Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and the 11th Commandment

I'm getting a little tired of reading articles that state that Romney and Perry broke Reagan's 11th commandment, even Michael Reagan is chiming in, telling both to Get Serious.

Today, the Boston Globe ran an article titles, "Tone turns hostile early for GOP rivals - Romney, Perry break ‘11th commandment’:
The GOP presidential hopefuls all pay homage to Ronald Reagan, but his so-called 11th commandment of politics - Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican - is being regularly and energetically violated by the two Republican front-runners.

On a near-daily basis, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney are using Twitter accounts, press releases, and even, in one case, the other candidate’s audiobook, to charge each other with a variety of wrongs - from devious motives to telling untruths.
You've got to love this:
As a way to paint the Texas governor as someone who is loose with the facts, Romney aides sent someone dressed up as Pinocchio - with a sign that read, “Even the Lies are bigger in Texas’’ - to Perry’s town hall meeting Friday night in New Hampshire. They also passed out a spoof book called “Rick Perry’s Plan to get America Working Again,’’ that had 114 pages, most of which were blank.
The full Story is HERE.

As to the 11th Commandment, Perry broke it first (1 , 2). Unless Reagan meant for GOP candidates to be pinatas for their opponents, Romney responded after he was attacked. It was Rick Perry who started the negative remarks against Romney.

Perry's negative distortions of Romney's record in Massachusetts and in his time at Bain Capital, left Romney no choice but to educate voters about Perry and his REAL RECORD that the main stream media conveniently seems to ignore.


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9 comments:

Unknown said...

Romney's weathered pretty much every candidate. Even the Cain Train (and I like Cain, don't get me wrong) won't be able to damage him. Give us Mitt!

Anonymous said...

Perry has been throughout digs at Romney ever sense it was rumored he'd run.

Did he really think he'd get a pass on his record?

larry said...

I like the new no nonsense Romney.

The others will think twice about criticizing him when they see he is willing to fight back tenfold.

Anonymous said...

Can we please just lay Reagan to rest. He was only a slightly better than average president.

Anonymous said...

I have been the biggest proponent of the 11th commandment on here and other sites for more than 20 years.
So I feel that I have the credibility to speak out on this issue as a somewhat expert on this matter.
There is some confusion about this issue among many in the media, and also Republicans.
The 11th Commandment is not about ignoring debate or not attacking your opponent because you might anger him or her, or hurt their feelings. It also has nothing to do with going negative by pointing out differences, like the fact that your opponent thinks all enemy combatants should be arrested in Yemen or Afghanistan, and brought back to the US to face trial.
What the great Ronald Reagan said about the 11th Commendment had to do with ad hominem attacks on fellow Republicans. The type of attacks that the mainstream media love to flame. Some examples of this might include attacking Sarah Palin for being a bad mother, or attacking Governor Perry because someone wrote the "N" word on one of their property's 40 years ago.
Reagan was all about fighting for what you believe in. And that meant getting your hands dirty and going after fellow Republicans. But Reagan knew the line between personal attacks and policy attacks, and he made it clear that the GOP should not cross that line.
What we have right now between Romney and Perry is a good old fashioned fight of ideas. I encourage this type if dialogue as long as it doesn't cross the Reagan line of the 11th Commandment.

~Reaganesque

Anonymous said...

Perry came out swinging...at Mitt...Mitt had the right to defend and give truth remarks...right back..A leader does not follow with tail between their legs...They defend and set the record straight....Mitt did not draw the line in the sand....and Cain is at it also...Mitt has said nothing but nice about Cain...Cain is a sniper...He is making many comments against Mitt behind his back....

Slick-Willy said...

Good article. Romney has been smart to sit back and wait until it was very clear that he was being attacked first before responding w/attacks. In '08 Romney failed to do this and came out looking like the attack dog, which hurt him in the long run.

Even if Cain's throwing out a jab now and again, Romney needs to just ignore it unless Cain escalates in a very overt way.

Focus on Obama and keep yourself above the fray as much as possible. Talk nice about other candidates whenever you can to create good will. We need to remember that Romney will need the supporters now supporting his adversaries if he wants to win. He got none of Perry's. If he plays his cards right he'll be able to pick some up from others as they drop.

Ohio JOE said...

"Cain is a sniper...He is making many comments against Mitt behind his back...." Like what?

Anonymous said...

cain is no sniper. He is just trying to win like all the other candidates, he isnt playing pinocchio like rick perry is. Since that last debate perry has gotten desperate.