By Arthur Solomon
For the annual blooper list, it’s pick and choose from tens of crises that happened in 2012. Since there were so many political miscues, the “honor roll” skews to politicos. Here they are:
Rush Limbaugh called a college student advocating insurance coverage for contraception services a “slut” and “prostitute,” and also said she should post videos of herself having sex.
Result: The less than funny comments caused a media and advertiser backlash that continued even after Limbaugh’s mild apologies. The controversy also exposed that the great majority of GOP politicians are still afraid of criticizing Limbaugh by refusing to condemn his remarks.
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization announced that it would stop financing Planned Parenthood’s breast cancer screening and education programs.
Result: Komen was accused of surrendering to conservative Christian and GOP right wing campaigns that long have tried to defund Planned Parenthood.
Penn State’s board of directors recommended that donors who may be irate because of the alleged sex abuse scandal be reminded that they couldn’t get a refund.
Result: Reinforced notion that that Penn State just doesn’t get it when it comes to instituting a creditable crisis response plan.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) held a hearing on contraceptive coverage and didn’t permit any woman during the first panel from talking in favor of the Obama health plan. The initial group, which gets the most media attention, consisted entirely of conservative men who opposed the Obama initiative. It included a Catholic bishop and orthodox rabbi.
Result: News coverage positioned the hearings as stacking the panel with conservatives and having only men talk about an issue concerning women’s health. It also reinforced the accusation that the GOP was conducting a war on women.
Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the former Archbishop of New York, recanted his 2002 apology regarding the church’s handling of sexual abuse by priests saying, “I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”
Result: The cardinal’s recantation, which opened an old wound, was criticized by attorneys that represented abuse victims during Eagan’s tenure, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, and the media.
Republicans in the House, making a mockery of the legislative process by continually voting to rescind the Affordable Health Act, even though they knew that there was no chance of it being repealed.
Result: This political theater of the absurd positioned the Republicans as a just say no party at a time when voters want specific ideas.
The "Today" show’s less than graceful firing of Ann Curry.
Resutl: Not having Curry cover the Queen's Diamond Jubilee after years of being an integral part of the "Today" show was a clear indication that Curry was on the way out and showed what employees of any company should know: they are nothing but employee numbers.
Romney’s spokesperson using an Etch-A-Sketch analogy to describe how the candidate might govern in the White House.
Result: Reinforced the image of Romney as not meaning what he says.
Romney’s inability to formulate an acceptable answer to questions about why he wouldn’t release more than two years of his tax returns.
Result: His stonewalling on the issue gave the impression among voters and the media that he had something to hide and together with his Bain connection made him vulnerable to “cover-up” attacks for months. Ann Romney’s statements that the more information we release the more we will be attacked was a defense better not spoken.
The International Olympic Committee refused to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the slaughter of Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists at the Munich Olympics during the opening ceremonies of the London games by repeating that stale and untrue bromide that politics has no place in the Olympics.
Result: The IOC received much media criticism detailing that political statements have been declared during previous opening ceremonies and reinforced the image of the IOC as a hypocritical organization
Rep. Aiken’s rape remark and Romney’s “birther” comments gained major news coverage, but not the type the GOP wanted.
Result: Instead of having a positive press heading into the GOP convention, the two remarks dominated news coverage, placing GOP spokespeople in the position of having to answer reporter’s questions and derailing Romney’s economy messages. To compound the situation, on the Friday prior to the convention, Aikin held a press conference announcing that he intended to stay in the Missouri senate race and Gawker posted leaked Bain documents revealing that Romney used accounting methods to avoid paying U.S. taxes, legal, but not exactly the behavior you would expect from a person running for president.
Mitt Romney seemingly wrote off 47 percent of the electorate with his “they pay no income taxes” remark.
Result: Presented an opportunity for Obama’s spokesperson to sound statesmanlike with his “the president represents all the people” comment. But more important, Romney’s comments drew rebukes from both conservatives and right-center Republicans and derailed coverage of his “specific” campaign agenda. It was also pointed out that the 47 percent included retirees that paid taxes during their working days and many people who pay sales and other taxes.
The Romney campaign issued a TV ad showing coal miners attending a rally at which Mitt spoke. Miners complained that they were forced to attend the rally by the mine owner and didn’t receive pay because the mine was closed.
Result: Media outlets including the Chicago Tribune and Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the story and it reinforced the image of Romney of his Bain days when workers mattered little.
Chick-fil-A’s president confirming that the company supported anti-gay causes.
Result: Media coverage of pro and anti-gay demonstrations followed, antagonizing potential customers and positioning the company as not being ready to enter the national scene. Eventually the company said it does not support political or social agendas.
The never-ending criticism of the NFL’s replacement referees by the media.
Result: The substitute referees were the subject of criticism from the moment of the NFL’s season-opening kickoff until the matter was settled. Moreover, the NFL received major media criticism for forcing a lockout over $3-million, a pittance when compared to the enormous sums of money each team receives each season.
The Romney campaign ran TV and radio ads in Ohio claiming that the auto industry’s bailout would add more jobs in China at the expense of Ohio workers.
Result: The ads were denounced as false and misleading by G.M. and Chrysler, Romney’s natural allies, the auto union and Democratic spokesmen and resulted in much negative criticism for Romney.
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun rabbis sent out an e-mail celebrating Palestine achieving observer-state status at the United Nations, which received wide publicity in the media.
Result: The e-mail drew objections from some members of the congregation who said that the rabbis should not presume that all members of the congregation agree with the rabbi’s position and the rabbis issued a clarification e-mail, which also received major media attention. (In Jewish law, the rabbi is a religious scholar, leader and teacher whose opinions are not binding on those of a congregation because all Jews are considered equal to a rabbi.)
After his “Plan B” failed, House of Representative’s Speaker John Boehner sent his GOP caucus home for Christmas.
Result: By not keeping the House in continuous session throughout the holiday, Boehner lost an opportunity to bring pressure on the Democrats and, importantly, to convince the public that the GOP was doing everything possible to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” while the president vacationed in Hawaii.
Conservative pundits and politicians, including Charles Krauthammer and defeated- for- reelection Florida Rep. Allen West and the former U.S. United Nation’s ambassador John Bolton accused Hillary Clinton of faking her illness so she didn’t have to testify regarding the Benghazi situation.
Result: On December 31, it was revealed that Clinton had a blood clot in her head. The “sick-by-choice” comments reinforced the image of conservative spokesmen of shooting first and not asking any questions later when the target is a Democrat. New Year’s Question: Will these and other radical GOPites now claim that doctors treating the Secretary of State are part of Clinton’s Benghazi cover-up?
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Arthur Solomon was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, handling national and international sports and non-sports programs, including the Olympic and Asian Games organizing committees and sponsors. He can be reached at [email protected] |