I have nothing special against Mitt Romney, he seems fine as far as heartless, Galtian types go. I don’t think he’s the monster that Rick Santorum is. But we need to keep talking about what a dick he is, because the talk so far is working (via):
Mitt Romney has emerged from the Republican primary season with the weakest favorability rating on record for a presumptive presidential nominee in ABC News/Washington Post polls since 1984, trailing a resurgent Barack Obama in personal popularity by 21 percentage points.
Thirty-five percent of Americans see Romney favorably, while 47 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the former Massachusetts governor. He’s the first likely nominee to be underwater — seen more unfavorably than favorably — in ABC/Post polls in eight presidential primary seasons over the past 28 years.
Romney’s gender gap in vote preferences in an ABC/Post poll last week — he trailed Obama by 19 percentage points among women — is reflected in his new favorability scores as well. Just 27 percent of women see Romney favorably, compared with 44 percent of men — his lowest rating to date among women, and highest among men, in a dozen ABC/Post polls since September.
Pour moi personnellement, just saying “WILLARD” over and over again doesn’t cut it. The Thurston B. Howell stuff may work. And I’m not above making jokes about polygamy and magic underwear. One way or another, we all need to do what we can to make people hate this guy as much as possible.
MikeJ
As was pointed out in a thread below, guess Mitt’s approval with women. Go on, guess. I’ll bet you can get the percentage exactly.
Bruce S
“we all need to do what we can to make people hate this guy as much as possible”
Of course, none of us can do as much as Willard himself. He seems to be fully on board with your plan. I’ll make my humble contributions, but – in all honesty – I have to defer to the Master Mittster when it comes to this aspect of the coming campaign.
Jeff Spender
I don’t know anyone who supports the guy with any enthusiasm. There’s a lot of nose-holding going on. A lot of rationalization.
I’m not really that worried.
Unabogie
Just talk about how he abused his dog.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/ann-romney-on-seamus-episode-dog-loved-it
What the hell is wrong with those people?
Merp
“One way or another, we all need to do what we can to make people hate this guy as much as possible.”
This kind of divisive, class-warfare, partisan rhetoric has no place in a presidential campaign. For shame.
Baud
Not that I’m against patting ourselves on the back, but I think people hate Romney primarily because of Romney.
Really? Romney’s ok because he’s better than Santorum? How about we not try to pretend. My feelings about Romney are genuine.
scav
Get out of his way, hand him a mic. The man is practically octave-deaf.
dmsilev
Heh.
Are we *sure* the pollsters aren’t screwing with us?
dmsilev
@Unabogie: It’s not fair to talk about his dog strapped to the roof of his car! He’s running for President, for Pete’s sake!
Litlebritdifrnt
As I posted downstairs. Laura Ingrahm said a couple of months ago before she reluctantly got on board “you are nominating the guy who lost to the guy who lost to the POTUS” Good Job GOP!
Omnes Omnibus
Keep him talking.
Spaghetti Lee
There’s a line that some politicians cross where the very mention of their name is a joke. People talk about how embarrassing they are around the office or at parties without getting accused of talking politics, and someone like, say, Jay Leno, can crack endless jokes about them without being accused of in tank for the other guy. Republicans managed to do this to Kerry and Gore, and I think Romney’s teetering over that line, all he needs is a little nudge.
You can explain how terrible a candidate’s policies are all you want, but I think nothing ruins their chances like getting people to laugh at them.
ericblair
@scav:
Yes, fuck. When you’ve been campaigning nonstop for years on end and you’re still this goddamn bad at it, maybe the whole politics/dealing with the public/charisma thing is Not For You. He’s the Platonic ideal of the Asshole Rich Boss and he has shown absolutely no ability to shake that off, and it’s going to get worse for him since he’s not up against just some other lunatic charisma-free asshole anymore.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think saying WILLARD is fun, ’cause I am of a certain age and it reminds me of the rat movie. I’d say stay away from religion jokes, as a matter of strategy, not “tone” and “civility”. Don’t give the Broderists like Marcus and Cohen an excuse to clutch their pearls and cluck their tongues. Romney will provide as much script for Obama commercials because he fundamentally sees everyone he talks to as a slow-witted corporate underling and lackey who is wasting his valuable time.
