Bfgrn
New member
It doesn't get any more contrived and dishonest than this. Romney is not presidential material. He is truly disgusting.
The Making Of Romney's Storm Relief Event
A scramble to depoliticize a political campaign, and $5,000 in supplies from Wal-Mart. “Just grab something.”
Posted Oct 31, 2012 6:37am EDT
DAYTON, Ohio — The last-minute decision by Romney high command Monday to suspend politics while Sandy raged sent aides in Ohio scrambling to convert a scheduled victory rally into an apolitical "storm relief event" — a process that tested the campaign's agility and left a few threads of partisanship inadvertently hanging.
The plan was for supporters to bring hurricane relief supplies to the event and then deliver the bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to the candidate, who would be perched behind a table along with a slew of volunteers and his Ohio right-hand man, Senator Rob Portman. To complete the project and photo op, Romney would lead his crew in carrying the goods out of the gymnasium and into the Penske rental truck parked outside.
But the last-minute nature of the call for donations left some in the campaign concerned that they would end up with an empty truck. So the night before the event, campaign aides went to a local Wal-Mart and spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food, and diapers to put on display while they waited for donations to come in, according to one staffer. (The campaign confirmed that it "did donate supplies to the relief effort," but would not specify how much it spent.)
At more senior levels of the campaign, careful consideration was being given to the tone of the program, officials said. Romney would scrap his normal stump speech and replace it with brief, optimistic remarks on the spirit of volunteerism. And Owen would still perform with his band, but he would refrain from cheerleading his candidate, and instead talk about the devastation he saw in Alabama after tornadoes tore through his home state last year.
When showtime arrived the following morning, local campaign staffers were pleasantly surprised by their supporters' generosity.
"We were incredibly pleased with the outpouring of support we received from volunteers and generous contributors from southwest and central Ohio," said Christopher Maloney, Romney's Ohio spokesman, adding, "We’re pleased that Ohio could play a role, albeit a minor one, in the relief effort."
And shortly thereafter, the two large projector screens near the ceiling lit up with a glossy, 10-minute biographical video about the candidate, one that debuted at the Republican National Convention. A state campaign official blamed "someone from the audiovisual team" for playing the video without the campaign's permission.
But reporters, many of whom had spent the night before glued to hotel television sets watching their hometown of New York get ravaged by the hurricane, were sensitive to the hints of politics at the event and took to Twitter to voice their skepticism.
By the time Romney's motorcade rolled up to the high school, the projector screens were displaying Red Cross donation information, and grocery bags stuffed with supplies were piled up in a corner of the gym.
But even as Romney, clad in blue jeans and rolled-up sleeves, hustled around his area of the gym, shaking hands, thanking supporters, and stacking cases of bottled water on top of each other, signs of stagecraft remained.
As supporters lined up to greet the candidate, a young volunteer in a Romney/Ryan T-shirt stood near the tables, his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, "You need a donation to get in line!"
Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, "What if we dropped off our donations up front?"
The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. "Just grab something," he said.
Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their "donations" to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest "Thank you."
more
The Making Of Romney's Storm Relief Event
A scramble to depoliticize a political campaign, and $5,000 in supplies from Wal-Mart. “Just grab something.”
Posted Oct 31, 2012 6:37am EDT
DAYTON, Ohio — The last-minute decision by Romney high command Monday to suspend politics while Sandy raged sent aides in Ohio scrambling to convert a scheduled victory rally into an apolitical "storm relief event" — a process that tested the campaign's agility and left a few threads of partisanship inadvertently hanging.
The plan was for supporters to bring hurricane relief supplies to the event and then deliver the bags of canned goods, packages of diapers, and cases of water bottles to the candidate, who would be perched behind a table along with a slew of volunteers and his Ohio right-hand man, Senator Rob Portman. To complete the project and photo op, Romney would lead his crew in carrying the goods out of the gymnasium and into the Penske rental truck parked outside.
But the last-minute nature of the call for donations left some in the campaign concerned that they would end up with an empty truck. So the night before the event, campaign aides went to a local Wal-Mart and spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food, and diapers to put on display while they waited for donations to come in, according to one staffer. (The campaign confirmed that it "did donate supplies to the relief effort," but would not specify how much it spent.)
At more senior levels of the campaign, careful consideration was being given to the tone of the program, officials said. Romney would scrap his normal stump speech and replace it with brief, optimistic remarks on the spirit of volunteerism. And Owen would still perform with his band, but he would refrain from cheerleading his candidate, and instead talk about the devastation he saw in Alabama after tornadoes tore through his home state last year.
When showtime arrived the following morning, local campaign staffers were pleasantly surprised by their supporters' generosity.
"We were incredibly pleased with the outpouring of support we received from volunteers and generous contributors from southwest and central Ohio," said Christopher Maloney, Romney's Ohio spokesman, adding, "We’re pleased that Ohio could play a role, albeit a minor one, in the relief effort."
And shortly thereafter, the two large projector screens near the ceiling lit up with a glossy, 10-minute biographical video about the candidate, one that debuted at the Republican National Convention. A state campaign official blamed "someone from the audiovisual team" for playing the video without the campaign's permission.
But reporters, many of whom had spent the night before glued to hotel television sets watching their hometown of New York get ravaged by the hurricane, were sensitive to the hints of politics at the event and took to Twitter to voice their skepticism.
By the time Romney's motorcade rolled up to the high school, the projector screens were displaying Red Cross donation information, and grocery bags stuffed with supplies were piled up in a corner of the gym.
But even as Romney, clad in blue jeans and rolled-up sleeves, hustled around his area of the gym, shaking hands, thanking supporters, and stacking cases of bottled water on top of each other, signs of stagecraft remained.
As supporters lined up to greet the candidate, a young volunteer in a Romney/Ryan T-shirt stood near the tables, his hands cupped around his mouth, shouting, "You need a donation to get in line!"
Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, "What if we dropped off our donations up front?"
The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. "Just grab something," he said.
Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their "donations" to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest "Thank you."
more
