Romney is such a bad candidate that it's easy to see him as "losing" this race instead of seeing Obama as "winning" it. But let's give Obama credit where credit is due.
He's just a hell of a campaigner and he has an excellent campaign staff.
He campaigns hard. He's out there almost every day at multiple events. And his staff puts him in places that matter. Romney by contrast is lazy, takes lots of days off and rarely does more than one event on any one day. Apparently Romney's sense of entitlement led him to believe he wouldn't have to work hard to win the presidency. And his staff makes strange choices in his scheduling, repeatedly sending him to states he has already bagged or ones he's obviously lost.
Obama has had a plan for his campaign all along. And he and his staff have stuck to it. He has also been consistent in his message. But Romney's campaign and message seem to be catch-as-catch-can. That's no way to run a business, let alone a political campaign. Romney and his Bain associates who help run his campaign have no respect for the job they are trying to do. He was tearing apart and rewriting his acceptance speech AT THE LAST MINUTE, and it showed.
Obama has a good ear. He hit the exact right note in his convention acceptance speech after working on it for weeks. Pundits chastised him for not "soaring" in his rhetoric as in 2008, but that would not have been appropriate in these economic times. He chose to lift the people in another way, by reminding them of the best that's in THEM. The speech was about the people, not about him. He spoke to the good in people, their sense of fairness, and their willingness to help out their brothers and sisters. It was about "We the People". It was the way the Kennedys and Martin Luther King reached people. And when people feel good about who they ARE, they want to hang on to that. Romney, by contrast, has a dark view of Americans as caring solely about financial success.
Obama IS the president. He said so in his acceptance speech. And he looks like a president at all times, acts like a president, and talks like one. He has dignity - miles of it. That's why he can croon the blues and do other light-hearted stuff without turning people off. He's PRESIDENTIAL. And Romney is not. Romney's a pathetic jerk, a semi-demented doorman.
Obama's a fighter. People like that quality. Romney pretends to be one. People can tell the difference. So can our enemies. Romney merely talks tough but there's no conviction in it. He can't even fight a political campaign, so how would he do against our enemies? He said he wouldn't have gone after Bin Laden (then changed his tune of course). But Obama killed Bin Laden. And Obama's gutsy on the campaign trail. We all like a gutsy guy.
But Obama also has a great sense of humor, plus a comedic timing any top comic would kill for. Romney has a fake cackle and a pathetic sense of what's a joke. Plus he has no sense of the room, as they say in show biz.
Finally, there's Obama's smile and his contrasting cool. It's a remarkable combination in one man. I haven't seen this since JFK and FDR: a calm, resolute demeanor that can switch to a wonderful smile that lights up the world. We call them "the happy warriors", and we love them.
The rest of what's great about Obama is what he isn't. He doesn't whine. He doesn't brag about his own remarkable success in life. He doesn't tie dogs to the roof of his car. He doesn't hide his tax returns or his plan for the tax code. He doesn't tell lies. In other words, he isn't Mitt Romney. And that's the biggest plus any candidate could want.
But don't short-change Obama's positives. Some commentators say he's mainly lucky. No, that's not it. He's worked hard and played smart, and he plays the long game. Remember that he and his team beat the sure-winner Clinton team in 2008 by figuring out how the caucus states could give him the primary win. (He's also got a great plan at work for the so-called "fiscal cliff" that's coming at the end of the year, but that's for another posting.)
And, honey, he's got a good singing voice! The only pres in history that can sing! You gotta love it!
He's campaigning hard, and we must do likewise. It's OUR country at stake. Obama is trying to help US! We are the ones at risk. Help get those voters to the polls because if Obama loses, YOU lose.
******************
Hey, Mitt, you know those old gangster movies where the crook finally "sings" and gets sent to the "Big House"? So let's hear you "sing" about those tax returns! Maybe you'll then qualify for yet another big house to add to your collection? It'd make a great musical: "Singing in Sing-Sing"!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Romney Campaign A Train Wreck
All the pundits - imcluding a lot of GOP ones - agree that Romney is the worst candidate ever.
What hasn't been as widely noted is that he's also got the worst campaign ever. Let's count the cars as his campaign train inexorably plunges off the tracks, noting that this train's engineer is a much-touted organization man. Really?
1. Romney's campaign is almost out of money. His super pacs have some large amount but have to pay five times the TV ad rate charged to candidates. Paying five times as much is not a good business practice! Obama by contrast has a goodly sum in his own campaign account - thanks to you! - and can get the cheaper rate.
2. Romney and Ryan spent yesterday in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, two states they have already lost. All the GOP experts have been screaming at Romney to campaign where it matters. Instead he is now headed for Texas, which he has already won. Why this wasting of their last precious days? Answer: They are trying to raise money. How could a vaunted money man like Romney be in such a financial pickle?
