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Mitt Romney in Pueblo, Colorado, yesterday.
On "60 Minutes" over the weekend, Steve Kroft asked President Obama about unrest in the Middle East and whether it's led to a reevaluation of the Arab Spring. The president noted that he's long believed the process would be "a rocky path," and there are "going to be bumps in the road" created in part "demagogues," but he's nevertheless optimistic that "over the long term we are more likely to get a Middle East and North Africa that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more aligned with our interests."
And just like that, the Romney campaign found a new shiny object.
Mitt Romney assailed President Obama for calling the unrest in the Middle East "bumps in the road," saying Monday that the remarks show how different their views are on foreign policy and the president's lack of leadership on the world stage.
"Bumps in the road, we had an ambassador assassinated. We had a Muslim Brotherhood ... member elected to the presidency of Egypt. Twenty thousand people have been killed in Syria. We have tumult in Pakistan and of course Iran is that much closer to having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon," Romney told about 1,600 people at a rally on the tarmac here. "These are not bumps in the road, these are human lives, these are developments we do not want to see."
On Friday, we talked about campaign organizations and the ways in which they create themes and frames to reinforce larger arguments. Winning campaigns are usually pretty good at it.
Team Romney is not, which is why I compared them to small children playing soccer, running wildly to wherever they see a bouncing ball, whether it's strategically wise or not.
At this point, the diminishing returns are hard to miss. This campaign is going to be about "the private sector is doing fine"! Wait, scratch that, it's going to be about "you didn't build that"! Oh, actually, on second thought, it's going to be about the "redistribution" quote from 1998! Um, now it's going to be about "you can't change Washington from the inside"!
And as of yesterday, it's going to be about "bumps in the road."
For one thing, constantly chasing after bouncing balls is counterproductive -- it means there's no consistent argument and all voters hear are constantly-changing, disparate messages. For another, this new manufactured outrage doesn't even make sense -- are voters supposed to believe that Obama is heartless? That he doesn't care about lost human lives? What larger theme is this supposed to reinforce?
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Romney also said in that interview, his campaign was about, "Freedom!" Huh?
molly527
Because we all know "Freedom" is a policy #snark
Another ill-fated attack line.
Here is a good post reflecting on why they think that stuff works. :
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/09/why_romney_goes_with_such_weak040072.php
"chasing after bouncing balls is counterproductive"
Yes, but that is how children learn, and eventually become productive adults. Or not.
In Romney's case, electing him and his "team" would be like a gang of ten year olds that found the keys to the car, the gun locker, and the liquor cabinet.
As to "bumps in the road", WWI and WWII were bumps on the way to the European Union.
It is simply because Team Romney didn't expect there to be a fight.
They had a pre-built narrative. Their 'genius' was proven by Mr. Romney's primary victories so nobody there is listening to anything other than their own self-gratification.
That's how the corporate world works. Pre-planned, pre-arranged, walk in and do your business.
Unfortunately for Team Romney, the 'Real World' doesn't work that way.
He has basically shown that he is good when he can plan, and absolutely terrible when he has to go off the cuff.
Makes it hard to believe that he would be at all competent when that '3am call' comes in...
Good when he can plan? What, because he overcame clowns like Bachmann, Perry, Cain, Gingrich and Santorum with only 23% favorable ratings? Or because he learned to take fees from winning and losing investments alike? So how is it he didn't plan on having to know anything about foreign policy or expect questions about his taxes and details about his deficit reduction scheme? I think I would argue that his gaffes are a result of poor planning, not just poor preparation.
"but he's nevertheless optimistic that "over the long term we are more likely to get a Middle East and North Africa that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more aligned with our interests."
Over the longer term, we are more likely to see a Ron Paul presidency than a more peaceful Middle East.
Likely, but that in no way means we should just stop trying, as Mr. Romney wants to do.
To try or not to try likely makes absolutely no difference to the outcome. That is the great lesson of the Middle East; just ask British. It is all about oil, arms sales, and domestic politics. It all makes for a lethal brew.
Maybe our "trying" is part of the problem.
The problem with Mitt and the Middle East is that he believe theologically that it is the harbinger of the apocalypse, that war there is inevitable, and perhaps even a good idea.
There is no insurmountable fundamental reason why the Middle East needs to stay the political backwaters of the world. It can move forward. It will take a long time, and will only happen if people act with a long vision. But, it can happen.
Mitt's alternative is to push the region back into the post-WWII third world status and forever expend military might and political capital on keeping our thumb in place. It's not sustainable. Again, though, Mitt's belief is that a Middle East hot war is inevitable and good.
The GOP bus has many bumps in the road to avoid, ie 8yrs of W, reactionary war on women's rights, dissing of half of the country, plans to destroy medicare and social security, war mongering and more tax breaks for the rich. They so hope to find a pimple on POB's forehead to distract the public from the devastation of their policies and politicians. Trickle down ignorance is not working.
Your soccer metaphor is good - you must have kids in the soccer program.
It seems that the R/R campaign wants to play pretend that with Romney in, there will be no bumps in the road if we really wish hard and close our eyes real tight.
