Mitt Romney's 'Believe in America' Paid-for Twitter Trend Met With Criticism
Public Uses Hashtag as Springboard to Vent About State of the Nation, Presidential Hopes
Mitt Romney has, ahead of his official nomination as the Republican presidential candidate, launched a paid-for promotional trend on Twitter, using the hashtag "BelieveInAmerica." The comments Twitter users have been employing with the hashtag, however, have expressed anything but hope in the nation's future.
With the presidential election less than a month away, the Romney-Ryan campaign sought to rally the troops with the "BelieveInAmerica" promo from Romney's account (@MittRomney) yesterday evening, tweeting: "The right course for America and our future is putting our faith back in the American people, #BelieveInAmerica."
That line was soon followed up with: "With the right steps & the right leadership, the 21st century can & will be an American century" and "@PaulRyanVP & I will provide the leadership & vision to restore America's greatness. Stand with us". A link sending readers to Romney's donation page was also included in the promotional tweets.
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Many of the reactions to the calls for donations have been negative, although, as of press time, about 100 Twitter users have re-tweeted the promos for their own followers to potentially share.
Some Twitter users, apparently betting on a Democratic ticket, have freely expressed their disagreement with, and in some cases hostility toward, the Romney-Ryan campaign, with one commenter writing: "Like Mitt Romney, I #BelieveInAmerica, I just don't believe in Romney (or the GOP). #Obama2012."
"Apparently I'm getting a Twitter lecture from Mitt Romney to #BelieveInAmerica when he won't even bank here or pay his taxes," wrote Rob Klippel (@robklippel).
There were also numerous Twitter users employing the "BelieveInAmerica" trend as an opportunity to simply vent about the state of the nation.
"#BelieveInAmerica [and] corporations so they can make billions, and still pay you $9 an hour without health insurance," wrote Andrew Boyers (@andrewboyers).
Remi Kanazi (@Remroum) made a similar remark: "#BelieveInAmerica is a joke for 10s of millions of people in this country. No jobs, no working wage, no health care, no safety, no stability."
It was unclear how long the Romney-Ryan campaign's promotional Twitter trend would run Thursday, but the presidential hopeful has also been using the phrase "WeCanChangeIt" for his Twitter talking points.
Romney and his vice presidential running mate will officially be nominated for the GOP ticket Thursday night at the convention in Tampa. While Ryan made his remarks Wednesday night, Romney will be given the spotlight this evening.
As Ryan did during his speech, the former Massachusetts governor will undoubtedly highlight what he believes are President Barack Obama's failures, and reemphasize his own solutions for unemployment, healthcare, and other important issues – and he will need to convince voters that his ideas will work.
"There's really only one issue in this campaign, and if he's going to win, it's not whether he's likeable and has a wonderful family, but rather that he can convince people he would be better on the economy than Barack Obama," Stephen Hess, a staffer in the Nixon and Eisenhower administrations now at the Brookings Institution, told CBS News.
"If I were writing his speech, it would be a tough, hard speech about the economy, about jobs, about what he thinks he can do, why he thinks he can do it, and virtually about nothing else. You might as well cut to the chase."