3. The Republican National Committee HIRED people to do voter registration of Republicans. Turns out the GOP hired a firm run by a guy who already had a record of being accused of conducting registration fraud. So the GOP and the Romney campaign did a lousy job checking him out. His outfit has now been caught submitting blatantly fraudulent forms in counties all across Florida and is now under criminal investigation. Instantly the GOP fired the firm even though it was doing GOP voter registration in other states besides Florida. Thus, in key states, the GOP/Romney effort has NO voter registration drive in the last ten days allowed. What a way to run a business! And it was the GOP that enacted voter suppression laws to protect against "voter fraud"! Chutzpah to the max!
4. Romney and the GOP don't have the volunteers. That's what Item 3 tells us. They had to PAY people to do what Democrats get done by volunteers. This is not only a waste of money but a clear signal that either the grassroots GOP still don't like Romney or that Romney's organization failed to reach out to grassroots volunteers. Neither speaks well for the Romney campaign.
5. Romney's campaign is flailing around and unfocused. It's a new "issue" every day. Like throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping some if it will stick. If this is coming from his advisers, it's bad advice. If it's his idea, then his staff is failing to tell him that he's just looking desperate. A presidential campaign is not a food fight.
6. Romney's campaign is scheduling him for smaller and smaller venues and picking weird audiences to fill the seats. Example: he's just met with veterans, and these were very old veterans. They are not going to run out and start doing precinct work. They can't run anywhere! They are too old to walk precincts! (I'm 76 and know what I'm talking about.) Also Romney just did an event with the cadets at the famed Virginia military academy. These kids can't leave the base and go out and work for a candidate. If the campaign wants to "rev up the troops", as we say in politics, it has to go where the troops are actually available to do something with the "rev". Is this the Romney version of the waning days of the Civil War when the Confederates threw the kids and old men into the fight?
7. Can we conclude that Romney just can't draw a big crowd? Is that why he's appearing at enclosed meetings with vets and cadets? Can't his advance team pull together a decent-sized crowd? Obama isn't getting 40,000 as in 2008, but he's had some rallies in the 20,000 to 30,000 range this year. Romney hasn't. Not by a long shot.
Well, that's enough cars falling off the track for now. There will certainly be more. I'll be happy to keep you up to date on the Great Romney Train Wreck!
*****************
Hey, Romney! As your train teeters off the track at an ever faster rate, you might just throw those tax returns out the window so we have something to remember you by. For now, all that will endure as a symbol of your campaign is that empty chair! And, yes, Mitt, unlike jet planes, trains have windows that open. Toss 'em, baby, toss 'em!
What hasn't been as widely noted is that he's also got the worst campaign ever. Let's count the cars as his campaign train inexorably plunges off the tracks, noting that this train's engineer is a much-touted organization man. Really?
1. Romney's campaign is almost out of money. His super pacs have some large amount but have to pay five times the TV ad rate charged to candidates. Paying five times as much is not a good business practice! Obama by contrast has a goodly sum in his own campaign account - thanks to you! - and can get the cheaper rate.
2. Romney and Ryan spent yesterday in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, two states they have already lost. All the GOP experts have been screaming at Romney to campaign where it matters. Instead he is now headed for Texas, which he has already won. Why this wasting of their last precious days? Answer: They are trying to raise money. How could a vaunted money man like Romney be in such a financial pickle?
3. The Republican National Committee HIRED people to do voter registration of Republicans. Turns out the GOP hired a firm run by a guy who already had a record of being accused of conducting registration fraud. So the GOP and the Romney campaign did a lousy job checking him out. His outfit has now been caught submitting blatantly fraudulent forms in counties all across Florida and is now under criminal investigation. Instantly the GOP fired the firm even though it was doing GOP voter registration in other states besides Florida. Thus, in key states, the GOP/Romney effort has NO voter registration drive in the last ten days allowed. What a way to run a business! And it was the GOP that enacted voter suppression laws to protect against "voter fraud"! Chutzpah to the max!
4. Romney and the GOP don't have the volunteers. That's what Item 3 tells us. They had to PAY people to do what Democrats get done by volunteers. This is not only a waste of money but a clear signal that either the grassroots GOP still don't like Romney or that Romney's organization failed to reach out to grassroots volunteers. Neither speaks well for the Romney campaign.
5. Romney's campaign is flailing around and unfocused. It's a new "issue" every day. Like throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping some if it will stick. If this is coming from his advisers, it's bad advice. If it's his idea, then his staff is failing to tell him that he's just looking desperate. A presidential campaign is not a food fight.
6. Romney's campaign is scheduling him for smaller and smaller venues and picking weird audiences to fill the seats. Example: he's just met with veterans, and these were very old veterans. They are not going to run out and start doing precinct work. They can't run anywhere! They are too old to walk precincts! (I'm 76 and know what I'm talking about.) Also Romney just did an event with the cadets at the famed Virginia military academy. These kids can't leave the base and go out and work for a candidate. If the campaign wants to "rev up the troops", as we say in politics, it has to go where the troops are actually available to do something with the "rev". Is this the Romney version of the waning days of the Civil War when the Confederates threw the kids and old men into the fight?
