Will 'the Donald' hurt Romney?
ANALYSIS - Here's a little thought exercise: What if a chief Obama surrogate/fundraiser happened to be the nation's foremost critic of the Mormon faith, who argued that it was nothing more than a cult?...
From NBC’s First Read:
Here’s a little thought exercise: What if a chief Obama surrogate/fundraiser happened to be the nation’s foremost critic of the Mormon faith, who argued that it was nothing more than a cult? Or what if the Obama campaign was holding a fundraising contest with a celebrity who believed that 9/11 was an inside job? Or even if Obama held a joint fundraiser with Bill Maher?
It’s hard to differentiate those hypotheticals from Mitt Romney’s association with Donald Trump, who in recent days has said that hitting Obama with Jeremiah Wright is fair game and that there are still doubts about Obama’s place of birth. The Romney-Trump association tonight includes a fundraiser with “The Donald,” as well as an upcoming fundraising dinner contest with him. Why hang out with someone — multiple times — who could overshadow you, for all the wrong reasons? Could you imagine John McCain or George W. Bush doing something similar? In fact, the Obama campaign is out with a web video contrasting McCain from ’08 with Romney’s association with Trump in this campaign.
Guilt by association: Look, we’re not big fans of “guilt by association” attack politics. And while it’s as old as the Republic, it’s cheap and usually has little impact on the public at large. But Trump is not exactly someone who is helpful to Romney in his attempt to warm himself to swing voters, particularly women. Perhaps there’s something else the Romney campaign is up to; maybe they believe by hugging Trump now, it’ll be easier to tell him “no” when he asks to speak at the Republican convention.
As George Will put it, “I do not understand the cost benefit here. The costs are clear. The benefit — what voter is going to vote for him because he is seen with Donald Trump? The cost of appearing with this bloviating ignoramus is obvious, it seems to me.”
*** Romney responds to the criticism of Trump: Last night, Romney was asked about his association with the nation’s most famous “birther.” His answer didn’t address the controversial topic. “I don’t agree with all the people who support me and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in. But I need to get 50.1% or more, and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people,” he said, per NBC’s Garrett Haake.
