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Young Voters Speak Out: Each day, RR.com will spotlight politically minded youth writers from throughout the U.S. speaking their minds on Election 2012. First-time voters, student journalists and new graduates will debate the Obama vs. Romney race to the White House. Young Democrats, Republicans and ‘Undecided’ Americans are eager to play politics and choose the next Commander & Chief.
Read Brian William Waddell's thoughts from a right-leaning perspective:
Coulter is Right for the Wrong Reasons
The Romney campaign needs a new press secretary, but not just because of one misguided statement. Ann Coulter has called for Mitt Romney's campaign press secretary, Andrea Saul, to be fired because of her comment on Fox News touting Massachusetts's health care. While Coulter may be right about the endgame, her reason and path to accomplish it are both flawed.
Oops, They Did it Again
Ms. Saul went on Fox News last week to discuss an ad put out by a pro-Obama Super PAC featuring a former steelworker tying his wife's death from cancer to Bain Capital and, subsequently, Mitt Romney. While the commercial features statements that range from misleading to downright false, Saul's talking points (to a supportive interviewer who gave her every opportunity to take on the premise of the ad) basically consisted of reiterating that the Obama campaign was playing dirty pool. Then, she added that if the steelworker had lived in Massachusetts he would have had healthcare. From someone who should be helping to tailor the campaign message, the fact that she couldn't even figure out what the message should be is grossly unacceptable.
Friends in High Places
Coulter said that big Romney backers should call for Saul's ousting. The problem with that is that Saul's father, Julian Saul, and some of his old friends from Shaw Industries (a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary), where he served as president, are big Romney backers. On June 10th of this year, Mr. Saul gave $20,000 to Romney Victory, Inc., the campaign's joint fundraising committee. I'm not saying Mr. Saul bought his daughter a job, but in this case I believe she is in her position because of who she knows more than what she knows.
Nice Knowing You
Should Andrea Saul be fired because of one unfortunate flub? No. Should Andrea Saul be fired because of an overall ineptitude and mishandling of the campaign message? Yes. It's very hard for me to say that someone should be fired in this terrible economy, but when your job involves shaping perception and you can't even figure out to counter lies by calling them lies, you need to go.