7. Can we conclude that Romney just can't draw a big crowd? Is that why he's appearing at enclosed meetings with vets and cadets? Can't his advance team pull together a decent-sized crowd? Obama isn't getting 40,000 as in 2008, but he's had some rallies in the 20,000 to 30,000 range this year. Romney hasn't. Not by a long shot.
Well, that's enough cars falling off the track for now. There will certainly be more. I'll be happy to keep you up to date on the Great Romney Train Wreck!
*****************
Hey, Romney! As your train teeters off the track at an ever faster rate, you might just throw those tax returns out the window so we have something to remember you by. For now, all that will endure as a symbol of your campaign is that empty chair! And, yes, Mitt, unlike jet planes, trains have windows that open. Toss 'em, baby, toss 'em!
Friday, September 28, 2012
The Election: Blowout or Blowup?
Are we headed for a blowout of an election? Is Obama going to repeat the 2008 results? This would be astonishing, given the criticism he has endured from the left and right and the media over the past four years. And it would be unprecedented given an 8% unemployment rate, so the experts tell us.
Well, folks, it just might be happening. Things began looking good long before the conventions. The key indicator: Obama's likeability numbers have remained strong all along, while Romney's have remained upside-down. Rule Number One of politics is that voters elect the candidate they like as a person. In fact, Romney is setting a new record: until now no major party presidential candidate has ever headed into an election with upside-down personal "favorable" numbers.
People also like a candidate they can trust. Romney's biggest mistake has been refusing to release his tax returns. No matter what's in them, he has given the impression he has something to hide. And it's a simple issue: release or not release. You don't have to understand the tax code to get it: there's something that he's hiding. He might have explained away his flip-flopping on other issues, but he chose to (or had to?) stand firm on the one thing that's really killed voters' trust.
The other issue was you. By the millions, small donors were sending in their donations to Obama all through the summer. This wasn't happening for Romney even though the GOP before 2008 always out-collected Democrats on small contributions. The enthusiasm to "beat Obama" wasn't running as strong as had been predicted. And Obama' supporters were staying strong!
Now Romney's house of cards has really come crashing down. His convention was a disaster. The polls this week are against him at astonishingly high levels. He keeps shoving his foot into his mouth in lieu of the silver spoon. His 47 percent crack isn't going away. His campaign staff are starting the blame game against each other. Republican Joe Scarborough has covered his face with his hands, moaning "Sweet Jesus", thus epitomizing the despair of GOP opinion leaders at their dreadfully inept candidate.
Meantime, Obama's popularity is so strong he's lifting some Democratic Senate races that were deemed losers by the experts.
Obama's small contributors have become 3 MILLION strong; he out-raised Romney and his rich friends last month; and Romney is hard-pressed for funds. Further, the Democratic rich are now getting on board with big checks; George Soros just gave $1 million to an Obama super pac and others are rushing to do likewise. Meanwhile, the GOP super pac spending doesn't seem to be making a dent: You can't successfully smear a candidate whom everybody already knows and a majority like. And super pacs are charged up to five times as much as the TV ad rate candidates' campaigns have to pay.
The polls this week have been so good for Obama as to make you dizzy. He's leading by 10% in Ohio, the state the GOP MUST win. No GOP candidate has ever won without Ohio. Obama's also leading in Florida, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, and all the "swing states", with even a slight edge now in North Carolina. Not that he needs North Carolina. With Pennsylvania and Michigan now safely bagged, all Obama needs is Ohio plus six more electoral votes from any pro-Obama "swing" state to reach the magic 270.
The other magic number is 50%. Or just a tick over it. For the first time, Obama's job approval rating has reached 50%, and his polling numbers in most of the swing states have also reached 50 to 51%. That's called "winning"!
And Romney is bleeding support from his strongest segments. His lead with white men has dropped by a big amount, as has his lead with seniors. Regarding the latter, his "bold" pick of Ryan was more "bad" than "bold" because of Ryan's dire plans for Medicare. Seniors DO NOT like the voucher proposal. Regarding white men, they may be white but they are not crazy. Apparently Romney's disdain for the 47% really offended many of them. They are IN that 47%!
There's not only talk now of a Democratic pick-up in the Senate instead of losing the majority, but there's also the first faint whispers among the talking heads of a possible Democratic recapture of a House majority. Wow!
So is it going to be a Democratic blowout? Or could it still turn into a Democratic blowup?
It's up to you.
Sure, Romney could score big in the debates and turn things around. And, yes, voter suppression could skew the outcome. Or Europe's economy go in the tank. Or something else awful happen. But the most frightening thing is that Democratic voters may stay home, lulled by the good poll numbers. That would be a disaster.
