GOP Nominee 2012 - Pt. 5

[Jeannieco]

Now I think Romney's campaign is in deliberate self destruct mode. It looks to me like they really don't want the WH in 2013 because they know now how unprepared they are to handle it. Ok, maybe I am over reacting but really... it's just a comedy of errors now...

Mitt Romney Video: Barack Obama Voters 'Dependent On Government'

[Irvine511]

still too late for Jeb Bush to swoop in and save the day?

or should i start prepping my Hillary 2016 posters?

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by Jeannieco

Now I think Romney's campaign is in deliberate self destruct mode. It looks to me like they really don't want the WH in 2013 because they know now how unprepared they are to handle it. Ok, maybe I am over reacting but really... it's just a comedy of errors now...

Mitt Romney Video: Barack Obama Voters 'Dependent On Government'

gosh, this seems every bit if not more offensive than the "bitters" who "cling to guns and religion" comment from 2008.

[BonosSaint]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

still too late for Jeb Bush to swoop in and save the day?

or should i start prepping my Hillary 2016 posters?

Mine are almost ready. Just have to cross out the 2.

[trojanchick99]

Originally Posted by Jeannieco

Now I think Romney's campaign is in deliberate self destruct mode. It looks to me like they really don't want the WH in 2013 because they know now how unprepared they are to handle it. Ok, maybe I am over reacting but really... it's just a comedy of errors now...

Mitt Romney Video: Barack Obama Voters 'Dependent On Government'

Oh dear. Yeah, way to win over those moderates.

As Romney explains, 47 percent of Americans "believe that they are victims." He laments: "I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Just disgusting. The thing is, this is not only bound to kill his campaign, but it's going to hurt the Senate and Rep races.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally Posted by Jeannieco

Now I think Romney's campaign is in deliberate self destruct mode. It looks to me like they really don't want the WH in 2013 because they know now how unprepared they are to handle it. Ok, maybe I am over reacting but really... it's just a comedy of errors now...

Mitt Romney Video: Barack Obama Voters 'Dependent On Government'

The overwhelming majority of voters who back President Barack Obama do so because they are "dependent on government" and "believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing," Mitt Romney told a closed-door gathering of about 30 major donors earlier this year, according to video of the event that has surfaced on the Internet.

Yeah! How dare people think they're entitled to eat or have a roof over their heads or stay healthy...

...wait...

Also:

"My dad, as you probably, know was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company. But he was born in Mexico ... and, uh, had he been born of, uh, Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this," Romney said. "But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. ... I mean I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino."

Holy shit, shut up, Romney.

Love the "silver spoon"/inherited comments towards the end of that article, too. No. He's not out of touch. Not at all .

Rick Santorum said Saturday the media and, "elite, smart people," never side with the Republican party

Way to phrase that last part, Santorum.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by Jeannieco

Now I think Romney's campaign is in deliberate self destruct mode. It looks to me like they really don't want the WH in 2013 because they know now how unprepared they are to handle it. Ok, maybe I am over reacting but really... it's just a comedy of errors now...

Mitt Romney Video: Barack Obama Voters 'Dependent On Government'

it's just awful how the Republicans rely on class warfare to make their arguments. why do they resent and hate people who have less money than they do? class resentment seems every bit as awful and destructive as that terrible, terrible class envy we hear about.

[digitize]

Poor Mitt. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.

[maycocksean]

So his dad was born in Mexico. . . that is a concern.

I'd like to see a real copy of his birth certificate. . . .

Given his father's heavy Mexican influences, I think it's clear that Mitt has been seeped in the traditions and philosophy of the Mexican drug cartels, making him a catastrophic choice for president.

[LJT]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but my understanding is that the 47% that Romney is on about are those that still pay their state taxes? But also that the majority of those 47% (and people who benefit from government support the most) also come from what are generally conservative states?

edit: Just also thinking, does that 47% include people that are retired? Surely he wouldn't be lumping all those conservative old folk in with the rest of the evil poor?

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by LJT

Correct me if i'm wrong, but my understanding is that the 47% that Romney is on about are those that still pay their state taxes? But also that the majority of those 47% (and people who benefit from government support the most) also come from what are generally conservative states?

The blue states essentially subsidize the red states.

