We're in a world of hurt if we can't get that explanation to the public to the voters regarding what the choices are. He (Romney) should be very aggressive and he should be adamant in his attacks . . . he needs to be severely aggressive.
~ Sarah Palin on Fox, via Last Word
Gotta use those buzzwords. Gotta say "socialist." You gotta do that to get people's attention.
Bill O'Reilly on Fox, via Last Word
The Romney campaign's going to have to make some changes. They're going to have to go ideological! They cannot continue on this 'Obama Mr. Nice Guy' bit. They just can't do it. It isn't going to work.
. . . I'm not saying go out and say Obama's a bad guy. But he's got to be tied to this economy. His policies, his ideas, his ideology. Liberalism is still a dirty word in this country - use it!
Rush Limbaugh on his radio show
Speak Up, Mitt!
. . . It’s not enough to float like a butterfly. You have to sting like a bee. No sting, no victory.
~ William Kristol on the Weekly Standard
If you can't beat Barack Obama with this record, Then shut down the party. Shut it down, start new with new people. Because this is a gimme election, or at least it should be.
And the millions . . . I keep going back to the millions and millions of dollars paid to these political consultants.
Election after election, we hire people who have lost previous campaigns; who've run campaigns that have failed; who have message campaigns where the message fell flat, and they keep getting re-hired. I don't understand that. I don't know why those are the people you hire.
If I'm hiring messaging people, I'm finding out, for instance, who did the original Geico gecko commercial, because that guy or gal who did that, actually knows how to brand something.
And if you're Mitt Romney, with all of your expertise and all of your knowledge about how the economy works, and you're in this, you have one shot, man. This is going to be the first line of your obituary: you won or you lost. It's all on the line for the country, and it's all on the line for you.
~ Conservative Laura Ingraham on her radio show 9-10-12
Mitt Romney should be up by five, six points.
You know the way to stop the doubters? Start winning in these polls. Start winning in significant margins and look like you’re ahead in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Then people won’t have a mini-panic.
. . . For the Romney campaign to stick their heads in the sand and say just business as usual, keep goin' along the same path - I think that is very dangerous.
~ Laura Ingraham on Fox and Friends, via Mediaite
Mitt Romney does not have the feeling, the visceral, philosophically sound feeling for what's wrong with the progressive movement in this country. He's a good man, a good fellow. He'd be a much better president than the one we've got. But he doesn't -- what I've said before about him is conservatism is a second language for him. And he is still learning it. And it's hard to learn this thing in the midst of a high-stakes presidential campaign.
~ George Will
Romney needs a busier schedule to make clear what he's fighting for. He can't afford to waste the three weeks until the first debate.
Romney needs a narrative, a story, so voters understand he's going to bring change to a country that 70% of them believe is on the wrong track.
~ Alex Castellanos on CNN Political Ticker
On Romney's 9/11 Speech to the National Guard Association
This was a wasted opportunity when he could have shown some mettle. His foreign policy message, not unlike his domestic policy message, is getting put through the Boston blender, it seems, coming out mush. That would be mush with no flavor.
Romney wants to rise above the fray, which might work if he had a hatchet man at the ready. But so far he’s not unleased VP nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to hit Obama where he is most vulnerable.
. . . Now is not the time for sweet vignettes; it’s time for him to seize the moment. That requires Romney to sharpen and beef up his message.
~ Jennifer Rubin on Washington Post
Romney Adrift
The economy’s a mess, but thanks to a hapless campaign, the GOP nominee is behind with time running out.
. . . This is a very close race and one that still could go either way. But the odds of Romney capitalizing on this economy, and the opportunity it affords, seem lower than they were before the conventions. If Republicans and Romney supporters are growing nervous, they should be.
~ Charlie Cook on National Journal
This is a true test of Romney's resolve. He's like the pilot of a plane rolling down the runway for takeoff. There's a tree line at the end of the runway that he has to clear. He's sure he'll make it. He's gaining speed, getting some lift, but he's still not high enough, and at about three-quarters down the runway, a lot of passengers are getting scared. Does Romney keep going according to plan, confident he'll clear the trees when the time comes? Or does he try some last-minute maneuver?
Romney is an experienced leader, with an executive sensibility to the core. But he's never had to make a decision like this.
~ Byrom York on Washington Examiner
