Obama's response team still has room for improvement

[cthulu2016]

Mitt Romney suggested Saturday in Virginia Beach that President Obama wants to remove God from coins, provoking a fierce retort from the president's campaign.

"I will not take God out of our platform," the Republican nominee said after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. "I will not take God off our coins, and I will not take God out of my heart."

In response, Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith called the insinuation false and an act of desperation.

"It’s disappointing to see Mitt Romney try to throw a Hail Mary by launching extreme and untrue attacks against the President and associating with some of the most strident and divisive voices in the Republican Party, including Rep. Steve King and Pat Robertson," she said in a statement. "This isn’t a recipe for making America stronger, it’s a recipe for division and taking us backward."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/romney-implies-obama-will-remove-god-from-coins

<Facepalm>... Romney's speech was so low that responding should be like hitting a baseball off a tee. This is some very low-hanging fruit... practically a pinata.

I know that football season has just started, but you do not respond to your opponent saying he loves God more than you do by characterizing his desperate move as "a Hail Mary."

This isn't a clever joke or anything. It is just an error. (I am 99% certain it was an inadvertent phrasing, presumably from somone who thinks of it as a sports phrase without intuiting what the phrase means, but if it was intentional it's worse. You do not make clever jokes about religion in a presidential campaign.)

[A-Schwarzenegger]

1. I thought it was perfect.

You think Catholics will be offended?

[cthulu2016]

2. No. Not offend.

But when accusing someone of interjecting religion it is inelegant to compare their action to a prayer. It is muddy.

That's all. Not offensive, but an unfortunate metaphor.

It's like saying, "Romney doesn't have a leg to stand on when he criticizes Obama's treatment of our wounded veterans."

Just one of those, "Is that really the best way to phrase this?" moments.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

3. I see your point of view, but I think "throw a Hail Mary"

is such an accepted phrase in the culture, and is so instantly understood,
that it did the trick in this case. Its inelegance may be its most effective
element, because it undercuts the fake piety of the Repub charge with a
football-related image, brings their high-flying bullshit down to earth, and
leads the reader to immediately picture Romney deep in his own end zone,
hopelessly hurling a wounded duck the length of the field at the last second.

[susanna]

4. For this post, I want a "like" button. Spot on. n/t

[NYC Liberal]

5. I hope it's not an "error". It was the perfect response, and I'll be surprised if 5 people

take "offense" or even see it as some sort of direct religious reference or "joke" rather than the sports phrase or metaphor it is.

[JNelson6563]

6. Yeah he shoulda out-goded him!1!

As an atheist I am glad the President doesn't get into a holier-than-thou pissing match.

The response was right on. It re-framed the focus away from the godly contest to pointing out Mitt's desperation.

I'm glad you're not a campaign adviser.

Julie