This was on NPR's "Here and Now" discussion overheard -- in random fragments -- on the car radio.
Apparently the "likability" of a candidate being a key measure of whether he'll win or not, yes, likability is top of the list. About Romney's likability and whether the convention helped improve his image, Chris Ingram, Republican political analyst, at the end of a back-and-forth discussion with Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post, Ingram seemed glum. Then he sighed and said, "Well, you know what you do with lemons. You make lemonade."
As for comments about the convention: "There's nothing about Romney. It's all about Ron Paul."
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Likability is important. I wonder if lying is a problem. AP has noted down some doozies that were floating in the gassy atmosphere of the convention hall. For example
CHRISTIE: "Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to end the torrent of debt that is compromising our future and burying our economy...Tonight, our duty is to tell the American people the truth. Our problems are big and the solutions will not be painless. We all must share in the sacrifice. Any leader that tells us differently is simply not telling the truth."
THE FACTS: Romney has made a core promise to cut $500 billion per year from the federal budget by 2016 to bring spending below 20 percent of the U.S. economy, and to balance it entirely by 2020.
His campaign manifesto, however, is almost completely devoid of the "hard truths" Christie promises. ...AP
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And this is just plain dumb. Bush-Cheney used to do things like this, unaware, apparently, of the symbolism.
Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign toasted its top donors Wednesday aboard a 150-foot yacht flying the flag of the Cayman Islands. ...ABCNews
