Why Romney's Secret Speech Will Matter

[babylonsister]

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/9/17/224142/559

Why Romney's Secret Speech Will Matter

by BooMan
Mon Sep 17th, 2012 at 10:41:42 PM EST

snip//


We can now safely predict that Romney will not be treating the debates as an opportunity to talk about a "whole series of important topics" because he doesn't believe that that is what wins elections.

Even if he is right about that, his comments are contemptuous of the American voter, and especially the undecided voter. He believes they will make their decision emotionally based on trivialities like how much they like the candidates and how they respond to being saturation-bombed with substance-free advertisements.

So, Romney's comments are worse than Obama's {Obama's famous comments about people clinging to their guns and their religion} were because the offense isn't inadvertent. Romney has real contempt for undecided voters and anyone who voted for Obama in 2008 or who plans to vote for him in 2012. Obama had empathy for the people he was talking about. Romney's comments also offend a much wider percentage of the voting public than Obama's did. Romney insulted the key demographic that he needs to win, while Obama insulted a demographic he ultimately didn't (and doesn't) need.

But, worst of all for the Mitt-Man, Obama's comments were revealed in April, and Romney's were revealed in mid-September. People will still be talking about Romney's comments when early voting starts just a few weeks from now.

So, will these comments matter? You bet your ass they will. Romney just had an atom bomb dropped on his campaign.

And, remember, today was supposed to be the launch date for Romney 3.0. He was going to reset his campaign and go negative on the president. All his research said that going negative would drive away the only undecided voters in the country, but his base was crumbling and he had to do something. Instead, he had something done to him. Without even wanting to, he just went negative on the only people in the country who might have still made him president.

[INdemo]

1. Does anyone think its possible for the Rmoney campaign to

cancel the 1st debate..They could come up with some phony excuse hoping something to swing in their favor in time for what would be the second debate?..McCain tried to cancel for some phony excuse so could it be Rmoney might try the same strategy?

[babylonsister]

2. Of course he might, but he'd get lambasted for that, too.

The guy has painted himself into a teeny tiny round room with no escape, looks like to me.

[oldhippydude]

3. anybody remember the Saturday Night Massacure...

the weekend Nixon fired Archibald Cox... i remember at the time, on one of the sunday morning talking head shows... one of the illustrious participants making the comment "this is not the beginning of the end, it is however the end of the beginning".... from that time on in October, till the following summer, Nixon was toast... i was slow and painful, but certain, when he was forced to resign the next summer..

this event to me has the same feeling to me... Romney will limp along until the first debate seals his fate..

[speedoo]

5. I agree with your analogy.

I remember that Nixon decision and it's probably the closest you can come to something comparable.

[oldhippydude]

6. after i posted

i remembered the Nixon tapes,that provided the documentation... more Watergate parallels, and to top it off, Jimmy Carter's grandson as "deepthroat"... pass the popcorn

[nichomachus]

4. Not to mention that Obama's "offensive" comments need to be read in their full context

He was not trying to abandon people, but include them. He was sympathizing with them and hoping that his policies would help them:

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.

Compare and contrast that with Romney's ugly, nasty abandonment of half the population.