Mitt Romney's reaction was as predictable as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. Yet another reminder of why I didn't support Romney in the 2012 Republican Primary Process, why I won't give even one penny to Romney's official campaign, and a reinforcement of my belief that Romney is the 2012 version of John McCain. Once again, Barack Hussein Obama's campaign is controlling the agenda because the establishment Republicans like Romney are letting them get away with it. For the 2012 General Election, only the PAC's that will go after BHO on politically incorrect topics are worth supporting!
eb22
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/17/mitt-romney-obama-jeremiah-wright?newsfeed=trueRomney distances himself from plan to attack Obama over Jeremiah Wright Ad strategy drawn up by Republican Super Pac portrayed president as a man under the spell of radical black preacher
Chris McGreal in Washington
Mitt Romney and the Republican establishment have been forced to distance themselves from a racially charged election advertising blitz that portrayed Barack Obama as under the spell of a radical preacher who espoused "black liberation theology".
Amid Democratic accusations of a failure of moral leadership, the Republican presidential contender spoke out against the proposed adverts, which attempt to link Obama closely to his former pastor, the Rev Jeremiah Wright, who has been criticised for incendiary sermons that often deal with race. The proposed campaign was also rejected by the billionaire who would have funded it.
The advertising campaign, drawn up by strategists for a Republican Super Pac, included an effort to tie the president to a comment made by Wright after the 9/11 terrorist attacks when he said: "America's chickens are coming home to roost".
The $10m advertising campaign, which was to be launched during the Democratic national convention in September, also describes Obama as having duped Americans into thinking he is a "metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln" and complains that voters "still aren't ready to hate this president".
The Obama campaign called on Romney to follow the example of John McCain, the 2008 Republican candidate, who firmly opposed attempts to say that Obama is responsible for Wright's views or adhered to them.
Romney responded: "I repudiate the effort by that Pac to promote an ad strategy of the nature they've described." He said he wanted to keep his campaign focused on the economy.
But the Republican candidate did not go so far as McCain in rejecting any link between Wright's views and Obama.
The proposal for the adverts said that McCain made a mistake in not permitting similar attacks in 2008. "If the nation had seen that ad, they'd never have elected Barack Obama," said the proposal, revealed in the New York Times. "The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way."
The proposal for television, newspaper and other adverts speaks of a strategy to "inflame" voters against the president.
"The crumbling of the Obama phenomenon, properly exploited and explained, should have a devastating impact on the elusive independent (voter), who doesn't pay all that close of attention but knows things are bad and feels they could get a whole lot worse," it said.
"They still aren't ready to hate this president, but they're definitely open to the concept that someone else (perhaps even Romney) could do a better job. How to inflame their questions on his character and competency, while allowing themselves to still somewhat "like" the man becomes the challenge."
The solution, the document said, is to focus on the supposed influence Wright had on Obama during his formative years and the consequences of that in creating a "failed presidency". It describes this as a "phenomenally powerful argument".
The proposal recognises that the attempts to link Obama to Wright will be open to accusations of racism. It suggests hiring an "extremely literate conservative African-American" to counter the charges.
"Prepare for a great deal of howling and gnashing of teeth from all of the usual suspects and some of their weak-kneed Republican co-conspirators. Obama for sure will play the race card, as will the liberal press," it said.
That criticism was swift in coming.
David Axelrod, the president's campaign adviser, called on Romney to follow McCain's example in renouncing such racially charged attack adverts. "Stunning! Will Mitt stand up, as John McCain did? Or allow the purveyors of slime to operate on his behalf?" Axelrod said on Twitter.
Romney responded by accusing Democrats of underhand tactics while distancing himself from the proposed advert.
"I think what we've seen so far from the Obama campaign is a campaign of character assassination. I hope that isn't the course of this campaign. So in regards to that Pac, I repudiate what they're thinking about," he said. "It's interesting that we're talking about some Republican Pac that wants to go after the president [on Wright]; I hope people also are looking at what he's doing, and saying 'why is he running an attack campaign? Why isn't he talking about his record?" he told Townhall.
The Obama campaign said that did not go far enough. "The blueprint for a hate-filled, divisive campaign of character assassination speaks for itself. It also reflects how far the party has drifted in four short years since John McCain rejected these very tactics," it said. "Once again, Governor Romney has fallen short of the standard that John McCain set, reacting tepidly in a moment that required moral leadership in standing up to the very extreme wing of his own party," it said.
The advertising campaign was drawn up at the behest of Joe Ricketts, a billionaire founder of a brokerage firm whose family owns the Chicago Cubs, in league with a group of high-profile Republican strategists.
The proposal, called The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: the Ricketts Plan to End his Spending for Good, was being considered by a Super PAC, the Ending Spending Action Fund.
But following the criticism, Ricketts said in a statement he had not authored the proposal and had no intention of funding the advertising campaign.
"Not only was this plan merely a proposal … but it reflects an approach to politics that Mr Ricketts rejects, and it was never a plan to be accepted but only a suggestion for a direction to take.
"Mr Ricketts intends to work hard to help elect a president this fall who shares his commitment to economic responsibility, but his efforts are and will continue to be focused entirely on questions of fiscal policy, not attacks that seek to divide us socially or culturally."
However, that does not mean the strategy is dead. Following the supreme court ruling on the funding of political adverts, hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into Super Pacs over which candidates have no control.
Rightwing attempts to portray Obama as a socialist intent on bringing down the US have been a staple of conservative talk radio and swirled around the internet for years, but they bump up against the president's record, including the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Racially tinged attacks on Obama are also likely to prompt a focus on Romney's Mormon religion, which has a long history of discrimination against black people.
Four years ago, McCain blocked proposals to use Wright to attack Obama. He told Fox News during that campaign that Obama is not responsible for what the pastor said.
"When people support you, it doesn't mean that you support everything they say," he said.
The Ricketts proposal describes McCain as "a crusty old politician who often seemed confused, burdened with a campaign just as confused."
"Our plan is to do exactly what John McCain would not let us do: show the world how Barack Obama's opinions of America and the world were formed," it said.
"And why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president's formative years among left-wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees."
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