Truly, the more I try to fathom where Mitt Romney keeps his head, the more I suspect he really does think it is still 1980, and he is Ronald Reagan running against Jimmy Carter.
As I remember, Ronald Reagan’s main shtick in 1980 was —
- Jimmy Carter’s alleged foreign policy ineptness (e.g., Tehran, Moscow)
- Voodoo economics
- Evil welfare Cadillac queens
Plus there was some stuff about Carter being bad for the oil industry, and Carter supported the Equal RIghts Amendment while Reagan opposed it.
Today, Mittens is running on
- Barack Obama’s alleged foreign policy ineptness (e.g., Tehran, Moscow)
- Fantasy economics
- Barack Obama as the king of evil welfare Cadillac queens. Or maybe it’s Volt queens now.
Plus, Mitt says President Obama is bad for the oil and coal industries, and there’s the war on women. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Mitt is only about four years older than I am, and I’ve managed to keep up with the times. Well, I don’t have a smart phone. But at least I’ve figured out it’s not 1980 any more.
There is new violence in the Middle East today; protesters are storming the American embassy in Yemen. I don’t believe Mittens has made any new foreign policy statements today; maybe the criticism he got from Republicans yesterday penetrated his thick skull.
Seriously, his judgment on matters such as the attack on the Libya consulate and refusal to release any details of his economic policy, never mind his tax records, has been so abysmal I wonder for his mental health. He doesn’t seem to be living in the same time-space continuum as most of the rest of us.
It’s possible events in the Middle East will unfold in a way that favors Mitt, but so far he’s made the President look better by comparison. He wants the election to be a referendum on President Obama, and he’s making it into a referendum on himself. He wanted to portray the President as alien to America. I think we should demand Mitt’s birth certificate to be sure he’s from planet Earth.
Via Kevin Drum, Andrew Sprung writes,
You do not have to be expert in anything to assess the merit of Romney’s reaction — or his fitness for the presidency. You need only be a social mammal of the human species.
In response to everything Obama does or says — or, for that matter, anything his primary opponents did or said — Romney’s reaction is so knee-jerk condemnatory, so extravagantly worded, so predictably self-serving that the instinctive response for most listeners or readers not themselves besotted with hatred for the target has got to be, “this guy is faking it.” His condemnations have the rote extravagance of a Soviet communique.
At the very least, Mitt appears to be very, very bad at “reading” people and situations and responding appropriately. And this points to something very deficient in basic socialization — I started to say “character,” but it’s something even deeper than character. I don’t know if there’s a name for what Mitt’s problem is, but he appears to be miswired somehow.
Uncivilized, I say. A puppy that was never trained.
I was gonna say, “The more things change…” but you already beat me to it. And in French.
If I had a TARDIS, 1980 sure isn’t the first year I’d choose to visit. As I recall, it was pretty crappy. Arguably quite a bit worse than 2012 in many ways. Apparently Mittens instinctively knows that an extra degree of awfulness is required to justify his own awfulness to the American electorate.
And even so, it still doesn’t seem to be working.
I think we should demand Mitt’s birth certificate to be sure he’s from planet Earth.
Or his maintenance records. I’m still inclining to the theory that he’s actually an android. They’ve been overworking him lately, so they haven’t had time to do the regular tuneups. His whole system could crash in the middle of a debate. He’ll be sitting there saying “apologizing for America, apologizing for America,” over and over again.
Oh, and it’s amazing that they keep forgetting who took out Osama bin Laden. So in that case it’s like 1980 if the mission to rescue the hostages had been a success.
I think Mitt may have Aspberger’s Syndrome. Seriously.
It’s only my opinion, but I think he’s been programmed to think it’s 1980 (I’m with you Stephen Stralka on the android theory). GOP Central Control – “All Reagan, All the Time” – figured that if it worked for the Gipper…
And if you think this guy is living at one end of the bell curve, a rare outlier of abnormality, his running mate is yet another set of weird pathologies, another outlier. I am so looking forward to seeing his smarmy, lying ass crushed…
muldoon,
I think you’re on to something.
He has quite a few, if not most, of the symptoms:
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-symptoms
I’ve read speculation about that before.
Or, maybe some level of undiagnosed Autism.
The only other possibility is that he’s the test attempt at a version of a Cyborg we recreated from the ones that were aboard the spaceship that crashed in Area 51.
Perhaps now’s the time to start using that campaign slogan, “This is not the droid you’re looking for.”
It’d be perfect under that photo from yesterday, of smirking Mitt turning away from the podium while an audience of reporters looks on grimly.
“This is not the droid you’re looking for.â€
Oh, that should be on a t-shirt under a picture of Mitt. I might do that later today.
My thought exactly, maha. I think he’s not wrapped too tightly or wrapped so tightly in his obsession to become president that all ability to think rationally has disappeared.
