Thread: As in 2012, Romney Can Do No Right in Murdoch’s Eyes

By AMY CHOZICK and MICHAEL BARBAROJAN. 27, 2015

The usually grim-faced media mogul practically swooned in his seat. Moments after Jeb Bush delivered what many in the audience described as an unremarkable talk at a conference in Washington, Rupert Murdoch turned to his seatmate, Valerie Jarrett, the White House adviser, to gush over its content and tone.

Mr. Murdoch was pleased that Mr. Bush, the former governor of Florida, had listed the economic benefits of overhauling the nation’s immigration system, confiding in Ms. Jarrett that Mr. Bush, a likely Republican presidential candidate, had said all the right things on the fraught issue, according to three people with firsthand knowledge of the conversation.

It was the kind of warm embrace, from the powerful and widely courted owner of The Wall Street Journal and Fox News Channel, that Mr. Murdoch denied Mitt Romney during his 2012 bid for the White House — and one that Mr. Murdoch is already signaling he will deprive Mr. Romney of if he runs in 2016.

In the delicate and unseen campaign underway for Mr. Murdoch’s affections in the next presidential campaign, this much is clear: Mr. Romney is out of the running, a reality that has pained and angered his allies.

Presidential politics is rife with grudges and grievances, but it is hard to recall a display of animus as unsubtle as that which Mr. Murdoch and corners of his media empire have unleashed on Mr. Romney in the past few weeks as he has tried to build support for a third presidential run.

Mr. Murdoch’s most prominent American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, has called Mr. Romney’s last run a “calamity.” Mr. Murdoch has dismissed Mr. Romney as a “terrible candidate.” And, in a final indignity, Mr. Murdoch has heaped praise on Mr. Romney’s potential rivals, no matter how long a shot they have at the Republican nomination. (“Watch Ben Carson,” Mr. Murdoch wrote on Twitter a few days ago, labeling Mr. Carson, a conservative physician and political neophyte, a “principled brave achiever.”)

The disfavor that Mr. Murdoch has showered upon Mr. Romney could have a genuine impact on the early stages of the Republican primary, as Mr. Romney, the party’s nominee in 2012, weighs whether or not to push ahead with a campaign, a decision he is expected to make in the next few weeks.

For Mr. Romney and those around him, the memory of Mr. Murdoch’s aversion in 2012, and its expression in forums like The Journal, still stings.

“It was a concern during the campaign, one that had to be actively managed,” said Kevin Madden, a senior adviser to Mr. Romney’s campaign in 2012.

He acknowledged that The Journal’s editorial page, a battering ram against Mr. Romney then and now, “does have an impact in shaping opinions of many within the party.”

A few of Mr. Romney’s closest friends have lost their patience with Mr. Murdoch. Ron Kaufman, a longtime confidant and adviser, said that Mr. Murdoch “has proven tone deaf” when it comes to politics and bemoaned what he said were the media executive’s ill-informed outbursts.

“It’s like trying to make sense of what Trump does sometimes,” Mr. Kaufman said.

“Vacuous” is how Mr. Murdoch has privately described Mr. Romney, said a person close to the executive who, wanting to preserve his relationship with him, would not discuss private conversations for attribution. That remark is a blunter version of those Mr. Murdoch has made in public in the past month or so.

Mr. Murdoch takes special umbrage at Mr. Romney’s handling of immigration in 2012, when the candidate, as an alternative to forced deportation, called for “self-deportation,” in which people in the United States illegally would voluntarily go back to their home countries and apply to emigrate legally.

During a closed-door meeting at the Union League Club in Manhattan that year, Mr. Murdoch called the position foolhardy and asked Mr. Romney to back away from it. Mr. Romney, according to two attendees, replied that he had already softened his language on immigration and that if he abandoned his position he would look like a flip-flopper, a label he loathed. Mr. Murdoch was baffled and dismayed, the attendees said.

A spokesman for Mr. Romney declined to comment.

Asked two weeks ago what he thought of Mr. Romney’s consideration of another candidacy, Mr. Murdoch responded: “He had his chance. He mishandled it, you know?”

