Associated Press
For those who followed politics closely in the 1990s, you'll recall that Republicans hated Bill Clinton with the heat of a thousand suns. GOP officials and activists woke up every day with one question on their minds: "How can I destroy the Clinton presidency today?"
It was rather remarkable, then, to see Mitt Romney in Michigan yesterday, suggesting the former Democratic president is a great model. "President Clinton, remember, he said the era of big government was over. President Obama brought it back with a vengeance," Romney said, before praising Clinton on welfare reform.
A Romney aide said the move is intended to "devised as a trick to drive a wedge between centrist and liberal Democrats." This might be more effective if it was less ridiculous.
As Ed Kilgore put it, "[E]ither [Romney] (or his speechwriter) hasn't the slightest clue what he's talking about, or he's lying."
It's particularly outrageous for Romney to claim that the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act of 2010 was some sort of betrayal of the New Democrat legacy. "New Democrats" (for example, the Progressive Policy Institute, the preeminent New Democratic think-tank) relentlessly agitated for something very like the ACA going back to the early 1990s. Indeed, they differed from the defining New Democrat, Bill Clinton, only in preferring the "managed competition" model to the somewhat more rigid approach embraced by the Clinton administration itself.
During the 2008 presidential primaries, the only significant differences between the health care proposals of Barack Obama and of Hillary Clinton (notice the last name again!) was that she insisted on the individual mandate that Mitt Romney had implemented in Massachusetts and that Mitt Romney's party now denounces as slavery.
Making matters worse, Romney said Obama, unlike Clinton, is turning his back on New Democratic principles by calling for a return to a top marginal tax rate of nearly 40%. Remind me: who pushed the top rate to that level in the first place? Oh, right, now I remember: that was Clinton.
As for the notion that Obama has brought back the era of "big government ... with a vengeance," this is just idiotic -- as we discussed this morning, "For the first time in 40 years, the government sector of the American economy has shrunk during the first three years of a presidential administration."
In the meantime, Clinton is filming ads in support of Obama, Clinton's wife is Obama's Secretary of State, and the former Democratic president is condemning Romney's right-wing agenda publicly.
Romney must sincerely believe voters are fools.
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It doesn't make any difference what the tax rate is for the rich, rich elite because they have all the loopholes and end up paying nothing or almost nothing anyway.
raising their taxes won't take the money they already have either. Raising taxes will only drive them to other countries to invest. Just look at what the Democratic loved John Kerry does. He is for raising taxes because he knows how to invest out side of the US so that he doesn't pay the high rates. Smart guy.
You wouldn't happen to have a citation for that assertion, would you? A source for your dubious claims? No? Didn't think so. Troll.
The Romneyverse is getting weirder and weirder.
it's not as wierd as President Obama comparing himself to Reagon last week.
The only thing weird about that is that it's a good comparison. The so-called "Socialist in Chief" is governing to the right of Reagan.
Boggle.
in the land of unicorns, Pegasus's, and elves.
But,but Reagan lowered taxes on the wealthy-once- then raised taxes 12 times to cover the loss. Yet he still took us from around a half trillion in debt to over two trillion in debt.
He did give us flashlights in space though.
The GOP is so out of touch with even their own humanity that they might as well call themselves Christian Al Qaeda. They are sociological terrorists.
"Romney must sincerely believe voters are fools." And who is to say he's wrong? It's not like the MSM is going to inform them of the facts, point out contradictions etc. If this election is about anything, it's about just how gullible are American voters? Can outright lies now be counted to win elections if things like the truth and facts no longer matter. Romney clearly believes that is possible to *literally* say anything and win. Where does that leave us in November if he's proven right?
Well Romney's voters are fools!
yea, they want the government to leave them alone so they can go to work and earn money, instead of getting free handouts and staying home. They are fools for not wanting free stuff.
Romney thinks all voters outside his social circle are fools and rubes. I should think he learned a lesson with his term as governor. Most everything that he says is ludicrous or a lie. The more he speaks the worse he looks. And we have a long time to the elections.
Could if be that Romney and the Republican leadership in general have become so used to speaking to people who are logic averse that think everyone will just take them at their word regardless?
A lot of voters are fools, Steve. Look what happened in North Carolina yesterday. The reports I've heard are that most voters didn't understand all of the implications of the amendment, but they voted for it anyway (probably because Jesus told them to).
How do you fight that kind of willful ignorance? I have no idea. And in the meantime, Romney and his party will use it to their advantage.
"[E]ither [Romney] (or his speechwriter) hasn't the slightest clue what he's talking about, or he's lying."
I say both clueless and a liar..
Romney must sincerely believe voters are fools.
Highly unlikely that Mittens Romney sincerely believes anything other than that Mormons are God's chosen people.
However, if Mittens does believe that voters are fools, he is probably mostly right for once.
Of what all the Republicans, rich people and radical extremists have done and plan to do, here is a comment from Jesus that puts into light of what these people do - “Good persons produce good from what they've stored up; bad persons produce evil from the wickedness they've stored up in their hearts, and say evil things. For from the overflow of the heart they produce evil.". And these radical extremists, rich people and GOP/Republicans think they are right, guess again.
What does it look like when a political party self-destructs?
The last time this happened was just before the Civil War and the Republicans were the replacement.
People seem to vote with their hate and fear instead of their heads. They are prejudiced against blacks or they are against abortion or afraid they will lose their guns so they vote for republicans even though it is not in their best interest to do so. The republicans thrive on their fear and hate.
That sounds like a quote from Emperor Palpatine.
Maybe it's just me, but I really don't want a habitual liar and a self-proclaimed bigot as my president.
Who was it who said the party just needs someone who can grasp a pen? Was it Norquist? If all we're getting is a Norquist puppet, then this is Bush all over again. Romney is doing as he's told. Romney will be a well-trained monkey. The guy's a liar and he stands for nothing.
President Roosevelt realized up front that these rich uninvolved far right extremists were not on his side and governed accordingly. It is no different today. President Clinton is one of the bravest people ever in politics. He never let the right get him down and showed up ready to work for the common good each and every day. I believe that President Obama is showing signs of a very stiff spine lately. More power to him. If reelected he will even some scores that need to be evened for the middle class. The economic pie is being divided in a way that we haven't seen since before Roosevelt came in and set thing right. Look at any chart you want. It's obvious that the rich want it all...