Triassic Sands
I think you underestimate the potential Romney holds for doing even greater damage than Santorum.
cathyx
All we have to do is let Mitt and Ann keep talking. They are taking care of it all by themselves.
Raven
I guess the fact that he’s a draft-dodging weasel shit who let other people fight and die in his place while he was in fucking France won’t matter in this election.
SarahT
@Unabogie: Ask him about his lovely friend Fred Malek. Ask Ann Romney if she thinks the dog in this story “loved it”, too :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031001843.html
Egg Berry
@Jeff Spender:
Scroll down a few threads on this blog and you’ll find someone who loves UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH for VICTORY!
Mickey
You think we need to pretend to hate the guy? Lol….go crawl back under your rock DougJ. You are as out of touch as ole Etch-a-Sketch himself.
Mickey
You think we need to pretend to hate the guy? You are about as out of touch as ole Etch-a-Sketch himself DougJ.
eemom
@ericblair:
I still think my explanation makes the most sense. Romney is a DougJ spoof.
lamh35
DougJ et al, seriously, ya’ll need to watch the interview with Ann and Mitt on ABC. Those 2 people DO NOT come off as likable AT ALL!
I’ve posted on other threads, but I see that the OFA are now fundraising off of Mitt’s “Start Paking” line on the interview. It really pissed people off.
So here it is again: Ann and Mitt proving class has nothing to do with how much money you have.
If this interview was supposed to “soften” Romney it sure as hell didn’t. I really disliked McCain and Palin, but I didn’t “hate” them. But ugh, I really dislike Mitt and Ann Romney more than I disliked Palin or McCain.
Romney To Obama: ‘Start Packing’
Can anyone imagine if in ’08 how wingnut head would have exploded if candidate Obama had said this when asked what he had to say to GWB? ugh, these people have no class.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
i normally don’t root for the eagles, but the juxtaposition of mike vick reformed dog-fighter and now animal rights advocate vs the unrepentant romneys, it could, could be interesting as the milke vick haters on the right, have to explain liking romney.
Delia
@Unabogie:
Yeah, TPM has Ann talking about how the dog loved it. Huffpo quotes Willard’s part of the interview:
The man can’t open his mouth without revealing his soullessness. Let the pair of them keep talking.
Citizen Alan
@Baud:
I think Doug meant in the sense that Franco was “better” than Mussolini or … that other guy.
Sgaile-beairt
I’ve seen no Romney yard signs around here lately (Ron Paul was the local leader, followed by Huntsman) and Saturday I saw one lonely Republican yard sign — it said “DEFEAT OBAMA” instead of endorsing anyone.
Keith
Glad the polls show Obama overwhelmingly more likeable, because after one season of hearing how more people would rather have a beer with a recovering alcoholic than the Irish candidate, I wouldn’t be able to stomach hearing how people want to have a beer with a Mormon.
uila
DougJ, here’s a song my buddy and I recorded that you may enjoy:
Mitt Romney Got a Lobotomy
All props go to Jimmy Reefercake for the lyrics.
Baud
@Citizen Alan:
Not if you were Spanish…and we are all Spanish now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh35: I just got an email from the campaign using that. I wonder if it plays as smug and boorish to the Lo-Infos as it does with us. In any case, I’m gonna use that link to start my monthly donation.
Clime Acts
I’m not sure in what way exactly…but there’s something twisted about your approach to this campaign.
Do you have no confidence in the Obama record to speak for itself and win the man a second term? Why do people need to “hate” Mitt Romney?
Raven
@Clime Acts: Because he’s a shit eating dog fucker.
lamh35
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think it will. It really crass and shows no class.
As much as Obama stuck it to Bush and GOP in ’08, it never bordered on personal. It just seems to me that Mitt really just doesn’t like Obama. Could be racial, could be political, could be classism, but he really comes off as having no respect for Obama as a person.
For all McCain’s fault, I never totatlly though he hated Obama personally. Ironically, I DID think McCain hated Romney!
uila
They’re trying to normalize the dog on roof thing the same way they normalized waterboarding (or soc1al1sm for that matter). Just keep talking about it until it’s not shocking anymore, reasonable minds will differ.. I guarantee you’ll see more than a few fuckheads at rallies with dogs strapped to the roof in support of team R before this is over.
