TPM2012: What They’re Scared Of: Mitt’s Existential Rhetoric Resonates With Iowans
Evan McMorris-Santoro January 2, 2012, 6:00 AM
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA As hes pivoted back to a campaign focused almost entirely on President Obama, Mitt Romney has raised the alarm: 2012, he says, is about nothing less than the very soul of America.
Iowans I talked to at two of Romneys campaign stops Sunday were in full agreement. So I asked them what scares them about a second Obama term. I got answers ranging from the creep of socialism to concerns that Obamas best-known vice will encourage kids to take up smoking.
Romneys emphasis is on the former. Lost in most of the reporting on Romneys push toward the finish line in Iowa which has mostly focused on the way his allies have used millions in negative advertising to vanquish his GOP enemies is what a Romney stump speech sounds like. And as he has for weeks now, Romney is telling Iowans to be wary of what he says is Obamas plan to turn the merit-based America into an America of entitlements, where the government doles out the rewards regardless of effort.
His rhetoric casts the contest with Obama as nothing less than an existential struggle for Americas future.
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