How does Romney argue the economy is getting worse? It's simple: he doesn't.
Mitt Romney appeared in Craig, Colorado, to deliver the same message he repeats at every campaign stop: the people in the area are "hurting right now under this president." The traditional Democratic response is that blaming President Obama for the economic crisis he inherited is ridiculous.
But yesterday in Northern Colorado was a little different: the small town of Craig isn't really hurting at all. The community's economy is faring pretty well, it weathered the recession better than most, and locals are pretty optimistic about the future.
Romney's rhetoric, in other words, conflicted with Americans' reality. Indeed, it's a problem the Republican candidate continues to struggle with. Consider this line from his speech in Colorado:
"Now [the president's] campaign these days is trying to find a twig to hang on to, some little excuse they can grab and say, 'Look, things are getting a little better, aren't they?' And the answer is yeah, things are getting a little better in a lot of places in this country, but it's not thanks to his policies. It's in spite of his policies."
Nearly every day for over a year, Romney has said Obama made the economy "worse." Slowly but surely, unable to push the claim with a straight face, Romney is conceding that the economy has improved under Obama -- but no one should give the president credit.
This is a losing argument. His pitch is, in effect, "Sure, Obama inherited a global crash, took steps to turn the economy around, and on the president's watch, the economy has improved. But vote against him anyway." It's not hard to imagine the Obama campaign simply taking all of the times Romney has touted America's economic comeback, stringing them together, and creating ad in which the Republican nominee seems to be endorsing the president's re-election.
So, what's the GOP candidate to do? Left with few options, Romney relies on dishonesty.
From yesterday's appearance:
Romney also continued his attack on Obama's 2009 stimulus package, saying that he will seek to assist private sector employment at the expense of public sector jobs.
"That stimulus he put in place, it didn't help private sector jobs, it helped preserve government jobs and the one place we should have shut back -- or cut back was on government jobs," Romney said. "We have 145,000 more government workers under this president. Let's send them home and put you back to work."
I'm reasonably certain Romney is smart enough to know he's blatantly lying. As the above chart shows, after the stimulus, private-sector job growth quickly improved. Conversely, public-sector layoffs have soared, making Romney's claims the exact opposite of reality.
For that matter, why the former governor believes mass public-sector layoffs will "put you back to work" is a mystery.
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If you hold your nose while drinking the swill it might go down easier. Then again the right wingers look a lot like those three monkeys see no evil , hear no evil, ooops two out of three ain't bad.
Guess we aren't supposed to notice the republicans have been responsible for the loss of 670,000 public sector jobs since all of those republican governors and representatives arrived in office. We must overlook the 253,000 new employees and 33 new agencies created under the Bush administration for Homeland Security -- paid for, like the war, drugs for seniors and tax cuts for the rich, with a credit card that he put in Obama's name.
After your first post this morning I am wondering if it really matters what Romney says. He's planning on buying the election and on the ignorance of the American people and the fact that the media not report accurately.
Sad to say, snowbird42 is correct...
The best government money can buy, except it ain't very good .
Absolutely true. When I see Romney on the nightly news I only hear the sound bites of lies with no reporting of the actual facts. Romney is winning the propaganda war. I fear that the repetition of these claims are sticking in the voters' minds and in the end will allow him to take the election.
It's amazing how many stupid people will believe those claims. They seem to make their decisions by sound byte.
Romney is also winning the money war, with 16 billionaires opening their pockets and over a billion dollars in his coffers, sons all with huge trust funds and him standing there telling our kids if they want to go to college, borrow the money from their middle class or lower income parents. He reminds me of a smart ass teenager who never graduated from high school. If he wins, the country will be run by 16 billionaires while all of the people who put him in office will be standing at the bottom of the well waiting for a bucket of cash long after he's left the state. However, if he gets the schools privatized, his latest gimmick courtesy of ALEC, he can convince everyone it's gonna rain money some day if they keep voting for him and his ilk and holding onto that empty, rusting pail.
