Associated Press
Successful presidential campaigns often have a clear, well-defined theme. In 1992, Bill Clinton talked about "change vs. more of the same." In 2000, George W. Bush offered "compassionate conservatism." In 2008, Barack Obama stressed the importance of "hope and change."
And in 2012, Mitt Romney has, well, an out-of-context quote he accidentally endorsed and a welfare claim he made up out of whole cloth.
Putting aside the specific speeches, what I learned watching the convention last night is just how weak the Republican case against President Obama really is. The GOP argument is supposed to be easy -- the economy is struggling, the public is dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and according to the president's critics, Obama has a trail of failures they can point to.
So why do Republicans feel it's necessary to cling to garbage, making manufactured nonsense the centerpiece of an entire national campaign? Brian Beutler said something last night that resonated with me: "Imagine if the entire Dem convention was organized around 'I like being able to fire people.' Would be ... odd."
Quite right. The Romney line about enjoying firing people who provide services to him has, in fairness, been twisted a bit. But before Romney fans say, "A ha! This proves Democrats are just as guilty as taking things out of context!" let's pause to appreciate the fact that this one line isn't the centerpiece of Obama's entire re-election campaign, and Democrats are not building their national contention around the gaffe.
What does it tell us about the strength of the Republican message in 2012 when, in lieu of actual arguments, they're forced to resort to made-up arguments? Indeed, they're not just sprinkling in a few out-of-context lines as applause lines; they're using nonsense as the foundation of their entire election-year push.
It's dishonest, sure, but just as importantly, it's also sad. This year is supposed to be a cycle ripe for the Republicans' picking, but they're stuck with a candidate they don't really like, an agenda they can't tout because the American mainstream would disapprove, and an opponent they consider awful, but unable to attack with legitimate attacks.
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I only had the RNC on for a few minutes last night, because it was all I could take. When I heard Kelly Ayotte rehash "he hasn't even run a lemonade stand," I knew they were in trouble. No, he hasn't run a lemonade stand. He's only been President of the United States in one of the most trying times in a generation. Somehow, counting nickels for change doesn't look so important compared to his current job.
You aren't getting it. Successfully running a business is a talent. Obama doesn't have that talent.
America's economy is business, and Obama's anti-business bent is why the economy is stagnant.
Obama has the talent. He has more than enough talent. I will grant you the first year, presented with the worse economy in several generations, he fumbled a little, but FDR had two years to figure out how to deal with the great depression before he was first elected. Obama also made the mistake of believing Republicans were honorable and patriotic, just like him. After the initial fumbles the President has done a credible job. I haven't heard a thing from Romney telling me he would do any better. I am going to vote to keep the President.
You are just plain silly. Anti-business bent? In what particulars? Lowering taxes for small businesses? giving them tax credits for hiring?
My favorite anti-business story is the NLRB telling Boeing the 2 billion dollars they invested in South Carolina, and the thousand people they hired had to be shut down, because the unions said so.
Shooter, I normally don't respond to you, but I must.
1 - I didn't miss their point about Obama not being a businessman. I'm saying that it didn't work in 2008 when they tried it the first time, and it's probably not going to work this time. And for the record, we have had two businessmen as President - see Hoover, Herbert and Bush, George W. - how'd that work out?
2 - I have a business degree, and 10 years in the financial sector. I don't know your background, but I'm not a novice when it comes to financial issues. First, if someone tried to run our country like a for-profit business, I'd be terrified. Seriously, I would be. Second, Romney might be the worst business person the Republicans could have run. How do you put out a budget that cannot be evaluated? He is a finance guy!!! This is supossed to be his wheel house, and he has not shown either the compentency to acheive his goals, or the courage to name the cuts he plans on making. That is why I cannot take Romney seriously.
Ron, FDR didn't fix the depression, WW2 did. As for Obama, do you really want four more years of this? Really?
Yes, Shooter, I will give President Obama another 4 years to try to undo some of the damage that was done to this nation in the 8 years that W. ran it to the edge of the cliff! America isn't a business, it's a nation of people, and "it's not supposed to be run for the PROFIT of the Oligarchy alone"! Robme is a vulture capitalist, and in that capacity he sent American jobs overseas to low/no wage nations - if that model is transferred to the nation as a whole we're all screwed! You need to stop shooting those blanks and take those blinders off, look at what is really going on and see that you are being used by the oligarchy and voting against your own best economic interests!
