Romney spokesman brags about RomneyCare…even though it’s the same as the dreaded ObamaCare. Huh?
I can’t improve much on Taegan Goddard’s summary:
Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul “offered an unusual counterattack to an ad in which a laid-off steelworker blames the presumptive GOP nominee for his family losing health care: If that family had lived in Massachusetts, it would have been covered by the former governor’s universal health care law,” Politico reports.
Said Saul: “To that point, if people had been in Massachusetts, under Governor Romney’s health care plan, they would have had health care.”
Sarah Kliff: “That’s how things would have worked..under Romneycare. And its how things will work, for the rest of the country in two years from now — if Obamacare does not get repealed.”
Erick Erickson says conservatives have gotten the message: “Consider the scab picked, the wound opened, and the distrust trickling out again.”
They’ve got distrust, and I hope the only prescription is more cowbell, in the form of Paul Ryan as VP nominee.
General Stuck
Would the real Mitt Romney please stand up?
Villago Delenda Est
Rmoney cannot tack to the center.
The wingtard crew will rise in mutiny if he tries.
Already there is grumbling on the lower deck.
Nevermind that to starboard lies a lee shore.
Keep course to starboard! Or else!
beltane
I’m sure Jennifer Rubin will appear shortly to explain how this is all good news for Rmoney.
Rommie
But, but…
Romneycare, which should be a positive accomplishment to campaign on, is officially a BF anchor around Mitt’s neck.
What A Shame.
Citizen Alan
It is absurd, IMO, to even think of Paul Ryan as VP nominee, but the GOP is an absurd party so anything is possible. Is it possible to run for Vice-President and also for a House seat? The loathsome troll Lieberman ran for his Senate seat while running with Gore, but (a) the Senate is different from the House and (b) the GOP actually has party discipline.
JCT
Talk about stepping on your dick. Oh well, when you base your entire campaign on lies and evasion this is what you reap.
And PLEASE, Mittens, pick Ryan.
Ben Franklin
This is exactly why Rove will tick-burrow into the Campaign.
Villago Delenda Est
@JCT:
I disagree.
Richard Nixon ran a campaign based on lies and evasion (“I have a secret plan to end the war!”) and he succeeded.
However, he had the advantage of running against a Democratic Party that was in disarray, deeply divided.
Rmoney does not have that happy scenario in the offing.
Comrade Dread
Someone didn’t get the memo that the years 2003-2007 do not exist for Mr. Romney.
Much like the years 2001-2008 do not exist for the general GOP.
MikeBoyScout
Seems like there’s the making of an update to the video ad, doesn’t it?
And Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul agrees that the best defense against vulture capitalists like Governor Romney is Obamacare.
David Koch
But, but, but… Halperin insisted upholding Obamacare was Great News for for Romney.
The Moar You Know
@Ben Franklin: He did a long time ago. Fat lot of good it has done them. Looks like Rove’s “math” is as spot-on as it was back in 2008.
If, as I presume, Romney’s campaign people are “the best that money can buy”, then the field of campaign management is in deep shit, because these people couldn’t shoot their way out of a cardboard box with a machine gun and written instructions on how to use it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Citizen Alan:
Depends upon the election laws of the state in question. Texas and Connecticut allowed Lyndon Johnson, Lloyd Bentsen, and Joe Lieberman to run for Senate and be on the ballot as VP nominees.
Violet
@Ben Franklin: I think if that were going to happen, it already would have happened. Romney isn’t Bush and Romney and Rove aren’t old friends. Romney has far too great an ego to allow Failed President Bush’s political strategist to become his political strategist. Romney wants to do it his way. So far, that looks like an excellent strategy.
MikeJ
@Villago Delenda Est:
Not for lack of trying.
KG
I clicked through twice to get to Erickson’s post and then made the mistake of reading some of the comments. Wow.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
It is only matter of time before Romney accuses Obama of being a hard right conservative because Romneycare is more progressive than Obamacare.
And then, in that moment if you listen you can hear the sounds of a million heads exploding.
Baud
Can’t wait until Romney advises a pregnant Texas teen to go to Massachusetts for a taxpayer funded abortion.
Villago Delenda Est
@MikeJ:
Yeah, that’s a huge divide, right there. Why, it’s every bit as big as the one between HHH and Clean Gene!
jl
This hilarious and disgusting and quite deserved fix Mitt got himself in today over Obama/Romney care is nice, and I hope the trend continues.
