News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch let loose on Twitter on Sunday, writing that Mitt Romney doesn’t look like a “challenger” and “seems to play everything safe.”
On Sunday night, the media mogul tweeted:
When is Romney going to look like a challenger?Seems to play everything safe, make no news except burn off Hispanics.
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) June 24, 2012
Easy for Romney to spell out restoration of the American dream and bash incompetent administration. But not a word!
— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) June 24, 2012
Murdoch’s Twitter feed has made headlines since his first tweet in late December. His tweets alternate from reflective observations to aggressive rebukes. In late May, Murdoch tweeted that he was preparing to “hit back hard” at rivals. In mid-April, he admired Central Park’s “spring blooms.”
Michael Wolff — author of “The Man Who Owns the News,” a biography of Murdoch — says Murdoch “sounds like when he doesn’t have someone tempering him or editing him.” The tweets show a man increasingly alone, he told TPM in March.
During the Republican nominating process, we wrote of the “Murdoch Primary,” the battle for Murdoch’s media empire, especially its conservative Fox News channel. In the past, Murdoch’s feed had been filled with praise for Rick Santorum, but for the most part he has stayed out of U.S. presidential politics. And if Murdoch really doesn’t care for Romney, you couldn’t tell it by watching “Fox and Friends,” one of Fox’s most successful programs. The Republican candidate has appeared on the program 21 times in the past year, The New York Times reports. He has appeared on NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” four times each.
Spokespeople at News Corp. and the Romney campaign were not immediately available for comment.
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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