WW2 was financed with borrowed money. Bonds
For those who don't understand pooper242, here is Richard Hofstadter's 50 year old explanation of idiots like pooper:
Hofstadter on the pseudo-conservative (i.e. what is today's movement conservative)
"It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative -- I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates -- because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions."
"Their political reactions express rather a profound and largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways -- a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence ... The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows 'conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness' in his conscious thinking and 'violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere…… The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.'"
Money making more money. That should be Romney's theme.
There's still a lot of pie left over in Iraq. Romney saw how well it worked out for Cheney and he's optimistic he'll get HIS.... piece of that pie.
Unfortunately perception (aka lies) means everything to the talking-point, low-informational likely voter.
I for one am happy Benen thinks the arguments are weak. There's no use using the big guns until the debates and closer to the election. Meanwhile the Democrats have an empty quiver.
Actually Shooter the point of the Convention. Is to use the Big Guns! When you have an entire night of Speakers. And the whole nation watching. And they hardly ever mention the Nominee by name. Or the best parts of all their speeches. Were not about Mitt at all. Than it is an utter failure to define not only your Convention but your Candidate as well.
We as political junkies know Mitt Romney. Or about as well as we can know Mitt. But a vast majority of this country. Have no idea who the guy is. And last night really didn't give anyone a better picture of Mitt the man.
Ann's speech although it thought it was good. Still fell short of selling Mitt. Because as good as it was. It still just seemed like a 20 minute press release for Mitt. Because it didn't contain anything we already don't know about him. We already know he's rich, married with kids, was Governor, ran the Olympics. And every other thing she mentioned last night. But every thing she mentioned about Mitt. Is also tainted, with the exception of him being married to Ann. Everything else come with a "but" attached to it.
Christie's speech was more about him than it was about selling Mitt. Same with Haley's and everybody else's speeches. So far this convention is more about the Rep Idea's and less about Mitt being President. Or why people should vote for him. It kind of reminds me of Kerry's & Dole's Conventions. Theirs were also less about them, and more about their party. And both of them lost.
Let's say the Grand "OLD" Party has made a Mittstake with the whole shebang, and leave it at that.
Well said, Sir!
Brevity is, indeed, the soul of wit.
I have been a view of your show and was really looking
forward to hearing your comments on the non traditional republican (the
minority republicans) after their speeches last night. I waited patiently to hear the speeches and MSNBC
didn’t even show the speeches??? Why is
this. I am beginning to think that you
and your peers are not giving all sides of the debate and that is somewhat not
fair. At least when I turn to FOX
occasionally they at least talk about all sides and their appears to be not so
much hate towards either party. I was
disappointed in the coverage last night!
Thank you for your concern troll , but it is not MSNBC's job to pander to a bunch of nutcases who blatantly lie every time they open their mouths . They are all talking about the fictitious Obama that Fox News and the Republican Establishment have created to run against.
See: "You didn't build that " Out of context quote they have constructed their whole convention around.
pat from Arizona, bless your heart, if you want to see the speeches, they show them on C-SPAN. Which you should absolutely adore, since it is fully funded not by your taxes, but the cable networks!
They're not only shown on C-SPAN, MSNBC also is live-streaming the entire event, speeches and all (at least they were last night, and I have no reason to believe they don't intend to continue). Pat obviously has access to this web site. I guess he/she didn't notice... ?
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
The only real thing going for the GOP is how well they have channeled the outrage of a small segment of the population at having a black man as President.
For that small piece of the electorate making President Obama a one term President is a goal they would follow the Devil into Hell to accomplish.
The GOP responded to the message of "Hope and Change" with a campaign of "Fear and Hate"
Their real problem is that they need to appease those bigots and the people allied with them while trying to appeal to a broader audience. As Akin showed, they are on the horns of a dilemma.
Pat,
It pains me to disagree with you. I believe there is a significant "broader audience" willing to accept any platform that includes their particular interest. Assume that 35% of the voting population will automatically vote Republican - Romney only needs to find another 15.01% with "special needs" that he can appeal to.