Apparently the only response the wingnuts will approve of is for Mitt to complain and whine that Obama is using unfair Chicago thug tactics, and unfairly accusing Mitt of killing people because there is no effective safety net for health care for working and middle class.
Mitt can make no substantive reply that bears any relationship to the reality that the majority of US voters are familiar with, because to do that would violate the sacred fantasy realm of wingnut dogma.
Edit: even my description in the second paragraph gets too close to reality. The only approved response for Mitt is to provide the public with him getting huffy and saying “Gosh golly willkers, these thugs are accusing ME of killing people. that is just not cricket, that is FOREIGN to our political system”.
At least Mitt is smart enough to know that won’t work for every issue to election day, but what else can he do that will not rile the wingnuts?
The Dangerman
The Doomsday Clock for Mitt (not making it out of the convention) just ticked a little closer to midnight. Still an extreme longshot for someone else, but no longer unthinkable. His taxes have sunk him and the base is approaching full revolt. Couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole.
Ben Franklin
@The Moar You Know:
If he has been at the controls, he’s definitely lost his Mojo. I don’t recognize his handiwork.
Violet
What’s happened to the front page. The whole thing is borked for me.
MattF
I think this a feeble attempt by Mitt to tack away from the crazies. I assume:
1) That Saul made her comments (on FOX NEWS!) on Romney’s direct instructions. Romney would not hire someone who either has independent views and/or wouldn’t follow instructions.
2) Romney realizes he’s falling behind and needs to do something to counter the successful Dem campaign to paint him as a lying, hypocritical plutocrat.
3) As a lying hypocritical plutocrat, Romney doesn’t care (or may not even be genuinely aware of the fact) that the new position contradicts the old one.
The Moar You Know
@Villago Delenda Est: He also had the following advantages over Romney:
1. Not a fucktard.
2. Born poor, and consumed with a burning rage to get revenge for that.
3. The ability to give at least a somewhat convincing speech.
4. Made of human parts and not circuit cards.
5. Hired people smarter than him because he knew he didn’t have all the answers.
Nixon also had a lot of flaws, as it turns out. But not as many as Romney.
PeakVT
Cole broke the blog.
Mrs. Cole, please call your son and yell at him.
jl
I think if you go back, Mitt has tried out finesses for his Obama/Romney care policies he introduced while governor of MA.
For example: Obama/Romney care is a good policy as tailored for a state like MA, especially crafted by his CEO brilliance, etc, but it would not be good policy and not constitutional to impose on every state.
That is reasonable position to take, a person could argue it and still be sane and still be able to talk about the real world. I think it is 100 percent mistaken, but whatever.
I recall Mitt trotting that tack out in primaries and around time hie clinched nomination. Maybe Romney camp thought that approach would fly, that the wingnuts would cut him a millimeter of slack. But looks like the wingnuts have really jumped off the cliff into insanity, even in terms of packaging and framing for campaign tactics. I like it.
Cassidy
@The Moar You Know: Admittedly, it’s the loading of said machine gun that tends to cause people problems.
He’s picking Ryan. He wants a toadie.
Haydnseek
@jl: I love it. Pin his ass to the mat with Romneycare while hitting him with the steel folding chair marked “tax returns.” He’s been playing defense for quite awhile now, and the wheels are starting to come off. I see I’ve used up my minimum daily allowance of metaphors…
quannlace
For some reason, I was curious what blow-back this was getting, spefically from Free Republic. Of course, the posts there were turning themselves inside out trying to prove it was all that couple’s own fault. He got laid off but the wife still had her own insurance till she had to quit due to a disability, but the timeline this….and the timeline that…whatever.
The sheer viciousness is always amazing.
On a shallow note, it’s been a couple years since I looked at Free Republic’s website and it’s exactly the same. I mean the design/interface. Still looks like a message board from 1996.
jl
@Haydnseek: And the media refs are even more fickle and unreliable than the stalwarts you see on pro wrestling.
Sad day for Mitt.
Mitt has no guts, and cannot deal with the wingnuts. They may be too insane to deal with, but I have seen no evidence that Mitt even tries. Look at his double flip flop on culture and economic development on his foreign affairs trip.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Cassidy: He’s picking Ryan. He wants a toadie.
