Apparently Mitt Romney is not as big of a hit as the polls show. On a news analysis written by Jeremy W. Peters of the New York Times, he writes, " THE WALL STREET JOURNAL editorial page, that irascible voice of high-minded conservatism, has taken a rather dim view of Mitt Romney. “It’s hard to discern any core beliefs beyond faith in his own managerial expertise,” it wrote in September.
The columnist George F. Will has disparaged Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, as a “recidivist reviser of his principles,” so uninspiring to his party that he might become the Republican version of Michael S. Dukakis. Erick Erickson, who writes for Red State, a blog closely followed in conservative circles, has said that choosing Mr. Romney as the Republican presidential nominee would spell disaster: “Conservatism dies and Barack Obama wins.”
Here's some background info on Michael S. Dukakis, just in case you are not familiar. Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–199. He was also a democratic presidential candidate in 1988. Now that we got that covered, it's important to know that he was refused renomination by his own party! He won his election by promising reform but took that back once he was put into office. This is where columnist George F. Will draw ties to Dukakis and Romney. Romney is seen as just that. An unpromising candidate that in no way shape or form deserves to be elected.
Peters writes, More recently, conservative news media have provided ample, initially positive, coverage to a succession of candidates with a shot at upsetting the Romney bandwagon, however short-lived those chances proved to be. There was Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, then Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, then the businessman Herman Cain.
So what exactly is helping Romney get such high ranks in the polls? WEll for one, i think it has a lot to do with the fact that he's been laying pretty low and the media has been focusing on all the ridiculousness of the other candidates. For example, Cain's sex accusations, Perry's "memory loss" AKA his numerous excuses that he makes, Bachmann- well, yeah enough said there.etc… The bad publicity that is derived from these candidates is making a guy like Romney look good. Lucky guy, eh? Fortunately though, there are those out there that are able to see how Romney is making his way to the top, and really it has nothing to do with his credentials. It's more about the right timing and how he portrays himself.
We see that the conservative media isn't really on Romney's side, although he has tried very hard to win them over. Usually the media has a great impact on the how America votes but it doesn't seem to be making a dent. Peters writes, "And if you read, watch or listen to news media that draw large conservative audiences, it is not hard to discern a reason: a recurrent “anybody but Mitt” drumbeat from right-leaning pundits and media outlets that are responding to and feeding a conservative disaffection with him."
Peters gives us great details and facts about conservative radio and according to him, Conservative radio is home to some of the most wary Romney skeptics like Mr. Limbaugh and Mark Levin, taps a particularly large pool of potential Republican voters. An average of 15 million people hear Mr. Limbaugh’s program each week; about 14 million tune into Mr. Hannity’s radio program. Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and Mr. Levin draw around nine million each.
Romney has had plenty of interviews with conservative radio hosts like Laura Ingraham, Bill Bennett, Greta Van Susteren, Mr. O'Reilly, just to name a few. Somehow he's making it out alive, regardless of their discerning opinions about him. What does that mean for the Republican party? Well, they may have to give the republican vote to him. Let's see what happens.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/sunday-review/can-conservative-media-stop-mitt-romney.html?pagewanted=1&hp
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