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Jon Huntsman Campaign’s Brutal ‘Scared Mittless’ Ad Has One Major Problem

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With a surprise quasi-endorsement by Erick Erickson this morning, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman‘s presidential  campaign might have some new life in it, so I was keenly interested when I saw their new “Scared Mittless” ad in my inbox this morning. Aside from the awesome title, the script for the ad is an absolutely brutal takedown of Mitt Romney‘s press-avoiding ways. The ad itself, though, has a glaring flaw.

The ad is pegged to a new Huntsman campaign website called “ScaredMittless2012.com” (scaredmittless.com has been squatted on) which features clocks that count up from Mitt’s last Sunday show appearance (610 days) and press conference (28 days). The ad’s script promises a hard-hitting spot:

CHYRON: “It has been 91 weeks since Mitt Romney has appeared on a Sunday show.”

CHYRON: “One month since he has held a press conference.”

CHYRON: “How long will Mitt run from the tough questions?”

CHRIS WALLACE: “He has not appeared on this program or any Sunday talk show since March of 2010. We invited Governor Romney again this week, but his campaign says he is still not ready.”

ANCHOR: “Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney finally put out a statement on the agreement to raise the debt ceiling. He was one of the last GOP contenders to do so.”

ANCHOR: “Raising the question whether what happened was a mistake or a political tactic.”

NORAH O’DONNELL: “I just spoke with Governor Huntsman.”

MITT ROMNEY: “I just don’t take questions unless we’re doing a press avail.”

O’DONNELL: “But you’re running for president.”

ROMNEY: “What I don’t want to do is just stand on a sidewalk answering questions.”

ROMNEY: “I’m not speaking about the particular ballot issues.”

ROMNEY: “Listen to my words. All right, listen to my words.”

GLEN JOHNSON: “That’s semantics. Running your campaign and giving you advice. Come on.”

CHYRON: “Mitt Romney Ducks Debt Question –Politico 07/27/11”

CHYRON: “Romney Spends 35 Seconds Dodging Yes Or No Question –Daily Caller 10/10/11”

CHYRON: “Romney Avoids Weighing In On Union Fight –CNN 10/25/11”

CHYRON: ”Don’t Take It Personally Iowa; Romney’s Avoiding Everyone –Des Moines Register 08/02/11”

CHYRON: “Mitt Romney’s Mittness Protection Program –Politico 08/01/11”

CHYRON: “Mitt Romney’s Vanishing Act –NY Times 08/10/11”

WALLACE: “We invited Governor Romney again this week, but his campaign says he is still not ready to sit down for an interview.”

CHYRON: “ScaredMittless2012.com”

Then, you play the actual ad:


Are you kidding me with that music? Yes, nothing goes better with a brutal political attack than acoustic guitars and whistling. I know that some political ads this season have featured ridiculously overwrought musical scores, but come on, you’ve got the guy running, for Mitt’s sake! The whole thing cries out for the cinematic treatment.

Despite his low poll numbers, Huntsman has been plugging away, and his campaign has kept up a steady stream of attack ads and opposition memos, but the ads have all featured weirdly laid-back music that completely sucks the life out of them. They need to get ahold of whoever did this ad for pro-Obama PAC Priorities USA.

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  • Anonymous

    Huntsman, won’t win the primaries. Romney probably will.
     
    BTW; TOMMY CHRISTOPHER seems to be a shill for PINUPS-FOR-RON-PAUL and also a little fascist. Tommy, can you explain why you deleted my comments and claimed that I had no manners when I pointed out that the women in the calender are old? And why did pinupsforronpaul “like” your comments? I was never manner-less in my comments-

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/sex-bomb-get-your-own-pin-ups-for-ron-paul-calendar/

  • Anonymous

    I really am surprised that Hutsman is doing so badly.  I didn’t necessarily think he’d be at the top of the GOP list, but I’m shocked that he’s barley even registering at all. 

    He has serious conservative bona fides in the economic circle, serious experience with China and in the foreign policy arena, and relatively moderate views socially…how is he doing so badly??

  • APKay

    Tommy it’s not just the music.  Huntsman thinks he’s clever in making this point about Romney running scared from the Sunday shows etc.  But Huntsman himself declined outright to participate in the Iowa caucuses and hightailed it out of Florida when he couldn’t get any traction there–and that’s after making a big deal about how Florida was going to be the headquarters for his campaign because it was his wife’s home state (probably ducked Utah because he knew the Utahn pols were going to come out en masse for Romney, which they did).  He made a dumb gambit in siding with NH against Nevada, and now that the situation’s been resolved without his posing, he’s reduced to circling NH like a vulture hoping that the Romney campaign implodes.  Once in a while he actually does something pro-active–like throwing a couple of spitballs at Romney.  That’s all he’s got. 

    Well, that and his daughters’ decked out in skintight dresses, tweeting for attention. 