I don’t see Ryan as a toadie, he’s as self-serving and ambitious as Willard, and will overshadow the Number One, which I don’t think Willard (or Mrs Willard) wants. If he wants a toadie, I think it’s Pawlenty (“Obamneycare + today’s flap” = possibly fatal?) or Jindal (too wimpy + creationism = fatal?) I think he goes with Portman, who’s less a toadie than a drone, a born Vice President, whether you’re talking about Bain or the GOP ticket, from what I’ve seen
KG
@Haydnseek: Since you went there with the pro wrestling analogy first… I like to think of it as more of a con-chair-to
MattF
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: BTW, see Fred Kaplan on why it’s not Petraeus:
slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2012/08/david_petraeus_vp_rumors_seven_reasons_why_…
Cassidy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ryan strikes me as the perfect smarmy sycophant. If these two were in business together, Ryan could be counted on to always say “that’s a good idea boss”.
KG
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Jindal would set off birthers because neither of his parents were citizens when he was born (and worse, they only came to the country six months before he was born, which means he was conceived in some foreign land). The real birthers don’t believe you can be a natural born citizen unless both your parents were citizens and you were born here (nevermind that they didn’t care that McCain was born in Panama).
kay
The PPACA is polling slightly better, slowly but surely. I attribute this to a complete lack of media coverage once Justice Scalia exited the stage and media lost interest.
I used to whine incessantly that they didn’t cover the substance of the law, but I’ve changed my mind. It’s better for everyone if we learn about the law from people who have some understanding of it. I honestly think regular people will do better just talking with one another about it.
My head is going to explode if Romney starts taking credit for the popular parts of this law. I wouldn’t put it past him.
yam
Hey, they’re just shakin’ the Etch-A-Sketch…
Roger Moore
@KG:
FTFY.
KG
@Roger Moore: well played, sir
Killjoy
Shorter Mitt: RomneyCare is too awesome for the rest of America.
jl
@kay: Rush has spoken. Mitt must say nothing about Obama/Romney care. Only whine and emit self righteous outrage that the Obama commie thugs are being mean to him.
Davis X. Machina
@Cassidy: Each Burns, his Smithers….
Villago Delenda Est
@KG:
Actually, the Paulistas jumped up and down and screamed about this in 2008, which prompted the Senate to make an official statement about McCain’s eligibility.
The thing is that “natural born” isn’t, as far as I’ve been able to glean, legally defined. Certainly the entire “your parents must be citizens and were born in the US” applies to Obama, which is an astonishing coinkydink.
The Moar You Know
@Ben Franklin: I don’t either, but I do know he’s been working with the campaign since 2011.
FWIW, this country’s changed a LOT since the last time (2004) Karl pulled a victory out of his ample back pocket. And one of the biggest changes has been who is running the Republican party – used to be semi-sane plutocrats. Not anymore. To even get the foamed-mouth base to notice you you’ve got to tack a lot further right than most Americans – 73%, at last count – are willing to go.
As one of my favorite non-political bloggers recently said: ” As always, encounters with ultra-conservative America are terrifying to normal people.”
pragmatism
@beltane:
did you see Parnee’s Hack List entry on Rubin? salon.com/2012/08/02/jennifer_rubin_mitt_romneys_top_media_shill/
Turgidson
@Cassidy:
If he wants a toadie, why would he pick Ryan? That guy is utterly convinced that he’s smarter than Stephen Hawking and that his shit smells like cinnamon rolls. I would expect him to be a shameless self-promoter, at Romney’s expense if need be, if he was tapped. I don’t see him quietly following orders, staying on script and sticking to attack dog talking points. Soliloquys about his own brilliance would find their way into his public remarks.
Which would be fucking awesome for the Democrats, also too.
KG
@Villago Delenda Est: Congress has never defined it, and various courts have discussed it but only in dicta. So we’re basically left with common law understandings, which are basically, you’re born here (with exceptions for children of ambassadors and such) or you’re born to at least one parent who was a citizen. Though, I think there are some UN treaties that also deal with citizenship issues… not sure if we are signatories or if we had any reservations, but I vaguely recall there being some international law on the subject.
Turgidson
@kay:
He’ll do it if there’s short term gain to be had. Then he’ll have to do something outrageous to get the base to shut the fuck up about it, of course.