And it's in your hands. You who stuck by Obama all through the dark times and made the good numbers possible. Now is the time to bring in that harvest. Help get out the vote! Polls don't win elections. Voters win elections! YOU are the ones who hold the key!
Can we go this last mile? We damn well better!
****************
You're losing the election, Mitt, because of your non-release of your tax returns. So why not release them now? What have you got to lose at this point? Freedom from prosecution for fraud?
Well, folks, it just might be happening. Things began looking good long before the conventions. The key indicator: Obama's likeability numbers have remained strong all along, while Romney's have remained upside-down. Rule Number One of politics is that voters elect the candidate they like as a person. In fact, Romney is setting a new record: until now no major party presidential candidate has ever headed into an election with upside-down personal "favorable" numbers.
People also like a candidate they can trust. Romney's biggest mistake has been refusing to release his tax returns. No matter what's in them, he has given the impression he has something to hide. And it's a simple issue: release or not release. You don't have to understand the tax code to get it: there's something that he's hiding. He might have explained away his flip-flopping on other issues, but he chose to (or had to?) stand firm on the one thing that's really killed voters' trust.
The other issue was you. By the millions, small donors were sending in their donations to Obama all through the summer. This wasn't happening for Romney even though the GOP before 2008 always out-collected Democrats on small contributions. The enthusiasm to "beat Obama" wasn't running as strong as had been predicted. And Obama' supporters were staying strong!
Now Romney's house of cards has really come crashing down. His convention was a disaster. The polls this week are against him at astonishingly high levels. He keeps shoving his foot into his mouth in lieu of the silver spoon. His 47 percent crack isn't going away. His campaign staff are starting the blame game against each other. Republican Joe Scarborough has covered his face with his hands, moaning "Sweet Jesus", thus epitomizing the despair of GOP opinion leaders at their dreadfully inept candidate.
Meantime, Obama's popularity is so strong he's lifting some Democratic Senate races that were deemed losers by the experts.
Obama's small contributors have become 3 MILLION strong; he out-raised Romney and his rich friends last month; and Romney is hard-pressed for funds. Further, the Democratic rich are now getting on board with big checks; George Soros just gave $1 million to an Obama super pac and others are rushing to do likewise. Meanwhile, the GOP super pac spending doesn't seem to be making a dent: You can't successfully smear a candidate whom everybody already knows and a majority like. And super pacs are charged up to five times as much as the TV ad rate candidates' campaigns have to pay.
The polls this week have been so good for Obama as to make you dizzy. He's leading by 10% in Ohio, the state the GOP MUST win. No GOP candidate has ever won without Ohio. Obama's also leading in Florida, Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, and all the "swing states", with even a slight edge now in North Carolina. Not that he needs North Carolina. With Pennsylvania and Michigan now safely bagged, all Obama needs is Ohio plus six more electoral votes from any pro-Obama "swing" state to reach the magic 270.
The other magic number is 50%. Or just a tick over it. For the first time, Obama's job approval rating has reached 50%, and his polling numbers in most of the swing states have also reached 50 to 51%. That's called "winning"!
And Romney is bleeding support from his strongest segments. His lead with white men has dropped by a big amount, as has his lead with seniors. Regarding the latter, his "bold" pick of Ryan was more "bad" than "bold" because of Ryan's dire plans for Medicare. Seniors DO NOT like the voucher proposal. Regarding white men, they may be white but they are not crazy. Apparently Romney's disdain for the 47% really offended many of them. They are IN that 47%!
There's not only talk now of a Democratic pick-up in the Senate instead of losing the majority, but there's also the first faint whispers among the talking heads of a possible Democratic recapture of a House majority. Wow!
So is it going to be a Democratic blowout? Or could it still turn into a Democratic blowup?
It's up to you.
Sure, Romney could score big in the debates and turn things around. And, yes, voter suppression could skew the outcome. Or Europe's economy go in the tank. Or something else awful happen. But the most frightening thing is that Democratic voters may stay home, lulled by the good poll numbers. That would be a disaster.
And it's in your hands. You who stuck by Obama all through the dark times and made the good numbers possible. Now is the time to bring in that harvest. Help get out the vote! Polls don't win elections. Voters win elections! YOU are the ones who hold the key!
Can we go this last mile? We damn well better!
****************
You're losing the election, Mitt, because of your non-release of your tax returns. So why not release them now? What have you got to lose at this point? Freedom from prosecution for fraud?
Thursday, September 27, 2012
A 47%er and Proud of It
I'm one of the 47% Romney despises. And I'm am proud to be in the 47%!
I'm 76 years old and live entirely on Social Security. All the savings my second husband and I had for retirement instead went to his medical expenses before he died. Because I now have only Social Security as income, I owe no federal income taxes.
In his infinite ignorance, Romney doesn't know that a big chunk of the 47% he attacks are elderly people like me. Also he fails to recognize that those of us who collect Social Security and use Medicare PAID into those systems for years and years.
