Frankly, Barack Obama's ads attacking Mitt Romney sound almost identical to the ads which support Mitt Romney - the most significant difference being that Obama's team plays the theme from "The Exorcist" under Romney's long list of accomplishments.
Seriously, look at the things Romney is being accused of: having earned significant wealth, making businesses more efficient (including downsizing when necessary - a concept utterly foreign to Washington), a proven record of executive experience as a governor (not as a "community organizer"), and a quietly dedicated churchgoer who apparently believes in everyone's freedom of religion including Catholics.
Of course, in the world of politics, there's nothing new about attacking your opponent's strengths... but this strikes us as something truly different.
Why? Because the Obama campaign is attacking Romney's virtues because they are "virtues"...with the expectation that these laudable qualities and traditional American values are abhorrent to those on the Left. And Obama's campaign strategists have made this decision based on their candidate's own repeated rejection of those values.
So far, Obama's "hate the American dream" attacks aren't doing much damage to Romney - and are causing confusion about just what the president stands for.
Or, more accurately, they're clearing up confusion about what the president stands for...and that may prove to be a devastating miscalculation when it comes to winning the hearts, minds, and votes of Americans who increasingly want a job-creating executive in the Whitehouse instead of a smug Marxist on the golf course.
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27 comments:
I don't know if either of them wants the job, what with the stupid things they are both saying. Sometimes it's just so damned depressing when you realize your choices are between the sure and certain death of America and the probable death of America. Gee, I can hardly wait.
Fortunately, we don't have to choose between "a job-creating executive in the Whitehouse" and "a smug Marxist on the golf course."
If we elect Romney for President, we can have both--it's a two-fer.
Eventually, BO's dumbass campaign leaders will realize attacking Romney for being.. well... an American... are going to have the opposite effect. I honestly think they will start making wild shit up at that point.
This reminds me of one time when some LSM lib ragged on Palin for belonging to the "party of no." She came back with, "That's wrong; I belong to the party of HELL no." I hope Romney's people see every opportunity and make most of this crap place egg squarely on BO's face.
Romney may not be perfect guy, but he is heads above what we have now. We are not going to take this country instantly back to prosperity and freedom with one lousy election. It has taken decades to get to this point, and we must keep fighting the fight and winning one small victory at a time.
@Stilton: I feel your pain on the cold - got one now, too. Fastest moving damned thing I've experienced in a long while - from sniffle to sinus infection in 10 minutes flat, it seems.
@All: elect the romnoid and load up the house and senate as best we can. He'll go where the winds push him, and if the winds blow in the conservative direction, damage may be repaired. And, in any case, God willing, he may surprise us all yet. (Hopefully in a good way...)
@DaveD -- Was thinking about that ... the Republicans should have a Wu Wei attitude about any attack ads coming from the Marxists -- do not resist, overcome.
The example of Palin's is a good demonstration of the technique; parry the blow and use its inertia against the attacker. Heck, if we are owned and operated at this point by the Chinese, might as well use their tools.
Brilliant.
The dog eating story says a lot about President Obama. As someone wrote, put a piece of meat in front of a 6 year old American boy and tell him it's dog meat and see his reaction when you tell him he has to eat it. I strongly suggest that Obama has few American values instilled in him.
His anti-West mother and his living in a foreign culture until 10 with a Muslim step-father made him what he is today. His mentor during his teenage years, Communist friend of his grandfather, Mr. Davis, certainly didn't help either.
I'm not on cough syrup, I'm just plain pissed. Your cartoon is so apt. 1. Obama does a full frontal attack on religious liberty and all we hear or read about is women being denied health care and choice (i.e. free abortions). 2.Obama does a wishy washy defence of gay marriage and is praised as a leader and trend setter on what is hardly the most important issue of the day. Meanwhile, the Romney campaign has lost what seemed to me to be the most articulate and clear-headed spokesperson for everything Obama has done wrong in foreign policy. He happened to be gay and supported gay marriage, which again, is way down my list of issues of importance to the survival of this country. I want to know which conservative numbskulls had enough clout to pressure this fine individual to resign. 3. Obama gets a pass (a second time) on rushing to judgement in order to stir up racial resentments and consolidate black votes. Meanwhile, Romney is taken to the wood shed for being a bully many, many years ago. (Oh, don't forget that Obama admits hitting a black girl back when HE was a dope smoking dope.) Oh, I could go on and on and none of this would be new to you and your readers. I'm just so sick of the lack of substance from Obama and any substantive reporting of him by the msm. It's caused me to actually take delight in the Facebook IPO which stumbled in full view of everyone. I'm ranting here, but I kind of resent a hoodie-wearing billionaire who himself resents having to give some control of his company to shareholders. I'm sick of glibness and hype and empty rhetoric. And what scares me the most is that soon Hillary will capitalize on all this and these same people will declare her the real adult in the room.
@ Emmentaler...
