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grandmuffti

10 Comments

  • Muffti, when you use the term “Romney”, do you mean this week’s, last week’s, or the week before that?

  • “Don’t be argumentative with the candidate?”

    What?

    Being argumentative with the candidate is the whole friggin’ point of being a good journalist. The whole problem with campaign coverage is that nobody’s got the balls to call these people on their bullshit.

    Kudos to the Glen Johnson.

  • this whole “lobbyist” issue is all bs anyways. can someone explain the difference between a lobbyist and a lawyer? as long as no laws are being broken I dont understand the slur of associating with a lobbyist while at the same time having a lawyer like John Edwards running for president. Come to think of it most of congress were lawyers.

  • i don’t think it’s bs.

    lawyers represent their clients. lobbyists, who don’t need a law degree, represent special interest groups.

    what romney wanted to say is that he plans on representing the will of the people and not the special interest groups (another campaign buzz phase).

    but, as johnson pointed out, Romney appeared to be playing with semantics by calling the alleged lobbyist a campaign ‘advisor.’

    i agree there’s nothing wrong with talking to lobbyists. it’s perfectly legal. but, it’s dishonest for Romney to say one thing and do another.

    but, as tom noted, romney often talks out of both sides of his mouth.

  • Catching him on this seems to be a minor point. Romney used lawyer’s language in making the original statement and then in defending it so you can’t really call him on it too effectively.

    What’s stupid is that he would bother to bring the topic up in the first place. Nobody is going to believe him just as nobody believes any of the major party candidates aren’t heavily influenced by big businesses or important businesspeople. Whether it’s a lobbyist or a businessman or just a wealthy dabbler in politics, chances are the politician is listening. The only people impervious to this are the (ugh!!!) Ralph Naders of the world or the extremely wealthy candidates who do not need to raise money for their campaigns. They bring other problems to their candidacy but being beholden to other interests is not their weakness.

    So why would Romney bring it up? Nobody believes him or takes this line of talk seriously. Whoever advised him to raise this issue should be asked to take on a different role in the campaign…unless it was the lobbyist who suggested it.

  • #6: You say nobody believes him, but the results suggest otherwise. He kept it close enough in Iowa and NH, and took Michigan, all the while changing his story. So I think he needs to be called on his BS. every time.

  • Muffti agrees: Romney didn’t lie. He just looked like a douchebag and cheers to Glen for pointing it out. and Ephraim got it exactly right – don’t be argumentative with the candidate? That’s tantamount to admitting that the media is really more there for advertising than anything else!

  • The whole thing is a joke. Politicians who don’t utilize special-interest money don’t get elected because the press takes one look at them, sees that they have no money, and writes them off. If they DO take money from special-interest, the press and all of the political commentators engage in an almost orgiastic lambaste of the preposterous amounts of money the candidates raise. We all know every single one of them is in bed with special-interest–they don’t have a choice if they want to be taken seriously as candidates. Campaign finance reform measures have been ineffectual, largely because the lawmakers are still being dandled by their corporate bosses. No one is willing to take the necessary steps needed to truly allow candidates to run for office without all of the obligations required. The best you can do is set up your own special interest group and hope people will give you money for it so that you too can influence politicians. Why the Romney’s of the world even bother pretending baffles me.

  • What was amazing is how a nebbishy reporter from AP can totally ruffle this guys feathers. Can you imagine if he were president? He would be so bent out of shape after one week of attacks, he would retreat to his castle and start wars or something.