Romney's Problem is Not Messaging

     This is what he can't ever face. He thinks that if he were able to say it differently people would flock to him. Even now, with this embarrassing video, he's still thinking it was just the delivery-it was put "inelegantly."

     "Mitt Romney held a brief news conference Monday evening to address his comments. The AP reports:

Republican Mitt Romney says a video clip in which he called nearly half of Americans "victims" was "not elegantly stated" and was "spoken off the cuff." But he says President Barack Obama's approach is "attractive to people who are not paying taxes." ...
The Republican nominee did not disavow the comments but said they were made during a question-and-answer session. He said it was indicative of his campaign's effort to "focus on the people in the middle."

     "During the press conference, Romney called for the full video to be released."

     "Mitt wants the full video huh? Well don't worry, there's more to come," Mother Jones reporter Adam Serwer tweeted in response.

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/mitt-romney-video_n_1829455.html

     Yet what is the elegant way to tell half the country that they don't count and that if elected your only focus will be his wealthy fat cat friends? He claims that we, the unwashed 47%-ie, Dem voters-just want to depend on government, don't want to take responsibility for our own lives.

      What's the elegant way of saying that we play the victim and are chiselers and takers? Some of his other comments that have received less focus are just as eye raising.

      Actually there are a lot of videos. In one he joked he'd do better if only he were Mexican. This joke is problematic on a few levels.

      For one thing, Latinos no less than Blacks don't vote for someone just because they have the same ethnicity as the candidate-check out Herman Cain. Would Romney be helped by being Mexican if his immigration policies remained so "severe?"

     On another level mentioning his father being born in Mexico brings up all kinds of uncomfortable images. For one thing, how was George Romney ever able to run for President in 1968 to start with? The answer is that because his parents were Americans he was able to. I'd be interested in which part of the Constitution that clause is written.

     And was his father born in the U.S? He's actually from the colony that the Romney family had moved to after Utah's anti-polygamy law. Yes, very awkward history thinking of Romney's own supporters on the Religious Right.


    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/mitt-romney-helpful-to-be-latino_n_1891359.html?ref=topbar

    http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54799169-90/romney-born-george-craig.html.csp

    I'm not sure how this background would enable Hispanics to identify with him.

    But what's really important is that he still thinks it's the message-if only he had brown skin and a Hispanic background, "self deport" would go over a lot better.  Yet Ted Cruz sounds no better when he says not only must we give no help or path to citizenship to any illegal immigrants but that we should even work to bring down legal immigration.

    The real problem is not the message but the man. He's not bad at expressing empathy, he has none. IN his mind those who are out of work and struggling-those he always claims to care about-are just whiners and lazy, don't pay taxes, and should just shut up.

    How will any level of messaging make that sound more attractive?