Bloggers and traditional media were abuzz yesterday as the McCain-Romney war of words heated up. The McCain camp circulated a video clip of Romney in 2005 vowing to maintain the status quo with regard to abortion in Massachusetts. Romney blasted back with a press release declaring: “It’s very troubling that the McCain campaign would attack the governor’s pro-life stance by trying to alter the context of a statement made at a news conference where he also made a passionate case for his veto of stem cell legislation that showed a level of disregard for the sanctity of human life.”
Romney’s camp claimed the McCain move was a sign of desperation; McCain’s camp claimed Romney should have to answer for his “flip flop.” More verbal shelling is expected as news came that McCain purchased the anti-Romney website “www.mittvsfact.com” with a planned barrage in the next month.
So what is McCain up to and why would he attack Romney who still trails him in national polls? The answer lies in the early primary states where McCain and Romney each have devoted enormous resources and time to build strong organizations. In the case of Romney, substantial ad dollars have already been spent with the intent, so far successful, of improving his name recognition and image with early primary state voters.
Voicing the frustration of the McCain team which has seen Romney climb to the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire polls, a politico who would only be identified as “someone close to the McCain camp” explained it this way: “Romney is leading in Iowa and New Hampshire. . . He is also advertising in a vacuum and is trying to define himself in an utterly inaccurate way. That needs to be pushed back against, but the media has decided to give him a free pass.”
The Romney camp, not surprisingly, sees this as a sign their man is making headway. A source with the Romney campaign contends: “If you could pry a moment of candor from the McCain campaign, they would tell you that they’re most threatened by the fact that our steady progress has been occurring while they have been in a steady descent. This is a last ditch effort by them in a desperate attempt to stop Romney’s healthy momentum.”
Why isn’t McCain aiming his guns at Fred Thompson who has soared ahead in several national polls and a recently released Florida Insider/InsiderAdvantage poll in Florida? Attacking a friend and his 2000 national campaign co-chair may be dicey for McCain but eventually McCain will need to pull out all the stops to claw his way back into contention. Our McCain camp source says: “Fred Thompson is not yet in the race. He will face scrutiny at the appropriate time.” The Romney campaign sees that eventually McCain will turn his guns on his old friend when all else fails, observing: “it would be the equivalent of playing the violin on the Titanic. When that point comes and it very well might the ship is as good as sunk.”
What is the result of this rhetorical duel? So far McCain has not knocked Romney from contention or quelled media buzz that his campaign has hit the skids. Meanwhile, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani seem content to rise above the fray, leaving many to conclude that they are the big winners in the McCain-Romney slug fest.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Huh. Apparently McCain is determined to go down kicking and screaming, rather than a dignified fade out into irrelevancy.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:51 am
McCain is a sad person. This is called Kamikaze politics.
June 14th, 2007 at 11:56 am
You know, there’s one school of thought that simply says McCain and Romney will be mutually destroyed. But I’m just gonna float a thought here.
McCain’s got the highest negatives of any candidate, and voters (us intollerant and evil religious voters in particular) still remember his colorful antics from 2000. What are the odds that seeing the former frontrunner attacking so desperately will cement Romney’s status as the strongest McCain alternative and endear him to the anti-McCain faction?
June 14th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Yes, this is great for Rudy and Fred. Reminds me of the Dem 2004 Iowa caucuses.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
The media giving Romney a “free pass?” Oh please, He’s has been scrutinized more than them all.
I think this will backfire and implode the McCain campaign. We’ll see how his Q2 & Q3 fundraising numbers turn out..
June 14th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
I agree this benefits Rudy & FDT. However, if they were the recipeints of these McCain antics, I seriously doubt they’d standby idle. Rudy would respond and respond forcefully.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Ouch! There McCain goes, stomping on the mantle of Reagen! He is throwing out Reagen’s 11th commandment!
Now, I am not sure Rudy and Fred would win from this attack. I mean, McCain is well known for his tempers. And… he is well know for lashing out against his colleques and constitutes (he chick*** a senator, and he called us Americans in effect idiots on media for not supporting his immigration bill). He has this well-known history. I think people will take a second look at Mitt to see what the fussy is all about, and as often is the case, the more people know about Mitt, the more they like him.
However, I must admit that Mitt team will have to work a bit harder to defend his positions without attacking back. In fact, I would be surprised if he has not established a team purely for this purpose by now.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
This won’t hurt Romney at all. It could even help him by getting his name out there even more. It’s McCain who is doing the dirty stuff and accelerating his own demise. He’s spending half his time sliming Romney and half shaking down lobbyists for campaign cash. He’s a big, deluded hypocrite.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
When Jonathan Chait of The New Republic defends a “flip-flopping conservative” awhen attacked by the left’s favorite Republican, you know the attacks are disastorusly pathetic. Here’s what he had to say. “The supposed flip-flop is that these comments came after Romney’s professed conversion experience on abortion. But where’s the inconsistency? Romney says that he’s personally anti-abortion, but is keeping his promise not to change the status quo.
Now, to be sure, I have severe doubts about the sincerity of Romney’s conversion. (For that matter, I have severe doubts about McCain’s anti-abortion sincerity.) But nothing in that video contradicts what Romney has been saying.”
June 14th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
The McCain people say the MSM is giving him a free pass?? Have they been living under a ROCK????
June 14th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
You bet M.T. They’ve been under a rock. I follow all the Romney news and it is by far more critical than favorable. It varies from time to time, but is usually around 70 / 30 against Romney. Hardly a pass in my book.
June 14th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Romney is helped (from this attack). McCain is too low to be attacking.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Right you are, KT. Just about every person who didn’t know much about Romney will be asking themselves why he’s got McCain so spooked.
Not to mention that just about every person who saw the McCain version of the video also saw the full version. Team Romney’s quick action exposed McCain’s disingenuity for all the country to see.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
McCain should attack Romney on his lack of leadership, inability to turn things around, incompetence, inability to grasp complex problems, inability to govern Democrats (own both houses) etc.
Oh yeah, he can’t. The fact that a candidate can have all the above qualities and somehow be taken down because of his change on the abortion issue is asinine.
The Republicans best choices for leaders, that are also competent, are Romney and Rudy.