msnbc’s Lawrence O’Donnell accused The Des Moines Register of “adopting Mitt Romney’s magical thinking” by endorsing the Republican candidate for president.
In the Rewrite segment on Tuesday’s edition of The Last Word, he called their decision one of the “most embarrassing endorsements in the history of that newspaper.”
His bone to pick with the Iowa paper’s editorial board revolved around how they argued the case for Romney, not their specific choice of candidate. It’s “not because they chose Romney,” O’Donnell said. “Not because they chose a Republican, but because they gave absolutely no rational reason for it.”
The Register justified its entire endorsement on the basis of consumer confidence.
The op-ed main’s rationale for Romney: "Consumers must feel more confident about their own economic futures to begin spending on the products and services that power the economy. A renewed sense of confidence will spark renewed investment by American companies. Industry will return to full production and hiring will begin again."
O’Donnell said it’s the result of “pure magical thinking that the very sight of Mitt Romney taking the oath of office will suddenly make consumers run out to Best Buy and load up on TVs made in Japan.”
The last time the paper got behind a Republican candidate for president was in 1972, when they endorsed Richard Nixon.