I believe the point I was made is that the president starts off with a large number of the voters, 47, 48, 49 percent, something like that. These are people who are in his camp and, uh, they will vote for him almost no matter what. […] I point out I recognize that among those that pay no tax, approximately 47 percent of Americans, I’m not likely to be highly successful with the message of lowering taxes. […] And so I then focus on those individuals who I believe are most likely to be able to be pulled into my camp and help me win the 51 or 50.1 percent that I need to become the next President.
He’s now told you what he needs, voters. What are you waiting for?
comrade scott's agenda of rage
It’s standard Atwater/Rove tactics on winning an election.
It’s all he’s got.
shoutingattherain
The Electoral College is people too, my friends.
jibeaux
I’m not trying to say Obama voters are leeches and moochers always wanting food and healthcare. I’m just saying that 47% of people support Obama. Also, 47% of people pay no taxes and are leeches and moochers always wanting food and healthcare.
Sly
I watched the presser earlier, and the various defenses of Romney popping up now that its too big to ignore, and I can come to no other conclusion than this:
Conservatives hate Obama more than they love America.
danimal
The arguments that Romney makes are standard (if oftentimes hidden) conservative boilerplate. It’s the tone and inflection that damns Romney. He is conversational, passionate, full of conviction. This is not the Romneybot 3000 that we see on the campaign trail.
The safe, moderate-sounding thoughtful Romney that everyone was hoping is the real Romney has been exposed as a scam. That’s what makes this tape lethal to his candidacy.
Rafer Janders
It’s a mandate!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
This is who they are. As many noted, it’s striking how much more fluent he is in English when talking to those he finds worth his attention. The rest of us, well, we’re pretty much the help, or moochers. Fuck him and his harridan heiress too. Ideally with molten rusted farm implements.
c u n d gulag
So, while Obama reaches out and tries to be a President to ALL Americans, all Mitt wants is to be President for 50.1%
That Mitt – he’s such a ‘uniter, not a divider!’
Felinious Wench
A pony.
The Dangerman
At this point, I’d be far from shocked if the next tape released had him talking about a movie he was financing that was going to mock the prophet Mohammed.
Romney’s Dead Man Talking; can we just have the vote and be done with it? Make it stop for goodness sake.
Comrade Mary
@jibeaux: Do you write for the CBC? I swear I was close to throwing my radio out the window AGAIN last night when they first started covering the story. It was all “gosh, a few hiccups for Romney” and “Romney insulted Obama voters” and “the tape was leaked by LEFTIST MAGAZINE Mother Jones.”
beltane
At the rate Mitt’s campaign is going I’d give it until Friday before someone produces his tax returns showing he is indeed a member of the 47%.
betty, air
For Romney it’s always been a game of numbers. He, who’s used the government regulations to fund his ventures – a la Olympics and capital venture (bankruptcy), is a talented game player. Which means to win the game he doesn’t need hearts and minds of the electorate, he just needs enough of our votes and then he’ll have won. That is the goal.
It’s the same with his taxes. There is no law that requires him to reveal 10 years of tax returns. There’s just the custom of every other presidential candidate of having done so. But not law. So Romney will never comply despite the moaning by people of influence. They can’t make him do it. They will never get him to do it.
The Bearded Blogger
@Sly: Conservatives don’t love America at all! They were willing to sabotage the economy so that Blacky McBlackyBlack wouldn’t get reelected! They love political power…
Punchy
Can I get this in Engrish?
Captain Haddock
Sorry, I don’t see this hurting Romney. The retirees collecting SS will still see this only as an attack on dark-skinned layabouts.
It made for some of the best morning TV since the Olympics though :)
MattR
Sadly, this is not true. There are plenty of poor white folks in states like Mississippi and Alabama who support Mitt’s plan.
The Bearded Blogger
@beltane: If this happens, Joe Biden will say Mitt wants to be Moocher in Chief
beltane
@The Bearded Blogger: Put it this way, conservatives love America the way pedophiles love children. There is nothing pure nor noble about this type of “love” and there is nothing honorable or patriotic about conservatives.
The Bearded Blogger
@MattR: Maybe Mitts contempt for them will help a few see the light?
