Mitt Romney Plays to the Liberal Caricature

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | February 1st, 2012 at 09:29 AM |

RESIZE: AAA

Not 12 hours after the networks called it for him, Mitt Romney went on CNN’s Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, spoke from the heart, and played straight into the liberal caricature that Republicans don’t have hearts.

As CNN noted in a press release:

Romney says, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair , I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich…. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

The left will focus on his lack of concern for the very poor. The right should focus on the bit about “if [the safety net] needs a repair.” Conservatives have been making the case for quite some time that the social safety net is not working as well as it could, as efficiently as it could, and is going to bankrupt us.

But Soledad O’Brien allowed Mitt Romney to clarify his remarks in case there was a misunderstanding. He chose to dig his hole deeper.

Romney continues, “We will hear from the Democrat party, the plight of the poor…. You can focus on the very poor, that’s not my focus…. The middle income Americans, they’re the folks that are really struggling right now and they need someone that can help get this economy going for them.”

The problem here is that the middle class won’t vote for a Democrat pledging to raise taxes only on the rich for the same reason they won’t vote for a Republican who says he is not concerned about the very poor. They know they are next. And evangelicals who Romney already has a problem with are very mindful of the rich man and Lazarus. You can see the whole segment here for yourself.

Expect this to be an ad against Romney, along with liking to fire people and that corporations are people too. The issue here is not that Romney is right or wrong, but that he is handing choice sound bites to the Democrats to make him as unlikeable as he made Newt Gingrich.

First Collector: At this festive time of year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.

Ebenezer: Are there no prisons?

First Collector: Plenty of prisons.

Ebenezer: And the union workhouses – are they still in operation?

First Collector: They are. I wish I could say they were not.

Ebenezer: Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. I’m very glad to hear it.

With no concern for the poor and no focus on the poor, Andrew Malcolm notes a line in Romney’s rhetoric from last night that’s a bit ironic given today:

‘Remember when our White House reflected the best of who we are’

Tags: Mitt Romney

COMMENTS

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soothsayer14

To see super rich Romney proclaim on CNN that he is “Not concerned about the very poor”

This is a head scratching WTF kind of moments.

Pretty stupid thing to say.
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

…an unprecedented action is needed, for he lacks sensitivity and discipline and requires the able-assistance of a quality Veep-candidate.

Pat Toomey.

This has been discussed [and the rationale for this suggestion has been elucidated] on my Diary [and elsewhere @ RS].
jakeofalltrades

With the good candidates I used to know…
Blue_State_Refugee

With apologies to Bing Crosby.
http://www.plumbbobblog.com Plumb_Bob

If the Obama administration were to construct the perfect candidate for the O to run against, they would assemble Mitt Romney from spare parts. He fits their caricature of the Republican party to a T.

Rich… privileged… top 1% of income… finance geek… Wall Street… out of touch… religious fanatic… scary cult… and the scary cult was openly racist right up ’till 1980 or so.

I don’t know if the myth of Romney’s electability started in the White House, but it might have, and they’re certainly doing nothing to discourage that ridiculous line of thinking.

Romney will be beaten worse than McCain. Our only hope is to nominate a conservative.
http://www.plumbbobblog.com Plumb_Bob

Vice Presidential nominees have no effect on Presidential nominees. An army of Pat Toomeys would not improve Romney’s chances.
goodgovernance

another flip flop will fix this. He’ll just over correct in the next interview and say the opposite of what he said in the CNN interview.

It’ll be along the lines of, “Of COURSE I want to help the poor! That’s why I’m running, because I want the poor to experience the success I’ve had! When I’m in the White House, the poor will be the entire focus of my administration!”
votemout2012

Everyday it becomes clearer and clearer none of present candidates represent us. I can’t help but think we let the best one go when Perry left. That great debater Newt sure doesn’t look so good anymore. Romney is a pathetic liberal who will lose this thing to Obama. I just don’t understand where are all those patriots in 2010 that were outraged with ObamaCare. How did we get to this place.
Blue_State_Refugee

…spell check.
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

Erick.

I watched the interview and you characterization is just plain wrong. Romney corrected Soledad as she tried to twist his words.Anyone who is not filled with hatred for Mitt understands what he is saying and he is correct. The very poor have a safety net, if it is not complete he will plug the holes.Tthe very rich are doing just fine, it is the rest of us who need help.

I expect the attacks on Romney to become more vicious and frequent as the ‘very conservatives” follow the Newt Gingrich philosophy “Give me what I want and I will protect you from me”
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

…HERE, something unprecedented may be indicated.

This would, behaviorally, project an INTEGRATION of the ongoing input of a TRUE-CONSERVATIVE who has RECENTLY emerged victorious in a BLUE-STATE [1-million vote-edge for the D's].

Jus’ tryin’ to make lemonade from a lemon, ’tis all!
bardamu

. . . that “not concerned” remark, although it sounds terrible on its own, is more a poor choice of words than an offensive kind of apathy. He pretty plainly is saying, “I don;t worry about them because there is a safety net in place for them.” But the business about “it’s not my focus” is just indefensible.
Common_Cents

I knew Mitt Headroom Romney seemed familiar!
soothsayer14

but the issue is the soundbite. This is presidential politics.

He just lobbed a softball right over the heart of the plate for Axelrod to knock out of the park.

