I don’t want to start a thread on Romney, but I do want to clear this video up which is being wrongly attributed on liberal blogs as a comment Romney made this week:
Well, rest assured this video, despite the numerous liberal blogs who are either dishonestly or un-knowledgeably reporting otherwise, is actually from the Florida primaries when Romney was responding to McCain’s timetables accusations.
I hope we all are grateful for the inside view we just got into the “heart and soul” of a liberal blogger or whoever started the hoax.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Lesser known fact: Mitt Romney still claims his ads don’t call McCain’s immigration plan amnesty.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Look none of our candidates have been perfect and still aren’t, but Mitt was without question one of the brightest and well informed and was practicaly squeaky clean, on the serious issues anyways and personal side. Not super likable for some but without doubt immensely capable.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:31 am
No Jason they are just using it as humour. Rest assured when the McCain/Palin fad fades, if it hasn’t already, Mitt will be there to pick up the pieces in 2012. Those dissing him now will be genuflecting before him when he beats Saint Obama in 2012.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:00 am
I think you are a little ahead of yourself Joe. If by some fluke, Mr. Obama does win, most of us will forgive Mr. Romney for this ad and be willing to support him in 2012 if the political landscape dictates it. However, because of Palin mania, it will be difficult for Mr. Obama to get 270 points. Thus, it would be wise to hold to phones on 2012.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:20 am
No, Joe, I’ll be supporting Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, or Bobby Jindal in 2012. Hopefully two of them on the same ticket.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Yeah, Jindal/Palin/Pawlenty, now that is ticket!
September 17th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Oh… I thought all the Rombots had already left for Kolob.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Oh by the way, I apologize for promulgating this video in the other thread without checking up on it. It seemed out of character, but I found it over at Contentions (Commentary Magazine)and I assumed they’d fact-checked it. Mea culpa and all that.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:53 am
I think Palin/Jindal would be the best governing ticket (since I think Jindal would have hard slog becoming the nominee if Palin was running). It would also be, as far as I can tell, the youngest ticket ever and obviously the most diverse. So there are alot of intriguing visuals. But, that’s running a pretty conservative ticket. On abortion particularly, it’s hard to imagine a more conservative ticket. Palin only accepts the life of the mother exception and Jindal wants no exceptions. I think because of their youth and because of the excitement of such a non-traditional Republican ticket, it MIGHT be sellable. But, then again, it might be a complete disaster. Palin/Pawlenty seems safer and is nice little story in it’s own right (two people from blue-collar backgrounds, preaching a sort of lightly populistic fiscal conservatism).
September 17th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Let the race 4 2008 end, then we can talk about the “future”.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:06 am
It’s academic now, but given the turmoil in Wall Street and the economy, I think Romney/Palin would be considerably ahead of Obama/Biden right now.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Tim-
I don’t mind those comments as long as you’re willing to mock all religions equally for their inherent ‘absurdities’.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:34 am
I sure would like my tax dollars to be going for the Romney commission to straighten out the federal budget and the Wall street mess. No one out there has the skill set, and it’s desperately needed right now.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I know it is early for this, but if we have Romney, Palin, Jindal, Pawlenty and heaven forbid Huckabee (or any three) all running in ‘12 we will end up with another “hold your nose” moderate because the conservative vote will be so divided.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Does anyone know if Romney is activily campaining for the McCain/Palin ticket in Mich. & Col.?
September 17th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I’d like to see a 527 ad that shows what happened to the stock market right after Sept. 11 – with the message that the biggest threat to our economy is terrorism.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Thanks, Jason. I was curious as to the nature of this video everyone was slinging around. Good thing we’ve still got folks who fact check. This reminds me of the whole controversy with Alex and Sarah Palin. Sheesh.
And can anyone truly not wonder right now if Romney wasn’t somewhere on this ticket whether the GOP might not be losing the economic battle in this campaign? You get the feeling Romney could have stood up and explained this whole economic mess in his sleep, making Americans feel comfortable and safe having him in office to clean it up.
As it stands, we’ve got four folks on two tickets now that are taking shots in the dark at how to fix a complicated problem they don’t understand. Kind of scary.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Romney is a highly capable leader, and it’s disappointing to me that he’s not going to be in some way involved in using his famed skill as a turnaround artist to fix the federal agencies, eliminate waste, and bring new leadership. Maybe there’s still hope for him in some cabinet position (COO of the federal agencies?)
I think this year might have shown us that the country might not be willing to take Romney (say 2012 or beyond), probably because of his religion and perhaps because of the way some people perceive him. I don’t think it’s really fair and the fact that I know several people that have known Mitt personally for many years and vouch for his personal integrity doesn’t matter because lots of people out there just see him as plastic anyway. I’m not very sure of that analysis, but it seems plausible that America would never vote him president.
Given that, why do former supporters like Matthew E. Miller say that you would not support Romney in a future election? Since you supported him this year at some point, you obviously were willing to look beyond the two points I brought up: his perceived “plastic” personality and his religion. Why then have you now decided you wouldn’t support him in the future?
