Romney's Disastrous Concession Speech

A contemporaneous Tweet by Gingrich supporter, Bill Jacobson of Legal Insurrection, highlights one reason why last night's concession speech by Mitt Romney may have been one of the worst examples of one I've ever seen - and that's just the beginning. Romney did virtually everything wrong and nothing right in it, while looking to be one page behind on virtually everything.

Mitt's speech motivating me to oppose him even more - #IamNotaCommie

For better or worse, when Fox News and other networks are calling Newt Gingrich's SC win a "blow-out," it is his night. Romney should have thought better of it than to try and make any part of it his in the manner he did, even when playing to a home crowd, such as he was.

A graceful and sincere, though not over-done, congratulations to Newt and an acknowledgement of the other candidates would have been a nice start. From there, Romney could have served himself well by acknowledging his failure in making his case with the voters of South Carolina, following it right up with a commitment to understand what went wrong, so as to improve. That would have been the mark of a serious and humble candidate seeking our votes and been some push-back against charges of incompetnce sure to come.

Instead, except perhaps for giving the appearance that he was a bit befuddled by his defeat, not only did he not acknowledge it, he went on to launch an even more strident attack against Gingrich than usual, on a night that was Newt's and Newt's alone.

How many waiting to see if Newt would match his win with a fitting speech, or perhaps go too far in victory, were really interested in hearing Romney try to tear Gingrich down after he had just got done trouncing Romney and his campaign in South Carolina?

Few, I would wager and his tirade ran the risk of painting Romney as perhaps the worst of all things in politics - a sore loser.

Other than that, all Romney did was rattle off his usual talking points with no more conviction than usual, leaving one wondering if they are things that Mitt believes, or simply the day's talking points scripted out for him by some staff member.

The Romney campaign is in trouble - articles like this one from The Hill:

Doubts creep in as an awkward Mitt Romney tries not to lose the GOP nod

and this one from Byron York in The Examiner:

Why Gingrich won -- Why Romney lost

pack a strong, if not damning, message for Mitt Romney and his campaign.

Unfortunately, rather than demonstrate that he's getting it as a means of turning a page, setting himself up for a more positive pivot to Florida, last night Mitt Romney did everything to confirm the negative stories.

In addition to that, rather than demonstrate some new found ability to genuinely communicate with voters on the more positive aspects of his message, his continued failure to do so combined with his strong attack on Gingrich and the grossly inappropriate timing for it runs the risk of making him look overly negative and almost shrill out of desperation. If he falls into that trap, the other campaigns won't need to attack him, he'll begin driving voters away in droves all by himself.

Several recent stories make it clear the would be inevitable emperor, Romney, isn't wearing the right, if any, clothes just now. There's time for him to change that. But everyone else either knows it, or is catching on fast, except perhaps for Romney and his campaign.

To expand upon a point from Byron York in the Examiner from last night, Mitt or someone with his campaign better figure it out, along with some other things while they're at it - and fast. If Newt remains disciplined enough to not hurt himself and Romney makes a few critically bad moves right now, the nomination could begin slipping away from him faster than many may think possible given his resources and establishment support.

Mitt Romney's team of seasoned campaign professionals may not think Newt Gingrich has any business playing a deciding role in the race. But they better believe it, and they better take seriously what the Gingrich challenge represents -- before it's too late.

Comments

[Captain Joe]

Newt is Romney's master in so many ways. Romney sounded so desperate in many of his responses during last weeks debate. Newt is a consummate debater and had Romney's number on the issues. Romney is used to buying his way in any difficulty, and Newt cannot be bought and he won't go away. Romney's rapid speech is almost comedic and reveals the desperation that the guy is in. Newt is calm and forceful in his delivery, and to the point. Jeb Bush knew enough to pull back from endorsing the flagging Romney. Romney didn't understand how he lost, and that means trouble for him in Florida. Newt will eat his lunch.

[Greg]

I found the speech especially hollow when Mitt referenced the "shining city on a hill", clearly trying to sound Reaganesque. This from the same guy who said "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush."

[Adrienne]

While Mitt was bashing Newt, Newt was saying nice things about all of the men running. Very classy.

[rrpjr]

While Mitt was bashing Newt, Newt was saying nice things about all of the men running. Very classy.
Posted by: Adrienne | Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:29 AM

Agreed. These men aren't in the same league.

[A Stephens]

"Petty" was the word I thought of when he was finally done talking. Couple that with the cake presentation during the day commemorating the anniversary of the ethic inquiry, and these folks come off as out of touch and tone deaf as to what really matters amongst real conservatives.