I got my Social Security card when I was 12 years old. My husband also began working as a kid. We worked all our lives. We put ourselves through college in the days before Pell grants and federal loans, but I certainly do not begrudge these to today's students, bless them. (They too are among the 47% who get benefits but are too low in income to pay income taxes.)
My husband spent his whole working life in the defense and advancement of this country. He worked on the space program, on the U2, on the ICBM silos. He spent years in Vietnam as a civilian helping set up systems to detect Viet Cong tunnels into our camps. And he was shot at. He spent more years installing radio surveillance stations on the entire perimeters of Russia and China so we would know what they were up to and not launch WWIII because our radar picked up a flight of birds. He spent a lot of lonely years in hardship postings.
Before marrying my second husband, I raised six kids as a single parent for 15 years, working at whatever I could that would allow me some time with my kids. My youngest had epilepsy and died at age 16. The others all turned out great and are solid, contributing citizens. I worked as both a volunteer and paid staffer in political campaigns and as a teacher of thousands of youngsters. And I wrote a book, "Women of the West" (under my then-name of Dorothy Gray). It's about inspirational pioneer women on the frontier and, after 36 years. it's still in print.
In short, my second husband and I earned every single penny of what I get in Social Security, and we did it the hard way, all the time paying a higher rate of income tax than Romney pays.
Today there are millions of single parents struggling as I did. They don't pay income taxes because they DON'T EARN ENOUGH! The fault is not in their stars but in our society. We have an economy that grossly favors the Mitt Romneys and not working people, as does our tax system. And compared to other leading nations, we do next to nothing to help our single parents or families in general.
Obama is trying to help families. That's what Obamacare is about. He's also trying to lift wages and create jobs. That's what his Jobs Act would do if the GOP would let it pass. He's trying to help all people get better educations, including single parents. That's why he took the federal student loan program out of the hands of the banks and increased Pell grants. He's the best friend of single parents.
Romney's whole holier-than-thou orientation looks down on single parents as moochers and probably as immoral.
Obama is also the best friend of Social Security and Medicare. Romney is their enemy and thus the enemy of the 47% who are over 65 or will get there in a few years.
I'm part of the 47% and proud of it! And I'm proud to support our fine young president. Romney and his fellow plutocrats should hang their heads in shame for exploiting this country and not carrying their share of the cost of all they benefit from.
Those of us on Social Security may be old, but we are not stupid!
*********************
Hey, Mr. Romney! When I was working as a consultant so I could stagger my hours around raising six kids, I had to pay the entire Social Security deduction of 15% because there was no "employer" to split the charge. So I was paying a higher percent just for Social Security than you now pay in income taxes on your entire income. Tell you what, I'll show you my tax returns and you show us yours!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Citizens United Destroyed Romney
It's so ironic it makes you want to tickle the cat.
The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United has helped destroy Romney's candidacy. He's done a lot of the heavy lifting himself, to be sure, but Citizens United has really knocked him sideways.
Let's look at how that happened and then laugh until Thursday. By allowing anybody, including corporations, to give unlimited amounts in political donations, the Supreme Court unleashed the two immensely wealthy sugar daddies who kept Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum going and going like a couple of Energizer Bunnies throughout the GOP primaries. Newt and Rick succeeded in extending the contested nature of the primaries long after Romney should have bagged the game.
They thus harmed him in three ways. First, they cheapened him as a candidate. They were such obvious idiots that people had to wonder what was the matter with Romney in not being able to put these guys away. It began to appear that Romney was just not a very good candidate, which turned out to be quite true.
The bigger blow, however, was financial. The pair of right-wingers forced Romney to spend all his primary money fighting them off. Over the summer he therefore had no funds to paint a portrait of himself for the American people. Obama's campaign saw their chance and took it, gleefully filling in a picture of a fat-cat, tax-dodging Bubble Boy who had little interest in or understanding of his fellow Americans.
Meantime, Romney couldn't spend the money that was coming in for the general election. He had to wait until after the convention. (And what a fun convention that was!) By that time it was too late. As the polls show, by August a sizable majority of American voters had come to believe that Romney did not care about them but only about his fellow rich guys. (Which is, of course, utter truth.)
The third blow was that Romney couldn't get a running start on setting up a ground game. The months he grappled with Newt and Ricky should have been used to build a grassroots campaign. Ask the Obama people because that's exactly what they were doing during that time and ever since. Romney, the quintessential Organization Man, fell way behind on building his organization.
It is altogether fitting and proper that Romney got hoisted on the money petard. That the rich candidate with the rich friends ended up short of money when he needed it most is a lovely piece of justice. All thanks to the misguided machinations of Chief Justice John Roberts, friend of the rich and corporations and architect of Citizens United.
John Kennedy said that life isn't fair. But once in a while it really is. Enjoy the moment!
