Who needs a Strong Texas Handshake and a Gentlemen's Bet Anyway?
It must be nice to be so rich that you don’t even realize that throwing around pocket change in a cavalier fashion could actually offend everyday run of the mill Americans. Just in case you missed it, go here…
While school girl bickering with Rick Perry about a passage removed from Romney’s book about the national implementation of RomneyCare, Mitt casually offered to bet Perry $10,000 that the Texas Governor was misquoting the passage. Yes, $10,000 dollars – as in 1/3 of the average Iowans annual income. Great move Mr. Romney.
Now your staffers are confirming that you meant it? I think your camp needs to step back for a minute and take another look at things. No one – save for other really really rich people – saw that exchange and said – “Rick Perry missed his chance to nail him. He would have taken the bet if he was telling the truth?” No, normal people were saying, “Did that dude just try to bet $10,000 dollars like it was nothing?”
Who needs a “Strong Texas Handshake” and a Gentlemen’s Bet Anyway?
“Romney made that bet because he knew Rick Perry wouldn’t take it,” Romney strategist Eric Fehrnstrom said in the post-debate spin room.
Another top Romney adviser, Stuart Stevens, called the line “a very human thing to do to get someone to shut up when they’re not telling the truth.”
Mid-way through Saturday’s Iowa debate, Perry accused Romney ofsupporting an individual mandate to buy health insurance, saying that Romney wrote in his book that the Massachusetts mandate was a model for the nation.
Romney shot back with a bet: $10,000 that he does not and did not support a national individual mandate.
[...] debate for the Former Massachusetts Governor. Nothing gained; nothing lost. That is unless the $10,000 bet with Rick Perry rubs the rest of the country the same way it rubbed me. While school girl bickering with Rick [...]