Sunday, December 11, 2011

“Rick, I’ll tell you what. 10,000 bucks?”

A lot is being made about the dollar amount of Romney's proposed bet. Personally, I couldn't care less about that. The exchange made Mitt look childish. It's a glaring reminder that he doesn't excel at verbal sparring.

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

I watched the entire debate and I thought Romney, Paul and Bachman performed the best. Perry did better than usual and Santorum did Okay.I thought Gingrich looked washed out and did not defend himself well from the Paul and Bachman attacks.

For you to highlight this one silly comment from the entire debate clearly shows you have an anti-Romney agenda. I would respect you more if you would just admit it.

The reason I draw this conclusion is that the DNC operatives immediately pounced on this remark and started to tweet about how Romney is out of touch just like Bush 41 and then this was the dialogue that tapper and the ABC crew spun throughout their post-debate commentary.

I am just amazed at how gullible some people are.

It is clear to me from the post debate commentary that abc is definitely in on the Obama reelection campaign. They are out to destroy the biggest threat that would unseat an Obama presidency and people like you are just handing it to Obama on a big silver platter.

Personally I thought the headlines from this debate should have been:

"Paul and Bachman Neuter NEWT!

Massachusetts Conservative said...

RW, the gaffe of the night was when Newt said working for Freddie Mac is "private sector experience."

LOL!

Massachusetts Conservative said...

RW, the gaffe of the night was when Newt said working for Freddie Mac is "private sector experience."

LOL!

JoeMich4Mitt said...

The bet offer impressed me and it should have impressed everyone. Once again Gov. Perry was trying to distort the record, and Mitt showed that he is not going to stand for the truth, and that he was entirely confident that he was right... and it was telling that Perry didn't bet because he either knew he was deliberately distorting the facts, or he didn't know whether or not he was right. If he was completely confident in his being correct then he would have agreed. And doing this kind of thing is more a figure of speech, it earns laughs while also making a point. I thought it was well done. The media, democrats, and Romney's opponents will spin it, but that spin should only remind people that the politics of envy and distorting truth gets our country nowhere.

Slick-Willy said...

I disagree. I think this was the gaffe of the night--not because it was nearly as big as Newt's Freddie Mac gaffe or Newt's Palestinian gaffe. It was the gaffe of the night because the lib media @ ABC are bent on taking Mitt down and promoting Newt at this point. Therefore, anyone watching the debate heard $10k bet referred to about 50 times before the debate was over.

Romney needs to attack even more than he did in the next debate and be prepared with strong responses to Perry/Santorum/Huntsman if they toss something at him. Since their attacks in the past have been fully vetted and rejected by fact checkers universally, he needs to respond by pointing out Perry's Pinocchios. Comments like this open Mitt up to class warfare attacks totally unnecessarily.

Overall, Mitt performed well, but he needs to be much better on the 15th.

JoeMich4Mitt said...

Correction to statement above- shoudl be "that Mitt IS going to stand for truth"

Anonymous said...

Romney offered the bet because he knew he was right, therefore he knew Perry was not going to take it.Perry's campaign is toast and he keeps bringing up mitt's book and is really trying to make himself relevant.

The look on perry's face when Mitt accused him of having the HPV mandate in his state was priceless.

Right Wingnut said...

It isn't just the liberal media declaring Newt the winner (and Mitt the loser) of the debate. Most conservative pundits are as well.

Doug NYC GOP said...

RWN,

You a laughably desperate. Romney owned the debate, scholling Newt and Perry.

When Lib Media spins anti-Romney this late in the game, is because they know, as you do deep down, he's Obama's biggest threat.

For a guy with no dog in the hunt, you spend a lot of time and energy going after the top one.

Too funny.

Doug NYC GOP said...

Why not highlight the clip of Mitt discussing his core, why he's running and values.

He hit a Grand Slam on that one.

Anonymous said...

It is and was obvious that the liberal media would love Newt Grinch as the nominee,because of all his baggage. Obama would use this in many,many commercials. Question is,are we going to allow the media to pick our candidate or are we going to really kick ass and give Mitt Romney the nomination he deserves? This is it folks. Our country is at stake if the socialist in the White House gets re-elected. Stand up for Mitt and phone call,sign wave,do what is neccessary to make it happen.

Right Wingnut said...

Doug,

I'm actually starting to feel sorry for you guys. I almost didn't post this.

TexasConservative said...

RWN and I are the only ones on this site who don't post puff pieces on Romney and attack pieces on all the other candidates.

