Mitt Romney’s Big Problem — and Hence Ours
Edsall’s main point is that on core issues that must be addressed, Romney avoids making a choice. Instead, “he is trying to have it both ways.” Romney’s key problem is immigration, which “pits hard-core anti-immigration forces on the right” against Hispanic voters and the business wing of the Republican Party, which wants access to the services of low-wage workers. Romney needs all three groups to win.
Instead of deciding where he stands and taking a position, what he does, Edsall charges, is take the safe route — that of equivocation. And for a nation that finally wants to elect a leader who will tackle the tough problems, equivocation is not a stance that voters will see as a good qualification for chief executive.
What I urge readers to do is go to Edsall’s article, and read Romney’s own words on the Sunday talk shows, as well as those of some of his spokesmen. There is no other way to describe them as anything but meaningless gobbledygook. Edsall says that pressed as Romney was by CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, he was “consistently evasive.” Reading Romney’s remarks, I’m afraid that I have to agree with Edsall’s judgement. Edsall quotes liberal commentators who we expect would mock Romney’s performance. But then he turns to conservative lawyer Mark Levin, who read Romney’s words on his radio talk show and asked: “This is the best he could do?”
Romney told Weekly Standard journalist Stephen Hayes that he believes conservatives will be with him “because they’re certainly not going to vote for Barack Obama.” True enough. But he needs to come closer to the inroads George W. Bush made with Hispanic voters, and win some back to the Republican ticket by reevaluating some of the harsh comments he made on immigration reform during the campaign. It might have been easier to do had Obama not co-opted Marco Rubio’s planned statement on immigration by a week or two. But since Obama did that, easily shoring up the Hispanic base by outright pandering, Romney has to come out with some alternative himself that addresses the issue in a way that Rubio was planning to do.
Edsall concludes: “A reluctance to take a stand is not an effective tool for building voter intensity.” And when it comes to the Hispanic vote, Republicans are finding that their white base is declining while the Hispanic proportion of the electorate is growing. Without the votes of Hispanic voters in key swing states, their votes alone could doom Romney’s chances for winning. Edsall notes that Republican strategists all believe that Romney has to develop a more “pro-immigrant stance,” something that up to now he has been more than reluctant to do. Bush, he argues, advocated a liberal immigration policy and still maintained the support of socially conservative whites. And Edsall thinks Romney, up to now, has not shown that he has any growing support with low and middle-income whites — the group that backed Bush and once were called Reagan Democrats.
The only hope is that the Court’s decision on ObamaCare could mobilize the base that, up to now, has been anything but enthusiastic for Mitt Romney. But within a few weeks, the electorate might go back to other issues of concern and forget about the Court and health care.
So for the above reasons, this voter is pessimistic about Romney’s chances in the November election if he continues his current strategy. I don’t believe, as some of my conservative friends do, that anyone can beat Obama. I hope that I’m wrong.
Update: 7 am EST
According to the polls discussed this morning by Mark Halperin on “Morning Joe,” the latest poll in battleground states shows a big spread and advantage for Mitt Romney. The poll, however, added states favorable or leaning to Romney and described them as “battleground” states. Nevertheless, Halperin said that Obama cannot break above a 45% favorable rating in many of them, and that if this keeps up, Obama cannot win in November!
Here is the link to the CNN poll.
I agree with Ron Radosh that nothing must be taken for granted this year. Few persons know enough political science to recognize what an authoritarian turn our current statism has taken. I tried to lay it out here: http://clarespark.com/2012/06/29/the-neutered-state/. This top-down decision making and propaganda has done so much to cause cultural decrepitude.
Hey, Mittens is what the GOP “leadership” coughed up. That was the best they could do.
I hope they enjoy the loss. I won’t.
The GOP and conservatives want to campaign on health care, but the BIG problem is who they nominated. The GOP is calling the mandate a tax, and trying to get some mileage out of it. The Romney camp maintains the mandate is not a tax and trying to hide from it. If the GOP wanted to run against Obamacare the last person they should have nominated is the father of Obamacare. This isn’t difficult stuff … Just saying.
Romney has always had a big badda problem on healthcare reform. Definitely, he’s in a bind and has always looked to differentiate Romneycare from Obamacare.
It seems he believes he has found the key difference. In Romneycare, the mandate was explicitly called a tax in the revenue part of the bill and voted as a tax. It appears that Mass partly solved its problems with its uninsured without raising other taxes.
Under Obamacare, the mandate was duplicitously called a ‘penalty’, when all the Dem grandees knew it was a tax. By leaving open the option of calling the Obama mandate as a penalty, Romney hopes to convince people he is the more honest and transparent leader.
He hopes this will work. We all hope the same. But don’t hold your breath.
Pandering to ethnic groups is what the left does. The only way to placate open borders hispanics is through executive fiat the way Obama’s doing it. Rubio’s efforts would/will have failed just as GW Bush’s did. Unless and until the borders are secured the American people will not tolerate “immigration reform”. I find it amazing that politicians particularly conservative politicians don’t understand that simple fact.
Romney has no core; he’s a cipher. He’s not being cautious, he’s just lost. He’s just been on so many sides of so many issues, that the only thing he’s sure of is that he’s against Obama. The joke circulating in the camps of his primary opponents says it all: A liberal, a moderate and a conservative walk into a bar, and the bartender says, “Hi, Mitt!” And you think Romney’s gonna make a credible case against ObamaCare? It’s his own legacy. And just a short while ago, he was touting it – RomneyCare, that is – as a model for the nation.