I don’t have a problem with what he said, it is just terrible politics and message discipline, and he is supposed to be the polished candidate who isn’t going to this kind of stuff.
Return to Revolution

I thought Newt was going to be the one who gets in trouble by gift wrapping sound bytes to the media. The media will work very hard to take everything a conservative says out of context but this was a pretty obvious unforced error. Looks like we have the worst of Newt AND Mitt all rolled into one.
andystone

He has plenty of class warfare-baiting clips out there that we’ll see ad nauseam during the general election – when he’ll probably be outspent 2-3:1
Locked and Loaded

When he re-iterated, speaking of the poor, and said, “That’s not my focus,” he might just as well have said, “That’s not my problem.”
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

I saw it, He explained it and you are the one saying “That’s not my problem”. If you don’t understand the difference between the word focus and problem there is no room for conversation.
Scope

that were posted on CNN last night clearly showed that the majority of Fla. voters put the economy issue way out in front. No surprise there, that’s the case everywhere. The push by the liberals to make the economy look better and better will be the case until election day. This morning on CNN, the liberal beeitches were overjoyed to report that “the deficit will drop this year by more than a trillion dollars.” “We had a very strong Jan., and in election years especially, when you start the year out that strong, it usually just keeps on improving, and gets even stronger in the second half of the year”? No lie, that’s what they said. You knew this was coming. Guarantee the unemployment number will drop also, as the year moves closer to election day. They already removed a large portion of the workforce to make the number “look better,” there will undoubtedly be fudging going on big time.

Will the voters buy into the improving economy, because Obama is doing everything right lie? Sure, many of those same voters bought into the “Romney is the inevitable” and “Romney is the only one that can beat Obama” meme, and “Romney is the only electable candidate” line. The Fla. exit poll information also showed that many of the Fla. voters voted for Romney, because he was the only “electable” R running. The “electable” and “inevitable” propaganda started showing up everywhere since long before all of the declared candidates even got into the race. How can someone be the only one, when many still didn’t know who would even declare?

Remember the story about Walter Lippman (I think) who needed to help the pork industry gain more sales, back all those years ago. He came up with the sales pitch to make “bacon and eggs” as the perfect pairing. He instilled into the populations minds that you can’t eat your breakfast eggs without bacon. That pairing still sticks in the minds of people today, bacon and eggs are as American as apple pie. Well at least it did until the food police came along. This is the art of persuation (sp), or if you repeat something often enough, it becomes the truth to the masses.

Pushing the propaganda that Mitt Romney is the only electable R candidate, and is the inevitable candidate, has been successfully sold to those that are easily persuaded, just as Ron Paul and his surrogates are pushing the meme that only Paul is a fiscal conservative, and the only one that sticks to the constitution. Again, if you keep pushing, and repeating over and over, the same mantra, the mantra imbeds itself into the minds of those that can’t see or understand that they are the chickens who are willing to put the fox in charge of guarding the henhouse.

This election cycle is a repeat of the 08 election cycle, in that it is mostly the liberal media who tells you what they want you to believe, if you are willing to listen. This year Fox joined in with the mantra that only Romney can beat Obama. In 08, the media built McCain up as the only one who could beat Obama, and of course so many believe that only a moderate can beat Obama. So here we are once again with the rules for shampooing, wash rinse and repeat.
streiff

I don’t see why you’re involved in this particular discussion. He said “I don’t care about the very poor.” Period. Full Stop. Finito. It doesn’t matter what he meant… though I personally think that these slips of the lip give us insight into his character.
Juggernaut

Mitt the out of touch, cold hearted for the rich guy that we also underestimated because openly saying such espouses someone with even more serious character flaws. Add to it the secret accounts, 15% in taxes plus no clear vision for America. , talk about MSNBC just played the clip on Jansing and Co with Anita Dunn commenting, talk about perfect timing. I see a Scrooge ad coming.

Obamabots joked in Chicago at the Obama campaign HQ that they?re so giddy that they want to run naked in Millennium Park.

If you still support Romney, watch this video and debunk all the negatives. Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQwrB1vu74c&feature=player_embedded#!
izoneguy

The federal government says a family of 4 making less than $50K is “poor:.
What is Romney’s definition of “poor”.
What doesn’t Romney ask – “Who are the poor people? What makes them poor.
Why don’t we figure out a way to have the poor help themselves?”

Why, because he has been rich all of his life……
Just like Obama gets annoyed with the pesky employed people
who want to think for themselves……

Romney cannot let the media show him up as a financial bigot.
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

Since I have already had exchanges with you and have an insight to your character there is no need to continue.
Scope

I would like to ask then why women voters are willing to run from Newt, because of his multiple divorces, and into the arms of Romney, who has changed his positions on social issues, as much as we change our underware every day? With that information, wouldn’t that mean that the social issues are not as dead to the voters as some wanted to think?
Juggernaut

It doesn’t matter what the flip flop is, the words are out there and permanent, that’s all that matters now. Its free reign for the right and left competition. He’s making it too easy for people to walk away from him.
Juggernaut

poverty line, 25 and change Any links showing its $50k ?
elayman

Or what he thinks the Tea Partiers want to hear. Only what suggests he should be called a moderate or liberal is not his positions on expecting the state to do for the poor what charity should out of tax dollars. It didn’t sound natural or believable, because how could it be ? Principles and values are the expendable means to becoming president.
Adrian

over Newt was that he supposedly is always putting his foot in his mouth and won’t stand a chance against suave, cool Obama. Ok.
izoneguy

OK I found it – Family of 4 is – $22,350
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml

Point being – The message shouldn?t be that he?ll ?fix? any holes in the safety net.

Let’s get government out of the way so that businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive ? and increase economic opportunities for everyone.
pdawk

They don’t vote, they don’t contribute to the economy and there aren’t that many of them.
kipling

Add to it the fact that at least half of evangelicals are breaking to Romney despite the fact that he is a Mormon. A social conservative stand on social issues – even if it is a recently acquired one – trumps religious affiliation.