@The Dangerman: Nah, the more Mitt dangles, the closer we get to speaker Pelosi!
rikyrah
He is who we thought he was
Brachiator
@c u n d gulag:
But, but, he’s going to pull the rest up by their boot straps. Just by his shining example and bright smile.
peach flavored shampoo
Fixed
RP
Damn, dude.
beltane
I suppose the whole compassionate conservative/1,000 points of light thing has been tossed out the window. Perhaps we should be grateful that Romney is no calling for the immediate extermination of half the country.
Bulworth
Gosh that’s some word salad there. Is ex-half-gov writing his speeches?
SatanicPanic
Romney is far too convinced of his own brilliance to just shut up and let someone else run his campaign like Bush did. Otherwise, they’re about the same level of stupid.
The Bearded Blogger
@Captain Haddock: I disagree. Romney is actually right that there are large voting blocks that won’t budge in any case, but I see the tide turning. There were no racial dog whistles in this video, just pure contempt for the non-rich who mooch off government.
Plus, the visuals of dishevelled Mitt meekly non apologizing have to hurt. People want to vote for leaders
@beltane: That’s an awesome phrase. Better than Al Franken’s… and more precise, too.
gene108
@Rafer Janders:
Man date? Is Romney gay?
Steeplejack
Fix’d.
FlipYrWhig
What’s particularly sad is that there really are people who pay no net income tax who support Romney vociferously because they have no clue he’s talking about them. They see that taxes are taken out of their paycheck, don’t think of their refund as offsetting it but instead as, uh, settling the score or something, and feel deeply that their hard-earned money is being taken from them, even though they get it all back as it is. A hearty SMH is in order.
cmorenc
The implicit Rove-style Romney calculation is this:
– the Democrats start out with the 47% of the electorate, the proportion who are allegedly tax/government service moochers, who would be strongly inclined to vote for Obama, that is IF they were motivated and able to vote.
– the Republicans start out with a somewhat smaller portion of the electorate who are strongly inclined to vote for Mitt and the GOP, but who are on average, more motivated and able to actually get out and vote.
SO: the strategy goes like this:
OBAMA VOTE: (47% of potential electorate inclined to vote democratic * %D-leaners motivated to actually vote * percentage of of D-leaning motivated voters actually eligible to vote).
ROMNEY VOTE: (45% or less of potential electorate inclined to to vote GOP * % R-leaners motivated to actually vote * % of R-leaning motivated voters actually eligible to vote).
The bet is that (% R-leaners motivated to actually vote * % motivated R-leaners eligible to vote) is sufficiently greater than (% D-leaners motivated to actually vote * % motivated D-leaners actually eligible to vote) that the net result overcomes the initial greater number of Obama-inclined among the total electorate. A similar strategy worked spectacularly well in 2010, but in their view failed in 2008 only because too high a percentage of D-leaners were both motivated and allowed (eligible) to vote.
GOP SOLUTION: discourage as many D-leaners as possible from voting at all, and disqualify as many motivated D-leaners as possible from being eligible. Be successful enough with this strategy, and it won’t matter how big a bumbling dick Romney comes across as to a majority of the electorate. A majority’s inclinations don’t matter if they don’t or can’t get out to actually vote.
eric
Hey GOP cheer up: you go to election day with the upper-class twit you have, not the upper-class twit you wish you had.
FlipYrWhig
@SatanicPanic: Romney isn’t stupid intellectually, but he has zero emotional intelligence and no ability to make a human connection with anyone.
catclub
@peach flavored shampoo: Not just negros. It is a long list of people who are Americans that they have to insist they hate first. Right before saying God Bless America.
Thomas Merton has a lot to say about hating other people, or characteristics of other people, that reflect on yourself.
Joel
Nate Silver has senate forecasts!
Good news for the Democrats, opening at 70% to hold majority, with an extremely outside (5%) chance to get up to 60 seats.
gene108
@The Bearded Blogger:
Nothing to do with him being black. It has everything to do with him not being a Republican, because:
“They love
politicalpower…” in all its forms. Politics is just one of those forms. Tons of money and a military you can order around (without getting yourself killed) are others.zzyzx
I think this is distraction from the real issue. Mitt’s plan for everything: do nothing and magic pixie dust will fix it.