Then get that man a running mate to campaign for him. Huckabee is just the sort of firebrand with a sense of humor we need. You know, the kind that can tear the enemy to pieces while holding a smile.
This is a big reason why so many of us were reluctant to jump on the Mitt express: the man is without strong political principles. He was raised as a businessman. Businessmen are notorious for pandering to their clients to make a sale. He said what he had to throughout his career, changing positions as his clients (or constituents) expected. Unfortunately, now he doesn’t know which way to turn: conservative (watch out for the independents!) or moderate (look out, the conservative base is up in arms!) And we are stuck with him. This is not going to turn out well.
This has to be one of the more stupid pieces on PJM. Hispanics will ALWAYS vote in large numbers for the anti-White party. Which is the Democrats. They alone offer amnesty, open borders, preferential treatment vs. Whites, all sorts of goodies, and welfare spending up the wazoo all funded by the White middle class taxpayer.
Victory comes from getting as MUCH of the White vote as possible. Since Dems are the explicit anti-White party. In practice this means increasing White male turnout and votes, and getting single White women to switch a bit; Dems will get most of them because unmarried White women are the lowest but still members of the Diversity preference totem pole. Screwing over White guys enables them to eat the crumbs off the Democratic Black-Gay-Latino-Elite table. Plus they really hate hate hate ordinary White guys also, along with Christianity and Western culture.
Nevertheless, economic arguments about job growth, income growth, lower gas/food prices, and lower taxes can win about another 1-2 million over. That’s basically the election right there.
As far as foreign policy goes, how did that work out for President McCain again? Oh yeah. The American people are relatively happy with Obama’s practice of zapping jihadis with Predator drone strikes, and LIKE gutting all other parts of Defense. Weakness and withdrawal are the order of the day just like 1933 and for the same reason — great economic distress. No real sensible policy can be articulated because the cost (defense spending) and lives (US military personnel killed) in preventing a catastrophe are immediate and people don’t want to pay it. They’d rather lose cities and millions than a few hundred today. That’s their choice, and they made it. Don’t argue with them.
The path to victory is total destruction of Obama. A full court press on Obama every day, on all fronts. Keep hammering on Fast and Furious. On Obama’s orders to make Border Patrol run away and hide from drug smugglers (have they paid him off? — YES). Full attack on Solyndra, the Auto Dealers fiasco, Gerald Walpin, that battery company, Fisker Automotive, Kevin Johnson and Michelle Obama, all the sleazy, corrupt, dirty Chicago deals Obama did in selling out Joe Average. Go after his college record — did he falsely claim Kenyan birth to get free tuition and preferential treatment? Go after his freeloading, illegal alien drunken uncle and welfare cheat aunt both in Boston on the taxpayer’s dime. Go after his ties to Farrakhan, and his frequent hosting of the Nation of Islam leader at the White House. Go after his sell-out to Putin, on an open mike.
Attack, Attack, Attack. Make Obama synonymous with failure, corruption and decline.
As for ObamaCare, attack it as a national tax on jobs pushing them overseas. And emphasize it will give Illegal Aliens free health care and mandate 40% of all doctors be Black or Hispanic (that’s like mandating the NBA be 65% White).
Rubio and GW Bush pushing for Open Borders is what led to President Obama. Let’s not do that anymore. Lets push division THEIR WAY — crack off the White female single vote, by offering THEM preference. Like lower taxes and saving money from ObamaCare and illegal alien welfare and spending it on stuff women like to be employed in: paper-pushing government jobs where they can act important. Who cares? Let their coalition of rent-seekers fight each other like grifters after a big score. Or a small one.
Romney does not have to be ANYTHING. Just destroy Obama.
Victory comes from getting as MUCH of the White vote as possible.”
And suppressing as much of the non-white vote as possible.
“…emphasize it will … mandate 40% of all doctors be Black or Hispanic….”
Actually, this isn’t any more absurd than the lies already being spread about ObamaCare. Oh well, it’s in the great tradition of Ronald Reagan, who once said, “If you don’t stop Medicare, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”
“The path to victory is total destruction of Obama. A full court press on Obama every day, on all fronts. Keep hammering on Fast and Furious. On Obama’s orders to make Border Patrol run away and hide from drug smugglers (have they paid him off? — YES). Full attack on Solyndra, the Auto Dealers fiasco, Gerald Walpin, that battery company, Fisker Automotive, Kevin Johnson and Michelle Obama, all the sleazy, corrupt, dirty Chicago deals Obama did in selling out Joe Average. Go after his college record — did he falsely claim Kenyan birth to get free tuition and preferential treatment? Go after his freeloading, illegal alien drunken uncle and welfare cheat aunt both in Boston on the taxpayer’s dime. Go after his ties to Farrakhan, and his frequent hosting of the Nation of Islam leader at the White House. Go after his sell-out to Putin, on an open mike.
Attack, Attack, Attack. Make Obama synonymous with failure, corruption and decline.
As for ObamaCare, attack it as a national tax on jobs pushing them overseas. And emphasize it will give Illegal Aliens free health care and mandate 40% of all doctors be Black or Hispanic (that’s like mandating the NBA be 65% White).”
YES, YES, YES, and then some! —- That sounds like a plan!
If I were running, you’d be deputy campaign manager for strategy and tactics!
Attack, Attack, Attack. It’s the only way. The George Patton way!
Pass the ammo and keep our tanks fuelled! —- Keep moving! Let’s GO!
Let’s use their dead arguments to grease the tracks of our live ones!
A Romney aide recently joined the Leftist chorus of saying Obamacare “isn’t a tax.”
Sheesh.