Y'all really need to stroll down memory lane and look to see how many build Romney up pieces have been posted. Then look at each candidate's rise and see the attacks on them by authors of this site.

Then notice that whenever RWN or I posted something negative about Romney, all the attacks we get stating we are trying to help Obama and the DNC.

If it wasn't so pathetic it would be comical.

I am sure that RWN and I are in the same boat. Trying to get on the Romney band wagon but just cannot do it because of what we see in Romney that the Romney supporters do not.

So when we point those flaws out in our posts, we are ostracized and treated like we should not belong on this Romneyspeak site.

RWN is correct, the conservative bloggers were surprised by Romney's obvious error in making that $10,000 bet. It was not just the liberal bloggers who leapt on it. Conservatives were among the first to point out Romney's irritation and the major gaffe that he made.

I hope that RWN continues to post his thoughts. Because with Romney having a ceiling somewhere in the 20's shows that most voters think like RWN and I.

TexasConservative said...

This is from NRO:The Corner

What About National Security?

The second big loser tonight was Mitt Romney. This was his weakest performance yet. He got into a fight with Rick Perry for no reason. He brought up Gardasil again. Gardasil? His offer of a $10,000 bet backfired badly. Who bets $10,000? Not only did he use the line, he doubled down when his campaign sent out an email attacking Perry for not taking the bet. So it was not just a bad off-the-cuff comment, it was a planned attack. Yikes. That gaffe will haunt him for a long time to come. But more important, why is he fighting with Perry? Newt’s the one who has passed him in the polls. And Romney failed to draw blood from Newt — the person he needs to bring down if he is to win the nomination.

Newt was the winner for the same reasons Romney won the earlier debates: No one knocked him off his perch. He did very well. His line about how Romney would have been a career politician if he had not lost to Ted Kennedy was priceless. He parried the infidelity question with a humble answer about how he’s needed forgiveness. And he turned his gaffe on the Palestinians into a debate win. Romney tried to go after him by saying it was irresponsible and that Romney would be more cautious, declaring “I’m not a bomb thrower.” Newt deftly replied: “I’m a Reaganite,” citing Reagan’s declaration that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire.” The message GOP voters took away was: Newt is a bold conservative like Reagan, Romney is a cautious moderate. That’s a win for Newt.

Right Wingnut said...

Thanks, TC.

In addition to the points Marc Theissen makes in that article, I would also add the exchange between Newt and Mitt regarding Mitt's $200,000/yr cap for his capital gains tax cut. It was a bad move for Mitt to bring that up, and Newt made him pay for it.

Terrye said...

How desperate must people be to make an issue of something this damn petty. It was a joke for Chrisake.

I bet you a million bucks most people won't think it was a big deal.

BTW, if this is a big deal...how about the crack Newt made about his $60,000 fee for speaking in SC was more than the paltry average $58,000 a year the people who lived there made..what an ass.

It is interesting to see the liberal media working with certain people on the right to insure Obama's re-election by running someone like Newt...all of them hated the man 6 months ago.

TexasConservative said...

Terrye,

Each of us sees the debates in a different light.

I did not see the $10,000 exchange between Newt and Mitt as a joke. Romney seemed very irritated and reacted by making the bet.

His supporters are trying to cast it as a joke, but as many bloggers have pointed out, Romney's team came out with their first reaction about Perry not taking the bet. Not that it was a joke, but that Perry would not take the bet.

Unforced error by Romney is how it is being viewed.

Romney had no need to go after Perry as Perry is so far behind in the polls. But Romney lost his temper and now it will be the headline for a while.

Maybe Romney will now want to attend Huckabee's pro-life forum on 12/14.

Y'all do know that Romney has not agreed to attend this event.

For those of you who believe that Romney has always been pro-life, please tell me why he is not attending?

Doug NYC GOP said...

"I did not see the $10,000 exchange between Newt and Mitt as a joke. Romney seemed very irritated and reacted by making the bet."

Hardly an unbiased view, TC.

Goback and watch the clip, they were smiling through the entire exchange.

Newt looked and sounded like a deflated gas bag in this debate and is being propped up.

Romney was solid.

As far posting pro-Romney articles, quit the whining, just because the Romney team is sharper, funner and more passionate than the others.

Win or lose, he's done a great job this cycle and is the best of the field.

JoeMich4Mitt said...

The take that the bet was a gaffe is basically prioritizing mindless entertainment over honesty. The real story is that Mitt called Perry out on trying to force a lie.

Apparently the media chooses to value envy over integrity. What else is new?

TexasConservative said...

Doug,

You called RWN laughably desperate because he posted this video clip that everyone else is posting.

