Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Making Of Romney's Storm Relief Event


http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/the-making-of-romneys-storm-relief-event
opportunist?
A scramble to depoliticize a political campaign, and $5,000 in supplies from Wal-Mart. “Just grab something.”
On Monday morning, Romney's local team in Dayton was eagerly preparing to host the candidate the following day. A high school gym had been reserved, a stage had been rented, and a pair of celebrity guests — country singer Randy Owen, and NASCAR driver Richard Petty — had been booked to give the event some B-list heft.
Then, a little before noon, communications director Gail Gitcho announced the cancellation of "all events currently scheduled" for Tuesday. The superstorm that forecasters had been warning about for days had picked up steam, and people throughout the northeast were now bracing for the worst. In a statement, Gitcho said the decision to cancel campaign events had been made "out of sensitivity to the millions of Americans in the path of Hurricane Sandy."
So, after some deliberation, the campaign decided to use their existing venue in Ohio to stage a makeshift, and nonpartisan, humanitarian project. It would be a way for Romney to show leadership — and get on the local news — without looking craven or opportunistic.
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.)
"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."
the support they received???  thought this was about the disaster victims, $5,000. to keep from looking bad if no one shows.
But the event had its hitches. When reporters s arrived on site ahead of the candidate, they were given press badges describing the event as a "victory rally" — a result, one aide told BuzzFeed, of the event's last-minute repurposing. He said the badges were printed Monday morning, before the change had been announced.
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.
do you really believe that was not an intentional campaign ploy, multi millionaire Romney gets a photo pt for 5,000 bucks of tainted good will toward the disaster victims, wonder how many were the aforementioned 47%?
But the event had its hitches. When reporters s arrived on site ahead of the candidate, they were given press badges describing the event as a "victory rally" — a result, one aide told BuzzFeed, of the event's last-minute repurposing. He said the badges were printed Monday morning, before the change had been announced.
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 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.
where is Issa there's fraud here, but they are probably looking in the other camp instead of going where you know it