Sorry for the incendiary title folks, but tonight's shenanigans courtesy of Drudge. Hannity and Mr. Bowtie, Tucker Carlson, have me incensed.
It's clear the Romney campaign is desperate.
They are down in nearly every swing state. The national polls all favor Obama. The margins may ebb and flow, but they are all consistent in the fact that President Obama is ahead. However they may wish to "unskew" the polls by rewriting them entirely or declaring that the race is a "statistical tie" (with the willing help of some of our MSM pundits), the chances of Willard Mitt Romney springing a zinger--I'm picturing Romney "Bart Simpson" telling President Obama to eat his Mormon undergarments--that's good enough to turn the race on its head fall somewhere between slim and none.
These are desperate times for the GOP. They've tried and failed to rev up a Benghazi scandal (truly their best option), and tonight, on the eve of the all-important first debate, they went for broke, electing to throw up a deck of race cards into the air, hoping they would fall in a favorable pattern.
They did not. And boy are the Romney operatives, who swear they weren't behind this smear, no sir, ready to reap what meager rewards may come of this race baiting.
"What is the news? I don't know," Romney spokesman Gail Gitchmo demurred after the release of a much-hyped six-year-old video of Obama addressing a largely black audience last night.
Of course, the Romney campaign disavowed all knowledge of this video and denied being its source. But, according to Buzzfeed:
The relationship between campaign manager Matt Rhoades and Matt Drudge — whose site first started teasing the video — has been widely reported, and the Drudge Report regularly features stories and headlines meant to give Romney a boost.
To be fair, Gitchmo denied any campaign involvement.
But the links between Drudge and Rhoades are deep and long:
Salon
The connection between the Romney camp and Drudge has been well-known for years: Matt Rhoades, who cultivated the reclusive Drudge while serving as the RNC’s research director last decade and who has been with Romney in each of his national campaigns. In both 2008 and 2012, Drudge’s favorable treatment of Romney and frequently unflattering coverage of them was a source of considerable irritation among rival campaigns. Drudge’s all-out assault on Newt Gingrich after his South Carolina primary victory this year offered a vivid demonstration of the phenomenon.
wikipedia:
Matthew "Matt" Rhoades (born February 3, 1975) is an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican National Committee. In the 2000 presidential election, he worked as a research analyst for the Republican National Committee assisting in the Florida recount.[1] In the 2004 presidential election, Rhoades was director of opposition research for the campaign to re-elect President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. In the 2008 presidential bid of Mitt Romney, Rhoades was director of communications.[1] Rhoades is cited as a pioneer in using less conventional outlets, such as the Drudge Report, to influence the public image about candidates who oppose his clients.
There are many, many more. Rhoades and Drudge are best buddies.
But officially they don't know anything about this stupid video reveal that was touted for hours on RW sites, such as Hot Air, where salivating right-wingers posted thousands of anticipatory comments before this dud of a video (for them) was eventually revealed.
Was this undercover Romney racebaiting worth it? Let's check in with the already converted.
Hot Air:
Nothing New Burger
Hannity jumps the shark
Remember when Breitbart was supposed to have the goods on Obama?
They were going to “vet” Obama.
#failunfortunately
Ace of Spades:
Totally fucking worthless. We have been had by Drudge.
The DC clip is just stupid.
Embarrassing. NOTHING HERE
Democrat wife: "That's it?"
sigh
Nothing to see here. Yeah it might have made an impact in 2008, but now its old news and patently obvious to everyone who has paid attention.
Blacks will vote for Obama regardless of what he says or do, thats the real racism in America.
Of course we've been had by Drudge. I knew this when Ace's first bullshit thread came out. Way to go buddy! Ace. We need a flaming skull. Fuckin A man.
The big news here is that Drudge and comapny lost some of the converted and are unlikely to persuade anyone else with this drivel aimed at white racism. But, let's be clear...the Romney campaign has deep ties with Drudge and it is unlikely this "OMG SHOCK 11911!!" video would ever have been dropped without their knowledge and big build-up on righty blogs.
They can't even win over their own people.
They have nothing.
Even the flackiest of flacksters, Mark Halperin sent this tweet today in anticipation of the big "reveal," before it was revealed to be nothing:
Starring Matt Rhoades as Matt Rhoades, Matt Drudge as Matt Drudge, X as Jackie Judd, Y as Mike Isikoff, Paul Begala as Himself #freakshow
NEW: And from
Politico's article about all of this falling flat on its ass:
Despite providing only 2 percent of Americans with their campaign news, the Drudge Report continues to carry outsized influence -- because of his brand recognition and, in 2012, because he has a direct line to the Romney campaign. (When Drudge first posted a banner-headline for the video, the link re-directed to the Romney campaign donation page, and was subsequently pulled down.)
At 3 p.m. today, Drudge tweeted, "Curious tape dropping tonight. NOT from MOTHERJONES. Will cause controversy, ignite accusations of racism -- in both directions!", and it was off to the races. The "NOT from MOTHERJONES" meant to suggest the "curious tape" would create controversy to rival the recent footage of Romney telling donors at a private fundraiser that 47 percent of Americans didn't pay income taxes and would never vote for him. Smelling Drudge-level sensation, reporters, including yours truly, spent six hours in heated anticipation -- and all for naught.
In order to sell the video, Hannity resorted to claims that the media "has been trying to hide" the video. He ran the footage next to footage of Obama's famous speech on race and Rev. Wright the following year and said he couldn't tell which Obama was the real Obama. No one seemed to care.