It’s not a tax. It’s a penalty. It isn’t necessary to pretend it is something it’s not. If people want to vote against Obama because they think it’s a tax then fine. It is just as good to vote against Obama because he imposed an unconstitutional penalty. A few may vote against him because he’s a gross incompetent and an economic illiterate. And a thug.
If you want to stick your fingers in your ears and scream, “neener, neener, I can’t hear you!” to the Supreme Court’s *single* rationale as to why this abomination is NOT UNconstitutional, you may do so in fromt of everyone here, Terry….
But THEY said it was a TAX.
No it is not a tax.
It’s a penalty.
Don’t take my word for it, take Alito, Kennedy, Thomas and Scalia’s.
So true, and that makes it UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
…Aaaaaand, just *which* tact – “penalty” as sold, or “tax” as determined by the Supreme Court – would most likely persuade the most voters to vote (for lack of other words) against Obama? How much political and/or sales experience do you have?
No, Ed. ROBERTS said it was a tax. No one else. You could have told the four liberal Justices that it was a cucumber and they would have voted for it, because that is what liberals do. Never is there a story of a left-leaning Justice joining the conservatives. Ever. Same with Congress. It is always wobbly conservatives/Republicans who shift for whatever reason.
Back to the central point, Roberts was the only one who saw tax. The four dissenters tossed the whole thing. The four liberals would have supported it regardless of terminology.
Doesn’t matter what Roberts said. Some idgit judge once said a human being was an end table (stick of furniture). Dred Scott would have argued the point put sticks of furniture weren’t allowed to speak in those days.
Alex, does it *really* matter *who* said it, seeing as how it was the ONLY reason the Supreme Court as a whole gave to uphold it?!? Just *which* tact – “penalty” as sold, or “tax” as determined by the Supreme Court – would most likely persuade the most voters to vote (for lack of other words) against Obama? How much political and/or sales experience do you have?
Take the word of Professor Jacobson: http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/07/pretzel-tax-logic/
IT *IS* FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES A TAX.
Still not as damaging as the obama ad I recently saw during a baseball game that touted his awful record in Mass.
Agreed. I for one would simply *love* to see an ad of
Obama making his “it’s not a tax” statement,
followed by a voiceover of “what does that remind me of?”
and then a clip of GHWBush saying “read my lips, no new taxes”
with the ad ending with “ANY QUESTIONS? HOLD OBAMA ACCOUNTABLE.”
heh!
The Romney team’s decision to accept that the mandate is a penalty rather than a tax is yet another moment of excruciating positioning: because it’s obvious why Rmoney won’t call it a tax. It would mean he’d raised taxes in Massachusetts, in pioneering Obamacare on a state level, which he most certainly did and there is no denying it.
He finally DID…but talk about “unforced errors”! From WSJ, “Romney’s Tax Confusion”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577506652734793044.html
WELL said.
Doesn’t matter!
Call it a tax!
Call it a penalty!
Call it a rotten tomato!
I’d call it a P-AX, and I’d want a bumper sticker:
“P-AX (Picture of BO’s face as Uncle Sam,leering, right hand smoking a reefer,
left rubbing two coins with pointy pointing at you!) OBAMA”
Second line: ” Your Money – Greek Style” or “He/She Lied” (see below)
Variants: Pictures of Pelosi as Uncle Sam, or Harry Reid; “Your Money, Dem Style” and replace “Obama” w. “Pelosi” or “Reid”
I know, it’s Latin, and some others will know too, but most will get the idea that the average Joe who works for a living is about to get the shaft and end up “broke as a Greek” anyhow!
As to the variants, print gazillions of these and give people who still like O’bummer a choice. The message will still get across: O’bummer, Peelyasee, Greid are all out to get you. Vote their opposites; get all damn Dems in one fell swoop!
They lied to us! Now they own THAT lie + ALL OTHERS!
Most of the polls showing Obama at between 45% and 47% are push polls which heavily oversample Democrats. Obama will lose by at least 10 points.
“Most polls?” lol … not sure what ones you are reading. Bottom line: you cannot win an election depending on hatred, bigotry, cheating, anger and lying….Romney will not be President….it won’t even be close. The fact that the (national) GOP is not coordinating their message with Romney on the Affordable Care Act is telling (they say it’s a tax, Romney says it’s not a tax). Sounds like the GOP is already throwing him under the bus and cutting their losses to shore up the house and senate.
““Most polls?” lol … not sure what ones you are reading. Bottom line: you cannot win an election depending on hatred, bigotry, cheating, anger and lying…”
YES, YOU CAN ! —- Proved in November 2008!
Time to fight fire with fire, as the saying goes!
Nothing fans peoples’ emotions as those things, and as O’bummer used them copiously in ’08, they “can and will be used against im in (the peoples’) court”!
Fair’s fair.
(Were this a more educated, rational, and civil electorate, I’d side with you, but as things stand, emotions predominate among the masses, so …)
Fair’s fair!
“Intellectualizing” is what loses this kind of election. Ask Axelfraud!
Fair’s fair!
And if he does? Anything is better than the Big 0, but Romney’s dithering, his “uncertain trumpet” will do little to encourage the kind of trust in the leadership of the Nation that would be necessary for him to actually do any good in office. It’s not likely that the GOP will get the kind of majorities in the Congress, particularly the Senate, that would enable Congressional leadership to carry that ball.
I’m afraid that, even if elected, Romney will be nothing but a bump in the road for the statists. Well, better a bump than a downhill slope. Maybe they’ll break an axle, get out of control and wreck themselves. They’ve been on the edge of out-of-control since 2000.