****************************
No, Mitt, we won't be bought off with just the 2011 returns and "summaries" of other years. We're not the idiots you think we are. We want the details of full returns and all their schedules and attachments because that's where the devil is. Oh, boy, is it!
The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United has helped destroy Romney's candidacy. He's done a lot of the heavy lifting himself, to be sure, but Citizens United has really knocked him sideways.
Let's look at how that happened and then laugh until Thursday. By allowing anybody, including corporations, to give unlimited amounts in political donations, the Supreme Court unleashed the two immensely wealthy sugar daddies who kept Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum going and going like a couple of Energizer Bunnies throughout the GOP primaries. Newt and Rick succeeded in extending the contested nature of the primaries long after Romney should have bagged the game.
They thus harmed him in three ways. First, they cheapened him as a candidate. They were such obvious idiots that people had to wonder what was the matter with Romney in not being able to put these guys away. It began to appear that Romney was just not a very good candidate, which turned out to be quite true.
The bigger blow, however, was financial. The pair of right-wingers forced Romney to spend all his primary money fighting them off. Over the summer he therefore had no funds to paint a portrait of himself for the American people. Obama's campaign saw their chance and took it, gleefully filling in a picture of a fat-cat, tax-dodging Bubble Boy who had little interest in or understanding of his fellow Americans.
Meantime, Romney couldn't spend the money that was coming in for the general election. He had to wait until after the convention. (And what a fun convention that was!) By that time it was too late. As the polls show, by August a sizable majority of American voters had come to believe that Romney did not care about them but only about his fellow rich guys. (Which is, of course, utter truth.)
The third blow was that Romney couldn't get a running start on setting up a ground game. The months he grappled with Newt and Ricky should have been used to build a grassroots campaign. Ask the Obama people because that's exactly what they were doing during that time and ever since. Romney, the quintessential Organization Man, fell way behind on building his organization.
It is altogether fitting and proper that Romney got hoisted on the money petard. That the rich candidate with the rich friends ended up short of money when he needed it most is a lovely piece of justice. All thanks to the misguided machinations of Chief Justice John Roberts, friend of the rich and corporations and architect of Citizens United.
John Kennedy said that life isn't fair. But once in a while it really is. Enjoy the moment!
****************************
No, Mitt, we won't be bought off with just the 2011 returns and "summaries" of other years. We're not the idiots you think we are. We want the details of full returns and all their schedules and attachments because that's where the devil is. Oh, boy, is it!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Ann Romney: Frazzled Princess
Ann Romney is angry. That's not a good sign for her husband's campaign.
On an Iowa radio show the other day, Princess Ann voiced her royal outrage at fellow Republicans. Yes, I said Republicans! They had had the temerity to criticize her husband's faltering campaign as the polls consistently turn against him. "Stop it!" she barked.
Maybe she learned how to bark from the dog on the roof of the Romney car? But she needs to learn something else. Anger is a no-no in a political campaign unless it's directed at an injustice or some other non-personal thing. Anger about something personal - like people (justly) criticizing your candidate husband - telegraphs campaign panic. She went on to say that this campaigning venture is "hard", but she had just made it a lot harder for Mitt. People don't like whiners and anger. Nobody ever forced Ann and Mitt into this race; it was most definitely their own idea.
Why did she ever think it would be easy? Because of her sense of entitlement. Remember back when she said "It's Mitt's turn"? That sense of entitlement pervades the whole Romney persona and campaign strategy. It certainly permeates the "47%" perception Romney embraces. The rich are entitled, apparently, to pass judgment on those who struggle or are old or disabled or in the military.
Romney has believed from the beginning that the economic sluggishness entitles him to beat an incumbent president. He chose to ignore that the President is well-liked by voters. He chose to ignore that the American public is smart enough to continue believing that the economic problems we have are the fault of George W and the GOP. Romney's analysis of the presidential balance sheet was all based on business figures. By this approach, 8% unemployment and a big deficit (also George W's) entitled him to win. Of course, other potential GOP contenders like Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, and Chris Christie looked at the situation as the real politicians they are and saw that 2012 was not the year. Not against this president, this superb campaigner.
It's standard to denigrate politicians. But I differ. Politics is our alternative to civil war. It's how this multi-faceted country holds itself together. And - may I reiterate? - politics is not the same as a business. Nor is running a country. That's Romney's fundamental misconception. As I pointed out a year ago, his declaration that the auto industry should be allowed to go bankrupt was a businessman's approach and totally bad governance. It was also EXTREMELY bad campaigning. It's losing him Ohio, and no Republican has ever won without Ohio.
The deep irony of all this is that Romney, Ryan and the GOP are so rabidly against "entitlement programs". Yet they are steeped in their own entitlement. They deserve everything: tax breaks, federal subsidies, and the presidency. They are also entitled, so they think, to "not care" about the 47%.