Newt is making a play for evangelicals as well – the abortion ads and adopting Perry’s theme of a war on Christians – but his play is not going so well because of the visual aid of two ex-wives.
Scope

Not even in the race any longer, and not campaigning in Fla., according to Fla. Election Watch, after the 4 that are still actively in the race, Rick Perry got the next highest number of votes in the primary yesterday.

As soon as Perry got in the race, and said that SS was a ponzi scheme (we agree it is), Romney went immediately into attack mode, and sent mailers to the Fla. voters, claiming that Gov. Perry wanted to take the seniors SS away from them. Fla. is the retirement capitol of the world. It was an outright lie, Perry never said that, and didn’t propose anything like that. He tried to say that that was a lie, and that he would not propose to affect anyone on SS currently, or nearing SS age. The media distorted and, blocked his message. He had to spend major dollars trying to correct the lie. In Fla., apparently the lie worked with the seniors. I understand the same mailers were sent to were sent out in SC, before Perry suspended his campaign.

Yes absolutely, Perry did have an unimpressive debate shortly before the Fla. straw poll, which some claimed would predict who the eventual candidate would be. The Fla. delegates? voted for Herman Cain. So much goes for the Fla. straw poll, and the Iowa straw poll. For future candidates, don’t waste your money.

Anyway, looking at the number of Fla. votes received by those that have suspended their campaigns, Perry got 6,768, Huntsman got 6,198, Bachmann got 3,959, and Cain got 3,494. Hey, what happened to that predictive Fla. straw poll?

I believe Perry qualified to be on the ballot in most states, except the VA mess of course. I would think his name would be on most state ballots. Surely it is wishful dreaming, but, wouldn’t it be a kicker if Perry started getting more votes than some that are currently still in the race? We’ve only had 4 contests so far. There are still 46 more states in order to choose the winner, or to get to a brokered convention.
Martin Knight

This time, maybe he’ll get a better campaign team and actually win some Primaries.
redcal

Which is typical for private equity guys. Unlike CEOs of public companies, who learn how to deal with the street and 1:many persuasion, private equity people never have to be in a position where they’re not at the top of the pyramid. Romney didn’t even need to raise funds for the launch of Bain Capital (he got the funding from Bill Bain) which meant that he didn’t have to go through that process of refinement either. He’s been good at raising funds in 2008 and 2012 only because he is the single exemplar of his niche (Rockefeller Republicans) that are terrified of conservatives.

Romney isn’t actually any more clumsy than the typical private equity guy. But watching vid of him from 1994 shows that he hasn’t developed his “persona skills” at all over the last 20 years. He’s not a natural social learner.

He’s clearly aware of the problem. This is why so many of his statements are content-free, bland nothings (just contrast to Santorum or Gingrich); he’s terrified of making a mistake, which counterproductively actually causes him to make more mistakes when he has to have a real-time conversation or interview (he’s not getting practice). I predict that, as he steams to the nomination, he’ll get more and more cautious in his statements, and then will have to suddenly pivot in the debates against Obama, who will destroy him almost as easily as Gingrich vivisected him in the final SC debate.
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

…but, having so many precedents already broken this year, it would indeed be a “kidker” were the baton to be returned to the best candidate!
redcal

…is going to be as oblivious as he is to the perception of his words, as clumsy and awkward.

“I have always maintained Mitt Romney is the best candidate.” – tbrickbert in an earlier diary.

You should look up ‘confirmation bias’. You might learn something about yourself.
streiff

I understand that you’re upset that you know that I know your are a twit. Having one’s true persona laid bare like that can be painful especially when introspection isn’t something you do well. But you insult us with your eternal blowing of Romney and everything Romney.

This is a prime example. Erick quotes, verbatim, what your man-god said. Your response: that isn’t what he said.

There used to be public morality laws that forbade what you do in your comments.
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

shows your lack of critical thinking and your chracter. Rant on you just keep proving my point.
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

I still maintain he is the best candidate. How well are your candidates doing?
vangoghssister

Please forgive me for not being able to recall on what channel I saw this or even if it was before SC or if it was before FL, but it has stuck in my mind ever since, I hear him say it in my head every day. I was flipping channels and landed on one where he was speaking to some group of voters. I have no idea what the subject was, but he sort of paused and said “Oh, by the way, I AM concerned about the poor. I am…” at which point I saw red and felt steam coming from my ears, so I moved on. It sounded just like he suddenly remembered someone had said ‘hey man, you better get something in there about poor people and make it sound like you really care”.

I really really wish I could remember where and when I saw this. I’ll have to google it and see if I can find a link.
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

http://youtu.be/EQwrB1vu74c

Juggernaut, scope, izoneguy, kipling, elayman, common_cents, Return to Revolution, acat, Martin Knight, lizzie…this is why I love RS-bloggers!
redcal

You must have LOVED Obama in 2008. You are clearly an intellectual of the first rank, and I doth my cap to you.
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

…and it captures the essence of the angst.
vangoghssister

I can’t get anything to come up except a million pages about what this thread is actually about. I guess it’s because what I heard him say was not actually being portrayed as a sound bite per se, but rather just him out on the trail talking to voters. I do recall he was in a room full of elderly people, so it most likely was in Florida.
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

If you looked at my diary, then you know I have maintained Romney was the best candidate from the start. Perfect no but the best of the lot. How that means I loved Obama is a stretch . Really, I do not personally attack others for who they support. I do not see why that courtesy cannot be returned.
Scope

so many jumped on the Gingrich bandwagon? It was because he would be the best debater against Obama, and he would wipe the floor with him. Now he is getting the full head on crash of negativity from the Romney campaign, and what does he do? He goes from a really big win in SC, right to Fla. and proposes “Moon colonies.” To me, that was the start of his numbers plunge. That sounded as loony as some of Paul’s ideas, and would involve a whole lot of federal government spending. Then he sends out a message that Romney was denying kosher meals to elderly jewish people. That is what you call not being 5 minutes from the self destruct button, he literally sat on the button. I expect it to get worse. When the economy and jobs are the leading issues, why would you talk about Moon Colonies?

