Steve Benen calls it the dumbest ad ever. It would be heard to deviate from the simple, yet accurate, assessment.
It’s a bit like the remarks from the debate in May — Romney tries to come across as knowledgeable, but ends up not making any sense at all.
Glenn Greenwald recently explained that some portions of the conservative movement are genuinely convinced that we’re this close to a global Islamic theocracy. It’s absurd — as Yglesias noted, “The idea that we should be laying awake at night afraid that a group of at most several thousand people who control almost no territory or valuable military equipment might establish a universal caliphate or ‘collapse freedom loving nations like us’ is ridiculous.” And yet, that’s the basis for a campaign ad from a top-tier Republican candidate.
Indeed, notice the ad talks about terrorists “collaps[ing] freedom-loving nations” like the U.S. How is that even possible? Romney doesn’t say, but if we vote for him, he’ll prevent it. Please.
Kevin Drum on this pander-fest to the fringes of the fearful.
There are no actual proposals or serious thoughts here. It’s just a puerile contest to see who can stuff the most World War IV bullets into a single 30-second spot.
But really, how does that stray from the overall campaign for the Republican nomination as a whole? This race has been high on the rhetoric and low on the policy proposals.
Last year’s crushing defeat for Republicans in the midterm elections was, according to the conservative movement’s faithful, a message. A message that the party had strayed from what propelled the GOP to national power in 1994.
Since then, the three Republican front runners, each known for being moderates, put things into overdrive, and really, are overcompensating for their lack of conservative bona fides and pandering to the caricature that the GOP has become.
3 Responses to “Mitt Romney’s Jihad-gasm Ad”
[...] foreign policy advisers, like Mitt Romney’s “Jihad” ad, are meant to achieve the same objective: pandering to the party base by, really, overcompensating [...]
[...] to go to war with Iran as soon as possible, vote Rudy. Giuliani’s foreign policy advisers, like Mitt Romney’s "Jihad" ad, are meant to achieve the same objective: pandering to the party base by, really, overcompensating [...]
Something to say?
Muslims Against Sharia commend Governor Romney for clearly defining the enemy and standing up to Islamist lobby and PC establishment.
Link to video
Left by Muslims Against Sharia
October 13, 2007 at 8:54pm