Hand Clap Or A Whisper

The Campaign To Date
RedStateVT has been asked to weigh in on our impressions of the Romney campaign to date. Actually we run counter to the prevailing conservative critiques which see him as too passive and exhort him to "hit back harder" at smears from Team Obama (e.g. Romney might be a felon!) Further, we do not believe that he is simply "playing out the string" trying to avoid a mistake and waiting for the election to come to him. Instead, we believe that he is taking a patient approach. Romney has made two mistakes which we will talk about, but this stage of the campaign has modest goals: remain positive, create some buzz about the VP selection, make the obligatory stops (e.g. NAACP), raise money, and relentlessly remind voters that the campaign is about Obama's failed stewardship of the economy. Check, check, check, check and check. 


At the same time, Romney or his surrogates have countered every charge that the Dems have thrown at him. If it feels as though Romney is taking it on the chin sometimes, that is only because the media magnify the Team Obama talking points while downplaying (or ignoring) anything too negative to Obama. Example: relentless front page coverage of Bain Capital on the one hand versus Diane Sawyer finally having to do a story on Fast and Furious the day AG Holder is held in contempt (and the best part is that she had to explain what the scandal is all about to the viewers who had never heard about it from her network!)  Remember that Republicans always have to run against the Democrat opponent AND the (non-Fox) media. 


Romney's strategy has forced Obama to go negative early, thereby turning The One into just another Chicago-style politician. All Romney has to do at this stage is remind voters that the Obama story was that he was a different kind of politician, a uniter. Well he ain't, and the people are seeing that.


Shortly, we believe, Koch money will start flowing and the campaign will get really hot. Stimulus waste, Solyndra, the XL pipeline, Fast and Furious, intelligence leaks, Obamacare...they will all hit the airwaves in a relentless assault the likes of which we will not have seen before. And Obama's numbers - which honest people will say are breaking even at best - will tank.


What about Romney's mistakes? Well, the muddle on whether the insurance mandate under Obamacare was a tax was a giant-size goof-up. Notwithstanding Justice Roberts' incomprehensible ruling, he did give Romney that as a gift. Romney can recover, but should not have put himself in that position. Second, Romney violated a cardinal rule of campaigning: never get photographed on ANY type of watercraft, unless it is military in nature.  


Peek-A-Boo
They are supposed to be among Wall Street’s most closely guarded secrets: changes in research analysts’ views, up or down, of a company’s prospects. But some of the nation’s biggest brokerage firms appear to be giving a handful of top hedge funds an early peek at these sentiments — allowing them to trade on the information before other investors get the word. (NYT, 7/15/2012)


So now the all important question. Will Obama return the campaign contributions received from prominent hedge fund managers? If not, why not?


Double-Up
This fact is so obvious that there can only be one conclusion drawn when we hear the pronouncement, "Corporations aren't people"—that it's doublespeak. That is, when people say that corporations aren't people, what they really want to say is, "Business is evil." (Jack and Suzy Welch, WSJ, 7/15/2012)


Great point by the Welches echoing one that RedStateVT has often made. Businesses employ people, pay them salaries and benefits, and provide goods and services that people desire. And Liberals speak about them as though they were criminal enterprises.