Terry, such unsubstantiated, über-hyperbole-wannabe claims make you come off like a third-string, hired-hand Romney-Cheerleader internet troll.
That is to say, you do not help your messiah-for-pay with such silly posts.
Try something more serious and better thought-through next time.
Trying to be everything to everyone is a dangerous long term strategy as it allows Democrats more space to control the narrative – Romney’s a flip/flopper, Romney believes in nothing…
American’s are getting desperate for some leadership and a core requirement will be to man up and make the hard adult decisions and be willing to defend them in the trenches when the bullets start flying in.
The current strategy is NOT ENOUGH to get Romney over the line.
I hope he and his staff realise that and start showing some “man up” in the campaign.
4 more years of Obama WILL end in economic collapse just like Argentina suffered in 2001 and the MASS confiscation of everyone’s (except those TBTF) 401k. That’s the change and you better believe it…
So this author uses an example in which George push showed his independence by chastising his own party and a plan to reduce dependence on government, as a way that Mitt Romney could show his independence? And be less cautious? Maybe he should come out strong in support of ObamaCare? Maybe he could say he is for totally open borders and Food Stamps for the world. He could really take it to the conservatives and win the independent votes in a big way. Is that Ron Radosh’s idea? I did not hear a suggestion that he run as an unabashed conservative and make the case to all that Obama is making the US a third world dictatorship that will be bad for all.
Romney has one really good thing going for him. Its the people’s utter distaste for O’Dismal and his policies of tax and spend and bankruptcy for the nation. Its O’Dismal’s constant lying and deception. Its his radical associations and his embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood. Its O’Dismal ruling by decreee, including amnesty for illegal alien children.
Why is it that when we bet on a racehorse, we check his past performances, and when betting on a prize fighter, we have no interest in his looks, his personal
life, or his wife’s activities, but only his performances. Then when it comes time to choose a presidential candidate, performance becomes important only after he’s thoroughly vetted for his religion, his bank account, his number of
wives, the political views of his children, and God forbid he ever let his own dog ride on the outside of his automobile!
We have a choice: The skids to nowhere or Mitt Romney.
Whiskey, people like you are the reason Republicans lose. You are so strongly committed to your buffoonish version of conservatism you are willing to lose moderates, centrists, and others who are not ideologues. I include most members of the white working class–like myself–in that group.
While I disagree with Ron’s assessment that foreign policy is so crucial this election cycle, all you offer is division and hate. Most Hispanics do not hate white people (“Hispanics will ALWAYS vote in large numbers for the anti-White party”). In fact, a decent percentage self-identify as white. Most single mothers do not hate white men (“they really hate hate hate ordinary White guys”). And, despite what you have learned, universities do not offer free tuition to foreign students (“did he falsely claim Kenyan birth to get free tuition and preferential treatment”). In fact, schools are seeking out foreign students because they pay more than U.S. citizens. They are a cash cow for schools.
In short, your politics are formed by anger and misinformation. I suspect it extends far beyond your politics and seeps into your personal life as well.
Those who believe “moderates, centrists, and others” are *not* ideologues are vain and gullible enough to be seduced/coerced into swinging either way, independent of principles. Undecideds is a better though less noble term than independents or moderates. I prefer the term squishes.
Whiskey may be buffoonish but is no version of conservatism…or at least no more than a version of moderation or liberalism.
Oh yes. One last thought:
The REASON REPUBLICANS LOSE? “SQUISHES” LIKE DOLE, McCAIN and likely ROMNEY
(though the disgust of Obama may push Mittens over the finish line in spite of himself).
Right Ed,
The reason Conservatives lose is the spineless Squish, who have NO principals….they fall for that “razor sharp crease” just as fast as the faux RINO “not an extemist” bullshit, lulled into a Sense of Important Purpose by the flattery they get for being oh-so-open-minded from the snickering small ‘c’ communists controlling the Democrats Mainstream Media.
Its the Indies or Moderates or whatever these cowards call themselves, that are the BIGGEST problem the Country faces.
We know who The Enemy is, their tactics and base camps are easy to spot, their arguments false, their tactics Unconstitutional….But its that trembling Squish who always curl up into thier fetal position, everytime the Battle is about to be joined….
Predictable, and Pathertic, exactly as Dems PLAYED them to be.
For those that still go to Church. Pray that Romney, like a lot of the GOP elite, is not a The Timid Shall Inherit The Vote Club.
Romney, in the final recap after November, will be said to be the candidate that was NOT Obama. This will be an up or down vote on Obama. Policy wonks notwithstanding.
The GOP’s best option is a brokered convention. Romney needs to withdraw. Yeah, yeah, it won’t happen and Romney’s going down in flames.
But – Romney could win if he’d just run a conservative campaign. He needs to differentiate himself from Obama. He needs to run to the right because running to the center marginalizes any differences he has with Obama. He has to give the voters a real choice. If he’s not aggressive the vast majority of voters, who aren’t now paying attention, will say “Do I vote for the White Obama or the Black Romney?”. And, despite what the GOP Establishment thinks, the ruling on ObamaCare will not help Romney come November when it will be relabeled “nationwide RomneyCare”.
Romney’s biggest problem is that the national GOP would like to make the Affordable Care Act a centerpiece of the campaign by saying it amounts to the biggest tax increase EVER!. However, team Romney says the mandate is a penalty rather than a tax. Romney won’t call it a tax because it would mean he raised taxes in Massachusetts, in pioneering Obamacare on a state level. He’s effed either way.