Should Rightspeak not post the most talked about moment of the debate?

Then you kinda mock me as not having an unbiased view.

No one on earth has an unbiased view. Everyone sees things differently.

But what I gathered from the Romney supporters here and over at race42012, is that Romney did great, that he is on top, that he roasted everyone else at the debate.

But I did not see it that way.

And neither did the majority of non-Romney supporters out there.

And let's be clear, I am not whining at the pro-Romney puff pieces that are here on this site.

It is the Romney supporters who whine each and every time that either I or RWN post anything non-flattering about Romney.

Go back and look at each of our pieces and note the Romney supporters comments. There you will find the whiners.

And to be clear, once again, Romney is in my top three. If he ends up as the nominee, I will gladly support him.

Right Wingnut said...

Joe,

Again...it's not the money. The issue is Mitt getting rattled by freaking Rick Perry of all people. In '08, he couldn't even handle McCain. How do you expect him to take down Newt in a debate? Newt will need to take himself out (which admittedly could happen), because Mitt hasn't shown the ability to do it.

Anonymous said...

Basically the bet meant Rick Perry was lying. He refused to be embarassed so he didn't go for it.

Anonymous said...

Rick Perry has had too many embarassments already and didn't want to pile on some more.

Doug NYC GOP said...

Romney wasn't rattled by Rick Perry.

Where do get this stuff.

It was obvious Romney made the bet to make a point to call Perry out.

The media fascination on this small aspect of the debate is childish and superficial. But it plays right into the mushy little heads of anti-Romney supplcants.

But I'll throw you little wee wee pad puppies a bone. Even if that was a "bad" answer - the rest of his debate performance far out shined that.

craigs said...

RW Yes, this comment was silly because it was half finished. Romney should have said " Ric $ 10,000 to your favorite charity if you're right and $ 10,000 to my favorite charity if you're wrong. Send you information to ABC and we'll let them decide.
For a millionaire like Perry, who gave $ 90 to his church a couple of years ago.....a big donation to his favorite charity ( besides himself ) would seem attractive

CraigS

Anonymous said...

craigs-
I agree. I still am lost as to why this is such a big deal. If Newt would have said this to Paul....I would have thought nothing of it..I thought there were so many other important points contained within the debate that should have made headlines.

The media is really trying to sensationalize this to tie it into the OWS movement....unbelievable. Why don't they pick up on Gingriches $500,000 tiffany credit line or Obama's $38,500/plate dinners. Simply Unbelievable.

Ohio JOE said...

"Romney owned the debate, scholling Newt and Perry." Whether that is the case or not, the chattering class did not see it that way.

Anonymous said...

Ohio Joe

One has to question the agenda of the spin doctors and pundits...I know what I viewed and no one can tell me what to think. I was following along with Dick Morris's tweets throughout the debate and he was scoring Romney high on the majority of comments...he too thought Gingrich looked washed out. He too did not tweet any negative comment regarding the bet during the debate.

The controversy was initiated by the DNC with their tweets and ABC ran with it and the pundits need something juicy to talk about on their Sunday news programs. The GOP voters are being played by the media and they should take the time to view the entire debate to see for themselves.

Right Wingnut said...

Leighrow,

Head over to National Review and Real Clear Politics and read the tweets from the conservative media. It's isn't pretty.

Terrye said...

Texas conservative...

You are actually going to make a big deal out of this? You and the liberal media..using Democratic talking points to take cheap shots at a Republican.

Hypocrite.

Terrye said...

The funny thing is that when Newt gets snotty, he is being tough.. a real he-man...but when Romney makes a joke that is obviously intended to make a point in a light hearted...well he gets skewered by the left leaning media and their conservative friends who have become new best buddies.

Newt Gingrich is a slime ball. But that is okay, true conservatives apparently like slime balls.

Right Wingnut said...

Terrye,

I feel bad for you guys. I really do.

Anonymous said...

RW

Big deal...the far right media and Murdoch owned news sources have been skewed against Romney along with the Obama media. I have seen many elections and I have never really witnessed one as odd as this one from the viewpoint that everyone in the same party and the opposing party is targeting specifically one candidate,being Romney, in hopes that he fails.

Again,I have an Independent brain and I can make up my own mind as to what I viewed during the debate,unlike some people.

Anonymous said...

RW

Big deal...the far right media and Murdoch owned news sources have been skewed against Romney along with the Obama media. I have seen many elections and I have never really witnessed one as odd as this one from the viewpoint that everyone in the same party and the opposing party is targeting specifically one candidate,being Romney, in hopes that he fails.

