Politics: Change Newspapers Can Believe In

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Politics Change Newspapers Can Believe In How Mitt Romney turned flip-flopping into a virtue. By David Weigel Posted Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012, at 09:23 PM ET Newspaper endorsements don't matter in presidential campaigns, until the campaigns say they do. On Oct. 27, nanoseconds after the Des Moines Register endorsed Mitt Romney, the Republican campaign hot-lined an "In Case You Missed It" email to reporters. As if any of them had missed it. The political press was already in full sweaty-palm tweet-mode about the Iowa paper's first GOP endorsement since Nixon '72. Stephanie Cutter, the Obama campaign's master of the can-you-believe-this-crap snicker, had to sit and listen to George Stephanopoulos read the endorsement to her before she could say it wasn't "based in reality."* She was wrong. It was based in a brighter, more optimistic version of reality. "Romney had to tack to the right during the primary season," argued the paper's editors. "Since then, he has recalibrated his campaign to focus on his concern for the middle class, and that is believable if the real Mitt Romney is the one on display as governor of Massachusetts who passed a health care reform plan that became the model for the one passed by Congress." The Romney campaign's email excerpted most of the editorial. It skipped the "ifs." At least 21 newspapers that endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 have endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. Half of these endorsements are couched in the hope that Romney hornswoggled Republican primary voters and will govern as a moderate. "Like his primary rivals," editorialized Florida Today, "we never bought Romney's newfound conservative purity. During the ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Change Newspapers Can Believe In The Case for Price Gouging The "Voter Report Card" MoveOn Hopes Will Shame Slackers	Advertisement
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