Running the country like a business (Enron?), Immigration, Abortion, State's rights over 1st Amendment, smaller government (smaller Federal, more powerful and intrusive state government), lower taxes, cheaper oil, Obama the Kenyan antichrist, privatization of "communist" social welfare programs ...
I'm hoping that a different 50.01 % of the population really understands what awaits them if the Republicans do a better job of getting out the vote.
(Re-read the Fosterite section in Stranger and also If This Goes On and don't forget what year it is - Nehemiah Scudder 2012)
Adam_Selene "Free Luna"
Hey Steve, I hear MSNBC suppressed all those Republican speakers that didn't fit the party line. Was Ted Cruz's name not on the chess club list yesterday? It must bug Steve when his darkies leave the liberal plantation and think for themselves. Massa Steve don't like it when they get uppity.
Disgusting!
No, Sal L, it is merely par for the coarse.
Yes, Sal, deciding which people to put on the air based on their race and ethnicity is disgusting. Sounds like MSNBC is pretty racist. But their lily white lineup wouldn't agree.
But I'll tell you what is actually disgusting. A liberal political machine whose mo is keeping certain constituencies separate, scared, poor and dependent. Then using that dependency to keep a privileged mostly white ruling class in place.
Thanks ever so much for being willing to be our daily sacrifice of studying the id of the wingnut wanker. Fortunately, 50 years ago, Richard Hofstadter explained people like you for the rest of us:
Hofstadter on the pseudo-conservative (i.e. what is today's movement conservative)
"It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative -- I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates -- because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions."
“Their political reactions express rather a profound and largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways -- a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence ... The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows 'conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness' in his conscious thinking and 'violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere…… The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.'"
TCinLA illustrates a clash of liberal memes. The first is Hofstadter's -anybody dissenting from my enlightenment is a psycho- meme. (Whether Hofstadter got it from the Soviet Union or the Soviet Union got it from Hofstadter, I don't know). The second is -the only good conservative is a dead conservative- meme. In this one, today's conservatives are just awful, not like those legitimate ones of a generation ago.. Among the vast right wing conspiracy, meme #2 is not taken seriously, not even among those too young to have seen it used over the years. The problem is that in 2012, the good conservatives of yesteryear are evidently the same psychos Hofstadter writes about 50 years ago. Can't be both.
I hear that there are some horribly degrading and murderous pictures of the President being passed around the convention. This campaign is going to become more and more racist as the New Republicans go for the "white" vote.
I'm not sure what's being passed around the Convention, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. The other day I saw at least one picture which had evidently been posted on Facebook (though I understand it has already been removed either by the poster or by the site) which "modified" the now-classic Hope/Change campaign poster to show an apparently deceased President Obama with a noose around his neck.
Fair warning - disturbing artwork ahead: Obama picture on Facebook
KKKlassy, with a KKK.
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
Hey Sal, I hear Harry Reid's a pedophile. It's from an anonymous source but hey, that all Harry needs.
Exactly what I was referring to Pretzlogic. Thanks for the link. I wasn't sure if it was true. Heard it on talk radio.
Nice to see that Obama "picture" was posted by an organization headed by "Dr." Laura Schlessinger, surprise surprise.
What I took away from the first day is the impression that the GOP is absolutely salivating at the thought of throwing millions into poverty, so that a few people can really clean up and become rich.
That's why they're really mad at Obama: he killed off the depression they wanted so desperately. And if they come to power, they will throw millions into poverty under the guise of 'saving money'--a much higher priority than saving people.
My sentiments exactly! It is all written down in Thomas Frank's The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule.
jjm-326... must get his economics from some sociology prof. Rich people know that they make more money from productive societies than unproductive ones. It's the left which, through crank economics like sustainability and limits to growth, which seeks to ratchet living standards down. And then when everyone is at everyone else's throat, the academic/political parasites install themselves in government as the ultimate arbiter. "Hope and Change"? Those with real hope don't need the messiah. The left wants to reduce everyone to no hope except the hope of a government freebie.
Now, now, they can't pull the welfare ad--it's their most effective one.
Christie said he would tell us the truth, I guess repugnicant truth is different from real truth.
When Christie's arrogance and hatred toward teachers cost NJ over 400 million dollars in "race to the top" funding - Christie lied and tried to blame Ron Emmanuel of the Obama administration.