September 17th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Not in a ker-jillion years, effendi.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Romney was never able to explain economic principles during his own primary campaign. He produced one laugh-riot gaff after another. Do you remember his line about how doesn’t lose sleep over how much rich people get taxed? Do you remember his 40 billion dollar bailout plan for an industry—the automobile industry—that no longer exists in the form that Romney thought it did?—were you to subsidize the automobile industry you would be subsidizing industry all across the world, because the US automobile industry is already highly globalized—Hondas and Toyatas get made here, Fords and Chevrolets are assembled from components manufactured in Canada, Mexico, the Pacific rim, and even Europe. So what precisely was Romney proposing? A government jobs program? To nationalize the automobile industry? I don’t even think Romney knew for certain what his bailout would entail.
Here’s the thing: The financial services sector, Romney’s sector, of which the equity sector is a part, is not the economy. It is precisely that part of the economy that is failing and has been failing for years now. Does anyone remember the Savings and Loan debacle? Bain Capital’s whole record is one of liquidating US manufacturing and research and development capacity in return for low wage retail jobs at Staples or delivering pizza etc. Did you know that Bain Capital was about to move 3M to China before congress very rightly put a stop to the deal?
September 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Come again?
September 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
A poll of the Who’s Who of the Republican Party showed that Romney would be favored by 55% for the 2012 nomination if McCain were to lose this year. Barring a McCain loss, Mitt sees no political future for himself, and a cabinet position is out of the question. He would never take it. Nor should he.
BTW, all things considered, I’d rather be in Kolob right now.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I don’t want to deal with Obama the next 4-8 years. But all these attacks from sampo and dotan regarding Romney do not inspire me to vote (R) either. Romney is the de-facto largest outside fundraiser for McCain/Palin and has represented them well to the media. What does he get in return? Bullshit and hatred. Not from the public so much, but the handful of small people such as appear in these comments.
September 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
So says the first person to curse in this thread.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
dotan, here’s the thing about the financial services sector: most financials have been fine except for a small segment of them, the mortgages. This mortgage crisis is really just another problem ultimately created by government and inept leadership:
http://www.villagevoice.com/content/printVersion/541234
No way you can even remotely pin this on Romney by trying to lump “financial services sector” together. It’s too bad that you can’t see the good that private equity firms do. There is no other player willing to step up and fund some companies except those in the private equity sector. Romney turned around most of the companies he worked with in a high risk game. It’s likely that without the help they received from Bain far fewer jobs would have been created and far more would have failed.
As to the 40 billion dollar automotive industry plan, I think you’re completely mis-characterizing it.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
dotan, without rehashing the primary fight here again, I think it’s pretty obvious to everybody here that you are completely mischaracterizing Romney’s plan to help Detroit as well as Romney’s background and economic expertise.
I consider myself a fiscon before anything else, and that’s why I was attracted to Romney in the primaries over one-trick pony defcons like Giuliani and McCain or socons like Huckabee. From an objective standpoint, you can’t say that Romney wouldn’t be handling this economic situation better than Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin combined right now.
All we’re getting from those four are vague promises to fight corruption and reform Wall Street. How? Who knows? Harry Reid evidently doesn’t, and neither do any of the folks running on the major party tickets right now.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Matt C:
I have heard Romney talk the last two days about these issues… he hasn’t said anything insightful or anything more significant than the tripe the others are selling.
(Oh Lord, are we really going to have to listen to these Rombots for the next four years?)
September 17th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Tim,
do you expect him to roll out a plan for McCain? Good Grief, he says what McCain tells him to say at this point.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Jason:
So he knows the answers to our problems, but he’s just being a hack right now?
September 17th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Tim,
In #29 you have lurched, unprecedentedly, into the truth.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Woo hoo, I’m the wiener.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
McCain has plenty on his plate right now. Romney running around and spouting ideas McCain hasn’t heard and can’t respond to would be both arrogant and unhelpful. Romney’s not running for President any more, McCain is. Romney’s trying to help McCain win, not trying to push him off a cliff.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
and Tim,
While you’re praying for mercy (#27), you may want to pray for some civility.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
ogrepete:
So, Romney knows the answers to our problems, but he is withholding them from McCain?
September 17th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Tim,
If you could teach economics during a 7-week campaign, there wouldn’t be much reason to require a student to spend 4 years getting a degree in it, much less an advanced degree. McCain has a lot on his plate right now and Mitt is mercifully not distracting him from actually getting elected. Carly was absolutely right that none of the 4 major candidates could run a major company, and the press was exactly right that they couldn’t run the government effectively either. The reason to get John elected is simply that he would do a lot less damage than Obama. Nothing else is at stake here, aside from the minor matters of national security, the future composition of the Supreme Court, and a few other mere details.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Palin was the flavour of the week (or two to be charitable). She is starting to be a drag now – god knows how much by Nov!
How on earth can she beat Mitt in 2012? You really think Mitt can be stopped in Iowa/NH? Especially now that Huck is a joke on the stand up comedy tour. No-one wins Iowa/NH and loses the nomination. Especially after being the runner up last time.
Being selected on the ticket may have been the unluckiest thing to ever happen to our Sarah.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Yes, we got conned. As we’ve amended the post to say the video deceived us, something which we find pretty ironic.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
The economy is THE huge issue right now BECAUSE Romney was not the Veep pick. If Romney was VEEP, the big issues would be the back and forth between Mitt and Mac during the primaries, the need for more soldiers in Afghanistan, how successful Mitt Mac are(# of houses) or some other crap the Dems(media) can come up with to make America to look bad. The Dems want the economy to tank because they believe it helps them in November now that they don’t have to run against a economic guru like Romney.