Associated Press
Maybe Romney should just steer clear of conversations about sports.
Mitt Romney called in to a popular sports talk show in Alabama yesterday, a day ahead of the state's Republican presidential primary. As interviews go, this seemed like a fairly easy one -- it was unlikely the host, Paul Finebaum, would press the former governor for an explanation about his support for health care mandates.
Indeed, it's not like Romney would go on the show, repeat his mistake from two weeks ago, and talk about being friends with millionaire team owners again, right? Wrong.
[A]t one point, Mr. Finebaum asked Mr. Romney, as a New England Patriots fan, where he thought Peyton Manning should go as a free agent, and the candidate highlighted his friendship with football team owners — echoing comments in which he explained his affinity for Nascar by noting he knew the owners of Nascar teams.
"I'm surprised to hear that Denver's thinking about him," Mr. Romney said. "I don't want him in our neck of the woods, let's put it that way."
"I've got a lot of good friends, the owner of the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets, both owners are friends of mine," he added. "But let's keep him away from New England."
Romney really is approaching self-parody here. Just two weeks ago, Romney was in Florida for the Daytona 500, and was asked whether he follows car racing. "Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans," he responded, "but I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners."
Romney's boast that he's tight with the millionaires who own NASCAR teams came just two days after Romney boasted about his wife driving "a couple of Cadillacs."
In the larger context, a theme emerges when we consider what connects so many of Romney's tone-deaf verbal missteps, including his recent explanation that he's "not concerned about the very poor," which came on the heels of Romney insisting that making over $374,000 in speaking fees in a year is "not very much" money. It followed Romney suggesting elected office is only for the rich, clumsily talking about his fondness for being able to fire people, demanding that talk of economic justice be limited to "quiet rooms," accusing those who care about income inequality of "envy," daring Rick Perry to accept a $10,000 bet, joking about being "unemployed," arguing that those who slip into poverty are still middle class, and suggesting that Americans should somehow feel sorry for poor banks.
There was also that "corporations are people, my friend" classic.
What do all of these lines have in common? When it comes to his wealth, Romney is a clumsy rich guy who hasn't learned how to talk about these issues in public.
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According to recent polls, Americans like clumsy rich men.
(-or the do not like intelligent black men.)
We know the electorate doesn't like smart black men. they want someone just like them, the conservative rednecks from the South. I always like to think of the election of 2008, where the Conservative Racists didn't even worry b ecause they never thought a biracial man would become POTUS. So they're sitting there by their TV watching results, and when reality hits them, the cigar falls out of their Mouth. They never expected, because they assumed he would never win. So their anger boiled over and that's the nuts of today.
Still bitter.
I'm just so surprised that Santorum and Gingrich are doing as well as they are. If there are that many people in this country that believe the way they do, we are in for a bad century. Because we cannot live by the Evangelical Law, as they want us to do.
Oh fiddle faddle, jealousy is so shameful. Just because you are trying hard to keep your home while driving a ten year old chevy , you want to call some pampered spoiled rich kid that couldn't spell diplomacy out of touch? Puhlease! When did anyone actually elect a working stiff to any position of power? You need rich egotistical idiots to lead you into wars and depression.
Good lord just imagine Joe six pack in the White House. It's bad enough you let some socialist Kenyan candidate in there! Duh-you could have had McCain and dimwit.
What planet do you live on? We did have "Joe Six-Pack" in the White House -- George W. Bush.
If Obama, by your standards is a "socialist Kenyan", wouldn't that have made McCain a "fascist Panamanian"?
G.W. was happy to have people think he was just a regular Joe. And I guess he is just like any other regular Joe who owned a pro baseball team.
Worse....we could have Joe the Plumber in the White House...the good people of Ohio is about to put him as their representative and he might be the one to actually bring 9-9-9 to the country for real.
ThunderMonkey:
I can't say for certain, since I didn't write it, but I'm sure that first comment was full of sarcasm. Don't take it so seriously.
But Steve, didn't you watch your boss's show the other night, where she showed that Romney's real base is the rich? Those making over $100K are voting for him in the largest quantities. He doesn't win the rank-and-file.
