MITT - Netflix Documentary on Romney's election campaign (Streaming now on Netflix)
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RustyNails
Member
I cant believe someone has to explain the Please Proceed, Governor moment. It was clear as fuck to anyone who saw it. Romney goofed.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
Ryan kinda came off as an annoying boob in this, didn't he?
Pure semantics, Rusty. She admitted it.
BTW, great earlier post.
Semantics that just so happened to tell the truth of what happened, which was in opposition to what Romney said
And anyway, the fact that you guys are still hung up on Benghazi is hilarious. The New York Times investigative report, which was hugely extensive, put to death a plethora of lies told by the far right to try to smear Obama or Hillary with that 'scandal', and still you guys can't move on.
That you don't see the irony in telling others to move on after this is continued to be the case is hilarious.
And anyway, the fact that you guys are still hung up on Benghazi is hilarious. The New York Times investigative report, which was hugely extensive, put to death a plethora of lies told by the far right to try to smear Obama or Hillary with that 'scandal', and still you guys can't move on.
That you don't see the irony in telling others to move on after this is continued to be the case is hilarious.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
Did you watch the documentary?
You're kinda killing the vibe here.
It's always good when you can see humans being actual humans. I'm going to watch it again to override your buzzkill.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Yeah, you're talking to people who couldn't understand that when he said "binders full of women" he was saying "binders full of woman candidates." People who thought that his answer, which was pointing out the fact that he has hired a ton of women, was somehow an anti-feminist screed. There's no point in engaging.
PhoenixDark
Banned
Conservatives will never let go of Benghazi because they put all their hopes on it ending Obama's presidency. That entire summer was full of republicans fantasizing about Reagan/Carter similarities, specifically the idea that Carter was leading the race until a major overseas disaster (Iran hostages) catapulted Reagan ahead. Benghazi was the culmination of that fantasy. The instant frenzy that followed, including Romney's hastily scheduled statement on the attack, was meant to quickly capitalize on the attack. It didn't work, and since then many of the most onerous lies about the event (including the idea that Obama demanded the military stand down, and not respond to the attack) have been debunked.
What we're left with is a CIA fuck up and blatant conservative incitement. When you accuse the president of not only letting American forces die, but gleefully watching a live feed of the event, you've gone beyond "loyal opposition" and into pure incitement territory. Obama is blatantly being accused of treason by these people.
What we're left with is a CIA fuck up and blatant conservative incitement. When you accuse the president of not only letting American forces die, but gleefully watching a live feed of the event, you've gone beyond "loyal opposition" and into pure incitement territory. Obama is blatantly being accused of treason by these people.
Of course I watched the documentary. And I've said many times that it's clear his campaign mishandled him, and that he seems to be a very genuine person with his family.
But it'd be discounting the fullness of the portrait to a.) ignore what else it demonstrates, which is a sort of persistent incompetence and b.) ignore when people like yourself once again use it to twist what happened during certain events, like the Candy situation
I think it shows he's a good person, but also demonstrates exactly why he was a bad candidate.
Romney saying that Obama didn't call it an act of terror in the Rose Garden was an incorrect statement.
Crowley corrected him, embarrassed him on national television, and the right lost their little minds.
As for this documentary, it left me cold. Sure, the man seems to love his family, but when he's around normal people, he seems awkward and phony. It would be interesting to see where Romney would have ended up if he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
I thought this movie was a pretty big snooze. Years of "unprecedented access" to Romney, and they've come away with a film that barely hits 90 minutes, and is probably about 25% fluff and filler.
No coverage of the 2012 primaries, no coverage of Vice President selection, very little coverage of Republican National Convention. Romney never speaks candidly about or explains the "47%" debacle. No interesting reflection about "Please proceed Governor". No insight into the inner workings of the campaign or the strategies they chose to employ. It's mostly just Romney sitting around talking with his family before and after a few major events in the election.
Romney never discusses or articulates his own ideas, policies, and solutions -- only talks about why Obama is wrong. That's exactly how his campaign operated of course, but I was hoping that with this level of access he might be able or willing to discuss exactly how he might fix the country.
If you thought Mitt was secretly a ruthless and megalomaniacal maniac who forced his creepy, unhappy family into his own political career that you might come away with a different opinion of him. But for me there weren't a lot of surprises here. Guy is educated, speaks well, loves his family, and can be funny and charming. Not a huge shocker.
