junioristjunio journalists. let s turn to romney. mitt romney has what might be called an al gore problem. even if he s being genuine, he seemed ersat. i covered the democratic field in 2008, so i didn t get to know him very well, but i think also it s this i hate to use the term boredom, but they re familiar with mitt romney. we ve told mitt romney s story in 2008. everybody is looking for the new thing to keep viewers and readers paying attention. and everybody knows that candidates, flash in the pan candidates like donald trump or palin, get clicks. they get more readers. we create this sort of false tension that really isn t fair to anybody. that sounds like it s more about ratings and online traffic than it is about seriously covering this presidential contest. but let me stick with this romney question. the media have created this narrative. he goes out without a tie or to a nascar race, the press questions it. wait, but i think the press is questioning it because they
do know romney. romney did a complete roundabout on gay rights. i remember the 94 campaign. i worked on that campaign. he was claiming he was better on gay rights than ted kennedy. not today he doesn t claim that. this week he claimed he was for the auto bailout when he was against it two years ago. the media knows a policy basis because he changed his view. in his track record and you hear it from republicans, too. there is plenty to criticize on romney s record if you want to go after flip-flops and authentici authenticity. the problem is the press has decided that s the narrative about romney and they re slotting things that don t belong there into that story line like what he s wearing at a particular event. that s the problem. just as when the reporters decided that gore was an inauthentic figure or he had a problem with the truth, every trivial little thing became part of that story line. and the candidate was never given a chance to break out of that. but this is not
particularly when it s such a competitive market competing for clips, ads, for viewers. that s what it s about. i think this is the dirty little secret among some net works where they re afraid somebody like pawlenty being asked about his amount of charisma as the nominee, viewers will turn the channel and not pay attention to presidential debates a year from now. it s more than a ratings game. i think howard was right, it s personal feelings. reporters didn t like gore as much as they liked bush on the campaign plains and reporters don t like mitt romney partly because they think he s a phony or the proverbial rich kid trying to buy the presidency. and then you do, as we touched on earlier, have this almost journalists almost mesmerized by the people not in the race. i wish chris christie would get in, paul ryan, michele bachmann who probably will get in. and now sarah palin with this east coast bus tour stirring up the speculation once again, is the press in danger of being bambo
fast-paced show like morning joe is plenty of pressure, but it was nothing compared to what happened when chris licht was hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage. he ll tell us what he learned when he almost died. and cnn s done lemon on why he decides to reveal he is gay and whether that should affect how he s viewed as a journalist. i m how shouard kurtz, and this reliable sources. mitch daniels is out. mike huckabee is out. donald trump is out. so the press have decided that they re like a sandlot team trying to play in the majors. pundits chatting. pretty amazing how we see into the future, isn t it? take a look. i think the daniels departure really opens up the space for paul ryan like nobody else. ryan s the one guy who has a rendezvous with destiny right now. frankly, we re disappointed. now, obviously, we have to start looking. and i was just saying this morning maybe it s time to start drafting paul ryan. i just find this the most boring list i ve ever see
think ahead to the election matchup between obama and romney. when the president called out financial speculators during a jobs speech yesterday, he laid it out. with romney as his likely opponent, he will run against wall street greed with romney trying to run against washington? and bain is not romney s only problem. he s got a spontaneity problem, don t you think? when things got confrontational, or goes off script, mitt goes off kilter. remember this? do you still support the idea of a mandate? do you believe that was the right thing for massachusetts? do you think mandating people to buy insurance is the right tool? i don t know how many hundred times i have said this. this is an unusual interview. let s do it again. cross your legs. a nervous chuckle there. we re going to look at mitt s problem with spontaneity when he goes off the script and the confrontation he s can t seem to handle. opponents are noticing this. who is behind the assassination of a nuclear scientist in i