Things are worse now than they’ve been at any time since Carter was president, yet somehow Barry is still in the race, or in the lead, depending on which poll you choose. How is this possible?
1) The MFM going all in, just as they did in 2008. This time, they won’t be content with simply misreporting Romney’s positions, they’ll simply make stuff up and then page 27 the “oops” the day after the election.
2) A really large percentage of Americans have got their lips locked onto the government teat and they aren’t willing to let go of their “free” stuff.
3) Romney simply isn’t hitting Obama hard enough. He’s done better than I though he would, but it isn’t enough.
I wasn’t surprised when Obama won in 2008. He rode in on the perfect political storm wave and- more importantly- his opponent was John freaking McCain. This time, my recently deceased dog should be able to beat Obama, yet I’ve got an ugly feeling about the election, due in large part to the justice department’s efforts to keep voter fraud rampant.
You’re wasting your time. Romney will never play to win, never gamble, never take a risk. Never. Some of us have been poiting this out for years, and reminding others why this makes Romney such a wildly poor and inappropriate choice to take on a Leftist as this moment in history. Romney is running as a simulacrum of Reagan vs. the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. It may work; but if so, it will only be because of Obama’s desolating badness. And then we’ll have George Bush III.
Ron, Republicans suck at messaging and suck at framing issues.
The Young Guns are better, but they aren’t in charge of the messaging strategy. They should be.
Rubio, Cantor, Thune, Ryan, Jindal, Christie, Noem, Martinez, Walker, West, Nikki H…they have guts and will articulate against the propaganda, lies and distortion.
The Old Guard won’t, doesn’t, …and they suck at it when they try.
Romney is a political oaf at times. He is not at ease handling the tough issues, especially against the Propaganda and Lies Ministry.
He won’t attack the Marxists as Marxists and he won’t attack Obama as a dictator he actually is.
So,…we have to do it for him. If the Republicans are too timid to take the fight to the front lines against the overthrow, we have to do it…and make the fight viral, …and interesting enough…to get people to pay attention.
We are in for the fight of our lives. This is no time to sit back and merely complain about how weak and timid Republicans are, how horrible they are at messaging and framing issues…we simply have to find a way to get the truth out into the swing states and win this election in spite of their glaring weaknesses.
We have only one other choice.
Surrender.
That’s right. I look for opportunities to spread the word about how horrible things are due to Obama (at the grocery store, at the dentist, while eating out, etc.). It’s amazing how often people pick up on angles they never thought about. It prompts them to look at Romney in a whole new light.
Congratulations to the GOP, once again the party elites have brought a Labrador to a pit-bull fight.
The RNC does a worse job of recruiting nominees than most jr. colleges do of recruiting ball players.
You’re right. For some reason they had decided on Romney right out of the gate. We had a pretty good batch of candidates this year and the media/liberal machine destroyed them all. The RNC could have defended them (especially since we the people have been telling them for years now that we’d take anybody BUT Romney) and chose to either stay silent or sic their own attack dogs on them.
It took the commies around 100 years to totally take over the democrat party. We’ve only been at this taking over the RNC for a few years. We have GOT to get the country clubers OUT of the party so it truly represents us.
Fortunately we won’t have to wait too terribly long as the country clubbers are in their late sixties & up, so retirement will be sooner rather than later. The Tea Party is making some headway with their candidates which I figure will continue with upcoming elections.
No, Romney doesn’t have the guts “articulate against the propaganda, lies and distortion” — and apparently doesn’t know that he should. Maybe he’s surrounded by the self-same ‘advisors’ that Howard Hughes had . . .
Then there’s the outer ring of infighting campaign careerists, some the same as John McCain had.
Looks like Romney is playing Dudley Doright to McCain’s Mister McGoo.
God save us.
As I see it, the problem Romney faces is that a hard-core Tea Party conservative probably cannot beat a hard-core social-democratic liberal. Romney is essentially a conservative-leaning pragmatist who likes to think of himself as a problem-solver. All that is fine with me, but he has to put some content into it. The need is more than programmatic. The appearance of mushiness turns independent voters off. On the other hand, specificity will alienate some groups also. (How do we enforce immigration laws, for example, without offending the Latino vote?)
But, no doubt about it, Romney needs to display a solid core much better than he has.
Just mild about Mitt,
ALH
I am a hard core Tea Party member.
When comparing my choices between a Dictator and Romney, I love Romney!
We really do need a hard-core, balls-to-the wall A**HOLE running for the Pubby ticket.
Preferably, ex-military.
I’m so tired of the PC, watered down, RHINO BS we keep getting delivered as our ‘candidate’.
WTF?
Much of what Mr. Radosh says is right, and there may be real reason to worry. However, let us not forget, as we are bombarded each and every day by the latest polls–all of them scientifically based, of course–that in July 1988, just after the Democratic National Convention, Mr. Dukakis led Mr. Bush by a whopping 17 points. We have a long way to go until the most definitive poll is taken on November 6.
One thing he’s got to do is get some adds up, either from his own campaign or through a 501C3 group. Over the weekend (6/30-7/1) I watched an I Love Lucy marathon on the Hallmark channel. Every commercial break was an Obama ad. I mean, EVERY COMMERCIAL BREAK!!! On the HALLMARK channel! That is a family channel and the WHOLE weekend was an endless Obama campaign.
Now, on the flip side, I was sooooooo sick of hearing the Obama commercials after a few hours that I was ready to throw something at the TV just from the sheer repetitive nature of the intrusion.
