Today in Mitt Romney Is Terrible

Oof. Yesterday, in Ohio, at a campaign event during which both Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan were making an appearance, this happened:


Video Description: At an outdoor campaign event, just after Paul Ryan has left the stage, Mitt Romney takes the stage and says, to the cheering crowd, "It's quite a guy, isn't it? Paul Ryan! Isn't that something?" The crowd waves campaign signs and chants, "Ryan! Ryan!" Mitt Romney interrupts: "Wait a second, wait a second—Romney Ryan Romney Ryan Romney Ryan. There we go, all right, that's great."

Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes.

As Steve Benen notes, "The moment helped capture a larger area of concern for the Republican ticket."

The New York Times reports today that the campaign will have the two men campaign together with increasing frequency, even though it's inefficient to cover less ground, because aides fear Romney is "not generating enough attention and excitement" on his own.

No wonder Romney didn't like the crowd chanting Ryan's name.

As it turns out, Ryan may not be thrilled, either. Politico's Roger Simon has a column today on the right-wing congressman deciding to "distance himself from the floundering Romney campaign." Ryan has apparently "been marching around his campaign bus, saying things like, 'If Stench calls, take a message' and 'Tell Stench I'm having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.'"

The quote is a reference to Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa, telling the New York Times over the weekend, "I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he'll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him."

Whoooooooooops your campaign!

The Romney campaign is so horrendo that the latest ABC/WaPo poll (ad with audio begins to play automatically at link) found that 61% of respondents "hold an unfavorable view of how Romney's handling his presidential campaign."

Woof.