The rejection has a personal dimension for Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor whose relationship with The Journal dates back decades. The newspaper assiduously chronicled the career of his father, George Romney, a prominent automobile executive. And Mr. Romney is a devoted Journal reader who has repeatedly sought to reach its readers through his own opinion articles.

Those close to Mr. Romney said he had all but given up on trying to win over Mr. Murdoch. Several of them spoke of the situation as frustrating and inexplicable for him. Mr. Romney, they point out, has nothing negative to say about Mr. Murdoch. “He doesn’t hold it against him,” Mr. Kaufman said.

But these people insist that Mr. Murdoch’s harsh assessment is neither an obstacle nor a deterrent as Mr. Romney decides whether to pursue another White House campaign.

Meanwhile, about a half-dozen mainstream Republican candidates are angling for Mr. Murdoch’s blessing, not to mention Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has developed her own growing rapport with him.

Mr. Murdoch seems eager to play a role in the political process. “I am deeply interested in the future of our country, and I enjoy meeting with potential candidates of both parties,” Mr. Murdoch said by email, responding to an inquiry about his political activity. “I am keen to hear their views, whether it’s on tax reform, immigration or defense and foreign policy.”

Mr. Murdoch remains fond of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who played his own role in the billionaire’s plans to foil Mr. Romney. In 2011, Mr. Murdoch joined a group of wealthy and influential Republican leaders who encouraged Mr. Christie to enter the presidential race, convinced he was a more exciting alternative to Mr. Romney, and with broader appeal.

Last May, Mr. Murdoch expressed doubts about the New Jersey governor, saying he expected more damaging stories to emerge about Mr. Christie’s aides in the aftermath of the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge. Still, the two men remain in contact, speaking by phone about once every month or two, according to advisers close to both.

Mr. Murdoch remains intrigued by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, privately extolling his appeal to younger voters and his plans for a flat tax. The two meet often in New York and Washington. But Mr. Murdoch worries that Mr. Paul may face an uphill battle in a general election, said a person who has spoken with Mr. Murdoch.

Then there is Mr. Bush, who calls The Journal his “paper of record.” The fact that he sat between Mr. Murdoch and Ms. Jarrett at the conference hosted by The Journal in Washington was no accident: Mr. Murdoch requested it. Their ties have deepened over the years. Mr. Bush has collaborated frequently on education issues with Mr. Murdoch’s close friend and adviser Joel I. Klein, the former New York City schools chancellor who now leads Mr. Murdoch’s education business, Amplify.

Mr. Murdoch, 83, is executive chairman of News Corporation, which owns The Journal, The New York Post and HarperCollins, among other assets, and is chief executive of 21st Century Fox, the parent company of film and television assets including Fox News and the Fox broadcasting network.

With his characteristic candor and deep, Australian-accented mumble, Mr. Murdoch is making known his high regard for Mr. Bush these days.

“I like Jeb Bush very much,” Mr. Murdoch said in New York two weeks ago. “He’s moving very cleverly, very well,” he added.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/us...eyes.html?_r=0

Mr. Murdoch is an Australian who needs to return to Australia. He became a citizen of the US in 1985 because he moved his company here so stockholders committed to investing in US companies would invest in his. What good to our country has he brought? Not even with his "Sir Father", not even with all his money, his 3 wives or 6 children .... not with all his manipulative investments in 501 C 3 tax exempt "charities", not with all of his meddling in our politics or controlling our news media .... our country is at its lowest ebb in US history, with more people than jobs, open borders with millions of illegal aliens, jobs leaving under the banners of Free Trade Treason faster than we can count them, deflated and bound to stay that way household incomes, a bloated federal budget and an $18 trillion and growing national debt. So Rupert Murdoch has made no positive contribution to our country despite his grand upbringing, big money inheritance, his own wealth making with his inheritance, and a kingdom of cruel, wrong-headed political meddling.

While I won't at this time support Mitt Romney for President, I will say that anyone who is on Rupert's unlike list would be a better President than someone who isn't.