Gingrich will likely not have any more opportunities for any more debates to help him, as Romney has indicated that he will not participate in any more debates. That means Perry wouldn’t be harmed or hampered by any future debates either, if he decided to un-suspend. Of course there would be many more rocks with bad things written on them attributed to him. He can be more prepared for that onslaught. There are more unemployed campaign managers available now with campaign suspensions, and he can steer clear of anyone connected to Bush/Rove.

Most interestingly, the Fla. exit polled people said that the debates, and the ads, had no part in choosing their candidate. By the time Romney and Gingrich have turned about every R voter off with their scorched earth campaigns, Newt can hand his delegates over to Perry, and guaranteed with the current state of the voters anger, Perry could pull it off, with a whole lot of hard work and co-operation from the remaining candidates.

Then again, I would be perfectly happy if Gov. Perry gets to work now, right away, immediately, working on a top notch, kick butt campaign for 2016. Even EE has said time and again that Romney has little chance of beating Obama.
Melody Warbington (rwm52)

here

Speaking to a group in Aiken…

“I’m concerned about the poor in this country. We have to make sure the safety net is strong and able to help those who can’t help themselves,” Romney said, before returning to his standard remarks. “I’m not terribly worried about the very wealthiest in our society; they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the vast middle class of our nation, the 90 percent of Americans, the 95 percent of Americans who are having tough times.”
streiff

but you are selecting a sub optimal evolutionary strategy.

The fact that you are a well know Romney fellatisto of the Justin Hart type obviously bothers you. How someone who hasn’t found a lie they won’t tell to further a Romney candidacy can rule on another’s character is simply baffling.
http://tbrickert.wordpress.com tbrickert

constant homosexual innuendos make me wonder just what kind of magazines you keep under your bed. Hey! You know what? Iit is much easier to throw insults.
Since you are a conrtibuting editor I’ll never get the last word, but I’ll end this here.
streiff

we all knew how this movie was going to end
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

…because we must seize the moment!
colonelflagg

…I wouldn’t vote for Mutt Romney for dogcatcher.
http://www.timothy-bladel.com/ center77

Im sure that cannot be right. There is no way that happen. Right.
vangoghssister

nt
brand

Love Mitt or hate him, it’s still going to be an Axelrod campaign ad.

And, borrowing from a Jonah Goldberg tweet from last night, 68% of the FL ads were attacks on Gingrich, .1% were PRO Romney.

Live by the sword, die by the sword.
runner12

comparison, doesn’t it? It is a twist of irony that Perry was forced out due to “gaffes”, yet Mitt-the-electable-one comes up with the grand doozy of all gaffes after winning FL.

Anyone missing Perry yet? I know I am.

My only hope is for a brokered convention.
acat

“Huffiness is the last refuge of the crapweasel”. That’s a work of art, streiff.

Mew
lapert

Yeah, Perry was only 111,000 votes shy of Ron Paul – surely he should give it another go.

It was one thing to hold on to delusional hope when he was still nominally competing but to keep it after he has moved on is not healthy (nor helpful politically but you can’t expect that from naive pseudo-activists on the internet).

By the way, I’ve seen you say a couple of times that the exit polls showed the debates didn’t matter – might want to check that again because you are quite wrong.
romansdaughter

when Mittens loses the election. Everyone is going to be wishing they could move to Texas. Just read in USAToday that Texas continues to have the strongest economy of all the states. Grief, if I didn’t know that our God is in control…I would be so depressed.
avagreen

has turned into.
It’s become obvious that the establishment types (Dems or Republicans) have much the same end in mind: Keep my job, keep the gravy train going to get re-elected, destroy anyone that will get in my way, and btw, keep my job.
goodgovernance

Romney doesn’t mean what he says. If you’re speaking from the heart you don’t get “I’m concerned about the poor” mixed up with “I’m not concerned about the very poor.” Unless his earlier comments reveal he personally thinks of the middle class as poor?

What is going on with this man? I thought Newt was supposed to be the one who sabotaged himself whenever he got ahead.
conservnca

You are so talking my language!!! I keep trying to push this idea every time I post. IT COULD HAPPEN. If this gets any traction you can count on me (and several others) to be all in.
My sister in AZ had signed up to help Perry’s campaign headquarters and a few days ago was contacted by the woman who was in charge. She asked if there was something my sister would like to put in writing to let Perry know how many supporters he really had. She would hand deliver it to him in a few weeks when she sees him. We of course put a letter together plus copies of RS posts we had written on his behalf when he was still in the race.
Maybe if all of us who know he should have never been pushed out of the race bombarded his office with letters asking him to reconsider he would seriously think about it.
Also does anyone know who Perry’s backers/money guys were/are? If we could find out and deluge them with emails and or letters asking them to support Perry again, they just might as they see who we are left with. Perry is the only one who makes sense. He’s already vetted, has a platform,and like scope said, is on the remaining states ballots and could probably just pick up and jump back in.
I think people will now give him a serious second look. If Rush will just stay out of it and not compare Perry to Castro again that will help.Rush has so much responsibility in what happened to Perry also.He knows darn well that Perry is a capitalist and his record in Texas is absolute proof of that.
This is the future of our country we are fighting for. Nothing should be off the table to save her.Every stone should be overturned no matter how farfetched. If our Founders had a mentality that certain actions could never have benefited them in their fight for our freedom,America would not be who she is today.
If Newt loves this country as much as he says, let’s see if he believes that turn around is fair play!
Scope

but stalkers are like child abusers, once they do it, they just can’t stop it.