Raven
@lamh35: I think it’s a fucking sham. He’s playing that shit to pander to the knuckle draggin mofo’s he counted on in the primaries.
Citizen Alan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I honestly wonder if the Mormon Church understands just how badly Prince Willard is going to damage their brand. Outside of the Fundies who think Mormons are Satan worshipers, I think the consensus on Mormonism was that it was “mostly harmless.” Then, suddenly, the Mormon Church hitched its wagon to hard-core anti-gay lobbying with Prop 8. And THEN, Prince Willard became the public face of the Church and linked it, perhaps indelibly, to his neo-feudalist economic theories. I try very hard NOT to bigoted against any religious faction. But in light of Romney’s comments about single mothers and “the dignity of work,” I really would like someone to ask him what his views are about providing welfare benefits to the Quiverful crowd and to the various Mormon factions that believe in unaffordably large families.
lamh35
“He was backed by his wife of 43 years, Ann Romney, who told Sawyer she also had a message for Obama. “I believe it’s… Mitt’s time… It’s our turn now,” she said”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/diane-sawyer-interview-romney-tells-obama-start-packing/story?id=16150295#.T4zHXdU0WSo
Ugh! Are you kidding me.
Davis X. Machina
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I doubt it hurts. Low-infos are smug if they’re anything — including smug about being low-info.
Kruger/Dunning 2012!
David in NY
@Raven: With that, this thread is over.
uila
@Clime Acts: First time to the dog track?
Brandon
I sense DougJ is engaged in a bit of projection here. It seems to me that DougJ needs to do as much as possible to convince himself to hate Romney. As for the American public, all we need to do is just let Mitt open his mouth. Because he seems to be doing a great job of getting people to hate him all by himself.
Baud
@lamh35:
What a great campaign slogan! It’s so…honest.
Davis X. Machina
@Baud:
Who would have thought Washington, DC was a sundown town?
Citizen Alan
@Raven:
After the sickening “Purple Band-Aid” event in 2004, it’s simply not possible to talk rationally to Republicans about military service. There is no degree of military heroism on the part of a Democrat that cannot be besmirched and no degree of utter cowardice on the part of a Republic that cannot be whitewashed.
Raven
@Citizen Alan: Roger that.
lamh35
@Baud: It so juvenille tantrum ain’t it. It’ basically crying to mom and saying “timmy won’t get off the big wheel, it’s my turn”…wah wah wah.
these two do not come off as empathic at all. put these two up next to the Obamas in their joint interview and it nice juicy apples (Obamas) and really rotten oranges (Romneys). I’m not a body language artist, but even the body language is different.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@Sgaile-beairt:
Anagrams for DEFEAT OBAMA. Some personal favorites:
And the winner:
Davis X. Machina
@Citizen Alan: I made a reference in class in the fall 2004 to ‘no one getting the Purple Heart for a self-inflicted wound’ re bad grades not for poor work, marked down by mean teachers, but for work never even handed in.
Three kids all said, at once, and un-prompted, “John Kerry did!”
SarahT
@Raven: Re, Clime Acts: Because he’s a shit eating dog fucker.
BINGO !
gbear
We need to get people to start associating the ‘Start Packing’ quote with this photo.
After all, Romney needs a Santorum moment for himself.
arguingwithsignposts
What is this “turn” shit? There’s no “turns” in being sworn in as president?
wasabi gasp
Seamus, that’s the dog, was outside
samara morgan
but dougj. leader of betrayal….”we” are above that.
where is your moral suasion?
Shari
From GOS, Mitt and Ann struggled to pay for college by using stock from Mitt’s dad worth $60,000 in 1969 dollars – $37000 in today’s money.