Again,I have an Independent brain and I can make up my own mind as to what I viewed during the debate,unlike some people.

Terrye said...

RW...

Yeah right. Don't feel bad for me..feel bad for America..

Right Wingnut said...

Terrye,

Instead of blaming the voters, you should be blaming Romney for running a horseshit campaign. Granted, there's still time to turn it around, but it doesn't look good at the moment.

Anonymous said...

I think this was definitely a gaffe by Romney. A small insignificant one, to be sure. But he did give them something to talk about, which was unnecessary.

However, I'll take the $10,000 bet gaffe over the lie--any day. Perry knew darn well he was flat out lying. Romney rightly called him on it.Romney isn't going to let Perry get away with it. And what did Perry do? Whimper away like a loser because he knew he'd been caught.

Sure, maybe Romney shouldn't have gone after Perry. But remember Perry still has millions to spend. So I'm okay with it all the way around.

If this is the extent of Romney in the gaffe dept, I'm not the least but worried. Much ado about nothing. Mountain out of a molehill. Etc etc etc.

But TC and RW, knock yourselves out over it.

-Martha

Anonymous said...

Here's the other thing. We have a guy in the lead who wants to build lunar colonies, and toss child labor laws. He thinks he's Churchill, Reagan and Thatcher all rolled into one. He's an egomaniac in the extreme, putting Gore to shame. He thinks he won the cold war, and made Romney rich. There's a 1000 ways to take Newt down without Obama having to lift a finger.

And you guys are worried about Romney making a silly bet. Something is wrong with this picture. Romney cleaned Newt's clock last night. Go watch the debate again if you don't think so. Utter silliness run amok in our party these days.

-Martha

Right Wingnut said...

Martha,

The past two weeks he had the eruption over Bret Baier's questions, and now this. Who exactly has the temperment problems in this race? I really think the stress is getting to him. Did you notice the sweat pouring off of him last night?

I acknowledge Mitt can turn it around, but nothing in his debate history indicates an ability to successfully attack his opponents, and unless Newt buries himself, that's what he will need to do.

Anonymous said...

You so called 'values voters' have no values at all. It's all talk, but when you need to stand up and walk the walk, you slink away and hide behind the very short coattailes of the most immoral man to ever (and I do mean ever) run for office. Newt makes clinton look like a choir boy, and Obama look like Ward Cleaver. I hope if you have children, they are not paying attention to your convenient lack of values and morals. I hope they learn from noble sources, as it's clear folks like RWN, TC and others like them won't stand for the right where the rubber meets the road.
Ellie.

Anonymous said...

RW, what are you talking about? Romney has shut down every single attempted attack in these debates. They've all tried it, and he comes out on top every time.

For a while there, no one dared attack anymore for fear of being slapped down. First it was Pawlenty, then Perry, then Newt. Do you remember the way Newt slunk away after Romney let him have it over mandates a few debates ago? So funny. And Newt is supposed to be the big debater. Last night proved that untrue. Newt was horrible last night--for a frontrunner. The next debate will be tremendous pressure for him. It's make or break.

Romney doesn't have that problem. Iowa means everything for everone but him. I'd say the Romney strategy is working out quite well.

-Martha

Terrye said...

Right Wing Nut...What voters? No one has voted yet.

And you could say the same thing about Palin..for years I heard her being portrayed as the eternal victim..badly used by the press.

No, Romney's campaign has not been horse shit..he is just being skewered by a bunch of idiots who spend too much time listening to other idiots.

Terrye said...

Right Wing Nut..and the eruption was not over Bret Baire's question..they came about because he made a point of using a quote that cut Romney off at mid-sentence..that was dishonest.

I can remember when a reporter did something like that to Palin, her supporters had a cow..that was not fair they said..

Well, if it was not fair to do it to Palin, then it is not fair to do it to Romney.

Just like this so-called gaffe..everyone laughed at the time. It was not a gaffe until the liberals decided to make it an issue and here you are carrying their water.

Hypocrites..all these pretend conservatives are just hypocrites.

Terrye said...

In fact, if Romney wants to win..he needs to break some laws, screw around on his wife and shoot his mouth off with the intent of starting an international incident..a little pompous gas baggery would not hurt either..apparently that is what the base is looking for.

Doug NYC GOP said...

The only horseshit around here is RWN unending, psychotic anti-Romney obsession.

It's as if all his pent up energy and frustration about Palin failing to run, after seeing herself rejected by the party (Can't deny those tragic poll numbers of 60%+ of the GOP telling he to sit on the bench this cycle)is focused on rooting for the Romney defeat.