Romney is preferable to Obama in the same way Syphilis is preferable to the flesh-eating bacteria or the Black Plague. If I had my "druthers" I'd say no thank you to either. I also hope we can drag Mittens to the right, but I refuse to invest much emotion in that hope nor do I expect him to surprise us by being a conservative president. Past is prologue and Mitt's past is a crappy prologue.
@Angry Hoosier Dad- I agree that it can be depressing if one subscribes to that worst case scenario. It doesn't, however, make the choice itself more difficult. If only one candidate offers the possibility of America surviving, that's the one to vote for.
@DavidD- Believe me, I'm not grandstanding for Romney. But c'mon, I wouldn't call him a golf-playing Marxist. There is a difference between the two candidates... even if a lot of us wish the gap was a lot wider.
@Colby- Currently, Obama's team is saying "how do we know that Romney's experience will translate to job creation." I'd love to see a smackdown from Romney's side which amounts to "you Lefties are so dumb you don't realize that it's not the place of the president to create jobs, but rather for him to reign in the government enough so that the economy can get back to creating jobs." Government is most of the problem and none of the answer.
@Emmentaler- I agree about loading the House and Senate and doing the best we can with Romney. I'm baffled by anyone who thinks he could be as bad as Obama. Seriously, the Ebola virus isn't as bad as Obama.
@Gang of One- Or use the ancient Chinese strategy of calmly facing your opponent and saying "snatch the pebble from my hand, Grasshopper." Then, while they're looking at your hand, kick 'em in the nuts.
@Al Reasin- Very good point. I don't condemn Obama for having a non-traditional background (which wasn't his fault), but the fact is that he's hard-wired from his earliest days to view American values in a negative way. That's damage that would be hard to undo even if he worked at it - but he hasn't. Rather, he's taken that anti-American sentiment and deliberately cultivated it by seeking out similar opinions and radical-friendly environments.
@Earl- That, my friend, is a fine and accurate rant. And I share your thoughts that Hillary is standing just offstage, waiting to make her move.
@Angry Hoosier Dad- As I said previously, today's cartoon and commentary aren't to cheer for Romney, but rather to call attention to the fact that Obama's team has such a bizarre conception of what is "negative" in his record.
@Colby, I've always argued that if the GOP really was "the party of 'No'", we wouldn't be in the pathetic shape we are in today. At worst, Obama would still be a no-name junior Senator continuously voting "present".
@Stilton, you're expecting a "Reagan" response out of Romney. Romney's no Reagan. But at least he's not a Marxist.
Enjoy the cough medicine! Hope you feel better soon.
I just heard a guy call in to Rush and bring up something that really struck me. The Lefties are trying so hard to hammer Romney over cutting jobs when he was with Bain Capital. Guess what, Lefites? What did your "messiah" do when he took over GM? let's see... how many Chevy dealerships were eliminated, putting the owners out of business and the employees out of work? And what about Pontiac dealerships... They don't exist anymore.
BO justified this because he had to trim the company down in order to save it. Say WHAT?! This is different from Romney how?
I sure hope Romney's campaign people are paying attention. This is truly low hanging fruit.
@John the Econ- The Republicans have a dismal record of saying "no" and have nothing in their history which makes them clearly superior to the Dems when it comes to spending. That being said, the Tea Party contingent and the urgency of the situation are both new elements which I hope (not necessarily "expect") will make things different this time. But please - don't make the mistake of thinking that I'm expecting Romney to turn out to be a Reagan.
@Anonymous- I'm sick of the cough medicine. Unlike Libs, I don't want to live in a pleasant, fuzzy cloud - I want to live in reality. Which is why I'm eschewing the cough syrup at present (and coughing my rear end off).
@Colby- Actually, Romney's campaign was pretty nimble about releasing a web ad almost immediately which made the point about GM. Yes, sometimes it's necessary to fire people... to downsize... or even to pull the plug on a failing business if the larger goal is a healthy bottom line (or healthy economy).
I think Romney could also capitalize on this by pointing out that in over 3 years, neither Obama, his party, nor his "supercommittees" have found any significant waste, fraud, or duplication of efforts within the government that are worth cutting. Does anyone rational actually believe that?
I once asked a Dr what the difference was between brandy and cough syrup -he told me "the price"
Get well soon
I pray mitt does not make Bush's mistake and leave obummer's minions in place. The state department is worse than the Augean stables and needs not just cleaning but total disinfection. Several other depts need total elimination. I fear mitt lacks the passion to do this.
@Stilton - We don’t live in a "rational" world. Everything is upside down. Wrong is right. Murder is “reproductive health”. Spending is “investing”. Destroying America is patriotic. Freedom of religion is now freedom from religion … for all. And I don’t hearing any of our elected representatives screaming from the rooftops! Where are the calls for justice? The rule of law is dead.
To paraphrase one of the bishops in the current issue pitting the church against the government (a major, unprecedented story the media is completely ignoring because it doesn’t contain a pedophile priest): I’ll probably die in my bed; my son will die in prison; my grandson will be executed in the public square. When religious liberty is oppressed all other liberties will follow. The groundwork is already being laid with teaches telling students that it is criminal to speak out against the president. We, here, are all criminals then.