The economy? ” If it looks like I’m going to win, the markets will be happy. If it looks like the president’s going to win, the markets should not be terribly happy. It depends of course which markets you’re talking about, which types of commodities and so forth, but my own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We’ll see capital come back and we’ll see—without actually doing anything—we’ll actually get a boost in the economy. ”
The mideast? “[S]o what you do is, you say, you move things along the best way you can. You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem…and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.”
Romney ’12, vote for me and magic pixie dust will solve everything!
zzyzx
@zzyzx:
Sorry about repeating the pixie dust line.
wrb
New film: Romney calls hispanics “taco Jockeys”
http://dailycurrant.com/2012/09/18/hidden-camera-tape-romney-blasts-loser-hispanics/
Face
Didnt the Al Gore Screwjob in 2000 show this to be false? Isn’t the proper phrase “help me win 270 electors….”?
Linda Featheringill
@Captain Haddock:
We oldsters tend to vote a lot like the rest of the country, but maybe slightly more Republican.
This is a site with numbers from the 2006 election, which was a good year for Democrats.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html
You’ll note that old folks favor Democrats more than the white males do, for example.
More recently, I remember some numbers for Ohio, produced I think in September of this year. [Don’t remember where.] Anyway, Obama is up in Ohio by about 4 points. Obama is ahead among the oldsters by about 2 points.
The calm and reasonable response from me would be to say “You can’t tell what a person is thinking by how they look.”
The emotional response from me when I am unjustly blamed for something is much more colorful. But I’ll skip that today.
[Yes, it does hurt to see us oldsters blamed for what the entire populace is doing.]
Kay
@The Bearded Blogger:
That’s what I think, too. All anyone has seen of him since the convention is a big mess. His whole pitch was competence, and he’s a disaster.
Also. Republicans (his base) hate ‘losers’. Winning is the only thing.
gene108
@eric:
Keep in mind, Mitt was the most moderate of the GOP bunch; the one, who was viewed as least likely to scare the pants off of average Americans, with the right-wing views held by conservatives today.
I shudder to think of the tone they are going to take in 2014 and 2016, if (and when) Romney loses in 2012, since conservatism cannot fail, it can only be failed.
wrb
beltane
@wrb: Is that a spoof?
Comrade Mary
@wrb: Yeah, it’s a parody site. Nice job on the visuals, though.
? Martin
@beltane: You almost don’t even need that. It takes some work to opt out of Medicare altogether, and Mitt is 65. He’s almost certainly part of the 47%.
Remember – his assertion is that anyone who receives government assistance of any kind, even if it’s trivial and they’re a billionaire, is a victim who won’t take responsibility for their life. That’s the only way you get to that 47%. So virtually everyone 65+ is in that column. Anyone who has stated “I paid into Medicare and Social Security and I deserve my benefits” is now a victim, expects everything out of the government, and won’t take responsibility.
As this gets unpacked it’s going to wake some people up. I think a lot of those older voters – who have never been red-meat Republicans are going to take offense at this. And rightly so. And even a lot of those white blue collar workers that we trust are a big part of Mitts base, but have gone through layoffs and periods of unemployment benefits may take offense as well. It’s one thing to be that guy and say that there should be less of that kind of support (presumably through more jobs) and vote Republican but it’s another thing entirely to be called an irresponsible victim for falling into that category. There are a lot of people on the right looking for an excuse to dislike Romney. This is going to push some of them over the edge – or at least to stay home.
The Bearded Blogger
@wrb: OMFG!!! Romney is a racist prick, and, really, the best embodiment of the modern GOP they could nominate. Once that video is released and makes the news, it’s gonna have an impact way beyond this year’s elections. There are plenty of latinos who vote republican because they are part of the religious right… once the contempt the GOP has for them is shown plainly, they’ll move their votes elsewhere, for sure.
WereBear
How adorable. Ann Romney’s wish has come true. It is, indeed, Mitt Unzipped.
Tinkle on us again, Mitt Romney, and tell us it is a warm summer rain!