Well, Princess Ann, you can huff and puff all you want but you can't blow down the brick wall your husband and his campaign are heading for. That solid brick wall is the solid good sense of a majority of the American people. And, no, that's not the 47% voting their own interest; a lot of the 47% are YOUR voters who are too dumb to vote their own interest.
So bark away, Ann. Snap and snarl. Now you know how that dog felt strapped to the roof of a car by your own dear husband whom you believe the American public is "lucky" to have as a candidate.
With luck like that, who needs enemies?
*********************
Say, Ann and Mitt, where did you get the idea that you are entitled to withhold your tax returns from public scrutiny? Your snit at being pressured reeks of a sense of entitlement. "Those people" - that's what you called the public that wants to see those returns. Golly, how dare we!
On an Iowa radio show the other day, Princess Ann voiced her royal outrage at fellow Republicans. Yes, I said Republicans! They had had the temerity to criticize her husband's faltering campaign as the polls consistently turn against him. "Stop it!" she barked.
Maybe she learned how to bark from the dog on the roof of the Romney car? But she needs to learn something else. Anger is a no-no in a political campaign unless it's directed at an injustice or some other non-personal thing. Anger about something personal - like people (justly) criticizing your candidate husband - telegraphs campaign panic. She went on to say that this campaigning venture is "hard", but she had just made it a lot harder for Mitt. People don't like whiners and anger. Nobody ever forced Ann and Mitt into this race; it was most definitely their own idea.
Why did she ever think it would be easy? Because of her sense of entitlement. Remember back when she said "It's Mitt's turn"? That sense of entitlement pervades the whole Romney persona and campaign strategy. It certainly permeates the "47%" perception Romney embraces. The rich are entitled, apparently, to pass judgment on those who struggle or are old or disabled or in the military.
Romney has believed from the beginning that the economic sluggishness entitles him to beat an incumbent president. He chose to ignore that the President is well-liked by voters. He chose to ignore that the American public is smart enough to continue believing that the economic problems we have are the fault of George W and the GOP. Romney's analysis of the presidential balance sheet was all based on business figures. By this approach, 8% unemployment and a big deficit (also George W's) entitled him to win. Of course, other potential GOP contenders like Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, and Chris Christie looked at the situation as the real politicians they are and saw that 2012 was not the year. Not against this president, this superb campaigner.
It's standard to denigrate politicians. But I differ. Politics is our alternative to civil war. It's how this multi-faceted country holds itself together. And - may I reiterate? - politics is not the same as a business. Nor is running a country. That's Romney's fundamental misconception. As I pointed out a year ago, his declaration that the auto industry should be allowed to go bankrupt was a businessman's approach and totally bad governance. It was also EXTREMELY bad campaigning. It's losing him Ohio, and no Republican has ever won without Ohio.
The deep irony of all this is that Romney, Ryan and the GOP are so rabidly against "entitlement programs". Yet they are steeped in their own entitlement. They deserve everything: tax breaks, federal subsidies, and the presidency. They are also entitled, so they think, to "not care" about the 47%.
Well, Princess Ann, you can huff and puff all you want but you can't blow down the brick wall your husband and his campaign are heading for. That solid brick wall is the solid good sense of a majority of the American people. And, no, that's not the 47% voting their own interest; a lot of the 47% are YOUR voters who are too dumb to vote their own interest.
So bark away, Ann. Snap and snarl. Now you know how that dog felt strapped to the roof of a car by your own dear husband whom you believe the American public is "lucky" to have as a candidate.
With luck like that, who needs enemies?
*********************
Say, Ann and Mitt, where did you get the idea that you are entitled to withhold your tax returns from public scrutiny? Your snit at being pressured reeks of a sense of entitlement. "Those people" - that's what you called the public that wants to see those returns. Golly, how dare we!
Friday, September 21, 2012
GOP Swarms the Lifeboats!
Romney is sinking the GOP luxury liner! All across the board, GOP candidates for Senate are going down, down in the polls and separating themselves from Romney's ugly 47% attack. GOP House candidates are also dodging away from him.
And his own campaign national vice-chairman has just jumped ship!
Tim Pawlenty SAYS he's leaving the vice-chair because he's got a new job. Oh, sure.
Give us a break! National vice-chair is mostly an honorary position. Almost all so-called chairs and vice chairs hold down full-time positions elsewhere.
Chairs! Romney just can't escape them, can he? First, Clint Eastwood. Now Pawlenty. It's almost as good as the dog tied to the roof of the car!
I'll bet Pawlenty is laughing to himself all the way out the door of the Romney campaign. Back in the primaries he held his fire during a GOP debate when the moderator set it up for him to shred Romney on the ex-governor's Massachusetts health insurance mandate. Pawlenty didn't go after Romney. He was being SOOOO nice to Romney. A lot of good it did him! Romney passed over him for Veep after all!