No coverage of the 2012 primaries, no coverage of Vice President selection, very little coverage of Republican National Convention. Romney never speaks candidly about or explains the "47%" debacle. No interesting reflection about "Please proceed Governor". No insight into the inner workings of the campaign or the strategies they chose to employ. It's mostly just Romney sitting around talking with his family before and after a few major events in the election.
Romney never discusses or articulates his own ideas, policies, and solutions -- only talks about why Obama is wrong. That's exactly how his campaign operated of course, but I was hoping that with this level of access he might be able or willing to discuss exactly how he might fix the country.
If you thought Mitt was secretly a ruthless and megalomaniacal maniac who forced his creepy, unhappy family into his own political career that you might come away with a different opinion of him. But for me there weren't a lot of surprises here. Guy is educated, speaks well, loves his family, and can be funny and charming. Not a huge shocker.
Another fun Mitt related documentary is the one on Vice about the The Mexican Mormon War (Drug Cartels vs. Mormons) that Mitt's family is connected to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpIyaIHsJbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpIyaIHsJbc
All the dog piling on the binders comment was so dumb. The real focus should have been on that all of those women had been hired prior to Romney even becoming governor, and that what he was trying to pass off as his accomplishment was the work of someone else entirely.
RustyNails
Member
WHAT UP??
It does not change the fact that Obama called it an act of terror within 24 hours, whereas Romney politicized it in no time without even having all facts on the table. There is no alternate theory here.
Bulbo Urethral Baggins
Banned
I brought up Candy Crowley half jokingly because you could feel what a turning point that was in the campaign. (I still want to punch her).
I don't understand your incompetence accusations. The guy is clearly not incompetent. His handlers? I agree.
I think it was interesting that he realized himself that he was a flawed candidate.
Anyway... I wouldn't have even known about this movie if it wasn't for you liberal jackasses here, so thank you all.
What do you think it says about a person so incapable of leading that he cannot even tell how badly his campaign was mishandling him? A true leader makes decisions, understands the landscape and alters his behavior based on that. He doesn't -just- rely on what the people closest to him say, he makes the hard decisions.
To me, that demonstrates a sort of incompetence. Not that he's dumb, but that he didn't demonstrate the ability to lead.
Of course I have all sorts of criticisms of Obama, so this is distinct from that.
The trailer showed a more human and relatable Mitt Romney that I ever saw from his campaign. You could vote a fucking dog into the white house with a trailer like that. I say this in a good way. Someone should run for president and put their story on TV while they do it, non dramatized. It'd be amazing.
ROFL I love when Tagg is pathetically happy with himself after he wins some trivial argument with his father right after he got humiliated by Obama on national TV.. WTF?
any way, in this doc I learned that Mitt Romeny is actually hilarious and brilliant. I love when the guy at the debate is trying to explain to him they are trying to make it like a "dining room discussion" and Mitt is like WTF? and completely shuts his stupid bull shit down. He is also very hard on himself, realistic, and humble. Clearly there's a little nutty side to his family that we are not seeing (Tag seems like a complete sociopath, saying the absolute wrong shit to him before big events, etc.)
Wish it had been much longer though.. the 2012 election was pretty much played out with a shitty montage?
any way, in this doc I learned that Mitt Romeny is actually hilarious and brilliant. I love when the guy at the debate is trying to explain to him they are trying to make it like a "dining room discussion" and Mitt is like WTF? and completely shuts his stupid bull shit down. He is also very hard on himself, realistic, and humble. Clearly there's a little nutty side to his family that we are not seeing (Tag seems like a complete sociopath, saying the absolute wrong shit to him before big events, etc.)
Wish it had been much longer though.. the 2012 election was pretty much played out with a shitty montage?
obijkenobi
Member
Then the other candidate does the same thing, and you're left to the policies (as it should be).
NullPointer
Member
Thats the problem though - its only skin deep. He loves his wife and family and seems to be a caring dude towards the world he knows.
But this is the same guy who referred to 47% of the country as entitled victims, and the same guy who never had numbers that added up in his economic plan, never released his taxes to the public, hitched his wagon to Paul Ryan and turned Benghazi into a smirking political circus. Something doesn't add up when all you see here is that nice fatherly gentleman who picks up all the trash himself and all we saw publicly was a severely out of touch and deceptive candidate.