BGinCHI
@Joel: I hope we start hearing more about down-ticket numbers. What is the political science on how a shite Prez candidate affects down-ticket races nationally?
Chuck Todd would be better off analyzing that stuff than putting his foot in his mouth about other stuff.
What sort of miracle will it take to win back the House? Or is voter suppression going to squash all of these possibilities?
Chris
@Sly:
My take: conservatives love America in the same sense that the woman in Solomon’s Judgment, who preferred cutting the baby in half, “loved” the baby.
Face
@wrb: That cant possibly be authentic. There’s no way he’s that stupid to say that shit out loud.
Brachiator
@cmorenc:
The math doesn’t add up, because Romney’s nonsense about the 47% has nothing to do with reality, not with who pays taxes, or with who votes.
@FlipYrWhig:
His wife and kids love him. But then again, they’re paid to do so.
gene108
Also, too I feel sorry for Mitt.
He carefully crafted a strategy to run for President. Pass first in the nation universal health care coverage in Massachusetts, which shows he can tackle tough social problems – remember this was still in the era of “compassionate” conservatism, where the Republican Party was O.K. with expanding Medicare and the Dept of Education, as long as their backers got a cut – and use his business background to win over any conservatives, who think he would sell out on the core economic issues that matter to them.
Little did he realize how absolutely and totally the Bush, Jr. administration would flame out in its second term and that the Republican Party would utterly and totally reject Bush, Jr. in the process, throwing “compassionate” conservatism out the window and just going with good old fashioned IGMFY conservatism.
The fact he still has the drive to run, when he knows his Party is full of nuts either shows a strong inner resolve to win or a serious emotional disorder of someone, whose ego is so big, he doesn’t know, when to quit.
wrb
@Comrade Mary:
oh damn.
Second time I’ve been caught believing a parody of Mitt
Waynski
@rikyrah: Mitt is the Mitt we’ve been waiting for.
BenA
@Captain Haddock:
I don’t know… this really seems to have some sting. At the very least it hurts because it continues the theme of the Romney campaign in disarray… and I believe continues to paint Romney as a out of touch rich jackass.
roc
I like him doubling-down on the 51% ‘goal’. A nice, subtle recasting of the problem to make it sound more achievable and try to shore up the flagging enthusiasm. And juxtaposed against the “47%” of lucky duckies, it makes it sound like a fair fight.
It’s the only good messaging he’s done. I mean, ignoring the part where his pitch is deeply disingenuous and intellectually bankrupt.
Steeplejack
@wrb, @wrb:
I call bullshit. That link appears to be snark–and badly done snark, at that.
SatanicPanic
@FlipYrWhig: I suppose you’re right and that makes him the opposite of Bush, who could make friends but has probably never read a book cover to cover.
Face
There is not a more clueless, pompous, mindless-parroting douchebag on TV today.
Comrade Mary
FOR FUCK’S SAKE PEOPLE, enough of the credulity, OK?
You all have brains in your heads, you know how to click, and you know how to read.
If you scroll down to the comments at the Daily Currant, you will see a whole lot of “OMFG! You fooled me! HA HA!”. If you go to the goddamned About link at the bottom of the fucking page, you will read this:
I despair. I fucking despair.
dr. bloor
@beltane: That’s the other shoe to drop, now, innit?
Thanks for getting everyone’s mind back on income tax returns, Mittster!
Kay
We may be too cynical. The Obama camp has a video of voter reactions to the press conference:
“I actually felt sick to my stomach”
GxB
@The Bearded Blogger: Chill dude, Daily Currant is a glossier version of The Onion. Course the Onion has an eerie tendency to be right on the money – eventually.
Comrade Mary
Sorry for yelling, and we all can be fooled (I have a damn good claim to Queen Egg on Face myself), but when a fringe site that probably no one here has ever heard of before makes some outrageous claim, and it kindly tells you that it’s a parody if you take the minimal steps required to check it out, there is no good reason to repost what they say in good faith, or to be shocked and speculative here about how it can’t be true (can it?).
READ SKEPTICALLY. For the FSM’s sake, folks.