But if Pawlenty is laughing he's the only one in the GOP doing so. Even former-governor Tommy Thompson, now the GOP candidate for the Wisconsin Senate seat, is screaming bloody murder at Romney for taking away his lead. His Democratic opponent, Tammy Baldwin, has turned a 9% polling deficit into a 9 point lead! Go, girl!
All the swing states now give Obama a respectable lead, and all the close Senate seats are suddenly going Democratic. Even Montana's gallant Democratic Senator Jon Tester has got a tiny lead in spite of being buried by outside GOP super pac bucks.
Thank you, Mitt Romney, for being the worst candidate ever. Like the song says, "That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me." Or for the U.S. of A.
But Romney doesn't get all the credit. Obama has been a very good president and is a very good man. And he is - bless him! - a wonderful candidate. His speech at the convention wasn't a soaring vision; it was better than that. It was a reminder to us of why we are Democrats: we care about people. The Republicans care about money, mostly their own. Big credit goes to the American public for recognizing this. The crazies, the greedy and the haters make a lot of noise but they are not, and never will be, the majority of the American people.
We are not home free yet - by a long shot. But we are on the road, and we will see it through. None of us are dumb enough to slack off now. Volunteer to get out the vote. Pass up that six pack of beer or that night out at the movies (it will be on Netflix). Send the money to Obama. DO IT NOW! The super pacs are still ready to pounce!
And send some money to Senator Jon Tester, our tractor-driving, hard-fighting guy out in Montana! Don't let Citizens United's super pacs deprive him of his seat in the state that tried to get Citizens United overturned. And it isn't just his seat. And it isn't just Montana's. It's OURS. It's also our majority in the Senate!
Together, we are not out-financed. We are not apathetic. The "enthusiasm gap" is gone! Together, we are winning this damn thing! Can we bring it all home?
You bet your sweet seat cushion that YES WE CAN!
***********************
Hey, Mitt, Larry Flynt is offering a million smackers for a copy of your tax returns. Why not get the reward yourself? After all, you apparently really really really love money. And you may need that million to help pay off the campaign debt you are heading for! Go for it, Mitt!
And his own campaign national vice-chairman has just jumped ship!
Tim Pawlenty SAYS he's leaving the vice-chair because he's got a new job. Oh, sure.
Give us a break! National vice-chair is mostly an honorary position. Almost all so-called chairs and vice chairs hold down full-time positions elsewhere.
Chairs! Romney just can't escape them, can he? First, Clint Eastwood. Now Pawlenty. It's almost as good as the dog tied to the roof of the car!
I'll bet Pawlenty is laughing to himself all the way out the door of the Romney campaign. Back in the primaries he held his fire during a GOP debate when the moderator set it up for him to shred Romney on the ex-governor's Massachusetts health insurance mandate. Pawlenty didn't go after Romney. He was being SOOOO nice to Romney. A lot of good it did him! Romney passed over him for Veep after all!
But if Pawlenty is laughing he's the only one in the GOP doing so. Even former-governor Tommy Thompson, now the GOP candidate for the Wisconsin Senate seat, is screaming bloody murder at Romney for taking away his lead. His Democratic opponent, Tammy Baldwin, has turned a 9% polling deficit into a 9 point lead! Go, girl!
All the swing states now give Obama a respectable lead, and all the close Senate seats are suddenly going Democratic. Even Montana's gallant Democratic Senator Jon Tester has got a tiny lead in spite of being buried by outside GOP super pac bucks.
Thank you, Mitt Romney, for being the worst candidate ever. Like the song says, "That's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me." Or for the U.S. of A.
But Romney doesn't get all the credit. Obama has been a very good president and is a very good man. And he is - bless him! - a wonderful candidate. His speech at the convention wasn't a soaring vision; it was better than that. It was a reminder to us of why we are Democrats: we care about people. The Republicans care about money, mostly their own. Big credit goes to the American public for recognizing this. The crazies, the greedy and the haters make a lot of noise but they are not, and never will be, the majority of the American people.
We are not home free yet - by a long shot. But we are on the road, and we will see it through. None of us are dumb enough to slack off now. Volunteer to get out the vote. Pass up that six pack of beer or that night out at the movies (it will be on Netflix). Send the money to Obama. DO IT NOW! The super pacs are still ready to pounce!
And send some money to Senator Jon Tester, our tractor-driving, hard-fighting guy out in Montana! Don't let Citizens United's super pacs deprive him of his seat in the state that tried to get Citizens United overturned. And it isn't just his seat. And it isn't just Montana's. It's OURS. It's also our majority in the Senate!
Together, we are not out-financed. We are not apathetic. The "enthusiasm gap" is gone! Together, we are winning this damn thing! Can we bring it all home?
You bet your sweet seat cushion that YES WE CAN!
***********************
Hey, Mitt, Larry Flynt is offering a million smackers for a copy of your tax returns. Why not get the reward yourself? After all, you apparently really really really love money. And you may need that million to help pay off the campaign debt you are heading for! Go for it, Mitt!
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