Who care if he seems out of touch to the peons? He's speaking code to his friends and they're lovin' it.
But if Romney only gets the 1% to vote for him, that won't be enough to win the election! Then again, all the new voter restriction laws are trying to fix that problem...
Approaching self-parody? What would qualify? Something like, "buddy can you spare a dime? No, but I can introduce you to the Fed Chairman."???
His inability to have a conversation with other people leads me to believe if he were President he would be unable to talk to other Countries leaders.. He will come off as being arrogant, egostistical and a bully. That's not gonna fly with them. He is too much into competing with other people. That type of leader is not what we need right now. War is not the answer. Noone really wins a war, we all lose. And going to war on false pretenses is disastrous. How can other countries really believe that we care about human rights when we are trying to take them away from our own people.
Not to mention that he is so deceitful. If he lies to the American people at will, leaders of other countries sure as heck aren't going to find him credible or respect any thing he says.
My thoughts exactly. I keep hearing Republicans say we need a CEO in the White House. That's the last thing we need. CEOs answer to shareholders only. CEOs are completely out-of-touch with their employees. CEOs never have to be diplomatic & are never held accountable for erratic or irresponsible behavior. They are not the public personae of their corporations. CEOs are plutocrats.
With the exception of your Rockefellers & Jobs & the like, most CEOs are complete unknowns. It's that way for a reason-they are not ready for primetime. Not fit for public consumption.
he and Gw are just spoiled rich kids who are ,egotistical bullies he will be a lot worse than Bush,just vote him as presidend and hide under a rock somewhere!
Can you imagine a big meeting between Romney and Putin/Ahmanutjob/Sarkozy/ etc. and talking with the so little tact and diplomacy as to talk to him the same as he talks to the press, and puts his expensive shoes in his mouth? He could never make a treaty because of how he talks.
So what do you want from the overly indulged rich kid, connection, sympathy, empathy - he's rich, he doesn't understand having to choose between paying the electric bill and eating! Now that we've established that the only thing left to do is to recognize that between him and Santorum - who will we (progressives, independents, liberals, and people of good conscious) have to "work harder" to keep this President in office another 4 year against? That's the question......
The campaign ads just write themselves whenever Willard dares to open his mouth and speak off the cuff! Here we have what has become a classic moment for Romney, a quick nod to his stable of super-rich and super-entitled friends. Doesn't everyone know a sports team owner?
I did. Yay for me! My Dad worked for Gerald Phipps Construction. Jerry Phipps owned the Denver Broncos. A very very nice man. So I guess I am in the same class as Romney. Oh wait, my Dad was an employee. doesn't matter that Jerry used to be Santa Claus every year. So I guess I am in the worker class after all. LOL
Why does anyone think the fact that Mitt Romney is a compulsive liar is going to be an issue? While the left loves to bloviate about this, the fact is most Americans won't care a lick. When Ronald Reagan repeatedly lied both as a candidate and as President, most Americans didn't think it was a big deal. Those who tried to call him on it were derided as the 70's version of DFHs: "left wingers."
This is an example of the left relying on its grad student sensibility to its detriment. R-Money is a compulsive liar. He will not be called on it by the media or by voters. While it's worth cataloging the lies, there's very little profit in it as a political issue.
I know learning from ones' mistakes is not in the GOP's vocabulary. Reporters need to start doing their jobs and confront our Representatives when they lie. How long will we keep paying them for lying and pulling the sheet over our eyes.We should never stop demanding them to back up their claims make them work for the money we pay them. If they are going to be responsible for our childrens' future they need to set an example to our children and thiers and stop lying. Their kids are already looking at them funny. It is worth it to me to tell my children the truth why isn't it to them. What has happened to Family Values.
Are they asking their families to stand by them while they lie just until they make it to the White house. Is it okay to lie for personal gain and profit? Is this what they are teaching their children?
