To secure the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, Mitt Romney had to take increasingly conservative positions. Many observers expected that once he became the nominee, Romney would move towards the political middle ground. But he hasn't. His campaign has taken even more extreme stances because Romney believes it is the only way he can attract the votes of working-class whites.
Romney's flip-flops are well documented. The former Massachusetts Governor began his political career as pro-choice but switched positions in 2007 and became pro-life. At the beginning of his career Romney supported gay rights but in 2005 he stated his opposition to gay marriage and civil unions. Romney claims to believe in man-made global warming but says he "is not certain to the extent that man is causing the change in the environment." And on and on.
Because of his flip-flops, and his Mormon religion, some doubted Romney would become the Republican candidate. But he outspent his opponents and by winning the Texas primary, in late May, became the presumptive nominee. Then his campaign made a series of calculated moves to the extreme right.
On August 12th, Mitt Romney anointed Tea-Party favorite Paul Ryan as his running mate. In the process, Romney assumed all of Ryan's baggage, including the draconian Ryan budget. Romney joined Ryan in his plan to turn Medicare into a voucher-driven system, gut Medicaid and Federal food stamp programs, and repeal Obamacare.
With Romney's tacit approval, on August 28th Republicans approved an ultra-conservative platform that adopts most of the Tea Party's proposals. Many of these are fiscal: "No new taxes" and "Repeal Obamacare." But the platform also adopts Ron Paul's proposal to audit the Federal Reserve, supports reversing all regulations written by President Obama, and advocates dropping the tax deduction for home-mortgage interest.
What received the most press attention are the ultra conservative social planks in the Republican platform. On women's rights: the GOP wants a "human life amendment" that has no exceptions for abortion, even in the case of rape or incest. (The misogynistic platform wants an end to military women serving in combat zones.) On gay rights: the GOP opposes recognition of same-sex marriages (and civil unions) and wants a repeal of the military's "don't ask; don't tell" rule. On immigration: the Republican platform supports the (mostly invalidated) laws adopted in Arizona and Alabama.
The New York Times reported that Romney's advisers are "convinced he needs a more combative footing against President Obama in order to appeal to white, working class voters."
"Many of those voters are economically disaffected, and the Romney campaign has been trying to reach them with appeals built around an assertion that Mr. Obama is making it easier for welfare recipients to avoid work. The Romney campaign is airing an advertisement falsely charging that Mr. Obama has 'quietly announced' plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries, a message Mr. Romney's aides said resonates with working-class voters who see government as doing nothing for them."
By this tactic, and others such as making a birther joke, Romney has introduced race and class into the 2012 contest. Political writer Elspeth Reeve opines that Romney's descent into demagoguery is a deliberate tactic to ensure that he gets at least 61 percent of the white vote. (In 2008 whites favored McCain by a 55 to 43 percent margin.)
Romney's tactic may work -- it will be bolstered by a multi-million dollar ad campaign financed, in part, by Conservative Super PACs. But it has several inherent problems: Independent voters may see Romney as "extreme" and this could negatively affect his already shaky favorability ratings. (In the latest polls as many voters view Romney unfavorably, 43 percent, as view him favorably.)
And, Romney's adoption of the strident Republican campaign against women may cause him to lose the votes of white women.
But the biggest danger in the Romney strategy is that it will turn the 2012 campaign into one based on race. Writing in the New York Times, Thomas Edsall observed, "89% of voters who identify themselves as Republican are white." He continued:
"The Romney campaign is willing to disregard criticism concerning accuracy and veracity in favor of 'blowing the dog whistle of racism' -- resorting to a campaign appealing to racial symbols, images and issues... The result is a campaign run at two levels. On the trail Paul Ryan argues, 'we're going to make this about ideas. We're going to make this about a positive vision for the future.' On television and the Internet, however, the Romney campaign is clearly determined "to make this about" race...
One of the complaints about George W. Bush was that he would say and do anything to win. Many hoped the Mitt Romney would be a different sort of candidate, one who would debate Obama about ideas and vision. Instead Romney has turned out to be a reprise of Dubya, a moral weakling who had decided to play the race card and cast himself as "the great white hope."
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Please expand your knowledge to include more more media sources. Hopefully, a broader view of our picture will give you an appreciation for the not-so-always narrow, black & white decisions to which you seem to have gravitated.
The matters of which you speak of are but flecks on the windshield of a much bigger picture that has evolved over several decades.
Have your sources spent much time examining the tumultuous political decade of the '90's when Republicans spent millions of dollars chasing one perjured statement by a sitting President, all the while being led by a Congressional body filled with the same behavior amongst those doing the accusing? Notice how after 15 years, this matter turned out to consume energy that might have been better spent on much more important things than a political witch hunt, driven by a party suffering badly after losing the White House in a back-to-back manner for the first time since the 1940's. That's such a blow to an ego that seeks first to consume power, and hold it for selfish purposes.
Have your sources spent much time examining the transition of the 2000 presidential election, and the thuggish behavior of a party-loyal group in South Florida, with the sole intent of eliminating, through physical force, the last semblance of objectivity from a body of locally selected group of elections authorities?
Say "NO" to Willard Romney or any man or woman who wants to be our Commander in Chief and is NOT pro-all life!
I can't see oil rigs in the Monterey Bay where I live.
NO to Offshore Willard Mitty.
5th: The chronically unemployed: The night of Romney's acceptance, he referenced the worker who lost a $22.50 per hour job and is now working at two full time jobs at $9 per hour. Rather than lament that development, the RP celebrates it. The speeches of the lesser lights during the convention were heavily loaded with rags to riches (or at least middle classness) generational stories of the Senators and Governors that were self nominating for 2016. The take I got from those stories was that US is the land of opportunity for the children of poor people who have the opportunity to work multiple low wage jobs, not to bring themselves out of poverty, but to see that their offspring get a chance to join the middle class. The message is: if you are poor now, just knuckle down for a generation and your kids will be grateful for your sacrifice. Maybe even to the extent of going on national TV to remember you while advocating policies that make it harder still for individual people to rise from poverty to the middle class in a single generation.
6th: Individuals: Shocking, no? The emphasis on family and parents and fellow church members subtly exclude poor individuals who cannot obtain assistance from family, and parents, and church either because they are not close to their families, or don't have families, or their families are too poor to help.
The Republicans do not play the "race card" They play the "underclass card"
The Republican vilification of the underclass as the leeches, whiners, supplicants, and system abusers has no remaining traces of racism visible. The fingerprints have been wiped clean. It is not blacks, and Mexicans they hate, (consciously) The hate is directed at a different "other" This other is not racial. The hated "other" includes broad swaths of people who are probably not going to vote, complain, protest, or even realize that they were targeted. This makes them easy targets.
Who are the current "others"?
1st and foremost: Anyone who is un-religious. The nomination of Romney and Ryan is evidence that the Republicans are fully tolerant of any and all devout Christians of any cult or sect. As long as the Christian is socially conservative, they are welcomed in the RP. There are a few famous atheists to defend the non-religious, and most of them are British, dead or both.
Most non-religious people are quiet about their apostasy either to avoid persecution or because their agnosticism allows for other people to have religion, even if they don't want it for themselves.
2nd: Gay. -
3rd: Users of medical marijuana
4th: Users of recreational marijuana.
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