Just like everyone else.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/16/1083802/-Ann-Romney-s-tale-of-struggling-We-learned-hard-lessons-living-off-our-stock-portfolio-
Citizen Alan
@Clime Acts:
Because he is the enemy of everything decent about America. Because he seeks to tear down everything we all love about this country and shit all over it. Because he is the vanguard of a fascist party committed to the destruction of our democracy and the extinction of our Middle Class. Because he is the man we were warned about, the man who would come wrapped in a flag and waving a cross. The fact that there were other men who auditioned for that role but were passed over is irrelevant. Willard Romney’s particular brand of malevolence won out over those of his rivals for the position of high priest in the GOP death cult. We know who the enemy is and we will stand against him.
And no, I do not give a shit about the fact that Obama hasn’t done everything I want and has in fact done a lot of things I fucking hate. Because there is absolutely no chance that Willard Romney will do anything different in those areas and a significant chance that he will do far worse in those areas. It is a certainty that he will be far, far worse in all those areas where I think Obama has done an admirable job.
The Republican Party is the enemy of every decent American. And until science figures out how to resurrect people like Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and yes, George Romney, I will continue to treat the Republican Party as the enemy of every decent American.
Any questions? (Other than “where’s that damned pie filter?”)
Raven
@samara morgan: What’s up Madame Nhu?
Dee Loralei
@uila: Brilliant, when you get it on youtube, let me know. I cant wait to put it on my Obama groups facebook page!
Heliopause
Which is why you need to tell your fellow FPers and the comment crowd to stop attacking his wife. Even if you perceive it to be “correct in context.” Savvy politicians like, you know, the Obamas, realize this.
samara morgan
@Raven: just calling’ em as i sees em, Aleut harpoon guy.
JoyfulA
@Unabogie: This fall I plan to find an appropriate toy dog and tie it to the top of my car. I know way too many apolitical, undecided women who just love dogs immensely, and I want to remind them how Rmoney treats poor little puppies.
Raven
@samara morgan: Always, night night Nhu Nhu!
Shadow's Mom
Sadly, it’s not sufficient to get people to dislike Mittens. As important, is getting people out to vote against Mittens.
Yevgraf
Rmoney is the guy who closes the main employer in the town you grew up in, grinning about the savings and profits that such wonderful capitalistic destruction generates for shareholders, and glibly advising the affected to “move to where the opportunity is”.
Citizen Alan
@Baud:
It’s our turn now.
lamh35
Check out the transcript for the interview. Did this guy give an actual answer to any of the damn question Diane asked? Did Diane even try to get him to answer the damn question? NO and NO!
Transcript: Mitt and Ann Romney’s Interview With Diane Sawyer
Mike G
Highlight the fact that if this all-ambition-no-integrity asshole gets in, he’ll populate the federal government with the same cronyist, corrupt saboteurs Bush and Cheney dragged out of the swamp.
And he speaks French, not that hypocrisy ever bothered the mouth-breathers of the GOP.
Rmoney is the asshole corporate boss almost everyone has had at one time in their working life.
JoyfulA
@Sgaile-beairt: The primary is next week in Pennsylvania. I’ve seen 0 Rmoney signs, 0 Ron Paul signs (which surprised me, and 1 Santorum sign. So I wonder what happens if Santorum wins the PA primary.
Omnes Omnibus
@Raven: Madame Nhu? Does one dare ask why?
Citizen Alan
@Shari:
Just to clarify, you had a typo. It was actually $377,000 in today’s dollars.
Shadow's Mom
@gbear: Here ya go!
samara morgan
@Omnes Omnibus: because he’s a moron.
–Y.T.
mainmati
@Unabogie: Gail Collins has the dog covered since she has announced that she will work the reference into every column she writes that references the Mittbot5000.
Sgaile-beairt
@Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor: Maybe they will make up @JoyfulA‘s enthusiasm gap???
uila
@Dee Loralei: Thanks! I’ve been telling Jimmy he needs to get his songs up on youtube. Funny how you need a video when all you want is for people to listen.
taylormattd
But grandmaster political strategist Matt Stoller told me at places like Salon and FDL that Obama has “destroyed” the democratic party, and that he must be primaried.
How can somebody with such pure motives, who definitely hasn’t been seething with hatred for Obama for 6 years, possibly have been wrong?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Shouldn’t we just encourage him to keep talking, in order to get that done? By “that” I mean getting people to hate him as much as possible.
