The laws vary by state - does anyone know where the fundraiser took place?
Florida, as I recall.
And I’m confused. What role did Jimmy Carter’s grandson play? I thought he was involved.
It wouldn’t be about defending Romney. It would be about attacking the supposed double standards of the liberal media.
From what I recall, Carter found a clip of the event on YouTube and hunted down the poster, convincing him to give the entire video to Mother Jones.
Not really. Romney was losing when the tape came out, although it did hurt him.
Agreed. Romney saved us from Romney. He just never connected with the voters, and probably wasn’t capable of doing so. He ran a mediocre campaign, got really desperate at the end, and picked a running mate who generated more controversy than interest.
Plus, the GOP is really far behind on using technology in the campaign process. The NYT Sunday Magazine had a great cover article on this a few weeks ago.
IANAL, but I believe that in Florida (my state) you can’t make a recording at a private event without everyone’s consent. Even a public figure has a right to privacy in a private setting.
I would hope that he and those who support him would have consulted a lawyer before going public.
Leroy Fletcher Prouty served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy.
Now check out these two pictures.
Scott Prouty
L. Fletcher Prouty
Anyone else think there’s a resemblance?
That’s what I’ve read. That said, and I think I said this several times last year, it’s ridiculous how many political events are “private” these days, and to that end I’d be happy if a lot more people did what Prouty did. It’s sickening to read day after day about presidential and congressional strategy ad campaign events where the press is barred or thrown out because the candidates don’t want to talk about their plans or opinions in front of the press. They want to say one thing to their backers and donors and another to the rest of the public.
And all of that took place in a campaign where he was in a disadvantaged position from the start. He needed some luck and an excellent campaign to win; at best he did OK and lost by about as much as might’ve been expected.
He would have won had the economy tanked. It didn’t. He didn’t.
I don’t think Ryan was a poor choice. Given the socio-pathology of the GOP, was there a better option? At least he was not a walking joke like Saint Joan of Wasilla.
I miss poster adaher. He could have popped into this thread and told us why Romney actually won the election based on his calculations. Seems to have disappeared from these forums sometime last November for some reason…
Well, he was certainly better then Palin. But he was still a dumb choice. Ryan was strongly associated with the House and its leadership, which at the time (and still) is probably the least popular institution in the country. And choosing him strongly attached Romney to Ryan’s budget plan, with its tax-cuts for the rich, large Medicare and Medicaid cuts, etc.
Also, it was obviously a choice meant to appeal to the GOP base. At that point in the campaign Romney really should’ve been trying to move to the center. When he finally did start moderating (in the first debate), his poll numbers shot up. But by then it was too little to late. Obviously Romney wasn’t going to chose a liberal running mate, but he didn’t need to choose someone so closely tied to the GOP’s agenda.
Plus Ryan was kinda meh as a campaigner. Say what you will about Palin, she at least brought something to the campaign and went all in on the attack-dog role.
I still think the elections was his (or a generic GOP candidate’s) to lose. The economy was pretty damn bad. Romney just wasn’t a good candidate. And he wasn’t helped much by his fellow politicians on the right who demonstrated that they had their feet firmly planted in the Middle Ages.
He was a wonk and not much of a campaigner. Say what you will about Biden, he knows how to shake some hands!
The problem was that the Republicans failed to learn the most important lesson of the 2008 election: they lost it.
John McCain presumably got all the votes of conservative white men in the 2008 election. Barack Obama got the votes of people who aren’t conservative white men. And when they counted the results, Obama got more votes than McCain.
The GOP somehow failed to do the math after this. They should have figured out that they needed to expand the appeal of their party beyond conservative white men. But instead they ran Mitt Romney.
They were using math that made them feel better about themselves. 
But it was improving, and the Republicans were counting on the economy either getting worse or on the public being totally dissatisfied with it, and since it was definitely getting better, that didn’t happen.
In their defense, the did what they could to hurt the economy.
And they’ll never stop trying to destroy the health care system
Is there a legal definition of ‘private’ in FLA? Since it was a fundraiser, I assume it was open to anyone who ponied up the dough which would not be that much different than a concert or ball game. Would that be legally different than an event where you had to be specifically invited?