Stop Pandering, this election will not be decided by Latinos, Blacks or rich whites or any other minority group. Let Obami have them all – except the fraud -
This is election will be decided by white working stiffs, the same group who elected Ronald Regan. Those people are the ones who in the last for years ended up with the short end of the stick and suffer the most, and they are mad is hell. What Romney has to do is give hope to those who suffered the most.
If I were advising the Romney campaign, I’d tell them to yak less persistently about “the economy” and millions of Americans feeling down in the doldrums about (fill in the blank).
I’d tell Romney to stop saying “I’ll fix this” and “I’ll repeal that” (I tune out) and start emphasizing the larger stuff that is at stake in this November’s election.
Such as the continued destruction of the Republic and trashing of the Constitution and rule of law at the hands of the criminal yahoos currently calling the shots in the nation’s capital.
Romney should look closely at how the meek/polite approach served John McCain.
(I never thought John McCain actually meant that anyway & it was more an election strategy than part of his true personality.)
I don’t know if Romney has it in him to get (intelligently) down and dirty.
There’s little sign he does have it in him. Remember how Bush Sr. winced and called it ‘the vision thing’, not knowing what to say? Romney doesn’t have a clue either. In his world everything can be managed by boxes on a checklist. Well, it can’t.
At best, we’re looking at another mediocre president. We’re expected to jump for joy because he’s better than Obama. He is, and will get (one hopes) enough support, but only the Stupid Party would expect adulation. The implications remain a mystery to them.
I keep hoping this is simply the calm before the storm.
Really really hoping. Because we simply cannot afford another 4 year of President Carter/Nixon.
The problem with the Stupid Party is how inarticulate they are in their own defense, and would rather lose gracefully to or go along to get along with the collectivist demonrats. Bush II never once leveled with the American people as to the rationale for his actions nor did he defend himself and his administration against the low down and dirty attacks by the liberals. As a result, the liberal narrative was left unchallenged and became gospel.
When McCain was running, people at his rallies were begging him to take the gloves off. His response? “Obama is a nice man who would make a good president?”.
When the head of the RNC was interviewed in 2008, the pundit compared the republican convention to a Nuremberg rally because the participants were mostly white. The RNC head let that pass without any challenge.
Here’s the choice facing conservatives: we are in a bus with broken brakes heading to the edge of the cliff. We can leave Obama as the driver and he will keep pressing on the accelerator. Or we can replace the driver with Romney, who would at least get his foot off that accelerator! This may buy us time to fix the brakes.
For those with long memories in 1948 there was another incumbent president, Harry Truman, who “couldn’t win.” And because he couldn’t win, his opponent, Thomas Dewey, ran a sort of “above it all” campaign. Dewey wanted to maintain full freedom of action so he didn’t commit himself. And as we all know, the candidate who couldn’t lose, lost. Ron Radosh is correct; Romney must campaign on a broader basis than he has so far.
The problem I think with Romney is that I don’t think he fully understands what Obama is trying to do. Tear down the country and destroy its institutions in order to install a socialist dictatorship. It’s seems to me that Romney merely views Obama as inept. He dosen’t realize all of what Obama has done is intentional.
this article reads like way too much inside baseball, inside the Beltway navel gazing. Obama has the support he has because the looter class in American society is growing, JUST AS HE PLANNED ALL ALONG.
When do you pundits stop judging Obama through the usual prism applied to presidents and candidates alike? This man is not interested in solutions, at least in the way most of us define the term. He sees current conditions as a good thing; every policy or thought he puts forward comes back to 1) expanding govt power and 2) shrinking the middle class. He’s not Clinton or Kennedy or even LBJ/FDR. Obama is a leftist. Start analyzing from that starting point.
So far Romney has been running as if he’s going to win in a landslide. When a candidate is way ahead in the polls they want to say as little as possible because any mistep might cost them votes.
The problem with this strategy is that Romney is not way ahead. Almost every poll I see has the two men within the margin of error.
Mitt has a lot of explaining to do. He has to shake the Etch-A-Sketch image and he has yet to do that.
I believe that the polls right now are a bit meaningless. It’s summer and except for diehard political junkies (I have my hand raised right now, do you?) the voters don’t want to think about politics. The polls won’t mean anything at convention time either. Each party will have its three day infomercial (oh, for the days when a convention meant something) and each party will get a bounce after their convention.
But after Labor Day the polls will mean something. In the past one candidate will gain traction and will start to open a clear lead over the other. Perhaps Romney will be able to gain support but he’s going to have to find a way to make people want to vote for him. Yes, he’s not Obama. I noticed that a long time ago. If he doesn’t offer any other reason to vote for him he’ll probably lose.
I’d be willing to bet the Romney team has people keeping their ears to the ground on what’s going on with the Obama camp; they probably get access to more info than the rest of us, including the media outlets. Things are not going well for Obama, IMO. He is not conducting a typical stop-here, stop-there for stump speeches type campaign. I would imagine that if he did so, too many protesters would show up, drowning out his pitiful little numbers with shouts about everything he is doing wrong. All he has been doing is going to carefully-selected venues (all college campuses AFA I can see) & fundraisers backed by Hollywood celebs. No more are those large throngs of adoring fans who fall out. Totally different ball game this season.
So……cut Romney some slack. He probably does need to play is safe. Remember, no one wins without strong Indie support.
It is entirely too early to determine a winner, 1) a Vice President candidate hasn’t been chosen; 2) The first debate has not been occured; and 3) Obama has never gone over 50% since last year, to put them all in perspective the edge is on Romney.
The left think that ObamaCare derived from RomneyCare, thank again, RomneyCare was a State issue, it wasn’t over 2500 pages long with hidden taxes, and at least everybody read the thing before voting for it.
