Top Romney stategist: The media’s not in the tank for Obama
Stevens replied, “It’s not a yes or a no question. In the tank, I would say no. So, yes or no question, I would say no.”
Kurtz pressed the line of questioning several times. “Too sympathetic to the President? How would you put it?” he asked.
“I think after the election, you’ll have a lot tougher questions that will be asked because you’re out of an election environment,” Stevens replied. “I think you’re seeing that this past weekend with this whole golf outing. I think they will be more critical now.”
A surprised Kurtz asked, “You’re saying the press should be finally more critical about the fact that President Obama went golfing with Tiger Woods?”
“The degree to which there is not a choice between him and a Republican candidate makes it easier for them to be tougher on the President,” Stevens replied. “That’s natural.”
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Well I think we all know now why Rom lost.
They didn’t recognize the enemy when it was right in front of them.
Defenestratus on February 25, 2013 at 10:08 AM
Nice guys do finish last.
So do clueless ones.
NeoKong on February 25, 2013 at 10:09 AM
No wonder they lost.
petefrt on February 25, 2013 at 10:09 AM
Obviously, Romney’s chief problem was hiring the wrong people.
beatcanvas on February 25, 2013 at 10:10 AM
And that’s why Obama got a second term. Team Romney couldn’t (and still refuse to) acknowledge the problem–the media is in the tank for Obama.
conservative pilgrim on February 25, 2013 at 10:10 AM
+1000
IR-MN on February 25, 2013 at 10:11 AM
One word: Journolist
Next
HotAirian on February 25, 2013 at 10:11 AM
Oof, well that explains a lot.
Obviously you can’t run against the media as a campaign strategy, but to fail to fully grasp the reality of what you’re facing, ouch.
Also, thanks to HotAir for fixing the comment button!
LukeinNE on February 25, 2013 at 10:11 AM
Rombots? What say you?
gryphon202 on February 25, 2013 at 10:14 AM
What do you expect from the guy who hired Jon Gruber to work on health care reform in Mass-uh-chew-sits?
gryphon202 on February 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM
We have met the enemy ahd he is us.
NoFanofLibs on February 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM
Unstinkingbelievable
cmsinaz on February 25, 2013 at 10:15 AM
We have met the enemy and he is us.
PIMF
NoFanofLibs on February 25, 2013 at 10:16 AM
Another genius strategist at the top levels of the GOP!
It’s a wonder they ever lose with this kind of thinking.
tsj017 on February 25, 2013 at 10:16 AM
I’m very impressed with Romney’s managerial skills in putting these fine, dedicated and motivated people in charge of a $250 billion presidential campaign.
Good job, guys.
alwaysfiredup on February 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Some Industrial Strength Democrat Voters making absolute fools of themselves in the Mediaite comments, but they’re too dumb to realize what they’re saying.
Del Dolemonte on February 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Let’s ask him if the Tea Party has been a positive force in politics and see how deferential his answer is.
Kataklysmic on February 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM
BEST EXECUTIVE MIND IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE WORLD! Tell me again what one of the responsibilities of being an executive is? Is it not picking highly qualified and capable people?
astonerii on February 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM
People have been saying the Republicans have a problem.
I think I see it: Republican strategists fear the media because it can make or break them more than their clients, the Party or abilities can.
Dusty on February 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Romney himself said during the campaign that he didn’t think the press was in the tank for Obama. I get that these Republican politicians and operatives don’t wanna further alienate the media, but they need to come to grips with the fact that post-2008, it’s not about bias anymore. It’s full-blown propaganda 24/7. Particularly with regard to Obama himself.
Now if Stevens and others in the GOP honestly believe the press isn’t in the tank for Obama and aren’t just playing nice when they say otherwise, there’s no hope for the Republican Party. How can you win any political battles when you aren’t even aware of who your opponents are?
Doughboy on February 25, 2013 at 10:19 AM
The media is the ROOT of our problems.
GardenGnome on February 25, 2013 at 10:19 AM
More proof that Romney was not only not a conservative in any way but an idiot, to boot. He never got rid of that “etch-a-sketch” moron or the other idiot and now we have this guy who is obviously too dumb to breathe without the aid of machines.
Mittens should hang his pathetic head in shame along with all the idiots who pushed that rotten POS on us. It was really hard to find someone who would lose to Barky but the Vichy Right managed to do it … again. Friggin back-stabbing, cowardly imbeciles.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on February 25, 2013 at 10:21 AM
See, it’s natural for the press to be reflexively anti-republican.
alwaysfiredup on February 25, 2013 at 10:21 AM
It’s a problem I see not just within the Republican Party, but throughout the conservative movement writ-large. So many conservatives are uncomfortable with the thought of working in terms of political “enemies,” and this is exactly why libwits can steamroll them with impunity.
We need a robust conservative movement (and a political party to go along with it) that is comfortable with the idea of being throught of as “the enemy” and responding in-kind.
gryphon202 on February 25, 2013 at 10:22 AM
When this idiot wasn’t fired for his Etch-A-Sketch comment, we all regurgitated, just a little.
The more this clown speaks, the more right we were to call for his firing.
budfox on February 25, 2013 at 10:23 AM
Does this man read newspapers or watch TV or was he there when Candy jumped in on the dems side and reinforced Obama’s lie at the presidential debate?
Herb on February 25, 2013 at 10:23 AM
I’m sorry, Fehrnstrom said Etch-a-Sketch.