    Anyway, Huntsman is the most poorly positioned candidate to be calling anybody else a coward.  So there’s an irony to this ad.  It’s not just the oddly inappropriate music, though who can forget Huntsman’s bizarre motocross videos that were supposed to announce his arrival into the primary race?  His campaign approach is 1 part cutesy, 1 part snark, 0 parts presidential.

  • Guest

    He’s doing so badly because he believes in science.

  • Guest

    I have to admit, when I saw the headline, all I could think was that the one problem with the ad was that it was a John Huntsman ad.  He’s just too reasonable for the Republican Party, and nobody wants to hear what he has to say.

  • S R Karenova

    Eric Erickson of RedState has it exactly right. Americans will vote for an incompetent leader before an incoherent one. Same lesson from the 2004 election. This should be a great opportunity for a true conservative to win. Run Romney. Obama wins. That’s the bottom line.

  • S R Karenova

    Huntsman does suffer from his affiliation to Obama, but his major pitfall has been a strategic one. From the outset of his campaign he has not emphasized his conservative beliefs bringing more spotlight to where he differs as a Republican such as believing in global warming. Not putting out as the primary message his conservative principles has been an absolute killer for Huntsman’s candidacy.

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    This might be mitt-picky, but even his running form is strange.  His arms say, “I’m punchin bumble bees!” while his feet say, “lava on the ground! lava on the ground!”.  It doesn’t look like he has run enough to develop anything near efficient locomotion.  Why take video of such a sight?

  • Oldies_dj

    Conservatives in his own state, Utah, would probably vote for Romney before Huntsman.  He has a bigger “silver spoon” than Romney and is much more spoiled. He has no connection with the non-wealthy.

  • Darr247

    Squatters?  Heh… it’s Romney’s own campaign that grabbed scaredmittless.com/net/org

  • hatessnark

    Mitt Romney refuses to interact whenever possible, we just heard about his avoidance of conversation on a flight, when he was the Gov. of Mass he always worked behind closed doors, greeted noone in the halls and generally wanted no interruptions (from the lips of a state rep), when he was asked to meet with reps of a committee trying to improve theater safety after a horrific fire with great loss of life, he was silent and answered no questions, (from the lips of the chairman of the committee who lost his son in the fire.)  He is one scary boy!!

  • Bill

    Your one big tool aren’t you?

  • Bill

    I think Obama should get rid of Biden and get Huntsman on the ticket since liberals love the guy so much.

  • Anonymous

    Huntsman vowed to run a positive campaign, but when that didn’t work, the knives came out.  But the music doesn’t make you THINK it’s a negative campaign, so…

    I don’t know.  The way the Not-Romneys come and go, Huntsman might get his shot after Cain falls, and then Newt rises and falls.  Maybe just in time for Iowa.

  • Anonymous

    There’s no way. Huntsman won his second term in Utah with something like 80% of the vote.

  • Anonymous

    Jon Huntsman just ain’t gonna happen.  He should hang it up and go home.  

  • Matt Langdon

    Point me to Huntman’s daughters wearing ‘skin tight dresses’. Also, what is exactly wrong with ‘skin tight dresses’? Are you a puritan? Or are you just being one part cutesy, one part snark and 0 parts humorous?

  • Dalehogue

    Why is that the case?  Anybody can write anything in these little boxes, if they don’t have to prove what they write. 

    Let’s face facts: Romney is the Reagan of this election.  Reagan was not a perfect conservative, so why are the Republican conservatives so intent on pointing out that Romney is not a perfect conservative?   Goldwater was a perfect conservative [or as perfect as a conservative can be] and he lost in one of the biggest political landslides in American political history. 

    Reagan beat a limp liberal in a landslide of sorts and won really big the next election.  Romney has never lost to a Democratic candidate in any election in which he participated as the Republican candidate. 

    While Obama, many of us agree, is a limp liberal, a bombastic leftist, a socialistic Muslim, and a wanna be communist.  On top of that, while half white and half black, he is a full blown liar.  And those who are really intelligent Americans know this.  Obama will lose in a landslide to whomever the Republicans nominate if he doesn’t declare martial law by November 6, 2012. 

  • http://gregingleright.weebly.com/ Greg

    Very nice proof of your initial point.

  • Michael T.

    Old Mitt still reminds me of every auto dealership Sales Manager I’ve ever dealt with.

    The $50 dollar haircut
    The desk photo with the beautiful wife and the adorable kids
    The tailored suit and power tie
    The fake smile
    The fake act of reaching out to address your concerns

    In a word a huge PHONY. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MPPK2CTPRQYEYSXVOFVUJRX3SQ ken

    The only thing I or my liberal friends know about Huntsman is that he thinks science is good and you ignore facts at your peril.That puts him head and shoulders above the the other republican contenders. As for love, I think I’d have to get to know him better. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_MPPK2CTPRQYEYSXVOFVUJRX3SQ ken

    You mean he differs by not being another butt-boy for big oil and coal.

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