ObamaCare was over 2500 pages, they keep spouting the same thing over and over ad nauseum that it will let kids stay on their parents policy until 26 and cannot be exempt for pre existing conditions, why did the need so many pages to extol those policies. What is in the other 2500 or so pages?
Obama in 4 years has managed to waste over $5 trillion dollars, has gotten The US credit rating downgraded, and has overextended and weakened the military. By his own accounts he says he needs another 4 years to FIX the economy. Don’t you think he has “fixed it” enough???????
has to get Romney in a corner, talk to him straight up, and read him the riot act.
Then get Newt Gingrich to work with him on his speeches and debate preparation.
Wow,
Imagine the aggression of Newt Gingrich combined with the smoothness of Mitt Romney.
That could work!
Sure would! — I’d almost love to see him running for Veep!
Just imagine how he’d smash those lying, spinning, MSM creeps!
Supporters would jump for joy, and Indies be impressed!
Not happening, I’m afraid.
While I support Romney, particularly after following the Republican primary debates closely, (any other candidate offered would be road kill for the Dems) I tire of his speeches that, though not read from a teleprompter, still have that contrived feel to them like they were put together after exhaustive analysis in a board room, with too many repetitive elements and phrases that are designed to elicit a reaction based on some psycho-marketing research.
I want to see some fire.
This isn’t a debate, it’s a fight to the death. I agree with the poster who called for more of a “man-up” approach. Speak from your heart, you’ve had more than enough time to observe, weigh and measure.
a wimp, let’s face it.
Uh-ah! Any money he inherited he gave away. This guy is rich because he EARNED it and you can’t get rich by being a wimp. That’s the guy he needs to let loose!
we’re likely to lose it all:
Romney ain’t man enough.
you better get this article read by Romney, understand?
What is question to which Romney is the answer? Obama alone isn’t enough as McConnell tells us why the Senate will be unable to overturn ObamaCare. With the current leadership, abandon all hope.
The problem is indeed that most Conservatives are optimists, who believe in the future and will hence work hard for tomorrow’s security today! They also believe in live and let live, and in (literally) minding their own business. This makes them the REAL “progressives.”
Contrast that with the REAL “reactionaries,” the whiny liberal victimologists, who have NO faith nor trust in the future, and so can always be relied on to party today and maybe (get someone else to) pay for it tomorrow. Those conformists will always fear ‘The Others’ and so can be ‘trusted’ to always try to micro-manage everyone else’s lives – they WILL organize each other if and when they feel their entitlements and their rights to be irresponsible are threatened by harsh reality!
The prospect of Mr. Abomo’s defeat scares the whiny EMOCRATS so much, you can (literally) be the farm they will be out there en masse to get him re-elected.
Sadly, I can’t guarantee the same from the all-too trusting conservative base.
If Romney can’t find his inner Reagan, then it’s all over.
Don’t they realize WHY Romney isn’t winning hands down yet? It’s because we don’t LIKE him.
He is nothing but a different colored oblameo.
You want a landslide, give us someone we CAN get behind.
It doesn’t really matter if Obamacare is instituted or repealed. Both Medicare and SS will be bankrupt in a very short time regardless. Neither party nor any candidate is willing to address the 500 lb gorilla in the room. Obamacare will just make it all go broke sooner.
Still, Romney is a much better choice than Obama and we need to retake the Senate majority and retain the House majority – then we’ll see if conservatives have the big brass ones to actually tackle the real issues.
Jan 31, 2012 George Soros support Mitt Romney, investor/communist and Obamas supporter want Mitt Romney. It’s not a good day for a republican to get support from communists. On Fed 2 Donald Trump announced his support for Mitt Romney. It can’t be a good day for a republican when Obama supporters see Romney as a good option.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6aLQU_nYSM
The only thing Romney has proven he is good at politically is tearing down his opponents.
He won’t get away with that with the Boy King because the msm will be all over him like a swarm of hornets. So he won’t even try.
What does that leave? Apparently, hope. Hope that obama is finally recognized as the menace and disaster he is.
Doesn’t sound like much of a strategy to me, since obama owns the media.
Romney was always the worst candidate. His only success so far in the general election has been while he silently observed obama shooting himself in the foot about 5 times. Every time Romney says something, it is a mistake, because he will never say the truth. It always has to be some layered, lawyered, poll-tested inanity.
If Romney wins, it will be in spite of himself.
Who does that remind you of?
Where’s the Romney cheer-leading squad? Over the last few months, those of us who point out what a dismal candidate Capt. Milquetoast is get painted as “paid Obama plants”. Now that Socialist Healthcare is front and center all you hear are crickets from that corner because they know he’s worthless in this fight.
Our only hope is that somehow there’s a loophole that lets the convention delegates do what’s best for the country and ultimately the party by drafting someone from the floor. Allen West would clean Obummer’s clock on each and every issue without breaking a sweat.
The subject at hand is the economy and Obama’s failure. You can try to get us to dance to your tune… but we know… Obama has failed and as long as we stay focused and don’t let you bait us into disucussing non-issues… we win.
Romney will repeal Obamacare, we all agree… so why argue anymore… back to the economy.
Because “repealing it” only to “replace it” isn’t what’s needed. But you cleverly miss the point again, he can’t repeal anything if he can’t win and he hasn’t a leg to stand on on obamacare. Don’t forget you pom poms.
“The subject at hand is the economy and Obama’s failure.”
Obummer’s failure is that he hasn’t been able to make this much worse much faster. Unfortunately, Obummer has succeeded in making things (the economy, law, courts) much worse.
