Why do Republican politicians go on Letterman? I know it’s good exposure, but it’s exposure that always comes with a price.
Letterman always makes the Republican look bad and weak. I said it when Rick Perry went on Letterman, but at least in that circumstance Perry was poking fun at himself as a means of rehabilitating himself after his debate brain freeze.
Mitt Romney was on Letterman last night, and true to form Letterman made Romney look bad. This clip doesn’t show it, but before Romney took the stage Letterman made fun of George W. Bush (calling Kim Jong Il’s son the “idiot son Kim W. Jong”), Michele Bachmann (showing a tape of her talking over an interviewer) and Newt (repeating the false claim that Newt wants to arrest judges he disagrees with).
When Romney took the stage, Letterman asked “how’d you do on the back 9,” mocking Romney’s country club look.
Romney then launched a Top 10 list, which was self-deprecating until he came to number 2, in which he said:
Newt Gingrich, really?
It was a cheap shot before a hostile liberal television host and crowd, who all laughed. The joke was on Romney, who belittled himself as well as Newt.
Update: This is part of a bigger problem I see with the Romney campaign and supporters.
They have so demonized Newt on such a personal level that they not only have left themselves no face-saving way to support Newt if he is the nominee, they also have given material to the Obama campaign. I can see the clip of Romney saying “Newt Gingrich, really?” being run endlessly, perhaps alongside the National Review martian cover and some choice words from Ann Coulter calling Newt crazy.
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