Gaffe training... seriously?
Apparently, CNN commentator S.E. Cupp and Fox media consultant Jon Kraushar took turns training most of the Republican senate candidates how not to commit gaffes during media events and speeches on the campaign trail leading up to Tuesday's midterm elections.
The "bootcamp" was arranged by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and intended to keep GOP candidates from making campaign-crippling media gaffes. Politico pointed to former congressman Todd Akin's "legitimate rape" remarks in 2012 as a prime example of such a blunder.
Cupp, who was a panelist on "Crossfire" before CNN canceled the show in October, remains a commentator at the network. She conducted mock interviews with candidates, simulating the kind of interrogation they might receive from the media in weeks prior to the elections. Kraushar, who has worked for Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Dick Cheney, handles most of the on-camera training at Fox News. He was also present to ensure that candidates were primed.
Hmm, being careful of what you say and do is always prudent. But being "primed" to not ever say in public what is really on their minds makes the election a sham. Most people know inherently how not to appear stupid in public. Just goes to show Republicans are far from normal. They're essentially automatons.
The Politico story comes via HuffPo Media
"Over the next two days, for eight hours a day, the candidates had to watch each other stumble, stammer, run from the cameras. They were drilled on policy, then had the cameras turned on them," Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan report. "They were briefed on common media mistakes, then had the camera turned on them. They were shown footage of Akin and Richard Mourdock making fools of themselves two years ago, then had the camera turned on them again."
Time Magazine reported that this was the first time such training was deemed mandatory by the NRSC for candidates wanting financial backing. Apparently, not only was the training necessary for traditional interviews but also for any potentially embarrassing moment in any setting.
"It’s just a course of learning how to deal with this new wrinkle in the campaign environment, which is reality TV presence of cameras in your life," NRSC Executive Director Rob Collins saidte in an interview with Time. "I think the training worked. I don’t think you’ve seen a lot of Republicans saying things that they later regretted.”
I suppose it didn't matter that voters really didn't know what the candidates they voted for really thought about the issues.
Those darn, new-fangled cameras are freakin' everywhere!!