It is against what Obummer considers to be his successes that we must contend.
Talk about “unforced errors”! From WSJ, “Romney’s Tax Confusion”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577506652734793044.html
WELL said.
Both McConnell and “Old Yellowstain” Boehner are showing an ambivalence towards fighting for the American people….this marxist-muslim-despot in chief has outright given us two HUGE clubs to bludgeon him and the communist party to death: Fast and Furious and Obamacare. Yet, they are tepid, plodding, almost looking for a reason to NOT go after obama for all of this. What in the hell is wrong with them, and Romney? These guys need to seriously shake-up their respective advisors because they look extremely pussilanious to me.
Not again. Not this time. You had better not screw us again, Mr. Republican Establishment. If you do, take it from lowly little ‘ol me, just an unknown, outside the beltway, American small business owner that has never even considered running for office….I will harass every single person I know, finance my own campaign for local office, WIN, and start up the ladder to put you and your kind in the unemployment line.
I know that I am not alone. Millions of Americans feel just as I do. We are so sick of this crap we could puke. Do you hear me, us, Mr. Establishment? You had better grow some balls, get off your ass(es), FIGHT AND DEFEAT THESE COMMIE BASTARDS, and save the most wonderful nation this Earth has ever known….or you will become politically irrelevant for the foreseeable future. Get it? You will be done.
WE are warning you – DO NOT SCREW US AGAIN, NOT THIS TIME, NOT EVER. You are on permanent probation…
If Romney can show some capacity for actually making a decision, I’ll consider voting for him. But until then – better bad decisions than no decisions.
Anybody is better than Obama. We voted in a beast we knew nothing about. Let’s stop putting Romney down. Unlike Obama, we know Romney and know he won’t put America down.
Romney’s biggest problem is people who take the Democrat bait and argue non-issues for days… and take the focus off Obama’s failures. People who thought things like contraceptives–when and who should use them– was a great issue to run for President on.
Hint: we want to beat Obama… stay focused on the economy and Obama’s failures. Don’t fall for the distractions the Democrats are trying to sell you.
Romney will repeal Obamacare… move on.
Back to the real fight… what are those underemployed numbers again, and why doesn’t Obama want anyone to notice them?
Is our economy shrinking? Why yes it is… but no one is talking about it… too busy bashing Romney over what a “spokesman” said.
Don’t be stupid! We want to win!!!! If you joined our team that would be helpful.
Three years ago, the United States lost in the World Baseball Classic. The crucial play? Two runs down with a man on third and one out in the 8th, the US had the pitcher spot due up and chose to pull a slugger off the bench as a pinch hitter. He struck out. What they should have done, given that it was the 8th inning and not the 9th, was put Shane Victorino up at bat and call a squeeze play. He is, after all, one of the fastest runners in the game today. But the coach went with the “safe” option of putting a slugger up representing the tying run, and lost because of it.
Jul 3, 2012
Reality Check: President Obama and Mitt Romney Don’t Have Opposing Views On Healthcare?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyIXuce36gM
The trouble with Mitt Romney is that he’s not much of an anti-leftist. He isn’t totally committed to the letter of the US constitution, to secure borders and rational immigration, to free markets and constrained federal government power and spending. IOW, he’s a wimp. It’s not in his nature to try hard. He doesn’t reall want to strive very energetically against the leftist atrocities we’ve been saddled with over the last century. So, he doesn’t.
He’s more interested in being elected rather than doing what most Americans believe is the right thing.
His big advantage is that he is not Obummer. He’s not all that energetic in striving to make things worse as Obummer is, but quite willing to coast along letting them get worse and worse in increments large and small.
Romney better demonstrate that he is smarter than the Stupid Party (R) that abhors conservatives. If he doesn’t start attacking all of Obama’s major shortcomings as President, and weave them together so that O’s many actions can be seen as thwarting jobs, the economy, and American values, and clearly illustrate for the voters what this country will look like after 4 more years of Obama, our country as we have enjoyed it is lost. This gang of Chicago thugs do not give a damn about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Not when “social justice” and equality of outcome” rather than of opportunity are their constant refrain. For this reason they will do whatever is necessary (lie, cheat, steal, slur, conceal the truth, deliberately mis-characterizof e, conspire w/ the MSM against the majority, encourage fraud, etc.) to stay in power which, if it happens, will occur at the expense those of us who would not tolerate such conduct in our families, clubs, organizations, churches, charities, businesses, or local governments. It happens because we often fail to do anything in response out of fear of being called a “racist.”
Its too late for crying. Romney should never have been the nominee. We had a real conservative who has definite positions and a 30 year history of being consistent. I will be writing Ron Paul on the ballot if it isn’t printed there, in hopes of getting the GOP to care about what it’s members want.
This is why I was never sold on Romney. Obama is fighting like a gutter snipe and Romney is playing a gentlemen’s game. We needed a scrapper and we got a dandy. I think I’m looking at McCain II, I hope, hope, hope I’m wrong.
Well, this is my take. Hispanics are not all hard working nor are they all gang bangers, unlike Cubans or Vietnamese they don’t have a natural alliance with the Republican Party because of anti-communism. They tend to be behind whites in terms of income and educational levels which draws them to a party like the Democratics. What George W Bush and Karl Rove didn’t think that like previous generations of immigrants it takes a while to changed party alliance. Number two, the Republican Party is having difficulty with the larger white vote out there and I think that trying to bring the Hispanic vote which is only 8 percent against is not going to help in NC, Wi, VA, or Oh.