Maybe I won’t die in bed after all … the wheels of progressivism are turning quickly.
Sorry ... I'll try to sound more optimistic in some future post.
One thing we need to remember in all this is that Romney is the most squeaky clean nominee we've ever had. Period. He isn't perfect, but none of us are. We find it easy to criticize and we're sure we could final all the solutions. Being POTUS isn't an easy job. I do think Romney will do his best. I believe he loves this country. I think that instead of the criticism that he's not the best candidate in the world, we need to look at the good and get behind him all the way. The liberals would love to have us not be sure what we want or to believe we are only half-heartedly supporting Romney. Let's support Mitt and give the guy a chance. And let's hope he doesn't lose his soul in the process.
Oops...that should say we could FIND all the solutions--not final.
On the lighter side:
Nasty Pelosi
is getting a street named after her in San Francisco. To be appropriate, the street needs to be crooked with a plethora of patched pot holes, only left turns and it shouldn’t be on any map … you have to turn on to the street to find out where it goes.
Hint: nowhere.
RE: Chuck said... We don’t live in a "rational" world. Everything is upside down. Wrong is right. Murder is “reproductive health”. Spending is “investing”. Destroying America is patriotic. Freedom of religion is now freedom from religion …
Kinda reminded me of the book
'1984' by George Orwell..."newspeak" is here!
@PRY - ... and only 28 years off ... although we’ve been going down this path since well before the time Mr. Orwell wrote 1984 in 1949 (I was -6 at the time). Orwell only reported, I suppose, on what he saw happening at the time and projected it into the future. Certain periods in history delayed the inevitable (Reagan, for example). We probably still have a few microns to go before we are really there. But, we already see history being revised and rewritten on a daily basis by the media, don’t we?
@Stilton, after another 4 years of socialist/squishy socialism/fascism, we'll all prefer living in a medically-induced "pleasant, fuzzy cloud". You're just a little further ahead, that's all.
As for GM: Notice that it was mainly non-union people who got fired. Also, the Romney people should point out that the uncertainty put into the system by the bailout is one of the primary reasons the economy overall is stalled; bondholders & sellers must no price in that uncertainty now that the federal government has demonstrated it's willingness to pull the rug out from under the standard bankruptcy procedures and contracts.
@Cookie- Thanks for a refreshing perspective! Whether or not Mitt is the ideological candidate conservatives were hoping for (because he wasn't the answer to MY hopes), it's pretty hard to say that he's not a good and dedicated man who has a solid record of accomplishment. "Support Mitch and give him a chance" is a good and modest goal. He may surprise us... but at the very least his election would get Obama out of office (and away from more Supreme Court picks). That's huge, and as important a political choice as I'll probably see in my lifetime.
@Chuck- Mother of Pearl! I thought you were kidding about Nancy getting a street until I followed your link. And I wanted to add a punchline, but I think you covered the subject already!
@PRY- I haven't read 1984 in awhile, but may dig it out (it's sure an easier read than Ayn Rand). But I think of it frequently for exactly the reasons you cite. Orwell pretty much nailed it.
@Chuck- When I heard that Obama was rewriting the official biographies of the other presidents to include himself, I immediately thought of the way History was constantly being amended, revised, or invented entirely in 1984. Way, way too close for comfort.
@John the Econ- Trust me, the "pleasant, fuzzy cloud" sucks (okay, it made my favorite songs sort of awesome on Day One, but after that it got old). I was thinking of that when listening to a passage from "Dreams From My Father" in which Obama talks about spending two years in a self-induced drug haze in High School (and God knows how long after that). I can't fathom what sort of anger and hatred (and quite likely self-hatred) it would take to want to check out of consciousness for that long.
And very good observations about GM. The non-union people took it up the tuchus, and by making a mockery of bankruptcy procedures, the Obama administration has thrown the business environment into chaos. All of which you already said (and better).
Living in the era of the Big Red One makes me want to change the lyrics of that old Beatles song to "I read the news today, oh sh*t"
Good one Stilton
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I loved when Rush got into the latest Leftist attacks on Mitt - which, of course, were attacks on his WIFE, Ann Romney. They claimed that she SPENT MONEY on horses (they left out the fact that she started riding to alleviate the effects of her MS) and even bought HORSE INSURANCE!!!
But, they didn't report that she used their OWN money, not the TAXPAYER'S money - which MOOOOOSHELL loves to do whenever she gets a hankerin'.
@The Doktor- I thought the attacks on Ann Romney and her equestrian pursuits was hilariously inappropriate. As you say, she took up the sport for health reasons. But also, why the heck shouldn't people with wealth spend it instead of hoarding it? It seems to me that the Romneys' money was going to trainers, grooms, stable owners, veterinarians, equipment makers, and many more. Earning and spending don't hurt the economy - they're essential to it!
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