I have a few questions for you while you are here. Is the word delusional the only word in your vocabulary? When are you going to finally admit that you are a Paulbot? When I said that I refused to vote for Paul in VA to stop Romney, that’s when you found me, and started stalking me. So, if I would just get in line, and jump on the Paulbot wagon, I would then be healthy? Why do I have to be politically active, according to your definitions, in order to not be a naive pseudo-activist, when you have no clue about me or anything I may have or not have done? Because I won’t vote for Paul, or Romney, in VA actually makes me the best kind of activist, rather than an idiot like you.

I’ll be right back with those exist poll stats (if I can find them) that were reported on CNN last night, even before the polls closed. Those polled said that the debates and the ads had little to no influence in choosing their candidate. Electability was the number one reason for choosing a candidate. Actually, you go and look for that info, it should be somewhere on the CNN website. So who is quite wrong? Huh?
Finrod

From CNN’s exit polling:

Voters who were:
Very conservative (33%): Gingrich 41, Romney 30, Santorum 22
Somewhat conservative (36%): Romney 52, Gingrich 32, Santorum 9
Moderate/Liberal: (31%): Romney 59, Gingrich 20, Santorum 7

Position on abortion, it should be:
Always Illegal (22%): Gingrich 44, Romney 33, Santorum 16
Mostly Illegal (37%): Romney 44, Gingrich 34, Santorum 14
Mostly Legal (23%): Romney 52, Gingrich 28, Santorum 8
Always Legal (13%): Romney 57, Gingrich 25, Santorum 3
lapert

All about child abusers.

Anyway, I don’t support Ron Paul in any way shape or form. – never have never will. The only thing that could make you lower in my eyes would be if you decided to ‘tactically’ vote for Paul. And not voting never makes you an activist of any kind, it makes you the childish type of protester that would show up in an occupy tent – if you were any sort of actual activist you would have at least been helping Perry get signatures in VA, did you do that? Exactly.

And I have seen the stats, that is how I know you are wrong (as you so often are with your ‘facts’). The debates mattered to over 2/3rds of voters. And of course, debates, ads and electability mattering are not mutually exclusive – they all matter and in fact the debates and ads influence perspective on electability (duh, doesn’t take any deep understanding of how to analyze polls to know that, luckily your shallow understanding isn’t quite there). In this case, Romney won on all three counts.
romansdaughter

on why Mittens isn’t so “electable”.
dailycaller.com/2012/02/01/the..

Hey glad to see your still around.
Scope

I didn’t know that there was any effort among the Perry supporters to entice him to get back in. That is music to my ears, whether it works or not. I had posted elsewhere that Joe, from the Rick Perry Report, wrote that there were Tea Parties from NH and I believe SC who went to Texas to beg him to get in the race, and then when he did, they abandoned him. I believe the Tea Partiers are split between Newt and Romney, which means they are not yet settled. The fact that over 50% of those polled said they still wanted someone else is astounding, and proves that Romney is not the inevitable.

About now, with Romney and Gingrich going after each other’s jugular like a bunch of trained fighting Pit Bulls, and the feelings of election apathy setting in with the thoughts that the uppers have done it to us once again with the moderate Romney, I’d bet Perry would look pretty darn good to even to many of those that were not sold on him in the past. I’m sure I’m reading too much into it, but I still think that him coming in ahead of Cain, Bachmann and Huntsman in Fla., even not being on the ballot, or campaigning there was impressive to me. Even though the first four states have gone already, and those delegates have been decided, they are no where near what anyone needs to win the nomination. With Fla., Romney still only has 84 delegates.

While I love this idea, I’m still not sure that I want to see the best candidate get back into the gutter that has become this year’s primary. While Romney is in the race, there will never be anything but gorilla warfare tactics. He has already more than proven that he can and will destroy anyone that stands in his way, and unfortunately he has the media helping to do his bidding. He is Obama all over, with doing everything necessary to clear the field, up to and including lying. One of the things I agree with Gingrich is that if Romney could just buy the election, and skip this whole useless primary thing, he would. Huh, just saw him at a campaign stop with a song playing that says “this is your destiny.” Puke.

Wouldn’t you rather see Perry get in a future race, like in 2016, when Romney has had his head handed to him by Obama on a silver platter, and then some in 2012. Hopefully he, and his supporters and surrogates, will learn that the word “no” really does mean “no.” I just don’t know if anyone can beat out all the idiots that have crawled out on a twig to get Romney elected, and their numbers are legion. Do you really want to see Perry being a part of this year’s complete and total disaster? I’m not so sure I do. This year should be seen as the most embarrassing year ever for Republican primaries. Because of all that has transpired until now, and now hearing the Romney soundbite from this morning “I really don’t care for the very poor, if there’s holes I’ll fix them” being played over and over, along with his “I like to fire people” and his comment about pink slips, he is the perfect candidate in the eyes of the Democrats. Let them eat him alive, and they will. Oh, and if he does manage a win, which is highly unlikely, I hope he governs better than he sings. LOL

If Perry chooses to get back in, I am all there. If Perry chooses to wait until 2016, I’m even more all there.
http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

…and that is that Perry’s approach to the Middle East would surely resonate with Sheldon.