Often, as in Virginia, the blue counties -- home to commerce and a highly educated workforce -- literally subsidize the rest of the date. Northern Virginia is diverse and home to a powerful educated workforce. They vote blue.

The rest of the state wants to force women to undergo transvaginal ultrasounds and has an AG who thinks its important to let everyone know that it is legal to discriminate against gay people in VA.

[deep]

1. “clinging to their guns and religion”

2. “You Didn’t Build That”

3. "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax. My job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."


The above are stupid remarks that a candidate should never say, even to his supporters.
There is no gain in making the remarks, are your supporters going to vote for you more?

That said, two of them are survivable.

[cobl04]

Sometimes your best PR is just being quiet and watching the opposition...

[Irvine511]

David Brooks eviscerates Mittens:

September 17, 2012
Thurston Howell Romney
By DAVID BROOKS

In 1980, about 30 percent of Americans received some form of government benefits. Today, as Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute has pointed out, about 49 percent do.

In 1960, government transfers to individuals totaled $24 billion. By 2010, that total was 100 times as large. Even after adjusting for inflation, entitlement transfers to individuals have grown by more than 700 percent over the last 50 years. This spending surge, Eberstadt notes, has increased faster under Republican administrations than Democratic ones.

There are sensible conclusions to be drawn from these facts. You could say that the entitlement state is growing at an unsustainable rate and will bankrupt the country. You could also say that America is spending way too much on health care for the elderly and way too little on young families and investments in the future.

But these are not the sensible arguments that Mitt Romney made at a fund-raiser earlier this year. Romney, who criticizes President Obama for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people “who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare?

It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey.

It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen.

The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor.

Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that.

The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view — from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. There’s no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own.

The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People who are forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits have dependency.

But, of course, no middle-class parent acts as if this is true. Middle-class parents don’t deprive their children of benefits so they can learn to struggle on their own. They shower benefits on their children to give them more opportunities — so they can play travel sports, go on foreign trips and develop more skills.

People are motivated when they feel competent. They are motivated when they have more opportunities. Ambition is fired by possibility, not by deprivation, as a tour through the world’s poorest regions makes clear.

Sure, there are some government programs that cultivate patterns of dependency in some people. I’d put federal disability payments and unemployment insurance in this category. But, as a description of America today, Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.

Personally, I think he’s a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not — some sort of cartoonish government-hater. But it scarcely matters. He’s running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. Mr. Romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/op...gewanted=print

remember guys, Romeny was supposed to be the competent one. and especially when compared to Gingrich, Bachman, and Santorum, he probably still is.

[BVS]

Palestinians Have 'No Interest ... In Establishing Peace,' Romney Says : The Two-Way : NPR

[MrsSpringsteen]

I don't think Romney is pretending to be something he's not in those comments he made to donors. I think he believes that, and I think most people who will vote for him do as well.

Talk about a self satisfied millionaire.

[MrsSpringsteen]

Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up (feat. Eminem) - YouTube

[MrsSpringsteen]

Yahoo news

COSTA MESA, Calif.—Mitt Romney stood by his comments captured on a hidden camera at a closed-door fundraiser earlier this year in which he called supporters of President Barack Obama "victims" and said they are reliant on government handouts.

In a hastily arranged news conference Monday night, he called his words "off the cuff" and "not elegantly stated," but given several opportunities to back off the comments, he did not.

Romney said he was merely talking about the "political process of drawing people into my own campaign." He described the incident as a "snippet of a question and answer session" and called on the full video to be released to show the question and his response in its full context.

Asked if he was worried that he had offended the 47 percent of people he mentioned in the statement, Romney did not back off his remarks.

"It's not elegantly stated, let me put it that way," Romney said. "I'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question, and I'm sure I can state it more clearly in a more effective way than I did in a setting like that and so I'm sure I'll point that out as time goes on."

But, he added, "It's a message which I am going to carry and continue to carry."

Still, Romney ignored a question about whether he really believes what he was saying. Asked if his words were reflective of his "core convictions," Romney simply walked away.

[PhilsFan]

How the hell did he operate a successful company?

 

It was a government bailout!

[Irvine511]

It just occurred to me that I pay probably at least 3x as much of my income in tax as Romney does of his income.

How is that fair?