R-Jud
@Villago Delenda Est:
Here’s how it was explained to me by the US Embassy in London when I registered my kid there: if your child is born on US soil? Natural-born citizen.
If your child is born anywhere else to an American mother? Natural-born citizen.
If your child is born anywhere else and only the father is American? There may be an extra form necessary to certify paternity, but still: natural-born citizen.
In order to run for office, you must also have lived in the US for at least 14 or 15 years prior to running. I *believe* that’s in the Constitution, but am entirely too drunk to check right now.
R-Jud +3
Cassidy
@Turgidson: Honestly? Just something about Ryan says toadie to me.
Roger Moore
@kay:
In marketing, they say that a referral from a satisfied customer is more valuable than any ad. When the main thing people hear about Obamacare is shouting and screaming from the Republicans, they don’t like it. When the main thing they hear is their friends who have just gotten some benefit they needed, it’s going to be very popular.
MattF
@kay: Thing is, you can’t put any claim past Romney. So, don’t let him endanger your cranial integrity, we need you. Just keep asking people “You know it’s a lie, right?”
James E. Powell
@Cassidy:
I don’t see Ryan as a toady, or as the kind of person who wants to be remembered as the backup quarterback on a losing team. I could be wrong, but I think he has his eyes on 2016.
Haydnseek
@KG: That is just hilarious. I’m not a wrestling fan, but the over the top weirdness is oddly compelling. Tip ‘o the hat for finding that so fast.
Ben Franklin
@The Moar You Know:
My assumption (Mitt as micro manager) was that Rove was more of a consultant, and Romney is risk averse and control-freakish. But, after looking at the tubes, I see he is the Rmoney avatar. Thanks. You made my day.
Roger Moore
@R-Jud:
You are correct, and the number is 14 years. Note, though, that there’s no statement that those 14 years have to be consecutive or immediately before the election, and some presidents (most obviously Hoover and Eisenhower) spent extended periods outside the USA in the 14 years immediately before their elections.
James E. Powell
@Haydnseek:
I see I’ve used up my minimum daily allowance of metaphors…
You might be able to borrow some from Tom Friedman, they may be a little twisted up and stuck to other metaphors.
John
@Citizen Alan:
I think it depends on the state. William Miller and Geraldine Ferraro, the last two house members to be nominated for VP, did not run for re-election. Both represented New York, so who knows what the deal is for other states.
Lahru
Rmoney’s campaign is a eff’n train wreck, this wiil go down as….
He’s toast and it’s only August.
Alex
For those asking about Jennifer Rubin, she spent today talking about how awesome Bill Clinton is amd that he’ll tank Obama at the convention. Of course, she was only following the lead of Romney surrogate Newt Gingrich who held a conference call praising Bill Clinton’s bipartisan leadership…
karen
@Cassidy:
Ryan would be saying “Yes boss,” but would also be pumping the air into the tires of the bus to throw Romney under.
TerryC
@quannlace: They can’t change the interface because the constituency has learned how to navigate what they have while very drunk, and without ever standing up. No capacity to change.
Quincy
My first instinct was that wingnuts’ outrage over this was a byproduct of Romney accidentally triggering their Obamacare meltdown mode, magnified by the humiliating reminder that members of their own party once supported an early prototype of the worlds greatest evil. But I’m wondering now if perhaps they haven’t just been waiting for an opportunity to turn on Mitt. The polls and gaffes from the last month have to be worrying them. They can’t publicly express that anxiety in a way that would support whst everyone else sees: people like Obama, don’t like vulture capitalists or tax cheats, and are scared by wingnuts. Instead they’ve been forced to wait until they could jump on something and say. “He’s losing because he’s not being conservative enough.”
slightly_peeved
@Ben Franklin:
@The Moar You Know:
Maybe it’s not that Rove’s got worse, but that the competition got better. You keep the same players and the same plays, and eventually the other teams will figure them out. It also can’t help that the one thing that Romney can do to change the campaign is release his tax returns.
karen
@Quincy:
You think they have their great white hope hidden in the back of a truck to be released and presented at the GOP convention and wins the nomination instead of Romney?
I’m sure they wish they did.
pseudonymous in nc
@Turgidson:
Zactamundo. He’s busy planning his coup to take down Orange Julius and install Cantor as Speaker and himself as Maj. Leader, knowing that the House GOP is also shit-scared of Grover Norquist, who in turn regards Romney as an autopen.
