Slashdot Mirror
Mitt Romney To Announce VP Decision Via Smartphone App
redletterdave writes "In 2008, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama decided to announce his running mate, then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, over a text message, which was sent out to Obama's legions of followers. Four years later, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the likely presidential nominee from the Republican Party, has decided to make his VP announcement over a smartphone app. On Tuesday, Mitt Romney's campaign team launched a smartphone app called 'Mitt's VP,' which promises app users will be the first to know the official news of Romney's running mate for the November election. Once Romney makes his decision, he will announce the news over the app, which will alert smartphone owners with a text notification."
At this point, as crazy partisan as things have gotten, I'm pretty sure everyone in their right minds has already decided where they stand in the fall. Obama, Romney, third party, or stay at home--I doubt there are very many left who are going to be swayed at this point by a VP nominee. Short of Romney either pulling off a miracle (announcing Jesus as his VP, complete with second coming) or making an epic-level misstep (announcing the Colorado shooter as his VP)--I don't think it's going to matter much either way. I'm pretty sure only the die-hard pundits are still listening to either candidate at this point.
I mean, the only time I can remember anyone outside of the pundits even talking about the VP nominees has been when they've REALLY been fuck-ups. And Romney doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to go with one of those (maybe Santorum at the OUTSIDE, and I doubt even that).
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Mitt has a bad track record with phone apps.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I thought that in 2008 until McCain picked Palin and I saw (as in I knew personally) die-in-the-wool conservatives actually announce they were supporting Obama this time.
Despite attempts to depict him otherwise (sometimes by himself!), Romney comes across as a moderately competent political moderate, and I suspect his support from centrists is higher than, say, someone like Santorum would have. It's unlikely Romney will pick someone more centrist than himself, the question is whether he'll pick someone all his supporters can live with. McCain picked badly.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
This is exactly the WRONG way to use social media.
Its NOT to broadcast to a select few what decision [insert name here] reached.
Social media is to solicit from the "Wisdom of the Commons" who a running mate should be.
This is so stupid that its doesn't deserve further comment.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Isn't that what Twitter is for? Does everyone now need their own app?
Corporations are people too!
to see what he mispells this time.
Someone who makes an entire app just to receive a text message, does sound like someone who will run an efficient government.
Looks like Max Headroom will be the new VP candidate.
At least he has a mute button.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
This strikes me as an obvious case where a guy - and, more importantly, his campaign staff - just don't grok the technology.
Why on earth would you need a "Mitt's VP" app? There are already numerous, widely-used communication technologies well-suited to this purpose. And on top of that - why would anyone think a single-purpose, one-use-only app makes any sense?
#DeleteChrome
I'm sure that people who don't have this app will be kicking themselves. After all, this app is going to be the ONLY way to learn who Romney has chosen ... for the six seconds it takes for CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and EVERY OTHER TV, INTERNET, RADIO, ETC. NEWS ORGANIZATION IN THE US to get someone on the air announcing it.
Why?
Seriously... um, why would anyone download this app considering the VP pick will be all over the news 5 seconds later? Is Romney trying to look "hip" by doing this? If so, it's a pathetically transparent attempt.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
...require everything necessary to continually contact you and annoy the sh** out of you.
How long until the Democrats have something similarly ridiculous as a contact farming tool?
Loading...
My prediction for the VP candidate is going to be a Cheney 2.0
Some rather sketchy politician with really questionable ties to industries whom everyone is pretty sure is just doing it as a means of making a shit load of money, consequences and country be damned.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
And do you trust that the only thing the app is doing is providing you a text message when the announcement is sent out?
Put on the evil genius hat for a bit and ponder what neat things you could use the app for before and after it' purpose to do additional stuff to the stooges that fell for the trick of 'install this app to receive a text message'.
die-in-the-wool
I think you mean "dyed in the wool," although the idea that they're so devoted that they'd die with the wool still pulled over their eyes works too :-P
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
My prediction for the VP candidate is going to be a Cheney 2.0
Some rather sketchy politician with really questionable ties to industries whom everyone is pretty sure is just doing it as a means of making a shit load of money, consequences and country be damned.
So.. Karl Rove?
Nah, Methuselah always prefers to run things from the shadows...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
It wasn't stupid to pick Palin. McCain's campaign was going nowhere fast, as the Republicans yet again picked the guy who was next on the list, instead of someone who might actually interest voters. When Palin was announced as the VP pick, McCain's numbers shot up. Most of the people I know who voted Republican that year were voting for Palin, not for McCain.
The Republican establishment inside the District of Corruption doesn't want to hear that they simply bore people. Palin, for all her faults (and yeah, she has 'em), shot some life into the Republican party for a bit.
Romney's probably going to do whatever his advisers tell him to do, which will be moderate, and safe, and utterly boring. Boring does not win elections.
I agree.
However, what else would you expect from America's Borat?
