Romney targets ‘vast left-wing conspiracy’ in the media [Video]

WASHINGTON -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says he expects a “vast left-wing conspiracy” in the media to attack him in an effort to boost President Obama’s chances of being re-elected.

“There will be an effort by the, quote, vast left-wing conspiracy to work together to put out a message and to attack me,” Romney said in an interview with Breitbart.com’s Larry O’Connor. “And they’re going to do everything they can to divert from the issue people care about, which is a growing economy that creates more jobs and rising incomes. That’s what people care about,” Romney said.

O’Connor, Breitbart.tv’s editor-in-chief and host of “The Stage Right Show,” cited the role of nonprofit organizations, Media Matters specifically, alleging that “these organizations that are attacking you are nonprofit and they’re working on the campaign. Hopefully we can have you call on an investigation on them.”

Romney replied that “if people are bending or breaking the law then we’re going to have to focus on that and do something about that. I don’t know how much is related to that, or how much is just that many in the media are inclined to do the president’s bidding and I know that’s an uphill battle we fight generally.”

Ari Rabin-Havt, executive vice president of Media Matters, and author of the book “The Fox Effect” called the accusations “complete, evidence-free garbage” and deemed the focus on Media Matters during the interview, given Romney’s status, “delusional and pathetic.”

Romney’s remarks to O’Connor echo those he made Sunday during a campaign fundraiser in Florida. During conversations with supporters, overheard by reporters from the Wall Street Journal and MSNBC, the former Massachusetts governor called Fox News a network watched by “the true believers,” but saw a bias in the remainder of the media.

But this is the first time he has suggested the existence of a “vast conspiracy,” a term popularized in the late 1990s by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, who claimed there was a “vast right-wing conspiracy” against her husband, President Bill Clinton.

Romney said he thinks the mainstream media is overpopulated with people who are more closely aligned with Democrats.

“We are behind when it comes to commentators on TV. They tend to be liberal,” Romney said. “Where we are ahead or even is on Twitter and on the Internet.”

So far in the ramp up to the general election, the battles have been fought almost entirely through the media, with both campaigns most recently trying to position themselves to exploit remarks made by so-called candidate ‘surrogates.’

Their efforts to tie comments by Hilary Rosen or Ted Nugent, for example, to the opposing campaigns have occupied a great deal of the past several news cycles, with Romney’s treatment of his family dog Seamus and a campaign to raise awareness of Obama admitting to eating dog meat as a child in his book “Dreams From My Father,” trying to take a toehold Tuesday.

morgan.little@latimes.com

Original source: Romney targets ‘vast left wing conspiracy’ in the media [video]