As expected, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney cruised to easy wins in five GOP primaries yesterday -- his remaining competitors aren't really trying -- and he capped the night with a big speech in New Hampshire, where he rolled out a new campaign message: "A Better America Begins Tonight."
If you missed it, we featured the entirety of the former governor's speech on last night's show.
The remarks were well received by most pundits -- delivery and clever turns of phrase tend to earn plaudits, because honesty and policy coherence no longer matter -- but watching the speech, I kept asking myself, "Has Mitt Romney met Mitt Romney?"
The presumptive GOP nominee went through a litany of predictable falsehoods, including the ridiculous lie that President Obama "apologized for America," but just as important was the disconnect between Romney's rhetoric and Romney's stated agenda.
Romney reached out, for example, to "the mom and dad who never thought they'd be on food stamps," without acknowledging that he supports slashing funding for food stamps. He spoke repeatedly about "unfairness" in the economy, without mentioning he supports some millionaires and billionaires paying a lower tax rate than most of the middle class. He talked about rising debt without noting that he has no way of paying for the massive tax breaks he's sworn to pass. He said he'd rescue "grandparents" without acknowledging that he intends to turn Medicare into a voucher program, push partial privatization of Social Security, and bring back the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole."
Listening to Romney, an uninformed voter would probably have no idea that his promises bear no resemblance to his stated intentions. The former governor said last night, "It's still about the economy -- and we're not stupid." It's a nice little line, but it rankles because Romney is absolutely counting on ignorance and gullibility to advance his ambitions.
Finally, there was this line in Romney's conclusion:
"There was a time -- not so long ago -- when each of us could walk a little taller and stand a little straighter because we had a gift that no one else in the world shared. We were Americans."
Let me tell you what would happen if there was a Republican incumbent president and a Democratic candidate said this: we'd spend the next several months talking about why the Democrat no longer believes Americans should take pride in their country. The candidate's patriotism would be routinely questioned and he'd be asked repeatedly why he thinks it is no longer true the American people should hold their heads high.
And yet there was Mitt Romney, effectively arguing that the only way to have national pride is to give him power.
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The split screen commercials will write themselves Mitt ,with you debating yourself , and by the way please pick Marco , another delusional individual who is not aware of the Google and the miracle of video recording .
That would be a debate that I would love to watch. And how can you be talking about being American when you are keeping your money off shore in other tax haven countries so you don't contribute your fair share while you are running for President? How can any sane person vote for this type of person? OBAMA 2012
Remember in 2002, when the Bush administration trotted out one transparently false excuse after another in their rush to get us to invade Iraq? Their egregious and dishonest behavior was enough to get me, for the first time in my then 50 years, really active in opposing an action of my government, even participating in a couple of anti-Iraq war marches in DC before it began.
That kind of overwhelming frustration with public lies is how I feel now when I watch Romney give a speech. There is no honesty in the man.
Watching him is like watching Fox "News." And I can take that for about 5 minutes before aI want to throw a show at the teevee.
...there wasn't a black man in the White House.
Republicans are speaking to an increasingly shrinking demographic. Actually, that's not entirely true. They're speaking to an increasingly shrinking subset of a shrinking demographic: the inbred yahoos who think 'White House' refers to more than the paint job.
I watched the speech last night with a couple of elderly neighbors.
About halfway through, Edith turned to her husband, and said, "Oh, he's so handsome!"
And Archie replied, "Yeah. And he ain't colored."
FLUSH!
Shame on the pundits for aiding and abetting this shameless con man. I'm sure not one of them discussed that Romney's speech revealed his platform for the general election consists entirely of projecting his utter lack of character and rudderless sense of morality onto Pres. Obama. Romney's got nothing else.
