I got this email alert today. Since I'm not a subscriber, my access is limited, but here's the tease:
Paul Ryan Is Said to be Planning an Active Role: Representative Paul D. Ryan expects to play a leading role in a Romney administration’s drive to enact a budget-shrinking government and overhauling programs like Medicare.
Two things: One is the obvious concern over their agenda. They want to turn Medicare into a voucher system that will cost more out of pocket, and they'd love to cut things like, oh, let's see... FEMA. And that's just for starters.
But the other thing is this: Romney-Ryan’s shunning the press. Both of these cowards are refusing to answer questions, neither will be interviewed and haven't been for weeks. So what we got (or didn't get) during their campaign was a conspicuous lack of details about their policies and plans, a press blackout, and a whole lot of lies.
Yet if-- and that's a big if-- they win on Tuesday, Paul Ryan would suddenly become very visible and is already previewing the horror story that will become the United States of America should they gain the powers they crave so much. He aspires to be the next Dick Cheney, and we all know how that turned out.
Willard M. Romney’s real closing argument is M.I.A. Why? Because his closing argument is “Don’t ask, because I won’t tell.” He won’t answer a question because he has no answers. And he has no answers because his policies are inferior, destructive to Americans, would sink this country, are discriminatory, and don’t actually exist anyway. Romnesia’s like that.
Details? What are those? Details schmetails.
Facts? What are those? Facts schmacts.
Integrity? What’s that? Integrity inschmegrity.
Amazingly, Romney hasn’t held an interview in over three weeks. Think about that. A candidate for president of the United States, leader of the free world, is afraid of the press.
That's pretty important. Think about it for a moment. The guy who wants to lead the country won't give the people of his country details about his tax returns, his policies, won't answer questions, lies a lot, and-- ta-daaa!-- refuses to give interviews.
Now his running mate is following suit. Politico is reporting that Paul Ryan has gone dark:
[S]ince the week of the vice presidential debate, Ryan has gone dark on battleground reporters — doing no local television and only a handful of network interviews and syndicated radio shows. [...]
Ryan aides shot down the theory that Ryan avoided local interviews to dodge Mourdock-related questions, saying flatly that wasn’t true.
Romney and Ryan aides instead argued that the vice presidential nominee no longer needed the earned media in the final days of the campaign as much as he did when Ryan plucked him out of virtual obscurity to those outside-the-Beltway [...]
In explaining the sudden dip in Ryan’s presence on local television airwaves, campaign aides pointed to the fact that Vice President Joe Biden rarely sits for local interviews.
Using the old, "Well THEY do it!" isn't exactly effective, let alone credible.
Truth is, they just don't want him opening his big ultra-conservative mouth before Tuesday, just as Romney has avoided questions like the plague. They both know they'd bungle it, plus both prefer to keep us all in the dark about those pesky specifics that they know would turn voters off quicker than they can Etch their next Sketch.
Rachel Maddow noticed "Where's Pauldo's" diminishing presence back on October 26th:
Willard M. Romney's real closing argument is M.I.A. Why? Because his closing argument is "Don't ask, because I won't tell." He won't answer a question because he has no answers. And he has no answers because his policies are inferior, destructive to Americans, would sink this country, are discriminatory, and don't actually exist anyway. Romnesia's like that.
Details? What are those? Details schmetails.
Facts? What are those? Facts schmacts.
Integrity? What's that? Integrity inschmegrity.
Amazingly, Romney hasn't held an interview in over three weeks. Think about that. A candidate for president of the United States, leader of the free world, is afraid of the press:
Gee, I don't recall President Obama going through this kind of humiliation and evasiveness. In fact, via Think Progress:
...Obama who, when traveling abroad, held two press conferences, two appearances on Sunday talk shows, and several television and in-person interviews.
After Willard Romney’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad London gaffe-athon, it's understandable that he's a little gun shy about talking to the press. Not acceptable, just understandable, because so far, he's made an utter fool out of himself, proving himself to be inept, awkward, and unfit for office.
But a total blackout? That's crossing a line, not to mention violating protocol, especially after promising at least some of the media access to whatever it is he thinks he's doing.
