At noon the outside temperature was in triple digits, although I see now it has cooled down to 99 degrees. The National Weather Service has issued an “excessive heat warning” for southern New York state. Do tell. It’s supposed to be considerably cooler by Friday, though.
Daily Archives: July 18, 2012
President O Got the Big Mo
Another winning video:
See “Anatomy of a Flail” — all the way Mittens has been trying to change the conversation.
Ed Kilgore asks, “Is Team Romney Becoming Unhinged?”
Did Team Romney really think their candidate could run around the country citing the brilliant job-creating success of Bain Capital as his primary credential for becoming president and not get challenged about it? And did they not expect demands that the richest man ever to win a presidential nomination release his tax returns? I mean, the attacks they are dealing with now are blindingly obvious. Any Romney opponent who didn’t make them would be guilty of extreme political malfeasance. So what gives?
Hey, politics ain’t beanbag, Mitt. Put on your big boy pants and deal with it.
Update: Jonathan Chait —
The apparent plan is to mutter darkly about Chicago and drug use and sundry other biographical details that conservatives believe they wrongly shied away from four years ago. ..
… Romney won the GOP nomination by destroying his opponents one after another, then smirking at them when they complained about the tactics. He and his staff may be furious that Obama is painting Romney, a figure who seems to inspire worship from the entire Romney operation including the candidate, as less than a model for the rest of us to emulate. I suspect that sheer personal pique, in combination with the natural aggressive instincts of Romney’s key advisers, is driving the macho talk from Boston today. But I also suspect that cooler heads will soon prevail.
Do read the whole article. However, see also Steve M —
What Romney is really doing — as I’ve been saying for days — is trying to placate his rabid base, and also his big donors, who may be zillionaires but are still angry old white male cranks who constantly watch Fox News just like all the other angry old white male cranks in America.
The base and the donors just can’t believe that all these timeworn lines of attack are unpersuasive to swing voters — Valerie Jarrett and Fast and Furious make their blood boil, so surely the rest of the public must feel the same way, right? The public just doesn’t know! It’s because Obama wasn’t vetted! The lie-beral media didn’t do its job four years ago!
This is the Breitbart strategy — Breitbart is now running Romney’s campaign from beyond the grave.
I’m inclined to agree with Steve on this. Team Romney is caving to the demands of the base/contributors, who are nuts.
Update: Little Lulu’s reaction tends to support Steve M’s hypothesis.
Update: DougJ — “I love the smell of Republican panic in the morning.”
Senate Dems Grow a Pair
I need to interrupt our gleeful snarking about Mitt Romney and his money and point to something significant that has happened in the Senate:
Until last week Senate Democrats seemed to lack a majority of votes to extend the middle class tax cuts alone. That allowed Republicans to portray the battle as between President Obama and Congress. But that changed when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) challenged Republicans to permit separate up-or-down votes on middle-income and high-end tax cuts, signaling he’s rounded up the votes to win. Republicans denied the offer.
Democrats hardened their position this week as party’s fourth-ranking Sen. Patty Murray (WA) vowed that Democrats won’t permit the lower rates for the rich to continue beyond their Dec. 31 expiration date, even if Republicans repeat their 2010 strategy and block tax cuts for the middle class if the wealthy don’t also get a full break.
Democrats scoffed at the Republican attacks Tuesday and pressed their advantage.
In other words, they are calling Mitch McConnell’s bluff. They will allow ALL Bush tax cuts to expire rather than extend the tax cuts for the wealthy.
Senate Republicans are frantically claiming the Dems are playing Russian Roulette with the economy, or saying they are holding the economy hostage. Of course, Dems say the same thing about Republicans.
Polling on what the public thinks is all over the map, btw. A recent McClatchy-Marist poll says that 52 percent of Americans want all tax cuts extended, while a recent Pew poll said they favor ending tax cuts for the wealthy by 2 to 1. I suspect the way the question is framed makes a big difference.