This morning on a campaign stop he said, “I guess we should have a moment of silence (referring to the 4 murdered Americans) but there’s a guy up here who wants to speak (he seemed to mean himself as no one else appeared)” He continued on with his prepared speech.
Is he simply uncaring, or ruthless, or oblivious to anything or anyone else. I think it’s the latter. (What is really bizarre about the moment-of-silence thing is that he didn’t have to say anything at all on the subject.)
Felicity — Wow; he really is oblivious. There is something wrong with him.
HuffPo indicates Romney was referring to a heckler (i.e, blame the opposition again) as to why he couldn’t call for a moment of silence:
Even so, sure was easy to derail Mittens’ train of thought. Farce under pressure.
Maybe “knee-jerk condemnatory, …extravagantly worded, ….self-serving that the instinctive response[s] ” are what pass for fashionable in the smarmy world of “ambulance-chaser” capitalism that his connections made him part of at Bain. Let’s all have a big “pissing match” instead of trying to solve the problems in front of us.
And Mitt’s foreign policy might make George W. Bush’s look nuanced.
Never mind basically waving his “big stick” at the Middle East, today, in a new ad, he brandishes his saber and waves it at China:
“The ad says China is beating the United States on manufacturing jobs and accuses Obama of failing to crack down on China for “cheating.”
“Cheating occurs if you hold down your currency,” Romney said in his stump speech. By keeping its currency low, he said, China makes its products artificially cheaper than American goods, driving U.S. manufacturers out of business. He also accused the country of stealing technology from America. “They steal our technology, they hack into our computers. They also steal our know-how, our patents,” he said, later adding to sustained applause, “We’re going to make sure China understands we mean business.”
The whole story from CBS:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57512510-503544/romney-softens-on-libya-hardens-economic-critique/
“…We mean business.”
Yes, Gov. Romney, because there’s nothing like calling another country a cheater, and accusing them of stealing, to make them want to cooperate with you – especially when, due to your parties, and former President’s decisions, to put taxs cuts for the rich, two wars and occupations, and a gift to Big Pharma, on China’s credit card, meaning that we OWE THEM, CHINA, well over $1 Trillion dollars.
This man is a dangerous, dangerous idiot.
Don’t forget old Diamond-back Ann. Her and Mitt are equally comsumed in their wickedness and deceits But for some reason my spirit is more repulsed by her. I wonder if mysogeny lurks within me that I should hold her to a different standard.
She’s a vile women who in Christian parlance would be identified and described as a Jezebel spirit. America..Flee from her!. My mother-in-law says, “oh, she’s such a pretty women and seems so sweet.. But to my eyes, shes got beauty like a coral snake.
Oh, and it’s amazing that they keep forgetting who took out Osama bin Laden.
Stephen, sadly, 6% of Ohio voters think it was Mittens… http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_OH_9912.pdf
Study the dynamics of this statement: “I don’t remember,but if I did it, I’m sorry”. Or something to that effect.It’s a treasure trove in seeing the spiritual depravity in Romney. Look for insincerity,dishonesty, avoiding responsibility,compounding lies,offending intelligence, adding insult to injury by creating a lie he didn’t have to create…and much,much more, Even a developing child knows enough to counter an accusation with just a simple denial.
I’m looking at this and wondering….
CNN had an article which quoted from a member of the crew of the film..
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/12/world/anti-islam-film/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Bottom line – The script and intent of the film changed radically from the original version. Second point – the financier is an American-Israeli with no history or track record – an unknown. (Sam Bacile) Some person or persons put up $5 million. So who is behind the film – and why did they make it concealing the real script from the crew & cast, only later creating the character Mohammed and possibly dubbing in lines.Why do I get a whiff of Rove here?
Different item – but is it connected? Israel want to conduct a strike on Iraq, fearing a nuclear bomb in the making. Obama has supported Israel in the UN, but is pressuring the to hold back on military action. Israel would prefer Romney and a rubber stamp to all things anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian.
The timing of the film and agitating just prior to 9-11 might have been part of a plan to put embassies in Arab countries under siege – and put Obama in the position of being a pacifist while Mitt assumes the mantle of strong leader who will oppose the anti-Christian hordes who hate the US Constitution (Recreate 1980 and the humiliation of the Iraq hostage crisis in the minds of viewers)
The GOP has played the ‘fear of terrorism’ card so often, as this unfolds, I have to wonder out loud – is this part of a scheme to serve Israel and Mitt’s campaign by suckering the Arab world into delivering the photo opportunity Mitt needs to reverse his slide?
If anybody wants to call me paranoid, I won’t object.
But am I wrong?
I think the Democrats need to make a very clear point to the American people – the predicate cause of the recent violent uprisings in the Middle East and the killing of the U.S. ambassador was not some percieved “weakness of Barack Obama”. It was caused by a shit-for-brains right-wing bigot who made a sophomoric film slandering the Islamic religion and heritage.