I’m also wondering where the TPM has been hiding [individually and/or in the aggregate] and whether other major-donors [Koch?] could be invoked, inasmuch as we’re dealing with an emergency.
Scope

Hahahahahaha. The more I respond to you, the tighter you pull your white suicide prevention suit in the sanitarium. I guess I should be happy that you don’t know my name, where I live, or anything else about me. I’d have reason to have a restraining order served on you.

Don’t worry, I just sprayed your flames off my monitor with my fire extinguisher. All better now. Isn’t it time for your next dose?
Scope

I would have to believe that a solid candidate, such as Perry, could pick back up, even with not a ton of money, and start gaining steam. I’m not sure how long Palin will stick with Gingrich, nor how long Sheldon Addelson (sp) will stick with him. Gingrich has already started to implode again, for the third time, and I doubt that many will hang around to be a part of that.

If Perry wants to get back in, I’ll be thrilled, but, that has to be Perry’s choice, and he has to feel comfortable with those in his campaign who will have to work for little, and that he can gather back up the support that scattered when he started going down in the polls. He will still get fierce pushback from the media, and especially Fox. While Romney is in the race, he is playing for blood, and he won’t allow anyone to remain standing without draining their blood completely. He doesn’t only want to destroy all opposition this time around, he wants them so dead he will make sure they never rise to anything in politics again. Rove had the same plans for Perry. Those people will not give up, until Romney finally proves that he really is “unelectable.” Look at Romney as a nuclear weapon, aimed at anyone who stands in his way. I want Perry standing tall and ready in 2016. In many ways I think he was a whole lot smarter than anyone, with getting out while he was still standing.

Perry/Cuccinelli 2016 is my dream.
JSobieski

McCain always understood that the media was his base, but even McCain failed to comprehend the following until it was too late:

Liberal/moderate Republicans get so used to receiving favorable press in the primaries that they are unable to deal with the media when the media turns on them. Its like practicing to be a high jumper on the moon, only having to compete in an event on earth—with gravity 6 times higher.

McCain couldn’t adjust, and he KNEW that the media was his base.

Romney thinks people like Brett Baier have been tough on him.

Romney has no clue as to what awaits him.
Scope

is that the leftists are already going after him as though he has already been chosen as the nominee. Usually they wait until the convention at least. That way we have no chance to make any change, and possibly elect a different nominee. I guess they got the “inevitable” message.
bobguzzardi

Goldman Sachs Joins Wall Street to Fund Romney Feb 1, 2012 Bloomberg By Jonathan D. Salant –

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-01/romney-sees-surge-in-wall-street-donations-as-obama-s-decline.html

In the fourth quarter of last year, eight of the 10 biggest donors to Romney, co-founder of Boston-based Bain Capital LLC, a private-equity firm, worked for banks and investment funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on U.S. Federal Election Commission information released yesterday. Citigroup Inc. (C) employees gave $196,600. Those at JPMorgan Chase & Co. donated $180,518, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) workers contributed $106,580.

For the whole campaign, Goldman Sachs employees and their families have been the largest source of campaign cash for Romney, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group that tracks political money. They have given him almost half a million dollars; four years ago, they gave $1 million to President Barack Obama, according to the center and FEC filings.
bobguzzardi

The opening 30 seconds is more cutting than any paid political ad I have seen. David Stockman, a voice of the free market, agrees with Leftist, Religious Statist Bill Moyers ( a Democratic Rick Santorum).

Facts are facts.

David Stockman on Crony Capitalism from www.BillMoyers.com on Vimeo. VIDEO about 1 hour http://billmoyers.com/segment/david-stockman-on-crony-capitalism/

TRANSCRIPT: http://www.truth-out.org/david-stockman-crony-capitalism/1327120119
romansdaughter
bobguzzardi

Below is a press release from the Zionist Organization of America which is, in my opinion, the only real Jewish defense organization in America. We are Zionists, not apologists for the government of Israel. At the ZOA, www.zoa.org, we think Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and Racism are immoral, illegal, unAmerican and to be exposed as best we can.

ZOA, also, opposes the misnamed “Two State Solution” because another terrorist state in the Middle East will not reduce violence or bring peace.

FYI I am a national board member.

Former Ron Paul Employees: Paul Approved Racist, Anti-Semitic Newsletters

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has cited a Washington Post report citing former Ron Paul employees publicly stating that that Republican presidential contender Ron Paul was aware of and approved vicious anti-Israel and racist statements in newsletters published under his name during the 1990s – something he has publicly denied. According to the Post, three sources with direct knowledge of Paul?s business affairs at the time have said that Paul was deeply involved in Ron Paul & Associates, which produced the newsletters, and signed off on the articles published within them.

Renae Hathway, a former secretary in Mr. Paul?s company said, ?It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product … He would proof it.? Former long-time Paul aide, Eric Dondero Rittberg, told the Post he witnessed Paul proofing, editing and signing off on his newsletters in the mid-1990s, while Ed Crane, president of the libertarian Cato Institute, said that he and Paul discussed direct-mail solicitations at the time and that they agreed that ?people who have extreme views? were more likely than others to respond. Mr. Paul has either denied or claimed not to recall the facts asserted in these statements (?Paul denies Washington Post report that he approved racially charged newsletters in 1990s,? Washington Post, January 27, 2012).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, ?This is further evidence that Ron Paul?s denial that he made the many vitriolic, hateful, and bigoted statements about Jews, blacks and other minorities in these newsletters is untrue.

?Mr. Paul has never condemned the statements that have been attributed to him in these letters; he has merely denied – falsely – that he made them.