I am so glad to see Benen break it down here. As a candidate, Romney has made the exact wrong call on EVERYTHING - the auto industry, women's rights, bringing our troops home from Iraq, even down to the Chevy Volt! Can you imagine where we'd be after each of his disastrous calls? Literally - millions in the auto industry would have been thrown out of work, with their unemployment benefits having long run out. The American auto industry would have been no more; what could be salvaged would now belong to one or two hedge funds/foreign car companies, and if any jobs remained at all, they would have been outsourced to China. Our troops would still be in limbo in Iraq, with the conflict most likely re-ignited and escalated. Forced ultra-sound legislation would now be enthusiastically making its way through almost every state legislature, with Romney's endorsement having provided cover for its "legitimacy." Chevy sold nearly 3,000 Volts last month. -- Well, there would be no auto industry, so that innovation would be dead in the water.
Anyone who cheered for Romney last night effectively said to the world, "Hi, I'm a complete fool who loves to be played for a fool by a shameless con man."
it's the etch-a-sketch
Romney's rhetoric is filled with spittle! He props for the top 2% by talking a fool's parade. It is very difficult to listen to such rubbish!
We can only hope the American electorate will reject the radical extremism of the 2012 Republican party in November. -Kevo
Amen Kevo!
Iapologize for the rambling but I am upset. watching the speech, and all those people cheering him on as he told one lie after another, made me angry.
I read the Huffington Post daily, watch Ed and Rachel nightly. I feel that I am in informed voter. Anyone who can read must know about the republican party's stated goal of making Obama a one term president, even if it means destroying our economy.
He calls obamacare invasive. what about all those states under republican control forcing women to have vaginal probes before they can terminate a pregnancy ?
If the Republican win in November, millions of elderly and disabled American will
die, our children will go hungry as free school lunches disappears. The Centies
(the top 0.01% of our population) will have the best private schools, elite
private hospitals (cash only), private security forces for their gated
communities while the other 99.99% of us face huge budget cuts in public
education, hospitals and police forces to fund their tax cuts.
While watching his victory speech, I couldn't help thinking that this needy candidate needed a tax cut.
http://youtu.be/UO8RflsTEz4
'Vote for ME. I LOVE America.' As opposed to that 'other' guy. End of speech.
While watching his victory speech, I couldn't help thinking that this man needs a tax cut.
http://youtu.be/UO8RflsTEz4
No politician wants to be specific about their plans if they are elected because ambiguity works in their favor. It is the media's job to pin down politicians whether it is an interview or a debate. Too many debates have been nothing more than rhetoric and talking points. It is appalling that the media allows politicians to use their venue to spout talking points instead of serious discussion. This includes MSNBC which allows some political hacks to give commentary and the best they can do is repeat talking points. No politician can afford to hide out at Fox or MSNBC; they want to be on camera. If the media wants to be taken serious, then it needs to stop the soft interviews and start asking penetrating questions even if that means confrontation.
" Romney is absolutely counting on ignorance and gullibility to advance his ambitions."
Gotta be that. He has nothing else to sell.
"...delivery and clever turns of phrase tend to earn plaudits, because honesty and policy coherence no longer matter..."
When did Americans and the media become so dumbed down that "the policies" of all legislators no longer matters? Why is it that empty rhetoric and 30 second sound bites, wanting to have a beer with the candidates - this is what WE as a nation are reducing ourselves to, really?! We have almost had another Depression, WE have legislators that are NOT doing the JOB for the American people that they are supposed to be representing, the corporations are practically ruining US all, WE have candidates like Mitt Romney - who is totally under-qualified and under-whelming running for office, the courts surely have lost their sense of justice, WE have the highest income inequality gap since before the last Great Depression, and we still have America's children involved in wars of empire - is it just me?!
Or has everyone just lost their minds because there's a Black man that's in the WHITE HOUSE? Please someone tell me what the problem is?
Your second-to-last sentence. Yeah, it really is that base, and it really is hard to believe. Makes me sad - really.
Mitt has $240,000,000 and he is willing to sell-out America for more. The man sold his soul long ago.