People believed Reagan because they liked him. He reminded them of their Dad, brother, uncle, grandfather, etc. they trusted him, whether it was logical or not, My Mom was a big fiscal conservative, thought the world of John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. she would believe anything he said. That's why a lot of people like Clinton, they feel like he is one of them. (all except my Mom, who called him a bunch of names every time she saw him on TV) LOL
I'm reaching a point of epiphany in my learning-who-Mitt-Romney-is journey. It's very easy to be infuriated, tickled, and down-right confused by the stuff that comes out of this man's mouth. But, in reading this post, it half-clicked for me. This guy actually IS Mitt Romney. We're always complaining about how politicians are dishonest and trickstery, and here I think we may have found the guy who is willing to show exactly who he truly is. He knows where his message resonates and where his help is coming from. This is a man who actually said "I'm not concerned about the very poor in this country" and he is still the odds-on favorite to become the GOP nominee. He is willing to quite literally say anything that he thinks the people in the room with him want to hear, even if it means he'll be contradicting himself in a matter of hours.
I was wondering last night what Mitt Romney thinks to himself when he sees these clips played back on television. He can't possibly be taking the Palin-Gingrich patented approach of blaming the "liberal media". Why not? Because they are playing his words back VERBATIM. From his own mouth. Is he embarrassed? Does he think it's funny? I happen to think he doesn't care. It's a tactic. Why does it keep happening? Because it's working. Because he's still winning. So, yes. We roll our eyes and scoff at Mitt Romney for the stuff that comes out of his mouth. I would like to offer this thought, though. Maybe we should thank Mitt Romney for giving us a chance to see who he really is now, instead of electing him first and finding out when it's too late.
What makes you think he watches television? Or that his handlers would dare to point out these serial gaffes to him? They want their paychecks to continue, right up the election day.
Remember, it took a small child to say "the emperor has no clothes."
He'll probably use the classic GOP line: "They quoted me out of context!"
Romney is just like my brother, from the gaspy stuttering voice, to the "trying hard to please" look where he has to talk fast so people will not turn away in boredom. My brother thinks very carefully what to say, and by then, the subject has moved on. He is also filled with anger because everybody is out to cheat him or his government. He's like Archie bunker, except he never says what he's feeling because he doesn't want to explode. When Romney got glittered on stage, his wife had the same look that my sister in law has when she's afraid he'll blow. I bet Romney has one heck of a bad temper.
Can we get them for false advertising? I don't think that would be too hard to prove. I know we have enough evidence. Or has false advertising been added to lieing which has now become acceptable. Didn't we just hire someone to investigate consumer fraud. The American People have to fight hard against lieing and hold our Representatives accountable for doing so. Becoming complacent about this issue is dangerous. Weren't the Nazis lying to people as they were leading them into the death camps?
First, I kind of have to agree with WiscoNicky. Romney is one of the few politician's out there behaving like who he is. Or at least that's how it seems.
Second, I am beginning to think he does this because he thinks people will hear it and think 'he's so lucky, how can I be like him?'
Somebody please set him up for a line that ends, "...but I have a lot of friends who are black." Please?
If President Obama is failing the country as the republicans claim, then somebody needs to create a new word for what Bush was doing during his presidency.
He probed us. Or is you saw SNL "He sex us"
I think what he meant to say was "Corporations are my friendly people"
This from the same party where Nelson Rockefeller once asked an aide to define the term, "take-home pay." The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Well there's one thing to be said for his inability to talk like anything but a rich man--at least we know where he stands so we know how bad he would be.
All of these dumb mistakes by Romney will not mean a thing when it comes to voting for the majority of voters. The people who hate Obama would vote for any white Republican even if it was Satan. But these slips of the tongue as well as the flip flops will be persuasive with independents.
We are going to find out just how much hatred & bigotry there really is in America.I sincerely hope enough of us will use our better angels.
Hasn't ANYONE read or at least watched American Psycho?!? The business card scene alone can explain Romney in a nutshell. In an elitist class, entry is gained by one-upmanship. Romney's been playing that game as a wealthy businessman for years! I believe his social faux pas as a candidate are actually a continuation of that behavior. He's treating press conferences and interviews as though they were business meetings, golf outings and cocktail parties where he ought tell stories of his own (and his cronies') latest personal acquisitions - to prove his business acumen and ruthlessness. For the 1%, he's singing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y
And he probably thinks he is very entertaining. "Hey, it worked on the golf course last week!"