Doubt

CORE MESSAGE

Weak, reckless, incompetent -- and that's just what Republicans are saying about Romney.

Share: http://bit.ly/QjNM1p | Facebook   | Twitter

WHAT ROMNEY'S OWN PARTY SAYS ABOUT HIM

Lehman moment … not ready for prime time … wasn't presidential … utter disaster … incompetent … completely bungle it … just trying to score a cheap news cycle hit.

--Senior Republican aides and strategists

Romney looked weak today....And I thought, "He looks like Richard Nixon."

--Peggy Noonan, conservative columnist and speechwriter for Ronald Reagan.

The Romney campaign's attempt to score political points on the killing of American diplomats was a dismal business in every respect. …it was graceless and stupid as a matter of politics.

--David Frum, conservative columnist and speechwriter for George W. Bush

As tortured in its reasoning as it is unseemly in its timing.

--Mark Salter, former chief of staff to Sen. McCain and senior adviser to the McCain for President campaign

Not much is required of Gov. Romney on this. He has to be poised. He has to be sure-footed. He has to be precise. He was none of those.

--Ed Rogers, longtime Republican strategist

Frankly, the charges he made were not only completely untrue but reckless and irresponsible.

--Nicholas Burns, former undersecretary of state for political affairs and former U.S. ambassador to NATO under George W. Bush

The Romney campaign put out a statement before the facts were in that politicized the matter and gratuitously attacked the administration for something they did not do.…They acted too quickly, too rashly, too politically.

--Steve Schmidt, Republican strategist and senior adviser to the McCain for President campaign

He had forgotten the first rule in a crisis: don’t start talking before you understand what’s happening.

--Advisor to Romney's own campaign and aide to George W. Bush

Romney should be standing as an American with Americans right now and not trying to narrowly pursue political profit.

--Charles Hill, longtime first deputy to Reagan Secretary of State George Schultz

He’s just an ambitious man. Nothing wrong with that, except when you want to be president.

--Joe Scarborough, host of "Morning Joe" and former Republican member of Congress

The contrast he set with Obama was not good.

--Ed Rogers, longtime Republican strategist

ROMNEY'S MAD-LIBS STYLE TO LEADERSHIP

ROMNEY: Foreign policy is serious business, but here's my approach anyway: The President is too weak to deal with our biggest enemy _______________.  

FILL IN THE BLANK: China, #1 foe Russia, Iran, Hugo Chávez, immigrants.

Click here to view the image. Tweet it!
Generated at quickmeme.com

ROMNEY: It takes some brass to attack a guy for what we did, but we're going to attack the President on _______________ anyway.

FILL IN THE BLANK: The speed of the economic recovery, China, the free rider fee in Romneycare, Medicare savings, flexibility in welfare reform, "red line" on Iran, defense spending cuts, and the Tea Party Downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.