SarahT
@Citizen Alan re, Clime Acts : BINGO, TOO !
jefft452
@Davis X. Machina:
“I doubt it hurts. Low-infos are smug if they’re anything—including smug about being low-info.”
Smug? Yes, but part of the Lo-Fo’s smugness is the belief that their opinion is very, very important and that nobody should make any decisions until they listen and agree to whatever the Lo-Fo’s say first
The Romneys announcing that as far as they’re concerned, he’s already in the White House, before the Lo-Fo’s have even gotten out of bed will go over about as well as Joe Miller’s tweet that he was measuring his new Senate office for curtains the day after he won the primary
Nutella
But Mitt is such a fine manager and businessman! Just what we need to run the country in an efficient and fiscally responsible way!
Except that he’s so pathetically disorganized that he can’t even file his tax forms on time like the rest of us manage to do even though we don’t have $22mill/yr available to hire tax accountants.
mainmati
Of course Romney looks and act like Big Daddy Warbucks but I think it is worth warning that Big Daddy’s going to wage a huge shit war of disinformation and grotesque lies on the American public in this campaign. Like we have never seen before. And most Americans are totally tuned out to politics. Citizens United means a total mobilization because:
The so-called marginal states will be continuously carpet-bombed for months at a time. So young potential voters need to be targeted with continual text and social media messages.
GOTV must be paramount. The Rethuglicans are full on into voter suppression and disenfranchisement. That’s how they see winning on the margin. If they do win, then they will institute the oligarchy.
The stakes for American Democracy – or what’s left of it – couldn’t be higher in this election.
jefft452
@lamh35: “For all McCain’s fault, I never totatlly though he hated Obama personally”
Really?
“That one” – St John the moderate maverick
McCain oozed contempt
As in: Where the hell does this upstart get off thinking he’s my equal? I’m John McCain Damn it!
rikyrah
@MikeJ:
i SAW IT
27%
BWA HA HA AH AH AH AHA
rikyrah
AS TO THE DOG ON THE ROOF THING:
where is PETA.
if BO had a bad haircut, they’d be outside the WH Protesting.
anyone hit up PETA on twitter asking them why they’ve been silent on this?
HgMn
Now that the republicans have congealed around Willard – he apparently is up against the president by a few points in the recent Gallup poll
I have a bad, bad feeling he could win – I mean after all the exposure of the primaries and the gaffes – the best anyone could say about the guy is that he is a little sketchy –
How can he be up in the polls?
gbear
@Shadow’s Mom: Excellent!! Thanks.
catclub
@Unabogie: Someone suggested Huckabee as running mate. His son has dog issues.
catclub
@Mike G: “the same cronyist, corrupt saboteurs Bush and Cheney dragged out of the swamp.”
No! They’ll also be Mormons rather than Liberty U grads.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Ted Kennedy’s lasting gift to the prez, besides healthcare reform, was Bo. How fortunate to have the big, fuzzy lug in residence. Every time he’s seen or mentioned, somebody’s going to recall Seamus and the Willardwagon.
Compare and contrast.
JWL
“I don’t think he’s the monster that Rick Santorum is”.
This forum invites responses to statements such as that.
Respectfully– in that all citizens suffer from one degree or another of political delusion– you are a fool to believe as much.
Sal
lol
Mitt seems to be helping us hate him
Moonbatting Average
Tyrone was the the Nate Silver of crazy, before there was a Nate Silver
Mike in NC
Mitt Romney is a soulless, spineless, entitled 1%er plastic maggot. Perhaps even more despicable than Dubya and McPOW.
suzanne
@Citizen Alan:
And those factions are not rare. My classmates growing up in Mesa came from families that acted as if breeding was an extreme sport. Many, MANY of them were on free lunch, or food stamps, or AHCCCS.
Lots of Mormons I know say that they are persecuted and that people dislike them because of their faith. I guarantee that Mitt will use that as an excuse when he loses. And I will be annoyed, because he, like many of the other LDS I know, will not get that it’s their falseness and judgmentalism that makes them intolerable.