?Mr. Paul is not denying that these are his beliefs merely by disclaiming authorship. As we have said before, had Ron Paul genuinely disagreed with them and found them shocking, he had ample time and opportunity to say so publicly, as the ZOA called upon him to do on January 9. He has never done so. In fact, his current ploy of avoiding condemnation of these statements by instead claiming he didn?t say or authorize them strongly suggests that he fully agrees with them and does not reject these hateful, vicious views.

?The ZOA calls upon African-American and Jewish organizations and leaders to publicly condemn Ron Paul for his despicable, racist newsletters, which he edited and approved.?

image001.jpg im
mikeymike143

A Redstate Exclusive: Ex-Staffer Calls Ron Paul ?The Original 9-11 Truther?

?When Al- Qaeda attacked our country on 9-11, Ron Paul told us the CIA was behind it. And that Bush and Cheney knew about the attack in advance.? That is a quote from ex-Ron Paul staffer and confidant Eric Dondero about Ron Paul. Eric called Paul ?the original 9-11 truther?.

This makes sense on so many fronts. When Congress was getting ready to vote on a military response in Afghanistan, Ron Paul initially OPPOSED responding to the attack, and expressed no concern about those who died that day. In fact, his only concern was that this attack would be used by the Bush administration to invade Iraq.

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/staffer-says-ron-paul-opposed-to-military-reaction-of-9-11-terror-attacks

They say that ?birds of a feather, flock together?. After Ron Paul got destroyed in the 2008 Republican presidential primary by John McCain, he showed his pettiness by refusing to endorse fellow Republican McCain, saying that ?I couldn?t find anything we agreed on?. Ok, so you can?t find any common ground with a highly decorated naval aviator who was captured and brutally tortured as a POW. When the badly wounded McCain was offered ?to be released out of turn? by the North Vietnamese, McCain refused it unless the men that were captured before him were also released. Yet that?s not the type of man that Ron Paul can support? OK, then who did he endorse?

Also running for president in 2008 was Cynthia McKinney. a race baiting Democrat considered one of the most far left members of congress. McKinney was the elitist who arrogantly struck a white police officer because he ?dared? to ask her for ID. McKinney is also the one who tried to impeach President Bush, Vice President Cheney. and Secretary of State Condi Rice for being ?war criminals?. Yet Paul chose to endorse this worthless piece of trash over McCain???

http://brian-therightperspective.blogspot.com/2011/12/flashback-ron-paul-endorses-cynthia.html#!/2011/12/flashback-ron-paul-endorses-cynthia.html

However, McKinney possessed one advantage that McCain did not. She is a fellow truther. Cynthia has been outspoken in her belief that 9-11 was a ?government conspiracy?. And she accused President Bush of ?needlessly murdering the innocent people of New York City so his popularity would rise.? So naturally Paul endorsed her over McCain.

And the cult truther movement obviously considers Paul ?one of their own?. In fact, when Paul gave an interview to a conspiracy group called ?We Are Change?, they asked Paul WHY he didnt come out with ?the truth about 9-11?. Notice that they didn?t ask him ?if he believed 9-11 was an inside job?. Why didn?t they ask that? BECAUSE THEY ALREADY KNEW THAT HE BELIEVED THAT!!!!!

But surely Ron set them straight. Stood up for America and said that 9-11 was not a conspiracy perpetrated by the Bush administration to start a war with Muslim countries so that Jewish bankers could get rich. That 9-11 was in fact a cowardly attack by Al-Qaeda on our country. Nope. When they asked Ron the reason he didnt tell everyone ?the truth about 9-11?, Paul actually said that he ?couldn?t handle the controversy because had a full plate and was dealing with other issues?. Wow. I will post the transcript and link including a video of the interview below.

Kyley from ?We Are Change LA?:

Kyley: Okay and one last thing why won?t you come out about the truth about 9/11?

Paul: Because I can?t handle the controversy, I have the IMF the Federal Reserve to deal with, the IRS to deal with because no because I just have more-too many things on my plate. Because I just have too much to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrQVaiFYmcg

It sounds to me like Ron Paul is a truther but isn?t honest enough to come out and say it directly because he knows it will kill his political career. Or maybe career politician Ron is just acting like a truther to con those morons into supporting him politically. Either way, this corrupt creep belongs in the nut house, not in the white house.

Eric also said that ?Paul is not opposed to foreign aid, he is just opposed to foreign aid to Israel. Whenever you hear Paul talking about cutting foreign aid, he always leads out with Israel. But Egypt and Pakistan actually recieve more aid than Israel does?. ?And Ron wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all. Paul has said this to me on many occasions. Ron is 100% pro Palestinian and believes ALL of Israel should be surendered to the muslims?.

I asked Gregg Hilton of the RSC(Republican Security Council) for his assessment of Eric?s claims. ?Dondero is right on the money? said Gregg. And then Mr. Hilton gave me the following examples:

Paul is a supposedly a foe of all foreign aid, but there is one exception. He naturally supports full funding for his Hamas buddies at the Palestinian Authority.

On June 20, 2007, Paul and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) were the only two lawmakers to vote against the Rothman-Kirk Resolution, which calls on the United Nations to charge Ahmadinejad with violating the genocide convention of the United Nations Charter based on his numerous statements.

Paul has called the Gaza Strip ?a concentration camp? and defended the Palestinians right to make bombs and to recieve weapon shipments to attack Israel with.

On June 19, 2009, the House voted to pass H Res 560 by a 405 to 1 margin. The resolution was entitled: ?Expressing support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law, and for other purposes.? Guess which loon was the one negative vote.