Who is this man, really? What does he really think of the average American? What were his big ideas? Where was his heart and his drive and his passion? "Restoring America" doesn't cut it, especially when we're supposed to be taking a peek behind the curtain.
Lets not forget that we already got to see a behind the scenes depiction of Romney, in his own words, when he didn't know he was being filmed. That still seems to me to be the real Romney, as this documentary challenged none of that.
It seems to have been purposefully built to leave us with a sense that "hey, that guy seemed nice", without trying to truly reconcile the various Romneys we've seen to date.
BUNTING1243
Banned
Watching it now, Romney always seemed like a nice guy, vastly differing political views aside.
Also man, McCain was sorta a dick, huh? Watching that clip of the 2008 debates was rough.
Also man, McCain was sorta a dick, huh? Watching that clip of the 2008 debates was rough.
SteveWinwood
Member
I laughed out loud at that.
He just comes on the plane shaking hands and acting like an excited teenager.
I don't know anyone who didn't think Mitt wasn't nice (unless you were really swept up in politics at the time). I mean he's bloody mormon. Have you ever met a mean one? Of course not. They're disgustingly and genuinely nice to everyone all the time.
SteveWinwood
Member
Use it next month and you'll get 2 seasons of house of cards.
SteveWinwood
Member
Unless you're gay, of course!
Napoleonthechimp
Member
Was the 2008 and 2012 footage done by different documentary teams? The 2008 stuff seems a lot more... intimate and a tad less professional than the later footage.
Guileless
Temp Banned for Remedial Purposes
Is it better than The War Room?
I never understood the Benghazi scandal and why any Republican like Mitt Romney would be dumb enough to try and beat Obama with it. The only way Benghazi could work would be to show that Obama is weak on National Security issues. But, that is just a retarded thing to try and label against Obama when less than one year before he fucking killed Osama Bin Laden and had ordered numerous drone strikes prior. There is literally no way you can paint Obama weak with regards to national security. It was just a fools errand to try and blow Benghazi into something when there was nothing there, Obama wasn't Carter.
Mitt should have been smart and just stuck to what was his main difference, at least in his eyes, the economy. But, the Benghazi slip up just made him look aloof and exposed it for what it was, looking for controversy where none exists.
The scenes where Mitt was constantly tidying up and picking up garbage were pretty funny. "The flipping Mormon" joke was funny too,
It was an interesting documentary, but it left out SO much. Barely any reaction from Mitt or his family on the 47% video leak, nothing except a small 'what up' from Paul Ryan, nothing about his Republican opponents (such as Rick Santorum or Ron Paul), etc.
The scene with Mrs. Romney extolling the benefits of her therapy with an Olympic horse and how it gets her through her life was pretty offensive considering Mitt's dismissal of so many people without access to affordable healthcare.
It was an interesting documentary, but it left out SO much. Barely any reaction from Mitt or his family on the 47% video leak, nothing except a small 'what up' from Paul Ryan, nothing about his Republican opponents (such as Rick Santorum or Ron Paul), etc.
The scene with Mrs. Romney extolling the benefits of her therapy with an Olympic horse and how it gets her through her life was pretty offensive considering Mitt's dismissal of so many people without access to affordable healthcare.
I know right? No matter how hard the director tried to paint them as "real people", these kinds of things remind us how they absolutely aren't.
That really stood out to me too. It's amazing that Romney can recognize his father's humble beginnings, and that he only has opportunities because of his dad, but he and his kids are totally clueless when it comes to people who started in his dad's position and stayed there.
Edit: Also, it's crazy that it took them so long to realize that it was all over. I remember it being fairly obvious that Obama was going to walk all over him before election day.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
meh. I know my nephews had therapy horses throughout their childhood and that family was always up until very recently poor-ass-poor with little-to-no insurance
I obviously understand the fact that there is a difference between an Olympic prancing horse and some assuredly-broken down mutt of a horse, but the root benefit is the same.
AlteredBeast
Fork 'em, Sparky!
We had our fair share of naysayers in the PoliGAF thread. I called it from the start that it was essentially impossible to unseat Obama with the network and campaign that he runs, but we had a lot of wrist-slitting and paper bag-breathing in the thread from time-to-time.
Sucks that this docu actually makes me like the guy. His politics and political persona could not be farther from what I imagine a good, responsible Mormon would sow. His arrogance and dismissal in broad strokes of certain classes and his inability to see life out of someone so poverty stricken they do not know where their rent-check, groceries, or utility money would come from totally turns me off from him and all of his ilk.