Comrade Jake
The funny part about this quote is that, if you listen to the audio, Mitt almost gets to 50 in his counting before catching himself.
I do wonder about the people at this fundy who decided to cut Mittens a check after he basically suggested that there’s only about 1 % of the electorate in play.
The Moar You Know
Even Karl Rove knows that calling half the population of the United States useless shitbags is not a winning strategem.
FlipYrWhig
@? Martin: I don’t think it’s going to offend anyone in the “keep big government out of my Medicare” crowd. They can’t process the idea that he’s lumping them in to build that 47% statistic. They know he’s referring to someone else. Those People, you know, the ones too lazy to work for a living. You could shows them directly that their situation is exactly what Mitt just derided, but there’s no way they’ll have that epiphany.
Citizen_X
@beltane: From The Daily Currant, “The Global Satirical Newspaper of Record.”
So, yes, spoof.
Steeplejack
@Comrade Mary:
Plus if you look at the “supporting” links in the story they are just generic links to a Wikipedia bio or to an organization’s home page.
I agree: there is plenty of genuine fail to hit Romney on without the need to fall for and propagate “humor” like this as real.
catclub
@Comrade Mary: Jonathan Swift did not have to put that addendum on his Modest Proposal.
Not sure if our children is learning over the centuries.
Villago Delenda Est
@Sly:
Absolutely. This is why I think we’re rapidly approaching the ni*CLANG* event horizon. Rmoney, or one of his surrogates, is going to go there. He might actually do it during the first debate, if Obama hits the right buttons, and Obama can hit buttons when he wants to.
It’s so painfully obvious who the “47%” are in the eyes of the 27%. It’s all those brown people, all those moochers and parasites, who are sponging off the hard work of white Americans.
It’s pure bullshit, but it’s bullshit that plays to their fears, to their bigotry, to their secret inner knowledge that the demographics are changing, and soon they will find out what it’s like to be the despised minority, because frankly, most of us white people DESERVE it. We’ve been treating “the other” like scum for centuries, and now it’s payback time.
catclub
@FlipYrWhig: “but there’s no way they’ll have that epiphany.”
Unlikely, admittedly, but this discussion might make a few people realize. Especially if we emphasize who those 47% are:
the elderly who depend on Social Security and medicare, students , disabled vets and other disabled. Eventually a light may dawn. ‘They, is us.’
FlipYrWhig
@The Moar You Know: I dunno. I can see a way that it would work. It involves some of the useless shitbags looking down at the other useless shitbags and feeling like they’re much more useful and, um, non-shitbaggy themselves, and being motivated to turn out and vote to stop the country from being overrun by a Shitbag Majority.
Ding dong
I don’t think republicans are going talking shit about Jimmy Carter anymore. His karma just ran over Romney’s dogma, james carter iv is getting someb crap from rightwingers on his twitter feed if people want to there and. Send him some support,
WereBear
@Ding dong: So! Revenge is a dish best served… by someone of the third generation.
Cassidy
@Linda Featheringill: Well, to be fair it is the old people’s fault. ;D
@BGinCHI: Chuck Todd? Analyze? Do you know soemething the rest of us don’t?
@wrb: It’s easy to believe.
curiousleo
And yet, Romney & his camp believe releasing his tax returns would be worse than letting this video churn through another media day. Because if anything would distract everyone from this fundraising speech it would be Mitt releasing 6 additional years of complete tax returns.
MrSnrub
@wrb: Please tell me this is not a spoof.
I can’t tell anymore.
quannlace
He managed to unite the British against him, now he’s starting in on his own countrymen.
What an overachiever!
Joel
@wrb: I know it’s fun to troll for hits, but it’s probably better to disclose honestly.
Joel
@wrb: I know it’s fun to troll for hits, but it’s probably better to disclose honestly.
GxB
@FlipYrWhig: In Cacas Sacculo Nos Confídimus “In Shitbag We Trust”
I’ll let someone else play the part of Cleese in the graffiti scene of Life of Brian.
Brachiator
@Kay:
Great video.
And a hell of a commercial for Apple’s iPad.