At least the Talibangelicals will be sitting this one out. I know why they don't but I would love to see a Super-PAC go through the history of Mormonism, starting with Joseph Smith being a charlatan then with a laugh track, going through the golden plate deciphering process. Maybe they could just lift the Chris Hitchens narrative from his audio-book! I hate to believe that anybody really buys Rmoney's complete and utter bullshet but there are as usual, darker forces working here than just really incredibly stupid Americans voting for a Mor-moonie clown in a suit.
"I was a severly conservative Republican etch-a-sketch" (lolz!)
Mor-moonie - I like that , in fact I will plagiarize it.
Oops, "severely".. I must have been laughing at my English..
Hmmm...Mitt Su Mormoon? Mass wedding to be held in Salt Lake--one man marries many wives. Slaves will be serving drinks(non-alcoholic) and snacks at the reception. Husband will then wisk his brides off to Mexico where they will open a mansion--uh,mission and put those heathen Mexicans to work.
Trollop, Don't forget his celestial kingdom where he will become a god and marry many women who have no husbands because women cannot take care of themselves.
Welcome to the light side.
"Hey, who ya gonna believe? Handsome, rich, white Romney, or that scary Kenyan Muslim?"
Ugh me no trust white man again. Beads for land my butt. Here you go live in the desert for as long as the grass grows and the waters flow? Heap big joke. Here white man have tobacco(hee heee heee).
Paul. That is extraordinarily offensive to Native Americans.
It wasn't beads for land. It was sixty guilders, the going rate at the time. And it was only a leasing arrangement, the Native Americans never left.
What would Jesus do? Oops, Mittens will be competing with the gods so guess that doesn't apply.
The biggest mistake ever is to assume these people who run a big business have any real brains. When in many businesses they have only advanced the worst person who lacked any real skills other than to kiss butt and do the worst things a company wanted to do. Anybody who has any real knowledge that are really running the company and kept the company profitable are never really promoted. And Romney with his Daddy’s pull is basically the typical kiss butt puppet. If you actually think Romney with his so-called business knowledge is really worth his salt, guess again. I’ve seen plenty of his type in business and in my book, he is very much the typical business dough head and would be the worst thing in the white house, even worse than Bush. If you actually expected me to call that thing Romney a president if he gets elected, guess again. Never!!! That would be just too insulting to my better nature.
Google "Peter Principal". There's a picture of Romney.
@Deb -- it's interesting you bring that up - there was an anecdote on Romney I came across (I think it was over at the Washington Monthly) which was an interview with an associate of Romney's who had done business with him during his Bain Capital days. The anecdote was that Romney could walk into the room with a pitchbook and be perfect in the meeting -- as long as they were going page-by-page through the pitchbook. But if he had to wing it, or go "off-script," he got flustered. The same dynamic seems to be happening during his presidential campaign -- he simply repeats what his handlers have told him ("I've got to get to 50.1%"). As the movie (and book) "Game Change" showed, Palin's handlers simply gave up on educating her, and resorted to giving her lines to memorize. Romney - for all of his supposed "bid'nessman" success --seems in reality to be the Ken doll to Palin's Barbie.
Interesting tale June. Sounds like Mitt is just another GW, both failures that got so far riding their fathers coattails.
Does that mean Romney's anatomically incorrect?
Hey Mitt; you lie!
Romney was talking in Craig, Colorado. Craig is so red it seems to be receding from Earth at half the speed of light*. If Romney had said Obama eats babies they would have believed him.
*c.f. Doppler effect.
"For that matter, why the former governor believes mass public-sector layoffs will "put you back to work" is a mystery."
This isn't really a mystery at all. The Ayn Rand Objectivist conservatives believe that life is a zero-sum game. If my neighbor has a dollar, it's because he took a dollar away from me. If my neighbor has a good job, that good job ensures that my own job is lousy.