"we had a gift that no one else in the world shared. We were Americans."
And then we invaded a country that was no danger to us just to get their oil. During that war we killed hundreds of thousands of their civilians and destroyed their infrastructure. We also dragged the world into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression because we allowed our financial sector to run rampant. We have sent our military all over the world trying to control everyone to our benefit, or at least the benefit of American corporations. We have supported military coups against democratically elected governments when those governments didn't dance to our tune. And people wonder why America no longer has the cachet that it once had.
Folks, if you think this was bad, you haven't seen anything yet. When them good ol' wingnuts get that Big Lie Machine up and fully operational, it'll be so obnoxious and disgusting that intelligent people won't be able to watch or listen. But that doesn't mean 75% of our fellow citizens won't be affected by the sewage. And Republicans know it. They intentionally go after the ignoramus vote.
Here's what's going to happen: Republicans are going to win.
Unless Democrats get over their congenital spinelessness.
Say Hello to Ryan's budget and Goodbye to Social Security and Medicare. It's already gone. Say Hello to Keystone XL and the foregone conclusion to handing a severely damaged planet to future generations. Unless you and I can get our supine Democrats to stand up for once, this is our future.
This election will prove once & for all that this country is filled with overwhelming predjudice, bigotry, greed & hatred or a majority still believe in overcoming it. We need to hope the better angels are with the latter.
I'm suggesting adding a new word to the American lexicon - Romnied - as in conned, stiffed, lied to, misled, etc. Or they pulled a Romney on us. When they is the GOP that is indeed true
Add to that Romney Care. He forgets to explain how he introduced Romney care, very similar to what he calls Obama Care in MA. Recent reports indicate that it has been and continues to be a great success, saving money, reducing doctor visits and producing a healthier population. But maybe Romney wouldn't want the rest of the country to benefit from such a program. Romnied again.
And he may be the thin end of the wedge to introduce the Taliban philosophy into the US. His treatment of women is certainly a step in that direction. Maybe Romney should be renamed the American Taliban. Is he going to pull a Romney on us.
As for his and the GOP's claim that they want to shrink government. George W did not set a good precedent for reducing the size of the government - the government grew to its largest ever during his terms. And with all of the new Taliban-like programs being proposed by the Romney and the GOP, an army of Feds will be required to police them. Maybe a new war - a War on Contraceptives which will be just as successful as the war on drugs and lead to the same criminal activity to circumvent a stupid law. Romnied again.
And finally Romney and the GOP say they want to get government out of our lives so that our freedoms will not be impacted. Under Romney there will be a Fed officer in every bedroom in America to ensure that nobody is having illegal sex. Plus new border patrols will be required to ensure that no illegal contraceptives get into he country.
The new requirements forewomen seeking abortions will require adding more staff to the medical facilities to monitor this testing. Women's rights? They can vote can't they? What do they expect?
The ban on abortion will result in an increase in the number of illegitimate babies who must be supported by the social safety nets that Romney is planning to shred. But he is not worrying about the poor. He's worrying about the rich who are bankrolling his campaign. Romnied again.
What a guy. With him who needs enemies threatening America's freedom. He will do the job for them
So Democrats this time there is no excuse. You have been handed numerous loaded guns - enough to start a major war. Use them or stop complaining.
I thought "romney" meant "to defecate in terror". As in, this speech made me want to romney.
Google it. Often.
Romney garnered 103,174 votes in New York's Republican primary last night. Am I supposed to be impressed?
Geeze! What a blow hard.
Democrats really need to analyze Romney's speech, because he basically let the cat out of the bag on what he plans to run on this year. Since most of it is recycled nonsense, it should be easy to debunk all the talking points. But Dems have got to get the info out there.
For instance, Romney said that it's fundamentally unfair for unions to contribute to Dems when union members aren't democrats. This allows Dems to say that it's fundamentally unfair for corporations to give to Republicans to enact legislation that harms the workers employed by that company.