This a fascinating little article on what sounds like a fascinating little film, and probably must see stuff for any GOP candidate who wants an inside look on how not to lose a presidential election - ie, in short, if you think you can't best the other guy then why the fuck are you even bothering? There are many things to point to in trying to understand why Romney lost to an extremely vulnerable Obama in 2012 - changing demographics, media bias [Benghazi!] and the fact Obama's internal polling was much more accurate than Romney's stand out - but one thing that really puzzled was the mistake of, after having attained a clear victory in the first debate and with the wind now finally in his sails, why the christ in the following debates did Romney go soft and essentially hand the momentum back to Obama? I always blamed it on team Romney's bad polling, which I thought led them to mistakenly believe the thing was now won so let's play it safe and not look like we're shitting on the black guy. Turns out it had more to do with Romney being the wuss many believed him to be - he didn't think he could beat Obama in a debate - that's pathetic - personally I think Obama's verbal skills are highly overrated, but regardless, if you don't think you can beat your opponent in a debate then you probably shouldn't be in the race. That seems obvious.
Actually, this may point tellingly to my belief that the 'communications deficit' is the biggest problem for conservatives right now - I'm guessing that it wasn't so much Romney believing he couldn't best Obama in an argument that was the problem but rather his fear that he couldn't match up under the lights of a televised debate where style and optics matter more than substance that got to him. As I've said many times: you may be smarter than the other guy, have better ideas and more relevant experience - but if you can't get that impression across in a way that the TV viewer can immediately grasp, then you're in trouble. Sure, all liberals and Obama especially are helped immensely in this regard by a biased and in Obama's case an adoring media - but all the more reason why if you're a conservative you have to have a firm and indeed possibly arrogant confidence in your ability to mitigate or overcome that advantage - Romney clearly lacked that confidence, and that lacking quite possibly cost him the election.
Actually, this may point tellingly to my belief that the 'communications deficit' is the biggest problem for conservatives right now - I'm guessing that it wasn't so much Romney believing he couldn't best Obama in an argument that was the problem but rather his fear that he couldn't match up under the lights of a televised debate where style and optics matter more than substance that got to him. As I've said many times: you may be smarter than the other guy, have better ideas and more relevant experience - but if you can't get that impression across in a way that the TV viewer can immediately grasp, then you're in trouble. Sure, all liberals and Obama especially are helped immensely in this regard by a biased and in Obama's case an adoring media - but all the more reason why if you're a conservative you have to have a firm and indeed possibly arrogant confidence in your ability to mitigate or overcome that advantage - Romney clearly lacked that confidence, and that lacking quite possibly cost him the election.