Seriously, I just made a business contact with some consulting engineers who did a lot of international work, and I asked what projects they did outside the US. Turned out it was all MEP engineering on LDS temple. Before I could even say, “Oh cool,” the owner of the company said, “But don’t worry, we’re not all Mormon. Some of us are Mormon, but not all of us. So you’ll l,e working with us.” all I could think was, “I don’t care what church your HVAC system goes to.”
Cacti
Being unlikeable just comes so naturally for Mitt.
This is the guy who counter-protested at Stanford against Vietnam draft protesters, then got a “ministerial deferment” to get out of actually, ya know, fighting for his country or some similar activity that should be restricted to “the help”.
JCT
@Cacti: And the both of them still *ooze* their sense of entitlement. “Get packing” ? “It’s our turn”? WTF — can’t wait until they slip and say something about throwing out the (Ni-CLANG) trash.
I’m with Mike in NC, they are just awful. Not a thing in the world to like about them.
Jebediah
@Citizen Alan:
Hear, hear and well-said.
Cacti
@JCT:
And frankly, I’m about ready for somebody to ask Mitt how he was able to make himself okay with belonging to a church that practiced exclusion of non-whites from its priesthood until he was 31 years old.
Or how Lady Ann was able to accept that practice upon her conversion to Mitt’s faith.
RadioOne
I don’t get the reason why people call Mitt Romney “Willard.” Yes, it’s his first name, but it’s not his preferred name. He prefers to be called “Mitt.” It’s like calling Barack Obama “Barry” when he has asked to be called Barack for decades now.
And I mean, if you’re one of those people who like hitting people for having bad first names, isn’t “Mitt” awful enough?
JGabriel
ABCNews:
Christ. My gender, we really are assholes sometimes.
.
Cris (without an H)
Etch-a-sketchy, even
Cliff in NH
22 million a year, if that was 40 hour weeks (Ha! As If.)
that’s about $10,420 per hour.
His famous $10,000 bet wasn’t even for 1 hour of earnings.
That makes for some interesting cartoon ideas I would think.
Cliff in NH
@RadioOne:
Mitt Isn’t his first name though, so that’s totally different.
Cris (without an H)
Those of us who respect Obama’s record are already in the can (though GOTV is critical for that group). The people we need to “hate” Rmoney are the ones who don’t care for Obama’s record, but aren’t especially sold on Rmoney. We need Mitt’s public perception to stink so bad, no amount of nose-holding will carry him.
Calouste
@HgMn:
The national polls show a 9% or so swing to Romney compared to 2008. The state polls hardly show a swing, maybe 2% or so. Wherever that 9% swing happens, it is not in any states that have recently been polled.
Patricia Kayden
Surprised that Mittens’ unfavorables are just 47%.
Margarita
At the risk of expressing concern, the association with polygamy, magic underwear, and overt “hate” seems a little fraught.
Heliopause
@RadioOne:
It’s an in-group signal that serves no larger political purpose, in fact, it makes its users look childish.
WayneL
“One way or another, we all need to do what we can to make people hate this guy as much as possible.”
Someday this has to stop. Isn’t this exactly the same thing Fox News and all the right wing howling saying about Obama? They have tried to make Americans hate their president for the last four years. Our side shouldn’t become the exact same as the other side! Then neither side stands for anything.
LanceThruster
On FAUX Noise over the weekend, I saw a panel with Brit Hume going on about how the “war on women” has backfired on the Dems and that currently Rmoney is, according to Hume, “now even with Obama, if not a little bit ahead.”
His eyes darted furtively side to side and he had that look of “I vomited a little in my mouth” as if even he knew his lies were transparently obvious and self serving.
Watching this self-inflicted train wreck was like being waterboarded and I think I lasted no longer than 25 to 30 seconds before bailing.
Paul in KY
Just don’t make him (or his wife) a sympathetic figure & we’ll be fine.
jefft452
“I don’t get the reason why people call Mitt Romney “Willard.” Yes, it’s his first name, but it’s not his preferred name. He prefers to be called “Mitt.””
Aye, he does
It highlights the fact that he’s a little weird
I don’t blame him for not going by Willard
My parents actually named me Jeff,
but if my name was Godfrey, I’d go by Geoff
Romney doesn’t want to go by Willard,
But instead of going by Will or Bill, he chooses to use a more “normal” name – Mitt