The campaign of Mitt Romney is so plainly in panic mode that they are resorting to the most despicable brand of insults imaginable. It is an affirmation of just how desperate they are to evade reasonable questions about Romney’s dubious past.
John Sununu, a top Romney surrogate, has been making the media rounds this week and distinguishing himself as, perhaps, the worst spokesman of all time. And bear in mind that Sununu is not some amateur, Tea Party, political neophyte who is unfamiliar with the media. He is the former governor of New Hampshire and was the Chief of Staff to President George H. W. Bush. So it was no mistake of inexperience that last week he charged, with no evidence whatsoever, that “This is a president who wallowed in Chicago in the murky soup of politics/felons.”
Apparently that baseless smear was not sufficient to rescue Romney from the teetering precipice of his own ineptitude. So today Sununu escalated his unhinged assault by calling President Obama a pot smoking, Indonesian, socialist. No, really…
“[Obama] spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in Indonesia, another set of years in Indonesia, and, frankly, when he came to the U.S. he worked as a community organizer, which is a socialized structure.”
And Sununu wasn’t through. Later he added that “I wish this president would learn how to be an American.”
These are the sort of immature invectives that characterize the ultra-rightist operatives of the John Birch Society, the Tea Party, and the Ku Klux Klan. Yet they are emanating from the severely pursed lips of an establishment Republican speaking on behalf of the GOP nominee for president. It is an abhorrent display of racism and unpatriotic vilification.
Mitt Romney has a lot for which to answer. His latest explanation for the discrepancy in his Bain Capital tenure is that he had “retired retroactively.” His response to those seeking his tax returns is that “Those are the two years people are going to have, and that’s all that’s necessary for people to understand something about my finances.” In his arrogance he believes that he can stonewall the American people and still get their votes.
Another Romney surrogate also spoke out today. John McCain made a statement in response to a flurry of Internet insinuations that he had selected Sarah Palin after having seen 23 years of Romney’s tax returns. McCain shot down that talk and insisted that the real reason was because “we thought that Sarah Palin was the better candidate.” Um, that actually makes it worse, John.
Meanwhile, Romney spent yesterday at fundraisers in Mississippi where he sought to portray the GOP (Greedy One Percent) as the party of the people. At the River Hills Country Club, where he raised $1.7 million dollars at $50,000 per head, Romney said…
“We’re accused of being the party of the rich. And it’s an awful moniker, because that’s just not true. We’re the party of people who want to get rich. And we’re also the party of people who want to care to help people from getting poor. We want to help the poor.”
Indeed. What an awful moniker. And I’m sure the folks who shelled out fifty grand to hear this tripe were just the sort to “care to help people from getting poor.” No doubt they were well aware that Romney’s tax plan would benefit the wealthy far in excess of any relief the middle class would ever see.
Sununu’s virulent attack on Obama is not only repulsive, it is utterly devoid of logic or facts. No Republican has yet been able to explain how Obama could be such a committed commie subversive and still have provided over an economy that has seen corporations achieve record-breaking profits and a stock market that has soared 55 percent. And if it weren’t for obstructionists in Congress, Obama’s jobs initiatives would have produced millions of new jobs. All of this from a president who Republicans say is anti-business and hates Wall Street. Just this afternoon Romney delivered a speech wherein he charged that Obama is “crushing economic freedom” and “wants Americans to be ashamed of success.” Two more delusional, and unsupported allegations that are debunked by reality.
The desperation of the Romney camp is boiling over with these latest shots by Romney and Sununu. While Obama’s team has merely been citing media generated stories about factual inconsistencies in Romney’s resume and his obsessive secrecy. You don’t see the Obama campaign bringing up the fact that Romney is a war mongering draft-dodger. You don’t see them harping on the fact that Romney flipped his position on choice after telling a harrowing tale of a tragic back alley abortion that resulted in his taking a position from which he said he would never waver.
However, you do see the Romney campaign descending to ethical depths from which they may never be able to surface. When a candidate resorts to these sort of tactics before he is even officially the nominee, it is a virtual concession of defeat. He doesn’t believe he can win fairly with a campaign based on substance and a dedication to the issues about which voters are concerned. And when these tactics are employed this early you can only expect things to get worse as election day nears.
The problem for Romney is, how much lower can he go? I suppose that he could still select Allen West as a running mate. Or Ted Nugent. Or maybe Ronald Reagan’s ghost (the first Zombie-American candidate). He could accuse Obama of having been brainwashed by Islamic extremists in his youth and is a walking time-bomb set to go off after his reelection (I think Breitbart and Beck have already visited this nightmare). Or he could tap Palin and reprise the “palling around with terrorists” theme. That was never really played to its full potential.
I better stop there. I don’t want to give the Romney campaign any ideas. In their condition, these might actually sound good.
Actually, Obama is a Democrat in name only. Much of his policies were borrowed from Bush and Romney, such as Romney Care aka Obama Care.