On the other hand, Sheldon Adelson and all his other coveted zillionaire donors are his priority, as opposed to transparency and being accountable to American voters and anyone else in the whole wide world who might potentially be affected by a Romney White House.
But Romney’s campaign announced Saturday that it would block the news media from covering the event, which will be held at the King David Hotel. The campaign’s decision to close the fundraiser to the press violates the ground rules it negotiated with news organizations in April, when Romney wrapped up the Republican nomination and began opening some of his finance events to the news media.
Under the agreement, a pool of wire, print and television reporters can cover every Romney fundraiser held in public venues, including hotels and country clubs. The campaign does not allow media coverage of fundraisers held in private residences.
Campaign spokesman Rick Gorka declined to explain the campaign’s decision to violate protocol with the Jerusalem event.
Gorka's eventual explanation after being pressured by reporters? “That’s all I’ve got for you — it’s closed press."
Thank you. It makes so much more sense now.
It seems that freedom thing only applies if you're a Republican, because freedom of the press to cover the GOP nominee is becoming more and more limited.
If this is how Team Willard behaves during a campaign, imagine how secretive they'd be if they succeed in winning their guy the immense power of the presidency.
The astonishing story that David Axelrod is referring to comes by way of the AP. Here's a sample:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For nearly 15 years, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's financial portfolio has included an offshore company that remained invisible to voters as his political star rose.
Based in Bermuda, Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. was not listed on any of Romney's state or federal financial reports. The company is among several Romney holdings that have not been fully disclosed, including one that recently posted a $1.9 million earning - suggesting he could be wealthier than the nearly $250 million estimated by his campaign.
The omissions were permitted by state and federal authorities overseeing Romney's ethics filings, and he has never been cited for failing to disclose information about his money. But Romney's limited disclosures deprive the public of an accurate depiction of his wealth and a clear understanding of how his assets are handled and taxed, according to experts in private equity, tax and campaign finance law.
"Romney's campaign declined to answer detailed questions from AP about Sankaty." That's par for the course, evading questions. In fact, that's his central campaign strategy. Secrecy has worked for him until now.
Will any journalist aggressively pursue this? Will any debate moderator?
So far, Romney's pretty much skated along, ducking and dodging, lying, Etch A Sketching, blurring the lines without serious challenges. David Gregory sure hasn't risen to the occasion, nor have other hosts, interviewers, and journalists. David Axelrod is better at their job than they are.
Remember Sarah Palin's debate against Biden when she refused to answer questions? And during the GOP primary when Newt Gingrich was downright defiant? Remember how the moderators buckled or acquiesced? Is that what we're to expect this year?
Romney's campaign slogan: "Maybe I'll tell you after November. Nahhh."
Romney has said he gets no tax break. He told an audience at a Maine town hall appearance in February that "I have not saved one dollar by having an investment somewhere outside this country."
But the lack of disclosure over the years, private equity experts said, makes it impossible to tell.
And that, in and of itself, is a disclosure. It speaks volumes.
“’I’m for Mitt Romney,” Bush told ABC News Tuesday morning “as the doors of an elevator closed on him.”
Boy howdy, that was some enthusiastic, weighty endorsement, wasn't it? Of course, Willard probably couldn't WAIT to tout that one all over the airwaves, because a thumbs up from a former president is really something to crow about!
St. Petersburg, Florida (CNN) - The day after former President George W. Bush gave him an impromptu endorsement, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney pointedly avoided naming his new supporter in a Wednesday speech.
Instead, Romney referred to Bush five times as a "predecessor" to President Barack Obama.
St. Petersburg, Florida (CNN) – Press aides for the Romney campaign and a lone Secret Service agent attempted to physically block reporters from asking questions of the GOP contender along an event rope line in Saint Petersburg, Florida on Wednesday.
The brief altercation was captured on video by CNN. A spokeswoman from the Romney campaign later called it "an error."
Not only does Mitt turn audiences off with his personality, he turns reporters off at public events... literally. That's what happens when you're a candidate who can't answer questions directly and who has no specific remedies for all those specific problems he likes to specifically bring up at every turn.
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