When Emmanuel produced documents detailing the strenuous efforst made to help NJ win that funding, Christi
e lied again and said it was his Education Commissioner Bret Schundler who "never told me" about issus with the application.
When Schundler produced emails proving Christie is a liar Schundler was asked to resign.
When the "sacrifice" governor took off for Disney Land before a major storm and allowed his Lt Gov to take a vacation at the same time, Christie lied and said her trip was unscheduled.
When the press dug up documents indicating her trip was planned months in advance, he said "so what" and told another lie, this time he said it was no big deal because he was in constant communication with acting governor Codey during the storm.
When Codey produced phone records proving that Christie didn't call him until 3 days after the State of Emergency was declared he got angry and said screw you my kid comes first.
When Christie shoved pension deform down our throats and refused to compromise he lied and said the democratic leadership never reached out to him to discuss his plans, When Sheila Oliver produced e-mails proving she repeatedly attempted to discuss the Bill with he...ah who gives a @!$%# he is a liar telling us he is the only one we should believe.
"Imagine if the entire Dem convention was organized around 'I like being able to fire people.'"
Personally, I prefer the "I'm not that concerned about the very poor" line.
Indeed, Romney's line, even in context, is strange and off-putting. Most people would express his thought as "if I do not like this person's goods or service, I will not buy from them." But Romney phrased it as "firing" them. That was the word that popped into his mind as to how to treat someone you disagree with.
Just odd. Not the type of person I would choose to interact with on a personal basis, and certainly not one I want to lead my nation.
Here's the Republican anthem, from the Billionaires, the best political music group in the country (IMHO). go to their website and listen to their three albums - every one of the songs is perfect.
http://www.zget.me/billionaires/music.php?track=stickinit
I'M STICKIN' TO THE UNIONS
All those public employees, we will force them to their knees.
Let them feel the whack of our sharp attack
'Til they give all their hard-earned benefits back!
Every teacher, nurse and cop, every single union shop,
If collectively they can bargain we will see that it will stop!
Chorus:
Oh you can't shame me. I'm stickin' it to the unions!
I'm stickin' it to the unions! Now this fight is on!
Oh you can't shame me. I'm stickin' it to the unions!
I'm stickin' it to the unions! 'Til they’re dead and gone!
All those average working Joes, they're a pimple on our nose.
Any candidate that we think is great
Is the one the working folks oppose!
If the unions cant pitch in, then no Democrats can win.
And we won't have to blow much corporate dough to get our own guys in.
Chorus (Oh you can't shame me...)
And then when we win our war, and the unions are no more,
It is time to bring manufacturing
Back on track to America's shore.
No more will our companies outsource jobs overseas.
Yeah, we'll give those jobs to American slobs, and we'll pay like they're Chinese!
Chorus (Oh you can't shame me...)
by Felonius Ax (Clifford J. Tasner) Based on "Union Maid" by Woody Guthrie
©2010 by Tasner Tunes. All Rights Reserved
First off, I see that, once again, the trolls have shown their true colors (yellow and [s]lime) with jversmears'(sic) post. There's nothing slanderous in Sen. Reid's statement and no hint that any illegalities were involved. Still, it certainly wouldn't reflect well on a Presidential candidate if it were true he hadn't paid taxes for a decade. Right-wing troll response? Libel the Senator making that statement. Always keeping it classy!
And, of course, his crude, libelous attempt at equivalency only serves to keep the issue of Romney's tax returns alive while reminding any thinking person (sorry, jversmear no can haz "thinking"!) just how vile and disgusting trolls are. There's reason they live under bridges, you know...
Back on topic, I think Mr. Benen has missed the obvious here. The GOP can't run on how horrible the economy has been under President Obama's stewardship. At least, not without risking shining a spotlight on the partisan obstruction of Boehner, McConnel and their followers in the House and Senate.
Had any of Mr. Obama's requested jobs bills been enacted, especially the one that would have put 500,000+ teachers, firemen and policemen (and /women) back to work, does anyone seriously think the unemployment rate would still be so high? Republicans have stood in the way of any and every attempt to decrease unemployment and if they did try to run on the economy an awful lot of things that weren't noticed by the voting public when it occurred, would be.
And, dare I sat, not to Romney/Ryan's advantage...