Cross-posted from The Nation
Since Jon Huntsman exited the Republican presidential race, Mitt Romney has been collecting the lion's share of newspaper endorsements
as the never-ending Republican presidential race has skipped from state
to state. Though there are certainly exceptions, newspaper editorial
boards generally maintain a refined taste for free-trade fantasies,
privatization, running government "like a business" and the myth of
"executive experience."
So Romney pretty much fits the bill.
But it is not a perfect fit, as major papers across the country have
made clear. The endorsements of Romney invariably come with a caveat
indicating that, like Republicans in general, the newspaper editorial
boards are not really that into Mitt.
What's a candidate to do when all his endorsements recite his many failings?
For Mitt, that's no problem.
Romney's campaign just cuts out the bad parts.
As the critical Michigan primary approached, one of the state's largest newspapers, the conservative Detroit News endorsed Romney. But the paper noted:
"We disagree with Romney on a point vital to Michigan -- his opposition to
the bailout of the domestic automobile industry. Romney advocated for a
more traditional bankruptcy process, while we believe the bridge loans
provided by the federal government in the fall of 2008 were absolutely
essential to the survival of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. The
issue isn't a differentiator in the GOP primary, since the entire field
opposed the rescue effort."
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When the Romney campaign sent out an an e-mail blast and related communications about the endorsement, they dropped that section.
They did the same thing with a Grand Rapids Press
endorsement, editing out the section that began: "Romney's record does
have flaws, however. His stance against government interaction to revive
the domestic automobile industry is disappointing. Also disappointing
are inconsistencies in his message...."
Editors in Michigan complained -- with Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley pointedly saying it's "inappropriate to edit out the mild criticism."
"This was such a long cut and paste that I think it did create some
confusion as to whether this was the whole editorial or not," Finley told CNN.
The Romney campaign came back with all sorts of excuses: concerns
about copyright laws, claims of "fair use," space concerns, you name it.
But they did not say they would stop peddling false impressions of
their candidate And they have not.
When the Cleveland Plain Dealer endorsed Romney
in Super Tuesday's critical Ohio primary, the Romney camp made a big
deal about the backing it had received from the largest newspaper in a
battleground state, about which the Plain Dealer notes:
"Beginning with Abraham Lincoln, no GOP candidate has ever been elected
president without Ohio's electoral votes. In any Republican strategy to
unseat President Barack Obama this November, Ohio is a must-win state."
The Romney camp rushed to circulate the endorsement.
But in their e-mail blasts to media in Ohio and nationally, Mitt's aides edited out
the part that read: "Consistency is certainly a problem for Romney. The
one-time moderate has adjusted his positions on so many
issues -- including abortion and gay rights -- that his core beliefs are a
mystery."
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John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Online Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.
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