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, 5 tweets, 1 min read
I hope Mitt Romney--living proof that it's possible to walk upright without a spine--will stick with this; if so, I'll apologize for the above.

I'm a little cynical, though, so what follows is my gaming out of Romney's interest here, beyond any ethical commitment. 1/
2/ So: my assumption is that Romney still wants/believes he ought to be president. He is 72. His only realistic shot is the 2020 election. If Trump remains in office, he's the nominee, so for Romney to achieve a life-long ambition, Trump must go...
3/ Romney in a primary vs. Pence, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich (e.g.) has at least some chance for the nom. If a D beats Trump, then Romney's faces a 2024 campaign when he's 77 and confronting incumbency again, which didn't work well for him last time...
4/ If Trump wins again (FSM forbid!) then he's an anti-Trumper in a Trumpist GOP and is basically done.

So while it's clearly the right thing to do to defend US democracy against Trump's grab for autocratic power, it's also very much in Romney's political interest...
5/ Which is fine! I'm not one of those shocked, shocked to discover that politics happens in political life.
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Thomas Levenson
@TomLevenson
So how's this for subtraction by addition. Over the last few years @nytimes lost @Sulliview and gained @BretStephensNYT. Now Sullivan chronicles the complicit fecklessness of Stephens et al. in her column on the danger of bad media hot takes: washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/styl… ...
2/ Bonus @nytimes humiliation: Sullivan without comment juxtaposes @NateSilver538 correct analysis of the House results w. Stephens' botch/hack job...and then gives Stephens a last word that truly does not help his cause. I love it when a writer swaps the bludgeon for a stiletto.
3/ And last: can anyone tell me what value Stephens adds to @nytopinion? Seriously. He's not insightful. He's glib, but his prose doesn't offer any particular pleasures (see, e.g., the often egregious, always readable Safire). And he's an utterly predictable opiner.
Read 3 tweets
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Thomas Levenson
@TomLevenson
Memo to anyone taking @nytdavidbrooks column on 7 tribes (sic!) yesterday seriously: Whenever Brooks cites a source that confirms the line he's been taking for a while, he bets you won't check that source. When you do, as yesterday, you'll find he misrepresents its contents. 1/2
2/ I hear some of @nytimes usual suspects have been talking that Brooks piece up as brilliant. Yesterday I pointed out how he conflated pride and shame, distorting the underlying source material. Here I'll just point out one key difference he fails to address....
3/ His both-sider argument requires conservatives and progressives to be similarly rigid. But the points of disagreement he cites vary in the degree to which they are subject to empirical test. That is: do conservatives or progressives more deeply believe things that aren't true?
Read 10 tweets
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Thomas Levenson
@TomLevenson
I know lots of reporters. I've been one & still sometiems dust off a few journo chops. I'm a press romantic: I cherish the image of the daily newsie as a wise-cracking, truth-teller-to-power hero. I'm in awe of the skills now req'd to do serious journalism at the highest level...
2/ But it is tragic that right now we have a technically expert, hugely capable elite press corp who, w. exceptions, are doing fine work on the wrong material--who possess, that is, every skill but that required to see what they're covering, and hence, how it needs to be covered.
3/ That is: w. Pam Bondi's shunning yesterday, is the story that people were rude to her (or that we're polarized)? Or is it significant to discover, and headline, why the incident occured--what Bondi had done to elicit such public protest? Ditto, of course, @PressSec....
Read 8 tweets

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CSM
@usacsmret
Romney Shows his True Colors - The Post & Email thepostemail.com/2019/10/05/rom…
In 2012, Donald Trump considered entering the GOP presidential race. Eventually, he decided to forgo a campaign and endorse Mitt Romney. Undoubtedly, it boosted Romney’s campaign and helped him secure the GOP presidential nomination.
In the 2012 general election, Romney had plenty of opportunities to win the race, but played defense during the final weeks of the campaign and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Robby Starbuck
@robbystarbuck
Mitt Romney is bitter and angry. He could stomach losing to a candidate who made words sound pretty in Obama but he can’t stand that a man who speaks like normal people do got the job done that he couldn’t. Passive aggressive hate has driven his Jeff Flake persona since 2016.
Mitt Romney has always cared about one thing: What’s good for Mitt Romney. He’s a typical politician who wants to control people. Mitt & his ilk kept me from being openly Republican. They aren’t fighters, they’re content just being in the arena even if it means they always lose.
No one wants to stick their neck out for someone who’s content being a loser. That’s who Mitt always was so I kept my mouth shut about politics even as I reluctantly voted for him. He cares about his elite friends approval, his $ & doesn’t appear he cares about much else, period.
Read 5 tweets
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Shy Society🇬🇧
@Shy_Society
* A THREAD *

The @KayBurley / @Lugey6 showdown this week was a superb illustration of the deterioration of the mainstream media in this country and how social media is playing such a huge part in its decline.

If you’ve not watched it yet, case in point:
The fundamental issue here is that quality, independent and impartial journalism has eroded and broken down. It is why @afneil - a rare breed - is still so popular because he is living proof that it is possible to balance quality journalism with the demands of social media.

2
What we mean by that is this: the fact that news now breaks in seconds due to the advent of social media, rather than minutes or hours, is meaning that journalists and broadcasters are increasingly blurring the lines between what is and what is not acceptable journalism.

3
Read 21 tweets

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