With Mitt Romney It’s “Meet the (Liberal) Press”
Conservatives on talk radio and on the web have noted that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is starting to be more accessible to thne mainstream news media and liberal infooutlets. The Daily Caller reports:
Mitt Romney is running for president as a Republican, but his recent media strategy includes granting exclusive interviews to news outlets that cater to a liberal audience.
Romney last week granted one-on-one interviews in Iowa to both MSNBC and the Huffington Post, among the best-known sources of news for liberals in the country. In recent weeks, he also gave interviews to The Washington Post, The New York Times and Politico.
It’s a peculiar strategy for someone who has had trouble convincing conservatives throughout this race he’s one of them.
The Romney campaign runs a tight ship when it comes to media access. Unlike other candidates who can be more open at campaign stops, Romney will only answer questions from reporters during organized media availabilities.
He has had an awkward relationship during the 2012 campaign with non-liberal outlets, especially the Fox News Channel.
Until just recently, Romney avoided — unlike other candidates — appearing on the nightly “Special Report” program and “Fox News Sunday.” When he finally sat down with “Special Report” host Bret Baier, Romney made news for his snippy responses.
This is indicative of how our ideologically driven politics now works in the United States.
Actually, once upon a time it would be considered GOOD NEWS for a candidate of either party who actively made him/herself accessible to any and sundry legitimate news organizations. If the intent of elections is only to win over your own choir, then you’d only talk to Fox News or MSNBC. Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney, in particular, had long stretches when the only legitimate person they seemed to feel was a legitimate news reporter was that Republican talking point and p.r. machine, Fox News’ Sean Hannity. Would they be as accessible to CNN’s Don Lemon? Fat chance.
If Romney truly wants to win then he’s going to HAVE to get on legit news channels and networks and answer questions from reporters so he can start to beat down lingering reservations voters — not just conservative voters — may have about him and whether they can trust him on issues since he has had more changes than a baby with bladder problems.
So perhaps from a conservative viewpoint he is showing that just can’t resist that ol’ moderate Republican gene inherited from his father and on display when he was Governor of Massachusetts.
But perhaps it’s just this:
Smart politics.
6 Responses to “With Mitt Romney It’s “Meet the (Liberal) Press””
“Liberal” MSNBC had both Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum on the Scarborough show this morning. Must be a dastardly plot to raise their poll numbers so a “real” conservative will be the easy-to-knock-down candidate against Obama. No wonder Romney doesn’t want to talk to the “liberal” press.
There’s also probably some reason (that is not yet clear) which will affect the election in the fact that 55 cars in California were torched, and that a 7.0 earthquake hit Japan yesterday, but we’ll have to wait for the pundits to explain it to us.
Seems like a smart move for someone to answer questions on a news programs with opposing views.
Anyone that is running on the republican ticket will have to appeal to moderates and many moderates do not watch Hannity, O’Reilly or listen to “Garbage Mouth” Rush. Their choice of news seems to be more in line with CNN than Fox News.
Seems like any candidate that is able to attract voters from the group that watches MSNBC or reads Huffington, while still be keeping enough primariy voters on the right to win the nomination will positioning themselves for a stronger run at B.O. than one with far right conservative views.
RP
You’re right; they could appeal to moderates, if they knew how, (their base certainly wouldn’t be watching), but they really can’t do it till they have the nomination locked up.
And I wouldn’t say they actually answered questions….more like made statements – at least in Ms. Bachmann’s case.
“Seems like a smart move for someone to answer questions on a news programs with opposing views.”
Or to just go on a news program and answer questions, period.
Mitt’s image as a focus-grouped to death robo-candidate whose hair gel goes deep enough to have coiffed his brain isn’t helped by the fact that the man can’t bring himself to have a conversation with a journalist or two.
Perhaps his willingness to do so now reflects a tacit admission that he doesn’t have the nomination sewn up after all.
None of the other GOP candidates could possibly appeal to these people. For the more moderate people who do watch these shows and plan on supporting a Republican candidate in Iowa, this tactic will win over many of those people and get them to the caucus to support him. One more vote a candidate wins is two more votes their opponents need to get (one to pull even and another to pull ahead).
If all the conservative GOP candidates are fishing from a limited number of fish in the shallow waters and each are trying to appeal to them, if Romney goes deep sea fishing and no one else can, then he has access to more fish and a better chance of getting more votes.
Actually, StockBoyLA, what Romney has the most access to, isn’t so much deep waters, as deep pockets.
But then again, that’s pretty much the same thing in politics.