Watch What You Post
Usually when you post something online, it’s there for the world to see. But there are some entities that post things to a website that can only be seen by folks with a special password or unique access.
Imagine the problem when you think you are posting to the secure, private site…and instead, it’s there for the world to see.
That’s the problem facing the Ron DeSantis campaign…as hundreds of pages of detailed memos, research and internal polls to help prepare the Florida governor for next Wednesday’s GOP debate wound up in the hands of a trio of New York Times reporters, who pulled them from a website of the firm consulting the DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down.
The memo gave a list of “basic must-dos” on the debate stage: in their words, first, DeSantis needs “to take a sledgehammer” to Vivek Ramaswamy, who is topping DeSantis for second place in many polls…he should “defend Donald Trump” when Chris Christie attacks the former president…and he needs to “attach Joe Biden and the media” no less than three to five times.
That’s some pretty specific stuff. And there’s more…the exact language for the candidate to use about Trump was provided…suggesting that DeSantis should say that Trump was “a breath of fresh air and the first president to tell the elite where to shove it”…but note that given Trump’s four criminal indictments, he faces “so many distractions that it’s almost impossible for him to focus on moving the country forward”.
That’s all pretty good advice…but now that it’s been leaked…how in the world can the Florida governor use any of it? He already gets a rap for being programmed and not seeming genuine…so if he recites these lines or follows this advice in the debate, won’t that just be playing into the stereotype from which he’s trying to escape?
I’ve covered the Iowa Caucuses since 1980…but this cycle is so different from any of the rest…I guarantee I did not have “DeSantis briefing strategy leaked on the PAC website” on my debate bingo card.