I am basically disenchanted with the whole political process. Just last week, I stumbled across Jill Stein, a physician running for the Green Party presidential nomination. She would make the perfect president, but, alas, the great media Wurlitzer propaganda machine blasts nothing but the affairs of hand picked candidates.
This is why I do not and cannot vote. Our candidates are picked for us. They might as well be the same person in plural with a choice for us to chose to grant the illusion of democracy. We only have a choice of this golden boy or that golden boy. Republican or Democrat makes no difference; they both will be hand picked from Plutus’ crop.
I appreciate your position. I, myself, am more opposed to Republicans than I am for Democrats.
However, it goes too far to say that there is no difference between them. If Gore had won in 2000 (which, technically, he did) there would never have been a war in Iraq. There would have been a lot more action on environmental issues. And if Romney wins this November he will shift the direction of the country much more toward the wealthy.
Obama has been far from perfect, buy he is far better than any Republican.
Do you hear yourself??? This election has the exact same feel at 2004 – except it’s liberals who are not very happy with their own president vs. the conservatives who disliked what G. W. Bush did during his first term. We fell for his bullshit very much like you are now with B. Obama – the I haven’t been what you expected but the other guy is worse campaign – and look what we ended up getting. Clearly there isn’t much different between us – you’ll just vote for someone with a “D” behind his name because you think he’ll be better than the alternative when you know they are the same…sucker! I fell for it in 2004, but not again.
What exactly are you saying here, Steve? Are you not voting too?
I haven’t decided – but it would be the first time since 1988 that I didn’t vote, so chances are I will – i’m sure you’ll vote for anyone with a “D” behind their name because you can’t get along without all that promised help.
Let’s be clear big guy, I don’t use those programs, I’m just more than willing to pay for them to exist if I ever have to and for those that do. Got any other condescending stereotypical jives?
You don’t and can’t vote?????? Then, no offense, but stfu.
That IS offensive.
I agree with you about Gore. There might not have been a war with Iraq. It would have been a different world all together.
Mark and Sappho are both correct. It WOULD have been a different world had Gore become president – but doesn’t that just prove the point? He DIDN’T become president, even though he won the election. Our votes are useless. I have been passionate about politics my whole life and never thought I would feel that voting isn’t only pointless…but now, for me, I even think it’s wrong, because it plays into the charade that we live in a democracy. We don’t. So although I still find politics somewhat amusing – like the scramble Romney is in to hide his tax returns, and the incredibly funny saga of Palin’s fake pregnancy – I believe that the news is all propaganda, and the election is nothing other than a distraction from the real problems the government and the corporations don’t want anybody to notice, while they frantically seize everything they can before the sh*t hits the fan.
Those problems are mainly, catastrophic climate change and ecosystem collapse. In human terms, crop failures, famine, and quite possibly, extinction.
Having said that, Mark have you seen this theory? http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-17/whats-romney-hiding-in-his-tax-returns
I hear alot of disenchanted voices about democracy, just remember what Winston Churchhill said about it, he said, and I paraphrase, ‘democracy is the worst form of government there is, except for everything else!’ This is a huge imperfect country that moves slowly in small increments in this direction or that, and whoever is POTUS makes a big difference despite perceptions that may seem contrary, as to what direction this country moves. I believe this election, not only will make a difference, but a huge difference, and I also believe if Romney would become POTUS this country would definat4ely move in the wrong direction. We don’t need to return to the failed policies of Bush, which is exactly where Romney wants to take us, talk about ‘back to the future’.
Even more so that this is the era of citizens united. The slope is coated in black ice and is at 89 degrees.
If you don’t participate in what actually matters, then you’re opinions on politics aren’t worthy of respect. If you’re so picky that you want the perfect candidate for you,, then again, you’re opinions aren’t worth listening to. Either participate or stfu. Also, in the age of the Internet, these ideas that we don’t live in a real democracy are kind of crazy.
So sick of hearing/overhearing shit like this, regardless of the president/party:
“Can you believe this president? I wish he didn’t win!!”
“Yeah, you voted for the other guy?”
“No, I didn’t vote.”
…then you’re opinions…
If you don’t even know when to use an apostrophe, then YOUR opinions aren’t worthy of respect. Also you obviously didn’t absorb what I wrote, at all. If violent weather and crop failure from climate change don’t kill us outright, the resulting wars will. Neither Obama nor Romney can stop it. Obama is no more likely than Romney to challenge corporations, use of the military to exploit the resources of other countries, or the suicidal model of growth that is the foundation of capitalism. Neither of them is going to tell the American people that we should have started drastically curtailing fuel emissions at least 30 years ago, if not 50, because it is THOSE emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing the current record-breaking tornados, floods, heat waves, and droughts. The future is going to be unimaginably worse, and not the far-off future, either.
Oh I see….you’re a nut case. End of times and stuff? You need thicker foil for YOURE helmet.