Why Romney's Latest Gaffe is Important

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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February 01, 2012

Why Romney's Latest Gaffe is Important

Mitt Romney's unforced error this morning isn't likely to derail his campaign but it certainly adds to the impression he doesn't care much about people.

First Read: "All political candidates -- just like all non-politicians -- make verbal gaffes... But in politics, what becomes damaging is when a verbal gaffe fits a pre-existing narrative."

Jonathan Chait: "It may not be true that, at a personal level, Romney doesn't care about the poor. He probably does. But his platform doesn't. In that sense, his slip-up was a gaffe in the classic sense of admitting what he actually thinks."

Andrew Sullivan: "Just because Romney looks smooth doesn't mean he is. He is often a dreadfully inept candidate."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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February 01, 2012