I fell asleep midway through last night’s Republican debate. When I woke up at 5 am to watch Imus in the Morning, I was shocked to see that Imus was so upset with Romney’s performance that he was shifting his support from Romney to Obama.
According to Imus, Romney’s answer to a tax-release question was incredibly weak and mealy-mouthed; but even worse, it appeared almost unscripted when the question was absolutely predictable.
An Imus staffer made an interesting analogy with President Obama’s birth-certificate issue – i.e., the reluctance to release the requested document continues to elevate the issue because people wonder if the politician is hiding something. Obama never gave a convincing answer for his delay, yet the eventual release revealed no smoking gun. Romney is a smart guy, but it is difficult to understand his strategy on this issue.
In contrast to Romney’s weak performance, Gingrich did boffo from the get-go according to Imus. When the first question of the evening was directed to Gingrich on the subject of infidelity and an open marriage, Newt did what he has consistently done throughout the debates – he attacks the media in general and the questioner (John King) in particular. According to Newt, the question was almost the most despicable thing he could imagine.
For someone who easily accuses others of pious baloney, Gingrich is awfully quick to be critical of the behavior of others. Although Imus initially was impressed with Gingrich’s strong answer, he eventually drifted toward the position that he was more offended by the weakness of John King’s response to Gingrich. Imus said that he would have cut Gingrich off and said that the infidelity/open-marriage story was all over the news and that Gingrich didn’t have to respond if he didn’t want to, but don’t be lecturing him about what questions to ask. The debate is with the other candidates, not the media.
The problem is that Republican primary voters probably like the media even less than they like President Obama. Only Gingrich, however, seems to have decided to trash the media, and that could be a big advantage going forward.
I watched most of the debate, but from the gym, so I confess to some distration… However, I agree with Imus; Romney appeared very ill at ease, insincere and ill prepared. His debating skills are definitely waning with each event. Santorum and Gingrich controlled the debate, and put on good performances. You know me, Mike, that is a hard thing for me to admit!
Comment by Patrice Gigler Scott — January 20, 2012 @ 3:56 pm |