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Despite attempts to depict him otherwise (sometimes by himself!), Romney comes across as a moderately competent political moderate.
I generally consider Mitt Romney to be a thoroughly dishonest political $DEITY-knows-what. These are the only political positions I've actually seen him consistently take:
1. Taxes should be lower, especially on rich people.
2. I'm not Barack Obama. In particular, I'm white.
Everything else seems to me to be up for grabs, and vary from hour to hour depending on who he's talking to.
I am officially gone from
If ever there was an app to be cracked, it must be this. Think of the possibilities --
Mitt selects Kim Jong Il
Mitt selects Vladimir Putin
Mitt selects Sarah Palin
Mitt selects Daffy Dick
Wish I had the chops to try. Anyway, Let the Games Begin!
In the last decade or so, the US political process seems to have refocused on the endless selection of candidates that takes years, rather than focusing on the actual business of government. Other countries typically mount much faster elections, and political parties tend to be ephemeral -- two or three groups may amalgamate to mount a challenge to the ruling party, whereas the Democrats and Republicans seemed locked in a colossal coin toss. Barring a significant political event leading up to the election, we know that one party will edge the other by a handful of votes. Of course, it's easy to provide foreign commentary but much harder to see what could be done to improve the situation. Perhaps we will see the emergence of new regional parties that focus on issues of extreme importance for specific areas? Perhaps we'll see increasing demands placed on the federal gov't by individual states? Or perhaps we'll see the status quo indefinitely. I'd be interested to hear an American perspective on this -- does the system work? How would you improve it?
You, um, might have missed a memo or two about the, er, 'demographic re-targeting' of the GOP brand...
Maybe this app is not just to receive a text message. Maybe this app really is Mitt's VP, and he needs a few million smartphones to run the neural nets.
> Anyone thinking that she was a positive for the GOP is also a
> fucking twit. She did more damage to the GOP brand every time
> she opened her dumb mouth-hole.
Um really? Do you see one of their men in the hot seat for what was the coming economic crisis? Is their man defending his record during a major recession?
Palin was a smart choice for throwing the election, when they already had a good enough candidate for their aims being run by the Dems.
The GOP has spent the past 20 years going off the deep end and pulling the dems over to their side. We have a Dem president who came out of the gate proposing the old GOP healthcare reform, even fighting them for it.
They already won. The last thing they would want is to have to take credit, it ruins their whole strategy, as they demonstrated with Bush II.
People don't seem to realize, you don't win under this system by supporting your people and compromising with likeminded people. You win by going so far to the extreme of your view, that others have to compromise with you.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
He has also been largely consistent in his assurances that, while being governor of Massachusetts does make him Serious and Experienced, he is absolutely against any policy he endorsed or enacted in that office, and is particularly horrified that this great nation has been saddled with the a medical insurance system practically identical to Romneycare...
I guess the real question is: What else does that app do? You don't need people installing executables on their phone to receive a text message, it must have other features that made it worth the development effort on Mitt's part. It could have a donate button, but most of his donations are going to 529 groups anyway, so that's not a huge win (it will be there anyway). What is the point of this app?
I read the internet for the articles.
I don't think you can be your own running mate...
And you've met a real Marxist I take it.
I wonder what real Marxists call Obama? A clue... it sure as hell ain't "Comrade"
Romney doesn't need any more money, he has tons more cash than Obama as he is bankrolled by the plutocracy.
although you are right, i forgot the great legion of American idiots, who would give this man money and vote for him, even though he is part of the corporate culture that fired the unemployed American idiot to move his job to a country with less workers rights and cheaper slave like labor. but don't worry, his kind will reemploy the American idiots again, just as soon as all "evil socialist" worker's rights are destroyed and we desperately need the walmart greeter job at one tenth the salary
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I'm sure the GOP's got the blueprints to build another Romney.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9424524/Mitt-Romney-would-restore-Anglo-Saxon-relations-between-Britain-and-America.html
I'm sorry, where do you get your news? Moderately competent? Really? Romney just came back from a disastrous trip to Europe, where he offended the entire country of Britain, was renounced by the Poles (big fans of Solidarity, not so much of Mitt's union views), pissed off the Palestinians by saying their culture was inferior to Israel's (keep in mind Israel is the occupying force there, keeping free movement of goods and trade limited).
Good lord, the guy keeps talking about the Soviet Union being an adversary of the US! 20 years after the Soviet Union fell!
This guy can chop up a company and "extract" a profit, so can I, that's just numbers on a spreadsheet, but he's not a leader of a super power. And I didn't even get into his buying all the hard drives in Massachusetts after he left office to delete his history there, how he won't release any more than the bare minimum when it comes to his tax returns (his dad released 12 years and set the standard), or how his wife's prancing horse is a $77,000.00 a year tax deduction, more than most American's make a year.
He's worse than anyone will ever admit, because he's all they got, but the guy's toast once they get to the debates and he puts both feet in his mouth at the same time. The crazies took over the Republican party, and CItizens United fogged up the windows so thick that the GOTeaP is toast. Incompetent to the point they can't even find a candidate who's not a twit.