He thinks Iran should have nuclear weapons but then says ?We need to take out the CIA,? and wants the agency abolished. OK, that combination would give us a nuclear Iran led by a wackjob holocaust denier(Ahmadinejad) and us with no intelligence information on what is happening in the world. And that scenario makes America safer how?????

(My thanks to Bruce Cohen of ?Stop Ron Paul 2012? for setting up the interview with Eric Dondero for me. And of course a great big thank you to Eric for his time)

http://www.redstate.com/mikeymike143/2011/12/30/a-redstate-exclusive-ex-staffer-calls-ron-paul-the-original-truther/
romansdaughter

I have been seeing the same talk on Twitter. In fact there is billboards actually going up with Gov. Perry on them with the words Miss me Yet? I thought that was a joke but a couple of my friends actually confirmed it. PerryFire is firing up. They also did a poll nation wide on CNN I believe that showed 65% of Republican voters are not happy with the 4 candidates left.
WillWong

I think I understand what he tried to say. Clumsy at best but this is a classic case of what goes around comes around and Romney should not be complaining given that his campaign is a master of such tactic against Newt, taking his March 21st 1986 speech on the floor.
doug1949

Pretty stuipid thing to say, but he meant it, he is only concerned for the top 1%. Just looking at his tax plan, it is very obvious.
bobguzzardi

Your points are well taken and, as far as I know, accurate. I want to make the point there is a difference between being delusional, mistaken or a nut and being downright immoral and unAmerican.

Americans have had a sad history of racism and I think and I hope we have learned our lesson. All the conservatives, particularly, Evangelicals, accept the innate dignity of every person. It is the Left that categorizes by race.

Ron Paul has to be excised from the movement. Ron Paul is moral poison. I sometimes think, in my more fanciful moments, that he is being funded by Radical Islamists.
doug1949

soothsayer: so you don’t have a problem with what Romney said, you just have a problem that he said it out loud?
bobguzzardi

Rick Perry is the true outsider, INDEPENDENT OF LEADERSHIP.
conservnca

I believe if Perry gets back in it will be primarily because of his faith. He said The Lord told him to run for office and he did. If he gets back in it will be because God will confirm for him, by using us as his supporters to encourage him, that it’s time to take another look at his candidacy.
I don’t believe Perry would be intimidated by Romney at all. I know state isn’t anything close to national when running campaign’s but he was in a knock down, drag out brawl with Kay Bailey Hutchinsen’s team when running for Gov.
When Perry was still running there was a sense of hope which is completely gone now. Do you realize how many people are saying now that if Romney gets the nom, they just won’t vote. With the threat of another 4 yrs of obama people still say they won’t vote! There were those saying that about Newt at one time also. I may be wrong but I don’t remember ever hearing that if Perry got the nom people wouldn’t or couldn’t vote for him.
Do you think Joe at Rick Perry Report could put us in touch (thru email or address) with Perry backers? I don’t know if this is true but on Twitter it was posted, when Perry first suspended,that Perry had said if it looked like Romney was going to get the nom. he would get back in.If anyone else saw that would you please verify.
Finally there is a diary by Martin Knight on Rick Perry for President a post-mortem. The timing is very interesting to me. Why now?
runner12

The GOP needs to right its’ ship and fast. Pushing Romney was a huge error on their part and it is exploding in their faces.

If they would actually listen to the grassroots, we would not have this three ring circus we have right now.
lapert

I’m not sure what dill has to do with anything. And I wouldn’t put it past you to spray your computer with a fire extinguisher – you nutty internet ‘activists’ sometimes confuse this with reality where the grownups actually accomplish things instead of just whining about how your poor little candidate ran a lousy campaign despite all his you did for him on the interweb.
votemout2012

More depressed every day as these losers continue to show us who they really are. Top it off today I realize here in MO the primary & caucus are screwed up. We will not pick candidate for Caucus until June and Primary results for Feb not binding. Newt not even on ballot in Feb. The whole thing will likely be over by June. I really give up. Obama or Obama lite for the next 4 yrs.
conservnca

Could you say where on Twitter you are hearing about this?
Thanks
avagreen

…..set Romney up to win the GOP candidacy and then start unlacing his boots prior to the election so that he’ll stumble (predictable) and lose the election.

All part of the plan.
avagreen

……I think this whole scenario has been played by the RINOs and the upper echelon’s in D.C, IMHO.

The grassroots have their opinion, the elites ignore them/lie about them/misrepresent them, while the uninformed more interested in sports, TV, the latest Hollywood story, the latest fashion, latest music, etc. just spin a few minutes reading some godforsaken liberal propaganda piece and believe it. It’s more comfortable that way. They’ll be the first to carp and B&M when things don’t work out and find someone to blame, which the liberal media the folks I mentioned above will provide a target (most likely conservative) to blame.
soothsayer14

Presidential candidates have every utterance scrutinized.

If you can’t see how having a very wealthy white Republican presidential candidate with a soundbite saying “I am not concerned about the poor” is bad politics then I don’t know what more to say.

We know what he MEANT, that is not the issue. The issue is giving a gift wrapped soundbite to the Democrats that plays right into their criticisms of conservatism in general and Romney in particular.

Is this that hard to understand?
romansdaughter

I will look into it. I am pretty new on twitter and so don’t know all the ropes yet.
conservnca

I understand. If it’s a hassle don’t worry about it. I just wanted to see what the chatter was. I am new to it also.Thanks anyway.
Juggernaut

is now on the record admitting he doesn’t know. Kind of important considering every job given to the poor unemployed or underemployed entitlement recipient reduces the taxpayer burden. A presidential candidate should know this as well he has caused headaches for the GOP. Oh well, Jim DeMint scolded him and today he still has bad messaging. Agreed, get gov out of the way.

RS

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