I love seeing paper maiche conservatives flush their priciples down the toilet, while being spoon fed by the DNC and Liberal Obama Media.

It's also amusing to see a party and punditry who blast Obama for playing Class warefare, turn around and use the same tactics against on of ther own.

Right the "Conservative Movement" - whatever that is in 2011 - is horseshit. If there is any hope for the future, it will come from conservatively principled, pragmatic and indepentant thinkers, who make up the Romney 25%.

Anonymous said...

RW is so desperate to see romney gone that his commentary is almost laughable, romney is running a horseshit campaign? haha im sure the others would love to have the organization and support that he has, you called his interview with baier as him "erupting" than kudos to you for never having seen a really pissed off person in your life, now you say you saw romney sweating in the debate, wow you must have one hell of a HDTV because i just didnt see him sweating.Take some time of because you are beyond ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Palin did herself a huge favor by sitting out because had she been in, she would have been the flavor of the month in between perry and trump.And would have been just above bachmann in current polls.

Flagkeeper said...

This was just too coincidental, and the timing too perfect. $10k sounded a bit odd, as in oddly specific. Why not $1 million for effect, or just $5 for principle? Well, here is my take:

Romney’s DNC/Media Strategy- Covertly inject a piece of news originally related to liberals and then let the media and DNC waste money and time blowing it up only to find that the real story is their blatant hypocrisy. In other words, what may appear to amount to a “you’re welcome” from Romney to the DNC will somehow end up becoming a sincere “thank you”.

So, is Romney running a "drive-by" counter-intelligence campaign that mocks the “drive-by” media and DNC machine? I am convinced this is the case. After all, this “bet” has had a similar effect as did the last attack ad on Obama. Look at the political news. The 10k bet is everywhere, too!
In that “controversial” TV ad, Obama mocked McCain in 2008 for saying “if Republicans talked about the Economy, they would lose”. Now, ironically, that is the last thing Obama wants to talk about. So they used the ad clip to let liberals (Obama) back themselves into a corner defending the point that Obama was only quoting McCain, and that he didn’t actually mean it. This, of course, implies that they actually do want to talk about the economy, or else the quote becomes literally true – a win-win.

Today’s stunt creates the same liberal media firestorm as the first ingenious ad by camp Romney. In this case the media and libs are ALL rushing to condemn Romney for bragging, in effect, about his means, thus showing how out of touch he is with the working class or “99%”. Turns out, it was a tongue in cheek jab at the liberal media, as well as the calling out of Perry. Will the media and DNC machine’s premature over responses (resulting in an investment of time and money) payoff? I sincerely doubt it, but that is Romney’s real $10000 bet, now, isn’t it?


Here is some evidence:

A few days ago, this happened-
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/did-bob-beckel-bet-eric-bolling-10000-that-obama-could-beat-either-romney-or-gingrich/

An even more powerful liberal did a similar thing in recent news-
http://www.theage.com.au/world/pentagon-boss-wins-10000-bet-20111028-1mo7q.html

Cohen from Southern Poverty Law Center made 10000 bet with Bill O’Reilly and now wants him to pay up. O‘Reilly wasn’t even serious about it. See for yourself-
http://www.laprogressive.com/immigration-reform/bill-oreilly-pay-10000-bet/

I think this strategy is great. If this is the kind of war Romney is willing to wage (3-D Chess), then he is ready and able to win.

BTW- I found the above linked articles in only a few minutes of searching. It won’t be long now...

Paul said...

That was very interesting, Flagkeeper. It seems like Romney's humor was multifaceted with his monetary challenge to Perry's lie. And the challenge worked at the time. It was a hot knife cutting through the BS butter. I like what several of you have written (Leighrow, Terrye, Martha, Doug NYC) to elucidate RWN's and OJ's Anti-Romney obsession. It is clear that RWN is not just an objective observer with no horse in the race. And, RWN, resorting to the lunatic bigotry fringe on NRO is not sufficient cover. They (and apparently you) simply go out each morning like chickens in the barn yard to see what tid-bits the Dems have dropped for them (and you) to pick up and run with. You and the Dems each have you own reasons for wanting to get of Mitt Romney, but at least the Dems' reasons are intellectually compatible with their proffessed causes. Yours are not. But what funny bed-fellows you make. I'll cap that with something I've said before: The only thing worse than being a liberal Democrat, is being a tool for liberal Democrats.

Paul said...

Sorry, "professed."

Paul said...

and, "get rid of"