Mark Steyn on Romney’s lousy stump speech (I’ve been trying to find the right words for a while – it turns out Steyn had them), and the Romney team’s incompetence at rapid-response. I think Romney will adjust fast enough, well enough to beat Gingrich, but there is something really disturbing there. I’m trying to picture the conversations between staffers in putting together his stump speech:
Staffer 1 : Who are we writing for?
Stafer 2 : Rubes.
Staffer 1: What does that mean?
Staffer 2: Constantly talk about how much you like America. Throw in declarations of love out of nowhere, even when it makes no sense. They love that sort of thing.
Staffer 1: Anything else?
Staffer 2: That’s just it. We don’t need anything else. Maybe get Romney to rap the lyrics of some patriotic songs. Also have him say that he wants to “restore” America rather than “transform” America.
Staffer 1: What doe that mean?
Staffer 2. I think it is supposed to mean that we won’t let America change into some kind of European-type country or something so . . .
Staffer 1: You mean one with health insurance mandates?
Staffer 2. Shut up wiseguy. I don’t know what it is supposed to mean, but I saw Glenn Beck talking about that at that big Washington speech and the crowd ate it up. It has a nice “us aganist them” feel but doesn’t commit us to any policies. It’s perfect.
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