Everyone knows what he meant.
I liked it a lot, and I don't really feel the absence of a reaction to the 47% leak. The documentary establishes that that was a pretty genuine moment. The chatter while he's putting together a concession speech makes clear that, yeah, he thinks the country is headed for disaster because we're taxing the rich too much and all that, and it's not some Laffer curve kind of "tax the rich less and the government will be able to do more" thing.
The whole documentary is like the horse bit. It just doesn't occur to Romney that it's maybe a problem that he's advocating for extreme inequality. This is juxtaposed nicely with his admiration for his bootstrapping father. And despite him being sort of a rotten person, if you judge him by what he wanted to do to other people, it humanizes him. What's wrong with Romney wasn't that he wanted to immiserate the poor; it's that he never seemed to take notice of the poor as people deserving of the same sorts of things he is. Romney comes across as a very regular, decent guy, except that when bad things happen to him he spends incredible amounts of money making the problems go away, and then doesn't understand why people find private elevators distasteful, even if they were useful due to his wife's MS.
I feel like the documentary would have shown the Romneys sitting around being upset about how horribly unfair it was for him to be judged by the 47% comment if that had ever happened. I suspect that instead we were spared a bunch of scenes of the Romneys going on about the sorts of things that come up when he's writing that concession speech.
WHAT UP?
My read is that he's a nice, decent and very ambitious guy who supported disastrous policies.
Not sure how much he believes in them and how much he pushed them because that's the only way to get the nomination, I think it's combination of both.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
I never cared about that elevator incident, but the part where one of the kids said "because my mom has MS you a-hole" really did make me want to ask them how they thought poor people with MS are able to live through life without such luxuries. If your mom deserves those things because of how hard MS is, maybe poor working people with MS could at least deserve decent healthcare to help treat it.
Vicetrailia
Banned
It was a cool watch, I wish that I had a large family like that.
I am glad that he admitted that he was born with a silver spoon, the campaign mention/coverage of it was highly disingenuous.
I am glad that he admitted that he was born with a silver spoon, the campaign mention/coverage of it was highly disingenuous.
I liked the documentary a lot. I wish though they would've spent a bit more time with the first half of the 2012 election, picking Paul Ryan, the third debate, and some other stuff. It would have been great if there was a longer cut. Would've been cool if there was a similar documentary for both Obama and McCain too.
No, not even close. Just a nice, family portrait. As others have said, nothing really campaign related post 2008. I mean, we see Mitt strategerizing a lot but nothing by his consultants, etc.
That was a fun watch. As other people have mentioned, more of a look into how a presidential campaign affects the candidate and the people around him (namely his family). It was an interesting view into the characters of Ann and Mitt. Mitt especially came off much better behind the camera. He's clearly a genuinely nice, grateful person. It's also clear that his substantial wealth (or more spending his entire life there) made him a bit out of touch with the common man. This clearly extends to his children as well.
It's not unexpected to see the comments in here blasting him about certain parts of the documentary though, specifically during one of the only scenes where policy is being talked about (the small business discussion with his wife and a few others). Someone mentioned that it was foolish for him to base his policies on anecdotes, that's not at all what he was doing. You use anecdotes during debates, it's effective policy. And if the numbers were accurate, would be a very compelling narrative to a national audience.
It's not unexpected to see the comments in here blasting him about certain parts of the documentary though, specifically during one of the only scenes where policy is being talked about (the small business discussion with his wife and a few others). Someone mentioned that it was foolish for him to base his policies on anecdotes, that's not at all what he was doing. You use anecdotes during debates, it's effective policy. And if the numbers were accurate, would be a very compelling narrative to a national audience.
Yeah I forget, what was Romney's health care plan for the poor? "Go to an emergency room", I believe? How would that have worked out for someone with MS, I wonder?
I don't like that you basically to know all kinds of stuff that happened outside the movie to appreciate bits like the horse therapy.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Exactly.
But you're saying the opposite.
Buba Big Guns
Banned
Pretty good documentary. I was hoping it was more political but it was still interesting seeing the family's side. Mitt seems like a great guy, definitely out of touch with the 'real world', but at least he's sorta aware of that.
Calamari41
41 > 38
It was sarcasm to show why it is not worth engaging with the "binders full of women!" crowd. There is nothing to be gained from doing so.
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