# Romney goes all Sarah up in here **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 16, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142 "2012-05-16T22:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/1 "2012-05-16T22:47:15Z")
The Romney campaign has been stiff-arming reporter interviews and [now](http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/romney-campaign-tries-to-block-reporters/?hp) apparently doesn’t want reporters on the rope lines after town-hall type events. This is presumably because he says stupid things when unscripted, much like another candidate we remember so well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/2 "2012-05-16T23:59:02Z")
Who? Biden? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/3 "2012-05-17T00:18:24Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Who? Biden? Actually, I sometimes suspect Biden’s remarks of being scripted . . . ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/4 "2012-05-17T00:40:30Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Who? Biden? Sort of, except his handlers don’t bar the press from talking to him. And that whole thread title thingy. Otherwise: well done! ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/5 "2012-05-17T01:18:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Who? Biden? [Lol.](http://i50.tinypic.com/wk39xy.png) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/6 "2012-05-17T20:50:04Z")
Where _does_ Biden get this reputation for being a loose cannon, and saying stupid things, come from, anyway? The closest I’ve ever seen to an explanation was some Republican talking head recycling things originally attributed to Dan Quayle and trying to pin them on Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/7 "2012-05-17T21:17:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Where _does_ Biden get this reputation for being a loose cannon, and saying stupid things, come from, anyway? Didn’t we get a very good example very recently? Supporting same-sex marriage wasn’t stupid, but the bit about Will and Grace was pretty dumb. You might recall that in 2007 Biden damaged his own presidential campaign by making some comments about Barack Obama that were intended as complimentary but came off as out of touch and condescending and a little racist. He did make a couple of other amusing comments (like the one about FDR going on TV during the Great Depression), but for the most part his problem is not that he’s dumb, it’s that he loves to hear himself talk at least as much as any other veteran politician does. Sometimes, out of love for the sound of his own voice, he will just keep talking and talking and end up saying something absurd or unintended. I think the press has oversold the ‘stupid things’ angle at the expense of a more accurate representation of the facts: the man is a windbag of tremendous proportions. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/8 "2012-05-17T21:56:17Z")
He made some unwise comments regarding Indian’s owning 7-11s in the past, I believe. The ones about Obama being clean and articulate were rather clumsy too. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/9 "2012-05-17T23:21:06Z")
The thread title has the names Romney and Sarah in it, but 7 out of the 8 posts in the thread are about Biden - way to redirect kids! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/10 "2012-05-18T03:46:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Sort of, except his handlers don’t bar the press from talking to him. And that whole thread title thingy. Otherwise: well done! [Um…](http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-campaign-keeps-press-away-from-biden) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/11 "2012-05-18T13:48:21Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > [Um…](http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-campaign-keeps-press-away-from-biden) OMG! Twins! So I guess we’re not allowed to hear what any of our politicians are actually thinking. What a country. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/12 "2012-05-18T19:16:50Z")
Biden once plagiarized a speech by a British pol, in an astoundingly awkward way. I think that colored reporters’ perception of him for a long time. Of course, now that everyone uses talking points, presumably his sin in the media’s eyes is not cribbing someone else’s life story on the stump so much as not going along with the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/13 "2012-05-18T20:48:03Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Biden once plagiarized a speech by a British pol, in an astoundingly awkward way. I think that colored reporters’ perception of him for a long time. Of course, now that everyone uses talking points, presumably his sin in the media’s eyes is not cribbing someone else’s life story on the stump so much as not going along with the crowd. Sigh… Can we get this straight? He quoted a passage which he had quoted many times in the past, with attribution. This one time he forgot to attribute it. It got noticed, it got blown up into a huge “PLAGIARISM!!! EVIL LIAR!!!” media kerfuffle, and the label stuck. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/14 "2012-05-18T23:54:19Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Sigh… Can we get this straight? He quoted a passage which he had quoted many times in the past, with attribution. This one time he forgot to attribute it. It got noticed, it got blown up into a huge “PLAGIARISM!!! EVIL LIAR!!!” media kerfuffle, and the label stuck. And Al Gore 1) [never claimed to have invented the Internet](http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp) and 2) [actually **did,**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_technology) to the extent any **politician** could claim that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/15 "2012-05-19T14:03:27Z")
They’re all a bunch of damned matriculators. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/16 "2012-05-22T17:22:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > They’re all a bunch of damned matriculators. Hopefully they’ll stop when they need glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/17 "2012-05-23T00:06:07Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Sigh… Can we get this straight? He quoted a passage which he had quoted many times in the past, with attribution. This one time he forgot to attribute it. It got noticed, it got blown up into a huge “PLAGIARISM!!! EVIL LIAR!!!” media kerfuffle, and the label stuck. For me, the worst part was that he was quoting Neil Kinnock. People who lived in Britain in the late eighties and early nineties remember Kinnock as the most boring man who ever lived. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-goes-all-sarah-up-in-here/622142/18 "2012-05-29T01:14:43Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Supporting same-sex marriage wasn’t stupid, but the bit about Will and Grace I think he was right, for a certain value of right. As crappy as Will & Grace was, I think it did a lot to make scowly grandmothers grudgingly accept the gays. It was certainly neither the beginning nor the end of gay acceptance, but sometimes an EXTREMELY VISIBLE bit of mediocre can do some good work.