Mitt Romney Takes on a Senior Citizen and Loses It

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared at the Iowa State Fair this week and ran into a buzz saw. He was heckled by a group affiliated with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, one of them an angry senior citizen who demanded to know how Mr. Romney would preserve Medicare and Medicaid without cutting benefits..

The person shouted at Mr. Romney who -- unwisely -- shouted back and wagged his finger. Exasperated, he finally said, "The way this is going to work is that you get to ask your question and I get to give my answer. If you don't like my answer, you can vote for someone else. But now I get to give my answer."

Three major problems with Mr. Romney's behavior:

1. Matching the anger


2. The threatening finger wag


3. Staking his ground; in effect saying, "It's all about me."

It's hot in Iowa, high temperature, high hopes, high stakes, but Mr. Romney should have stayed cool.

 

 

 

Follow Jerry Weissman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PowerPres

Comments

[Coffee4Me]

09:39 PM on 08/17/2011

Romney has a very belittling tone when talking to the 'little people' because he is used to being the boss. Most CEO's of corporations don't interact much with their employees, except for the other executives. This phenomenon has even prompted a tv show called undercover boss, where a ceo will try to do the job of the laborers to bring them down to earth a bit. Romney seems to forget that as President he would be an employee of the citizens ('little people') would be his boss. If you talked to your boss the way he talked to that senior citizen, would you still have a job?

[Jerry Weissman]

01:39 PM on 08/18/2011

Every presenter has to consider the audience with respect, whether the CEO or President or salesperson.

[Coffee4Me]

04:27 PM on 08/18/2011

Absolutely. I think Mr. Romney needs to remember he is on a job interview. He can start by leave his clear discontent for anyone that doesn't recognize his greatness at home, right next to his superiority complex.

[SETexasLib]

07:00 PM on 08/16/2011

Watch the video on the article below where the president is faced with two TPers. Mitt's handlers would do well to have Mitt watch it over and over as a training medium.

Exchange Gets Heated Between Obama, Tea Partiers

I think I will vote for the adult.

[K Wilson]

11:09 AM on 08/17/2011

So if he stays calm he is called a robot and shows no emotion but when he acts normal and like you would approach a situation he is then called out for acting that way. Typical liberal, can never be happy because they want to be miserable.

[SETexasLib]

03:10 PM on 08/17/2011

Miserable? I am estatic? I love to watch conseratives self-destruct:)))))

[alto2]

06:47 PM on 08/16/2011

The first point Mr. Weissman makes is the only necessary one; once Romney displayed anger to match that of his questioner, he had already lost the argument. If Romney cannot tolerate even this level of disagreement, at this level of national discourse, he certainly will not be able to keep his cool amid the much more heated debate in Washington. Definite lack of maturity, that.

A staple of future campaign videos, Dems?

[Jerry Weissman]

01:39 PM on 08/18/2011

Thanks for your comment and support.

[iridium53]

06:44 PM on 08/16/2011

Romney didn't answer the question.

Doctors, nurses, hospitals and drugs cost what they cost.
Unless the government does something to slow that growth.

Medicare already works at a 5.5% administration cost - compared to private healthcare's more than 20%. It is already a very efficient system.

Anytime Tea-Publicans, or anyone, speaks of cutting medicare costs, they are, in fact, speaking of cutting medicare benefits - one way or another.

They could cut overall medical costs through Universal healthcare.
They could cut payments to pharma and medical providers through longer term contracts.

Medical costs are the biggest threat to the US economy.

[SETexasLib]

06:51 PM on 08/16/2011

He answered it. He said I signed a pledge. No new taxes. There isn't anything I can do for you. So, take your vote and go away.

[Jerry Weissman]

01:41 PM on 08/18/2011

Every presenter must answer every question of every audience, whether a candidate or a business person.

[SETexasLib]

06:27 PM on 08/16/2011

I think that Jerry was right on all three major problems. I watched the video.

[SETexasLib]

06:21 PM on 08/16/2011

Mitt looks to be in fair physical shape. I think he could have taken the old man. For a minute I thought he was going to try.

[SETexasLib]

06:20 PM on 08/16/2011

The only good thing that Mitt has done was RomneyCare. But he fell in with the wrong crowd and now can't take the credit.

[SETexasLib]

06:15 PM on 08/16/2011

I'm voting for Barack Obama. I didn't like his answer.

[Lori Blomquist]

05:53 PM on 08/16/2011

Weissman, you're kidding right? I loved this Romney moment. He was strong, and even handed and passionate.

[Jared Jones Hendricks]

06:02 PM on 08/16/2011

I agree.

[LesleyAnne]

06:34 PM on 08/16/2011

He didn't answer the question. All he said was I'm not going to raise taxes and went off on a tangent that had nothing to do with SS or Medicare/Medicaid. He doesn't have a plan to address those programs, which says to me that he's now a tea partyer and will cut the benefits. Since Perry entered the race, every other candidate is in a race to the far right.