Romney is under fire his speech, which did not include a reference to American troops serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. The article says Romney's speech was originally written by veteran Republican speechwriter Peter Wehner, but that draft was rejected by campaign strategist Stuart Stevens just eight days before the convention.
As the Tampa convention drew near, Wehner, now a "senior adviser" and blogger for the campaign, was laboring under an unusual constraint for the author of a high-stakes political speech. He was not invited to spend time with Romney, making it impossible to channel him fluently.
Nevertheless, Wehner came up with a draft he found pleasing, including the memorable line: "The incumbent president is trying to lower the expectations of our nation to the sorry level of his own achievement. He only wins if you settle." It also included a reference to Afghanistan, which was jettisoned with the rest of his work.
Instead, eight days before the convention, at a time when a campaign usually would be done drafting and focused instead on practicing such a high-stakes speech, Stevens frantically contacted John McConnell and Matthew Scully, a speechwriting duo that had worked in George W. Bush's campaign and White House. Stevens told them they would have to start from scratch on a new acceptance speech. Not only would they have only a few days to write it, but Romney would have little time to practice it.
Post a Comment