The best evidence of a “Mitt Romney Convention Bounce” came from the conservative pollster Rasmussen Reports. In the days before the Republican National Convention, Rasmussen showed the president with a rare lead in its daily tracking poll. And coincidentally this lead evaporated during the course of the RNC and on the Monday after the convention ended Romney had a four-point lead.
Nate Silver of the New York Times looked at the long-term trends and found that overall Mitt got about a two point six “bump” from his convention, less than the four points he needed to change the race. As of Tuesday, Romney’s lead in Rasmussen was back at two where it has generally been most of the race.
If the president gets just at least the same modest bump Romney did that would put the president back up over his challenger by three points – a nice position to be as the debates begin. But Romney’s problems aren’t just in the polls. They’re in perception. His positioning of being a savvy manager who picks the right people is in serious doubt after Clint Eastwood’s messy routine and Paul Ryan’s major collisions with the truth.
Here are four signs Republicans are sensing Romney is out of his depth and are getting desperate.
AP Photo/Al Behrman
The Republican “Counter” Convention
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
Bracketing your opponent’s convention is normal. Setting up your own clubhouse to shoot spitballs isn’t. Reince Priebus is in Charlotte with all the Republican usual suspects saying the same terrible things about the president that haven’t changed the polls in months. It’s big business’ version of Occupy, I suppose.
#EmptyChairDay
America’s kids are going to be stuck paying for Obama’s Empty Chair Style of Leadership #EmptyChairDay twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/…
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) September 4, 2012
A sure sign of something failing is Republicans embracing it. On Friday, the world got into #Eastwooding – taking pictures of empty chairs — to mock the ribald rant by the great actor/director. Two days later, conservatives got into the act. They posted chairs and invective. And in a sure sign of desperation, Sarah Palin joined in.
Paul Ryan On ALL The Morning Shows
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Paul Ryan used to have an undeserved reputation for truth telling. He’s since lost that reputation faster than Mitt lost his bounce. Now there’s a desperate attempt for him to win back his legitimacy by going on all the network morning shows Tuesday and explicating his misleading statements. Inspiring!
Asking, ‘Are You Better Off?’
In August of 2008, America lost 592,000 jobs. Osama bin Laden was alive. The Iraq War seemed endless. And apparently the GOP wants to remind us of this by constantly asking Ronald Reagan’s classic question “Are you better off now?” They can cherry pick statistics that make their case. But find me one American who wants to go back to the shock of the financial crisis and fear that came from knowing the same incompetent guys who planned the Iraq War were now dealing with a global economic meltdown. That we ever stopped losing jobs is a miracle.