They cannot believe that there is enough to go around, or that wealth and well-being can be created.
The president of the USA is suppose to represent the will of the American people.
I watch the Romney lies and wonder what world leaders are stupid enough to believe a man who has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will lie, manuver and manipulate without principles to achieve what he personally wishes to gain.
We see the results of that kind of Presidency right now in Syria.
Romney is going to tell Russia's leader Putin what he should do in Syria. Russia has lots of economically invested interests in Syria. The only thing that Romney is achieving through his criticism of Russia's right to protect their economical interest in Syria is to alienate Putin so he doesn't privately exercise his powers toward stopping the Syrian President.
Can anyone in their right mind able to see Romney standing up in front of the UN and conviencing world leaders to follow his lead.
Our president must be a world leader...Romney will never be the world dictator that he wants to be. And the rest of the world will not let him. They have had enough of GOP and Bush Policy's that have destroyed there countries economies.
I know Romney believes that he is GODS chosen one on the Whitehorse in MORMON SCRIPTURES. That is why he believes that GOD is leading him in his quest for the Presidency.
Destroy the USA constitution and then the Righteous like himself shall prosper upon the backs of those who have not found the prosperity that GOD promised those who truly believe in GOD as the Mormon's believe. The reason for the polygamy in the Mormon religion is to keep their blood lines pure.
For those who do not understand the birther movement within the Romney campaign need to understand this MORMON CULT and the importance of bloodline purety.
OBAMA IS A PERSON OF MIXED RACE....AND THEREFORE NOT WORTHY TO HOLD THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT... And during most of the years since and before the signing of the Constitution, Obama would have been killed at birth.
The Constitution is for all the people and therefore must be destroyed according to the MORMON CULT.
The USA is quickly becoming a country of many different ethnic groups. In Syria they are called tribes...This word tribes does not mean that they run around half dressed and shooting bows and arrows..
If you want what is happening in Syria to happen here ....VOTE ROMNEY..
Sheila, your words may sound a little over the top but this is exactly what many of us progressives are thinking. Time to stand up and step out. GOTV, give and get involved 100%.
Didn't we already have a Republican president who thought god had chosen him to lead? Look where that got us.
Or maybe god has a sense of humor.
This line of attack against Romney is getting a bit tiring. His premise isn't all that hard to figure out, yet this blog keeps magically not figuring it out. Romney's argument is pretty simple, Obama was handed a bad economy, he took action to make it better, and the economy did improve. Romney's argument is the "improvement" would have been better if his policies had been implemented instead.
This is, of course, completely impossible to demonstrate, and is likely false. But please stop pretending it isn't a fairly reasonable argument minus a time machine.
"Conversely, public-sector layoffs have soared, making Romney's claims the exact opposite of reality."
This election isn't about Obama vs Romney, Romney's just a floating political decimal point in a monkey suit. This election is about the brainwashing of the American public, and whether Citizens United advertising can convince them to believe these lies, even when the truth is out there for easy reference.
...anyone want a lesson in religious comparisons?
Study "Pharisee" and "Evangelical" and see what you come up with...
How do we get people to stop listening to the rhetoric and look at the record/voting and numbers of the Republicans? This election scares me that people aren't smart enough to look deeper than what comes out of politicians mouth. God help us! Does Rachel preach to the choir or are there republicans listening? I hope Obama's campaign will vigorously dispute Romney's lies. I actually have to stop listening to what the republicans come up with because it upsets me that people buy into it. I will, however, look forward to the debates.
How do we get people to stop listening to the rhetoric and look at the record/voting and numbers of the Republicans? This election scares me that people aren't smart enough to look deeper than what comes out of politicians mouth. God help us! Does Rachel preach to the choir or are there republicans listening? I hope Obama's campaign will vigorously dispute Romney's lies. I actually have to stop listening to what the republicans come up with because it upsets me that people buy into it. I will, however, look forward to the debates.