I have the greatest sources....:)
From: Axelrod, D.
To: ABC News, Associated Press, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, New York Times, Politico, Reuters, Washington Post.
CC: Burton, B; Carney, J; Center for American Progress.
Re: Post Debate Messaging
Guys,
Here's the template for tomorrow night's debate; obviously, we'll start with Politico and CAP, then the rest of you will pick it up from there.
D
P.S. Debbie will, as always, be so over the top that you can maintain professional credibility.
---
Romney's Debate Disappointment
[insert byline here]
Desperate to reverse his campaign's falling poll numbers, Mitt Romney launched racially-tinged and Islamophobic attacks at President Obama during tonight's Presidential debate in Denver.
Romney, who refuses to release his tax returns, revived Newt Gingrich's discredited Primary attack against President Obama as the 'food-stamp President,' seeking to tie the first African-American president to longstanding racial stereotypes about 'welfare queens.'
[INSERT ROMNEY QUOTE HERE]
Romney's appeals to nativist sentiment continued in the discussion of foreign policy; Romney referred to last month's protests in Egypt and Libya against an offensive YouTube video as a 'terrorist attack,' an Islamophobic term that blames Muslims for acts of violent extremism, including bombings of abortion clinics in the United States.
[SECOND ROMNEY QUOTE]
"Mitt Romney knows he can't defend the failed George Bush policies of tax cuts for billionaires and shoot-first foreign policy or his own record of outsourcing and denial of contraception" said Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter. "Instead, Mitt Romney chose to launch baseless and bigoted attacks."
Experts warn not to underestimate the appeal of racially-coded language during times of economic uncertainty.
"From Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy to Ronald Reagan's dog-whistle appeals to 'states rights,' subtle appeals to racial sentiment have a long history in Republican campaigns," said Thomas B. Edsall, a journalism professor at Columbia University.