I hope people paste this stuff up on their FB pages, send it to their wingnut friends and relatives.
the Conster
@Ding dong:
Shouldn’t they be praising him for showing the world their candidate making the argument they’ve been wanting him to make? Isn’t that why Willard chose Ryan? Conservatives are so fucking cornfuzzledly moronic.
The Bearded Blogger
@GxB: yeah, saw that afterwards, couldn’t edit comment.
Admiting that 1): I’m dumb, it is, nevertheless telling that 2) being outrageous satire, it still wasn’t outrageous enough that it could be believed as true
JCT
I look forward to Obama visiting Florida and telling seniors that Romney called everyone who doesn’t pay income taxes “losers” . But that they shouldn’t worry because Romney already has a plan to decrease their leech-like dependence on the rest of us, it’s called VoucherCare and the entire Republican house already voted for it.
And I think Carney’s comments today about the President caring about all Americans was spot-on.
Elizabelle
@Kay:
My cynical take on that ad?
Responses are genuine.
And they’re from a young black couple, and three white women.
Couldn’t the Obama campaign find a white (even middle-aged) male or stereotypical working stiff to film?
Glad the word is getting out, but the ad reminded me of the Phillips Milk of Magnesia ads, where constipation (?) only affects women and blacks.
Peter
@Comrade Mary: I love the CBC, but their coverage of US politics is always abysmal. They just don’t have the expertise, so they eat up whatever junk the mainstream US press shuts out and regurgitates it for Canadian audiences, without a shred of original reporting or credulity.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@The Bearded Blogger: Watch out. It really sounds like a spoof.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est: Absolutely. This is why I think we’re rapidly approaching the ni*CLANG* event horizon. Rmoney, or one of his surrogates, is going to go there. No. This is nothing more than the odd little fantasy of some Balloon Juicers and others.
The Tea Party People and the GOP has steadily expressed contempt for Obama and fed on racism. Newt and Santorum insults all black Americans as little more than dependent parisites. Romney aids suggest that Obama lacks the Anglo Saxon necessities to be the leader of the free world. Romney ups the ante by suggesting that anyone who votes for Obama gets the taint of moocher stuck on them, you know, like them shiftless black people.
And yet some Balloon Juicers keep waiting for some kind of Republican Racist Rapture in which the un-utterable is uttered and the heavens are rended. And then what, racists fall on their knees and ask to be forgiven?
You do realize, don’t you, that very few people freely choose martydom, or happily skip up to the guillotine.
JasonF
You know, my initial reaction to Romney’s comments — like a lot of people’s — was “Man, this guy just has contempt for everyone on the bottom half of the economic ladder.” But I don’t think that is really going to hurt him electorally. I think a whole bunch of people who don’t pay taxes are going to see his comments and think “He didn’t mean me — he meant those ‘urban’ people who use my money to buy T-bone steaks.” Remember that whole “I am the 53%” meme that cropped up during Occupy Wall Street? You had a bunch of people posting things like “I’m mired in debt and can’t get a job, but I don’t blame anybody but myself! Go America!” Many of those people are actually among the 47%, but they don’t self-identify as being part of the 47%. So in the end, I don’t think that aspect of things is really going to hurt Romney.
But after re-reading this transcript, I think what might hurt Romney is this bottom line: Romney has pretty much admitted he has nothing to offer the American people but lower taxes. That’s it. The sum total of what he brings to the table is lower taxes. That’s going to resonate with the hardcore “Government does nothing right, just leave me alone” types, but for anybody who thinks the government might be able to do something to create opportunities, improve the economy, or anything else, he’s all but said “Sorry — I can’t help with that. All I can do is drop your tax rates, and if your tax rates are already at zero, well then I have nothing to offer you as President.” And that, I think, might cost him votes.
GxB
@The Bearded Blogger: No sweat – and truth be told, that probably isn’t far from the truth. Rmoney’s actions speak volumes.
Comrade Mary
@Peter: Yep, yep, yep. It’s just incredibly kneejerk and lazy.
PurpleGirl
He needs a proofreader. He could hire one — his own personal writing aide — and not allow things like that first sentence to become public. He could be a job creator… for real.