Also, my dogs ride inside the car.
The most sane choice was John Huntsman, unfortunately nobody could get excited about him because he's intelligent, competent, and not a frothing-at-the-mouth ideologue.
The rest were a bunch of fucking clowns, and Romney just managed to be the last man standing by not screwing up too badly and not being too insane.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
You're a moron.
The legislation was drafted by six senators. Three dems. Three republicans. Once it was released, it was sent to a committee vote in which a lot of republican amendments were ACCEPTED. I know. I watched all the friggin live hearings. The hilarious things is that they were so cordial during the proceedings, thanking each other for every motion and then they threw each other under bus during the one-on-one interviews. One minute Grassley is thanking Baucus for getting his motion passed, and the next moment, he's complaining to Fox News that republicans were being stonewalled.
Pure utter bullshit. Obama would have sold his kids up river for an extra republican vote. Yet, you idiots favor quoting talking points instead of using your brains.
Try it out some time. You'll find that people will like you for it.
This is not about using social media. It's about using the spying ability of smartphone apps to pad his fundraising mailing lists. Everyone who downloads that app will be giving their phone number and twitter name to the campaign. It could also grab their email address, and all the info on everyone in their contact list.
This is an extremely smart, out-of-the-box way of using social media as a stepping stone to outrageously unethical campaign advertising. It's a shining, heartfelt example of amoral power, a pristine jewel of fucking the public when they're not looking. I'm not surprised the Romney campaign came up with it.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
He used to be very consistent about not performing any actions in Pakistan, but after OBL was killed he changed his position. Actually he didn't change his position, but he claims that he still would have gone after OBL in Pakistan even though he would not perform any actions in Pakistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Mitt_Romney#Pakistan
In 2007, Romney criticized then-candidate Barack Obama for stating that, as President, he would launch military strikes against "high-value terrorist targets" in Pakistan, even without the Pakistani government's approval.[123] In 2011, after such a strike resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, Romney said that, if he had been President, he would have done "exactly the same thing."[124]
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
I made the previous comment only partly in jest...
Romney attempts at identifying with various segments of America always seem to come off sounding as off-key as his National Anthem.
He tried to connect with southern voters by talking about learning to say "Y'all", and having grits for breakfast. He tries to express sympathy for the middle class by pointing out the servers at his fundraising dinners are not having a good year. And now, he seems like he is trying to make a contrived attempt to seem hip and tech savvy by announcing his VP through an app?
Nothing he does ever rings true.
I almost prefer Palin to this guy. She might have been an idiot, but at least she was a human idiot.
Hey, I'm a Democrat, social liberal, fiscal moderate, which in a place like this probably makes me some kind of communist, but I am perfectly comfortable saying Romney is almost certainly a moderate who's had to get all pumped up to appeal to his base. I mean the guy already instituted the equivalent of ObamaCare in his own state and its doing just fine. Only the poor slob can't even crow about his accomplishment, because he's sposed' to be all man up against SOCIALISM... booga booga.
I am equally comfortable admitting Obama is not the change I was hoping for. I wanted to see the greedy buggers who almost buried this nation pay for their crimes, and I wanted to see real reform starting with the return of Glass-Steagall. Instead we have a milk toast moderate with a hitman from the recording industries rooming in the Whitehouse, all the while watching my civil and constitutional right vanishing faster than John Holmes at a weenie roast.
I have a brain, attached to two eyes, and I can think and see for myself. I don't do party lines, mostly those are just Conga's straight to hell (whether you be dancing to the left or dancing to the right.) Obama has accomplished some good things too, and its a fact, the numbers are in, ObamaCare will actually save money for the nation, not cost it. The fact is, by limiting costs, its already improving government costs, and by providing medical coverage to the poor (who now are subsidized through emergency visits at 4-8 times the cost of regular medical service) we'll save untold billions. It won't matter, the clowns that promised the world would end if it was passed won't acknowledge they're wrong, that they've been serially wrong for so long, that if they were ever right it might break space and time as we know it. They'll just continue to make crazy ass claims based on undiluted fear and stupid.
I wish I had another choice than Obama. Someone with a reputation for getting things done and getting people to line up and get stuff done. Sadly in this pit-bull political environment, Jebus himself would have a hard time getting folks to play nice. If I thought for a moment that Romney could stand up against the idiots in his party that want to turn America into a full on fascist state, I'd consider him. I'm just not at all certain he has the integrity of conviction to protect us from the flaming wackos walking the isles of Congress. The real challenge for Americans this fall is figuring out how to preserve our freedom, and not fall to the corporate rapist or the rabid ideologues who would turn our nation into a religious state or worse one devoted to an agenda of fear, hate and totalitarian control.
The debates this fall will be interesting, I just doubt anyone will be debating what's really at stake.