TJ Walker (host) presents a short segment highlighting a David Axelrod soundbite about Mitt Romney. Walker quotes Axelrod (“Romney is in a time warp...must watch Mad Men...Romney is oblivious...”) and analyzes why the line was media-effective: it combined humor, a timely pop-culture reference (Mad Men), and multiple pointed attacks, producing an irresistible, quotable soundbite.
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From New York, here's T.J. walker. In the news today, presidential adviser David Axelrod on cbs. Here's the Soundbite of the Day. Here's what he had to say about Mitt Romney. Romney is in a time warp. I think he must watch Mad Men and think it's the evening news. Romney is oblivious to the experiences of everyday people. So what's going on here? He's making a very sharp, pointed dig at Romney with respect to contraception not being available in the workplace. Also, this is relating to the recent dig where Romney said that Russia is the number one enemy, number one foe of the United States, something that struck a lot of people as very odd in 1960ish. Why was this sound bite so effective? Well, for starters, it used humor, clearly funny, referencing the Mad Men. It had a pop culture reference. Anytime you're trying to get quoted by the media, if you reference something well known in pop culture. And what's hotter than a Mad Men reference with its season premiere just the other day? So it had attack, it had humor, it had pop culture reference. Then when he said he's oblivious, that's another attack. So there's multiple attacks here, references to pop culture and humor, lots and lots of attacks. You roll it all up into one. It's a sound bite that's irresistible. It doesn't matter if it's a pro Obama Democratic media outlet or a pro Romney Republican outlet. Reporters cannot resist tangible, specific sound bites like this. So hats off for SOUNDBITE of the Day to David Axelrod of the Obama administration. I'm T.J. walker.