Eric
Randy Newman is no longer relevant, so he tries to be controversial. He is nothing more than a person who says: hey look at me I’m not a racist beacause I voted Obama. He obviously has a guilt complex about racism.
Brachiator
@JasonF:
But doesn’t this mean that Romney has pretty much admitted he has nothing to offer the American people but lower taxes for rich people?
Odd message. Poor people who pay no taxes are moochers. Rich people should pay no taxes because they should be rewarded for their hard work?
Yeah, I guess this is confused enough to work for some people.
phein39
@jibeaux:
Romney looks at America, and sees a bunch of losers and moochers. Obama doesn’t.
Not difficult to understand why:
A man tends to notice his own kind, that’s all.
SFAW
Youse guys talking about 51 percent or 50.1 percent or “50 percent plus 1” have it all wrong.
Mittens only needs 5 specific votes, all in D.C.
Of course, getting to that step may be a problem, but I’m sure they’ll pay Rove a shitload of bucks to help them find their way there.
Legalize
@beltane:
I’m taking Sept. 27.
Cassidy
You’re smart enough to know what that’s about. Being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian is reserved for very special persons.
roc
@Face: It’s has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with framing. He’s trying to make his chances sound as good as possible, to keep people from throwing in the towel and staying home (and closing their checkbooks). He’s talking up the popular vote because he’s not polling too far behind there. But even talking about electors would only remind people how dim his chances seem at this point.
Brachiator
@Cassidy:
RE: And yet some Balloon Juicers keep waiting for some kind of Republican Racist Rapture in which the un-utterable is uttered and the heavens are rended. And then what, racists fall on their knees and ask to be forgiven?
Yawn. I think that Balloon Juicers who insist on this bullshit continually and insistently miss the point.
And it is bullshit. And it is very, very tiresome. If you think there is some significance to this other than meme preaching to the crowd, please enlighten me.
It’s got nothing to do with being contrarian. I have far better things to do with my time. But thanks for your concern.
Cassidy
@Brachiator: Wasn’t concerned; not in the slightest.
Brachiator
@Cassidy:
Then that just leaves enlightening me as to “what it’s really all about,” aside from idle fantasies of Dr Strangelove-like accidental self-revelations by Romney and other GOP mucky mucks.
The Lodger
@Chris: Because all you need is 50.1 percent.
Rome Again
When I heard that on the tape, I bust out laughing. The guy who is RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT thinks the popular vote elects presidents. LMFAO! That’s hilarious!
Then I took a visit over to 538 and checked the EC numbers and laughed even harder.
Rome Again
@Chris:
I’ve made that analogy myself a few times.
Rome Again
@JasonF:
William Kristol wrote a piece today stating that many of those in that 47% are Romney voters.
pattonbt
@c u n d gulag: He doesnt want to be president for 50.1%, he just needs 50.1% (or the electoral version thereof) to win the election. He wants to be president for the 1% but needs to dupe the additional 49.1% into thinking he will represent them.
mclaren
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
Exactamundo. This is the Karl Rove prescription for winning elections, but it doesn’t work. Because squeezing out a victory this tiny creates such rips and tears and fractures in a divided society that nothing can get done.
Karl Rove’s electoral scams are like zero-day exploits in a computer system. As soon as you use them, they disappear, because people won’t fall for the same trick twice. Rove squeezed out a 50.1% victory in 2000 by misrepresenting the drunk-driving C student from Texas as a “compassionate conservative” but when it become clear who he really was, that didn’t work anymore. Karl Rove squeezed out a 50.1% victoy in 2004 by Swift-boating the Democratic candidate and accusing the Democrats of coddling terrorists, but that didn’t work in 2008 because people had caught on. The Tea Partiers squeezed out 50.1% victories in 2010 by claiming to be in favor of cutting government spending, but that isn’t working in 2012 because people know it’s a lie.
The Rove approach has reached the end of the road. They’re run out of lies and now Romney is recycling all the old standby scams — but everyone has caught onto them. They’re not working.
The Rove strategy was self-limiting. Scam a person once and you can profit, but try the same scam a second time and they won’t fall for it. And there are only so many scams you can run. Eventually, you actually have to govern, and if you can’t, you’re not use as a political party.