Why Is Romney In Trouble Right Now?

I think Mitt Romney is currently suffering from an "Al Gore Effect," and he's going to have a tough time recovering from it between now and the General Election.

For a little historical context, here are the first few paragraphs of a piece Robert Parry wrote for the Washington Monthly during the 2000 Bush vs. Gore campaign (via Kevin Drum):

Al Gore may come across to many Americans as a smart guy with lots of experience and a clunky personal style. But the national news media have repeatedly portrayed the vice president in a much more sinister light: as a willful liar who may even live in a world of his own delusions.

This harsh assessment has been handed down across the media spectrum---from The Washington Post to The Washington Times, from The New York Times to the New York Post, from NBC's cable networks to the traveling press corps. Journalists and pundits freely denounce Gore as "a liar," "delusional," "Pinocchio," a "Zelig" character who inserts himself into improbable historical events.

Gore certainly has contributed to his own media problem with some imprecise phrasing and the kinds of exaggerations that all candidates make on the campaign trail. But journalists seem to have singled out Gore for extraordinary attention, with story after story reprising Gore's alleged pattern of deception.   But an examination of dozens of these articles, which purport to detail the chief cases of Gore's exaggerations and lies, finds journalists often engaging in their own exaggerations or even publishing outright falsehoods about Gore.

The reason I bring up Gore now is that I expect to see Republicans start attacking the "Liberal Media" for pointing out how much Romney and Ryan lie about shit. In fact, this has already started to some extent.  Last month I expressed surprise that members of the Media were actually going after Romney/Ryan and the GOP for willfully lying to the American people.  I was surprised because this type of inquiry into the truthfulness of Republican politicians was essentially non-existent during the Bush years.  In fact, I long ago expressed my belief that members of the Corporate Media share in the blame for Bush's Iraq Debacle because they were unwilling to question Bush and Cheney on all of their pre-war bullshittery.

So I never really expected our "Liberal" Media to go after the GOP ticket for lying, but it is happening. And this trend is continuing.  Ryan, undoubtedly due to pressure from the Media, was recently forced to backpedal from his Convention speech lie that Obama was responsible for the closure of a GM plant that actually closed during the Bush Regime. [I won't even mention Ryan's Marathon Lie].  And of course, the Media have been going after Romney mercilessly for lying about Obama's response to the recent embassy attacks, so much so that Mitt's people are complaining about it.

Why have members of the Corporate Media suddenly turned on the GOP and its current presidential ticket?  That's simple:  It is because of the Al Gore Effect.  Romney and Ryan have been caught in numerous lies over the last few months, and now I believe that members of the press are competing with each other to be the first to report on the latest Romney/Ryan lie, just like it was 12 years ago when the Media perceived that Al Gore was a habitual liar.

The problem for Romney is that once you've been branded as a liar, it is really hard to dispel such an impression, especially as far as the Media are concerned.  Al Gore was never able to do it, and most if not all of the stuff brought up against him was total horseshit. Romney will have a much harder time than Gore on this issue because Mitt is in fact a habitual liar.