Roger Moore
@slightly_peeved:
The candidate might have something to do with it, too.
MattF
@karen: The Great White Hope has a problem. He’s dead:
youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218
IowaOldLady
My god, the Romney compaign is inept. What does that mean? Is it just a reflection of his leadership? Is it that they’re struggling and when that happens, it’s easy to go wrong? Is it a sign of the disarray in Republicanland, so any campaign would have trouble running well? Maybe it’s like a liar having trouble remembering what lies he’s told?
I just have never seen a campaign like this one.
Ben Franklin
@IowaOldLady:
I just have never seen a campaign like this one.
You must be too young to remember McGovern’s Campaign (1972)
the Conster
@jl:
Mitt’s gotten trapped between Rush and Mornin’ ho – JoeScar got from Romney today what he was screaming about this morning. Mitt listened to JoeScar about screaming about his record, so he does, and gives fatso an aneurysm. This is very entertaining.
ETA: I think I’ll actually watch that turdpile tomorrow morning just to see how he spins it for Mitty.
mumbly_joe
“OMG”, to quote Erick son of Erick. I think you’re right, Doug. The Romney camp had hoped to use the upcoming VP pick to distract from the tax issue, but now they’re going to have to burn the pick on placating their own wingnut base.
So, get ready for Going Rogue: Part II: Going Roguer: Electric Boogaloo: Return of the Rogue, with a Vengeance: the Roguening.
Ben Franklin
@slightly_peeved:
You guys are really charging my ancient battery,,,thx
xian
@Haydnseek: I was just thinking the same thing. If he loses the teatards while trying to etch-a-sketch his way back to the center the wheels are coming off this campaign, Obama will take 40+ states and the Dems will hold the Senate and take back the House.
Bobby Thomson
@Villago Delenda Est: No need to go back that far. Biden won re-election to the Senate in 2008, which in a roundabout fashion finally removed Mike Castle from his entrenched House seat and allowed the election of Democrats both to that seat and to Biden’s old seat.
Haydnseek
@xian: I think the Dems will hold the Senate, but take back the House? Coattails that long are the things that liberals dreams are made of. I’m not that optimistic. It might take four more years of teh crazy before the wingnuts crash and burn for good, but if the Romney implosion is catastrophic enough, who knows? I really hope you’re right.
TexasMango
I’m beginning to think that Romney actually was an absentee CEO at Bain because if he ran Bain the way he ran his campaign, he would’ve run the company into the ground.
mainmati
@Citizen Alan: “…the GOP has discipline…” Nope, only about ideology and, as we have seen in the hapless House, Speaker Orange Julius has very little control over the Teabaggers when it comes to that. As for the campaign, this was supposed to be a Coronation and CEO Mittens is now not pleased and already quite hoarse on the campaign trail.
As is stands, he is staggering into gun-filled Tampa Bay battered and weak. Sure, we’ll see a billion dollars of GOP TV ads but if the messenger remains a hollow vessel, only the Obama haters will vote for him.
mainmati
@Haydnseek: Not a chance the HOR will go back to the Dems anytime soon (or at least the next Congress). 2010 was a colossal disaster because it switched both the HOR but also a lot of Governors and State legislatures during a decennial census leading to a whole lot of gerrymandering.
2006 and 2008 were likewise reactions to the disaster of the Bush years but didn’t affect constituencies much. So there is still a solid block of hardcore reactionaries that range from 25 to as much as 40% of the national voting electorate (not actual adults) depending upon the year/candidates. They are dedicated to working to destroy the Federal Government in the name of Freedom (i.e. enslaving themselves to corporations) or at least turning the Gummint into just a really, really huge DOD.
The stakes are actually that severe. The Goopers figure that even if Obama gets re-elected they can count on the Democrats caving in to every Goopeer Congressional threat because the GOP are just craaaazy. This could make for a very long next 2-4 years of dysfunction because it really isn’t clear whether the deep red voters really care whether Washington works or not.
eyelessgame
My wingnut highschool friends, who for some reason I am still facebookfriends with, have a defense of Rmoneycare that boils down to “four legs good, two legs bad” – Rmoneycare is okay because it’s state-run, full stop. That’s it; that’s all they say. State good, nation bad.
Patriots all.
Haydnseek
this is a test