Who will this unrepentant thoughtless man blame if he's in the Oval Office, the President? Oh, wait...??!!
The Romney campaign is on a Merry Go Round ,alway's reaching for that brass ring.But they just ca'nt seem to reach it.Romney whine's about Morsi being elected in Egypt.This was a valid election and the people of that country have spoken.Is'nt that what we are all about,democracy?I would say fair election's, but I ca'nt say that, with all the voter supression going on in this country.If Romney think's that he would have smooth sailing in the middle east because they would "respect"him he should visit a shrink.I agree with what the Pres.said,if Romney want's more war's why does'nt he say so.Romney is a dangerous man,he just ca'nt wait to get his finger on that red button of destruction.If Romney is elected we may see a mushroom cloud before the end of his term.
As Govenor Of Massachustts, Romney never raised taxes.
His clever way around raises taxes was that he implemented FEES for state liscenses and permits.
Plummers, electricians, contractors, driver liscenses were more than DOUBLED!
I hope this tid-bit is brought up in the up and coming debates.
That is Standard Operating Procedure for Republican Governors .
Rick Scott pulled the same thing in Florida
Car registrations went from $35 to $112 and drivers license fees doubled
I've always found it interesting that Romney, Scott, and other Repub governors raise fees so they can say they didn't raise taxes. Yet, when a Democratic governor raises fees, Republicans jump on those as "tax increases."
IOKIYAR.
Exactly. Funny that it was a car registration fee tripling that brought down Gray Davis in California in 2003. Apparently more than tripling the same fee doesn't matter for a Republican governor ...
There they go again knocking teachers and saying teachers shouldn’t be worrying about their students. Can that be any dumber, when so much is demanded of the teachers and if they show they care about the education of the student’s teachers get knocked for that. You can see how these certain people just want to advertise for these charter schools as an answer and want to make it about money again that in the end will be a failure. Because just as always the teachers get blamed for everything and they are the very people that encourage a child’s development. The real answers come from the teachers on how to improve education; the ones that are there everyday are the ones with the solutions. Simply put stupid politicians who know nothing about the real quality of education is useless, as the only thing they are playing is political games of lies. What do these politicians have stock in charter schools. This same thing goes on in business with workers, they get accused of a company not being profitable, but it is the workers doing all the productive work and providing ideas that make a company profitable. Plenty of these so-called politicians and business executives have been seen and it is all the same rhetoric of falsehoods. This game of nonsense has gone on long enough and some real truth finally needs to come out and applied, instead of worrying how fast you are going to be selfishly lining your pockets with no real interest in helping everybody. These politicians have definitely been around these extreme wealthy hypocrites too long.
Outrage du jour. Is the guy in charge of team Romney running a campaign or auditioning for Fox News.
Running an honest campaign was never on the table for Romney and Ryan.
Does Mitt's base even hear his ludicrous messages? A large number of voting Americans have checked his credentials (yup, he's registered Republican, he qualified to be president), cheer on cue at his speeches, and in November will vote for him. They can't be listening to anything but their own internal bias.
How many more "shiny objects" will Willard and his Boy Blunder stumble across before the merciful end of their farce?
"How long, O Lord?....how long?" --- Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
"What larger theme is this supposed to reinforce?"
The "larger theme" is that this Kenyan, Marxist, Socialist, secret Muslim, anti-colonial hating man is "other" and not a "real American". It's also about this time that those supporting Rawmoney are supposed to freak out, everyone be very afraid, afraid enough to "trust him" with their vote to lead US out of these very dark times! And yet, the message that I'm getting is not just to be afraid, but to take heart that as "the policemen to the world" here WE go, allowing ourselves to get dragged into another war of "Empire" for the benefit of the 1%!
A few facts for those that care to pay attention to such things
1) This nation has been at war for the past 11 years, longer than WE stayed in VietNam.
2) As a percentage of the population there is an extremely small number of Americans that have been fighting these wars - namely because there is NO DRAFT!
3) These brave men and women have borne the brunt of the extended tours, homelessness, and sacrifice for US - for a lie, and WE have allowed them to be treated abominably!
4) WE need someone that is going to do some nation building here at home - repairing our infrastructure, fighting to bring jobs back to US, and someone whose vision for this nation is not to be a bully towards the rest of the world, but understand that WAR isn't the answer to everything!
5) OUR governments have supported dictators in the Middle East for years, I doubt that support for the Muslim brotherhood can be worse, not to mention that it is the people within those countries that raised up (remember: ARAB SPRING), and it must be for the people of those nations to rise again if the governments that are coming into power are not working for them!
The US government, our government love to throw around the words like freedom, promoting democracy, liberty, equality - yet as a nation WE are NOT living up to the ideals behind the words! WE have Americans being disenfranchised from voting, we have Americans that are homeless/hungry/and getting poorer, the "opportunities" available are not as available to all as they used to be - our words should be ringing hollow in our own ears! Mitt embodies all of the greed, lack of morality, coldness towards other, and selfishness that has come to be this first decade of the 21st century! He may well be a "nice guy", but I for one am tired of "nice guys" that know absolutely nothing, that treat America and working Americans as part of the "balance sheet" for their own rapacious avarice! He has NO right to lead, is not a leader - and the fact that he's unable or unwilling to answer questions or maintain a coherent campaign is indicative of what his Presidency would be for WE the 90% of working Americans!