My concern is that even as someone who has no official government title in this country mitts voice, like it or not, is on the world stage. The world IS watching us. This isnt the old days and news travels around the world in minutes. Everyone in the world saw him jumping up and down pounding his clueless chest like a ape in magic underpants and frankly it reminded me of a bratty child throwing himself down on the floor throwing a fit to get attention..How can mr narcissistic make this all about him? It makes us look like fools. It makes the nation look weak and beyond knee jerked. And even worse than that it shows his great lack of understanding that respect is a two way street. He expects to be respected for free speech but he does not give that same respect to others on their own soil for views of any different culture. Unless you intend to go to war with every single nation on this planet you are going to have to understand diplomacy to be able to be fit to do the job as president. The job of president of this great nation requires leadership by example with the rest of the world and the ability to respect other cultures and work WITH THEM to solve problems. I certainly hope that his comments do not cause any further violence however that doesnt seem to be his intent- In mitts own words he talks as if he already has plans for the military to see plenty of action during his term as he said to “protect our(his) interests..watch his little press appearance for yourself..from 8:20 to 8:45…but i think all three parts paint a clearer picture..because it includes a laundry list of countries it sounds like he plans to plow threw to forward his interests at the tax payers expense and labor- and blood.Have we not already ready this chapter before?(cough cough bush jr). He doesnt want to be the president for the notch in his cap, or to show up his daddy and he doesnt give a rats ass about diplomacy. He wants the free labor. That is what our men and women are to him. He has a plan alright..and he doesnt want to pay for it..but he will sure let us pay for it too…for crying out loud this is a man who created new companies to make a huge profit off of 911. Think of the money to be made off of being president and having all that cash to put into “blind trusts” georgie had his turn…mitt can do wayyy better..
Now before you say I am wrong ask yourself why their budget calls for giving the military more than it asked for?Is it cause mitt is just a nice guy?I dont think it was an accident the troops were left out of his convention speech.You wouldnt mention your true intent..instead you would say”look over here”.mitt just doesnt care what the hell he says cause he isnt gonna pay for any of the shit storms he creates in any way.
His actions these past few days have been so irresponsible and I hope that they don’t add fuel to the fire. Pride has no place where the lives of humans are at stake. mitt romney is nothing more than a single citizen of this country . He has no right to tamper with world affairs or effect their out come or potentially put those serving in increased danger. Talk about sending mixed messages to the world. At a time when we are “under attack” he should have at best reserved his poor choice of remarks and awaited word from our President informing us how we would preceed before putting others in further danger? And the saber rattling about military force? yeah lets run right in to a country who’s own people carried our diplomat to hospital trying to save his life and blast it to bits! It wont cost mitt a thing. His actions should have given pause to anyone who was thinking of voting for him.This guy could start a war saying something stupid.
@zinsky – just as Obama gave brilliant, adult like speech about race during his 2008 campaign, this is a golden moment to have an adult talk about religion and fundamentalism – but I just don’t think he’s up for the challenge.
“And so I would offer a moment of silence but one gentleman doesn’t want to be silent so we’re going to keep on going,†Romney said.
Is nothing sacred? Romney is trampling on the blood of honorable Americans who died in service to their country. He pulled out the old God cudgel to beat down the only voice of decency in the room. It doesn’t reflect well on his Mormon faith. He might measure up as a Mormon Bishop, but he certainly falls short as an ambassador for Christ.
I thought Bush hit a low when he was sneaking the bodies of fallen American warriors back to their homeland under the cover of darkness, but Romney desecrates our selfless American servants in the light of day.
A sad aspect to this is that the Romney name is now going to be forever defined by Mitt’s sociopathy, rather than by the exceptionally fine character of his now mostly forgotten father, George Romney, who had the stones to walk out of the 1964 GOP Convention in protest against Goldwater’s opposition to civil rights legislation. Now there was a man.
Some details on the “American values” Mitt mentioned in his original anti-“apology” quack. As reported on HuffPo, here’s a brief resume of Steve Klein, the semi-professional bigot who acted as promoter for The Innocence of Muslims:
Note that Klein also hates Mormons. As Bart Simpson once said, “Oh, the ironing is delicious.”
stratplayer …I can’t speak to George Romney’s character..But I know that Mitt’s character and values are a result of his upbringing. Somewhere between his mother and father, Mitt wasn’t inculcated or nurtured with proper values. Not that that excuses Mitt, but he was set in the wrong direction to maturity right from the nest.I assume that George Romney’s wealth and status sheltered Mitt from the sometimes necessary pain we all experience in establishing our values.It could be that George Romney was too busy with his own life that he couldn’t devote the time to give his son the one thing he needed most.