Stevens was the egomaniac who wouldn’t listen to anyone else.
budfox on February 25, 2013 at 10:23 AM
Dumb answer by Stevens..
Dire Straits on February 25, 2013 at 10:25 AM
Is he campaigning to be poster child for the stupid party?
Southern by choice22 on February 25, 2013 at 10:27 AM
No wonder we lost. Delusional. The press is so far in for Obama they need a Proctologist to get out
clippermiami on February 25, 2013 at 10:28 AM
We have some soldiers within the conservative movement who speak truth to power regarding the media, but not enough. The loss of Breitbart feels more and more devastating with each passing day. But ultimately there’s only so much folks like Bozell, Malkin, and various talk radio hosts can do. We need Republican politicians and pundits who have access to networks like CNN and MSDNC to call these people out for their bias and lack of journalistic integrity. McCain asking David “Magazine” Gregory if he even cares about 4 dead Americans in Benghazi is a good start, but there needs to be a lot more of that on a daily basis.
Doughboy on February 25, 2013 at 10:28 AM
Meanwhile, the first lady announces the Best Picture Oscar live on national TV.
Debate all you want if the White House actually controls the media, but you cannot deny they at least understand HOW it’s done.
Until conservatives understand politics is downstream of media and entertainment they will never win. This d-bag proves it.
somewhatconcerned on February 25, 2013 at 10:29 AM
This doesn’t jibe with the whole “no” answer. If they’re less critical after getting him re-elected, how exactly are they NOT in the tank for him? The fact that they can’t get him elected a thrd time is circumstance. Not a choice of their own making. If it was not expressly forbidden – and he could be elected again – we’d see a redux of the first term.
It’s a wonder that Romney’s campaign was as close as it was. He wasn’t surrounded my MORMONS…he was surrounded by MORONS.
CycloneCDB on February 25, 2013 at 10:30 AM
And that is why you lost.
gophergirl on February 25, 2013 at 10:31 AM
It is “unprecedented” a word SCOAMF loves and frankly does not speak well for the nation if it works, which it is.
Laura Bush nor Reagan was a presenter, and Reagan was once President of SAG ergo “not the same”.
Mocha Evita is not a positive sign, “don’t CRY for me…Argentina!’
harlekwin15 on February 25, 2013 at 10:33 AM
You’re not going to find what you’re looking for in the Republican Party. It’s degenerated into a party of mercenary concerns. We need to worry less about salvaging the GOP and more about salvaging America.
gryphon202 on February 25, 2013 at 10:33 AM
Here’s your sign
forest on February 25, 2013 at 10:33 AM
One of the many squishy, establishment consultants Romney had on the payroll.
Wigglesworth on February 25, 2013 at 10:34 AM
I worry less about salvaging America as rendered and more about slavaging Locke, Smith and freedom.
I get the feeling we may have to amputate.
harlekwin15 on February 25, 2013 at 10:34 AM
Not a single GOP politician or the political parasites that feed off of them are friends of the conservative. NOT A SINGLE ONE.
ClassicCon on February 25, 2013 at 10:36 AM
This is why those idiots lost.
Tasha on February 25, 2013 at 10:37 AM
I’m not sure I have a ready solution, but I can tell you wherever the solution lays, it is not with the GOP.
gryphon202 on February 25, 2013 at 10:37 AM
As I said over and over again on HotAir during the primary and election, Romney was the absolute wrong guy for president at that moment in history. We needed a fighter for America – the exact opposite of what Romney was. Damn shame because now we are in a really bad place.
KickandSwimMom on February 25, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Stevens I believe was the one who decided at the last minute to change Romney’s entire acceptance speech(and possibly the content of the rest of the convention) in Tampa. And as we all know, Romney got almost no bounce out of that.
Doughboy on February 25, 2013 at 10:40 AM
I disagree. We have no other avenue to salvage American(at least within the political arena) than the Republican Party. A third party is a recipe for decades-long one party rule by the Democrats. And I’m not exactly sure how you affect change of the magnitude we’re looking for without winning Congress and the White House. The governors and legislatures in red states are mostly doing good work, but they’re helpless against an out-of-control, bankrupt federal government.
Doughboy on February 25, 2013 at 10:43 AM
“It was YOU! You Palincultist stay home communist troll! He could have been somebody. He could have been a contender. It was YOU gryphon.”
katy the mean old lady on February 25, 2013 at 10:43 AM
Palin would have fought. Hell, Gingrich would have fought. Why do we keep nominating candidates who lay down and die?
alwaysfiredup on February 25, 2013 at 10:45 AM
It sounds like Stevens is angling for an analyst’s job in the MSM somewhere. He’s basically admitting pervasive media bias without calling it pervasive media bias.
Still, I prefer Breitbart’s confrontational strategy to the mewly-mouthed conciliatory (“can’t we all just get along?”) tone Stevens struck.
Outlander on February 25, 2013 at 10:45 AM
I said nothing about a third party, DB. If the GOP, if THIS [Stevens et. al] is all we have left to work with as conservatives, we are in deep shit.
gryphon202 on February 25, 2013 at 10:45 AM
Romney and his whole team was just useless. I’m starting to think that even if Romney won, the Democrats in Congress would steamroll right over him on a regular basis, and he’d give the Democrats everything they want. Hey, the Democrats and the media are just “nice guys in over their heads” — it’s people like Newt Gingrich who are the problem, right?
This is precisely why some of us believed before the election, and still believe now, that there wasn’t that much of a difference between Romney and Obama in the end.
Aitch748 on February 25, 2013 at 10:47 AM
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