Exactly... and while the US is still falling apart, the GOP is waging another war, the war on woman.
Great post Zora.
Mitt is preparing us for another war in the Middle East.
Big Oil did not get what it wanted from Iraq.
They will have to try again.
Profit is the only thing that matters.
Mission Accomplished for Big Oil?
How an American Disaster Paved the Way for Big Oil's Rise -- and Possible Fall -- in Iraq
By Greg Muttitt
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175586/
What is going to be Romney’s excuse, if he was President, as all these world events happen that people get killed? Romney doesn’t have a single answer to correctly fix anything, except create more turmoil. How many wars would we have there is plenty of countries that have wars every year. How does Romney plan on paying for all these wars? Romney plainly just keeps showing how dumb he really is every day. If a script isn’t written for Romney, you plainly see how he really knows nothing and lacks the real ability to implement any real solutions. What is Romney going to do oh let’s do this, oh no let’s this, no let’s do this and on and on with no decision on anything. Romney can’t even make up his mind, which really shows his lack of understanding anything. As it always was Romney is just a rich know nothing person that hired some much smarter people at Bain Capital. Romney is just some cheap bastard that quit at Bain Capital so he didn’t have to pay higher taxes. In Romney being that cheap bastard he allowed Bain Capital to use any means to gain extreme wealth off the backs of businesses and workers. Romney’s idea of helping workers is putting workers sealed up in a company room to keep them working there as slaves and with no regard to the welfare of anybody or the environment. With all this pollution in China, why didn’t Romney as owner of these businesses insist on better business standards? That sows ear is just not going to turn into a silk purse.
I would encourage everyone not to under estimate "manufactured outrage" since the technique has kepted the southern states in the Republican's pockets for many years.
Living in Mississippi I see this everyday and also the effects. Just this morning when buying my coffee the news playing on TV showed an image of President Obama. We could not hear what was being said but the cafe erupted in a wave of angry shouts and vile comments. For all we knew they could have been reporting that President Obama found the cure for cancer but what was being reported ment very little to this crowd. They were outraged and irrational. It was almost like they were programed not to listen but just to react in anger.
It almost make me worry about what these people are going to do when President Obama wins again.
Good post. I sense the US populus is becoming exhausted, though. They've been asked to maintain this manufactured rage since 9/11, the right's operated off the residual fears generated by that event ever since it happened.
That was 10 years ago now and people are beginning to move on and the Republicans are being caught with their pants down, because they haven't developed any other plan than rage and fear to keep themselves in power.
You'd would think the Republican's would realize, to keep rage inflamed, one can't keep picking at the same societal scars without some general ennui setting in, there needs to be new instances to rekindle voter outrage and fear.
That's why Mitt jumps on every little word of Obama's, he's trying to find that new fear/anger trigger. He really is running on nothing else, and we still have 5 weeks to go.
It's anyone's guess what might occur between now and November to suit Mitt's campaign. Something inside me keeps waiting for that shoe to fall...
Those reactions are related to the fact that Mississippi and its southern neighbors are the poorest--and most poorly educated--states in the U. S.
And just think how much worse off they would be if it weren't for government spending. Those states always get back much more than they contribute in taxes.
My condolences. It must be disheartening to be the #1 state in all the wrong categories.
@NeedMoreCoffee
I think we need to get an understanding as to why the Right Wing is so quick to push the "outrage" button. IMO the point is to encourage a sense of disenfranchisement (if that is a word) through a segment of our population. One only has to look at the Middle East to see what the effects of just a small segment of a irrational disenfranchised population can do to a country.It may be more evident is the deep south but one only has to look at the polls to see that it affects more of our country than we would like to admit.
After watching the behavior of Congressional Republicans over the last several years and some of the increasing rabid ideas flowing from the right wing media machine one can’t help but to wonder where this is leading – IMO it certainly is not to win and election.
Romney has no philosophical core and no rationale for running, other than that he believes he's entitled to the job because he's Mitt Romney.
So it's not surprising that his campaign can't find a central theme or core organizing principle. The Romney campaign is mirroring the candidate--as presidential campaigns tend to do.
Magpie Syndrome. Magpies, Ravens and other "covids" love shiny, colorful, and/or bright objects and will steal them to put on their nests. Hence the the golf ball that mysteriously disappears while in play.
These folks have Magpie Syndrome. There is a bright shiny object, a colorful bouncing ball and their full attention is on that. The president needs to have an eye on the entire nation and the world. Does anybody really have confidence these folks can do the job?
hmmm, It just occurred to me that on that secret video recording, Didn't Romney say that his dad lived in Mexico and came over to the US?? And if so... I wonder why no one mentioned that his dad then ran for president?