greater depth of devotion. He unfailingly opened doors for her, graciously introduced her and whenever he had a moment along the parade route would turn around and tease her for riding in the air-conditioned "Mitt Mobile." "Real hard for Ann this time," he joked.

[continue reading...]

Elephants Chase Donkeys

[continue reading...]