Mitt Romney's ability to shift positions is dramatic, but seldom more so than his attacks on Obama are from this 2004 speech when he says Bush should not be held responsible for the economic slowdown and job losses that occurred in his first term, and the public knows such blame assigning is "poppycock."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pQs0IzLTQu4#!
The reasons Romney gives for the 2004 slowdown: internet bubble, cyclical downturn, terrorist attack, are all chicken feed compared to the real estate bubble and derivatives meltdown of 2008-9. In what sense did the terrorist attack cause a recession? There were fewer airline flights and tourism, but the home improvement sector picked up. There were losses in people and buildings, but a war buildup. Wall Street recouped something like $33 billion in business interruption insurance claims, mainly from Swiss companies, effectively offshoring a large chunk of its losses.
Romney is simply lying about the economy making a strong comeback in 2004 - it never made a strong comeback before collapsing in 2008, and the jobs numbers he touts are worse than what Obama has been delivering. President Bush's tax cuts failed to create any jobs, and the fact Romney doesn't know this in 2012 means that Romney would be a disastrous president.
Obviously, Romney was just being a partisan hack in defending Bush, just as he is being a mindless partisan hack in attacking Obama. Our side is good, no matter what happens, and your side is bad, no matter what happens. That's his entire campaign message, and that is the entire Republican electoral strategy. "Vote to show you are Superior to your Fellow Americans." That's the whole Republican message, and it is astonishing that it works so well when so few profit from it. America used to be known for its pragmatism in economic issues, but the Republican party has destroyed that by its continual redefinition of itself as the Gang of Winners, nothing more, and nobody represents that absence of principle better than Mormon bishop Mitt Romney.
The country is presently in a state of civilian Cold War because one side, the Republicans, simply refuse to admit they have any common ground with the other, and they interpret everything that happens as the work of their domestic enemies. As long as this violent and irresponsible party continues to be one of America's two parties, the United States will decline. There are signs that the public is no longer buying the GOP story, despite their stranglehold on the media.
Yes, Virginia, the Romney campaign is in trouble. Polls are finally showing movement, and it is all against Romney.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/three-polls-show-obama-widening-lead-over-romney/2012/08/10/be8f68f4-e2e3-11e1-a25e-15067bb31849_story.html
This in itself is a bit odd. One would have expected negatives from Obama's anti-Bain ad campaign, but little from concerns about Romney's tax returns. The media have done their best to heap scorn on Harry Reid for saying Romney paid no taxes, but Romney's hysterical attempt to respond, calling Reid a liar and acting the victim, has not taken hold, and that's a dark cloud for the campaign, since making Romney seem the victim of dirty attacks is no doubt scheduled to be their main theme in the fall.
They really believe that if they prove Romney paid any taxes, no matter how little, they can make the Democrats the villains. Meanwhile, the public see despite the verbiage screen that Romney has not released his tax returns, and that this is not based on principle but on political considerations. The idea that his business career should be off-limits to discussion is also a laughable bit of humor since his entire justification for running for president was that his business experience would help him create jobs. Romney's angry response to an Obama ad about a man who lost his health insurance due to Bain Capital and whose wife died from untreated cancer, did more damage by showing that to Romney, business is just a game and not something real where people get hurt, which he thinks is a separate issue entirely.
The poll declines could be a bit of theater so Romney could get a "bump" from his convention and selection of Ryan, if the polls are being faked. But if real, it is probably just the public getting better acquainted with Romney, his arrogance, and his sense of entitlement.
For the third month in a row, the Romneyites have "raised more funds" than Obama, but now we find out they have been likely been creating phoney accounts to boost their twitter followers, and the same could well be true in fundraising.
http://theweek.com/article/index/230915/is-romney-buying-twitter-followers
Romney has so much money he can immediately plug any holes in the campaign performance from his personal accounts. And with an average donation size of over $600 in March compared to Obama's $50, he will never likely suffer a true deficit.
http://race42012.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Average-Donation-Size.jpg
However, his campaign receipts announced by his campaign have a curious flat, bloated look. It is quite likely the numbers are false and inflated in order to create dismay in the president's camp. If they are willing to do it with Twitter, it would hardly be a surprise for them to do it on fundraising. Romney's main source of election strength will be PACs, and so will never be reported as part of the campaign.
http://www.drudge.com/news/159271/super-pac-money-pays-80-romney
So what will Romney use his money for, if PACs place all the ads? Well, maybe there isn't as much money as they say. And perhaps they plan to use it to buy reporters and buy votes.
No comments:
Post a Comment