Every once in a while, you have to feel sorry for Mitt Romney. One of his surrogates during his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination was Dr. John Willke, the controversial doctor who inspired Missouri Congressman Todd Akin's now infamous belief that a raped woman is unlikely to become pregnant. Moreover, the good doctor is inconveniently sticking to his guns. A woman being raped, he told the New York Times last week, "is frightened, tight, and so on. And sperm, if deposited in her vagina, are less likely to be able to fertilize. The tubes are spastic."
According to the Times, Dr. Michael Greene, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School, dismisses Willke's theories as "just nuts."
Another 2008 Romney supporter was Joe Arpaio, the Arizona sheriff charged by the U.S. Justice Department with discrimination and racial profiling who is also one of the foremost proponents of the equally wacky proposition that President Obama was not born in Hawaii, is therefore not a naturally born U.S. citizen, and consequently is ineligible to serve as president. Arpaio believes the president's birth certificate to be a forgery, and it appears that nothing under the sun can convince him otherwise.
There are lots more birthers out there, including most prominently Donald Trump, all driven by an irrational animus toward the president. Understandably, Governor Romney does not want to needlessly antagonize them. They, too, may well be nuts, but a vote is a vote irrespective of the citizen's IQ or emotional equilibrium.
Still, it was disturbing to hear Governor Romney quip this past Friday that "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate." To be sure, he subsequently dismissed his comments as an attempt to "have a little humor" in the campaign. "I've said throughout the campaign and before, there's no question where [President Obama] was born," he told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley. "He was born in the U.S." The problem, of course, is that the generally humorless birthers were certain to interpret the "birth certificate" comment not as a joke but as an indication that Governor Romney was sympathetic to their cause. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd described it as "a bat's squeak calling to the basest emotions."
Last year, in an article in which I argued that Governor Romney's Mormon faith should not be made an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign, I observed that he "does not come across in any way as mean-spirited," and quoted him as telling the Values Voters Summit that, "We should remember that decency and civility are values, too."
Unfortunately, as I have also noted recently, there is nothing decent or civil in the attempts by certain Republicans to depict President Obama as somehow un-American, and to date Governor Romney has not done nearly enough to dissociate himself from the nastier, unquestionably mean-spirited personal attacks on President Obama that emanate from others in his party.
In the interest of full disclosure, I support President Obama and am a presidential appointee to the board of a federal institution. At the same time, I consider finding a middle ground on most issues other than civil and human rights to be critical to our national political process. Thus, when Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) reached across the aisle to try to come up with a compromise proposal for Medicare reform, I applauded their effort.
"Perhaps the most serious problem with the contemporary American political landscape," I wrote on that occasion,
is that far too many prominent Democrats and Republicans alike seem to have devolved in counter-Darwinian fashion to cliché-ridden sound-bite spouting exponents of unimaginative insipid dogma. My way or the high way has become the safe option, ensuring both continued grid-lock and a refusal to even consider original ideas that do not conform to or promote a pre-set political agenda, whether from the right or the left. . . . The Ryan-Wyden Medicare reform plan may well be less than perfect. But we know that all or nothing will in the end get us nothing.
Still, there comes a point when a willingness to consider the other side's point of view must come to a screeching halt. The ongoing efforts by a more than significant number of Republican and other conservative leaders and ideologues to demonize President Obama are, simply put, an abomination that the collective GOP leadership must repudiate if they expect the rest of us to give any of their ideas due consideration.
This goes far beyond the birthers who could be dismissed as part of the loony element of the electorate. Accusing President Obama of espousing "some phony theology" (Rick Santorum), charging that he "wants to destroy capitalism" and "nurtures a hatred for the white man" (conservative Christian radio host Bryan Fischer), referring to him as the "food-stamp president" (Newt Gingrich), alleging that his administration has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood (Michele Bachmann), proclaiming that "He's just not an American" (Rep. Mike Coffman, R.-Colo.) and that he "hates this country" (Rush Limbaugh), denouncing him as an "anti-Christian, anti-religious bigot" (conservative radio host and columnist Jeffrey T. Kuhner), calling him a Muslim who "hates the U.S." (Hank Williams, Jr.), and repeatedly likening him to Adolf Hitler (again, Rush Limbaugh) are part and parcel of an insidious campaign of personal destruction that cannot be countenanced in the American body politic of the 21st century.
I do not believe that Governor Romney or Representative Ryan shares any of these vile sentiments. The time has come for them to say so publicly and unambiguously.
The fact is that the overwhelming majority of the U.S. electorate yearns for a substantive discussion of the issues. It is to be hoped that President Obama and Governor Romney will engage in a spirited debate on the economy, jobs, taxes, healthcare, foreign policy, immigration, the future of Social Security, judicial appointments, their respective positions on abortion and gay rights, their competing visions for the future of the United States, and even, time permitting, their views on global warming and evolution.
Hate-mongering in any form, however, is not a permissible political strategy. As the 2012 presidential campaign shifts into high gear, I fervently hope that there can be a consensus among both Republicans and Democrats that the demonization of the President of the United States, or anyone else for that matter, will be neither tolerated nor rewarded.
Menachem Z. Rosensaft teaches about the law of genocide and World War II war crimes trials at the law schools of Columbia, Cornell and Syracuse universities.
Gregory A. Prince, Ph.D. and Helen C. Whitney: Mormons and Polygamy: Truths, Lies and Ambiguities
Rev. Al Sharpton: From Driving While Black to Presiding While Black
 |
 |
|
| 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 |
The dynamic seems to devolve quickly into even deeper confrontation as "you are with me or are my enemy who must be destroyed." This is the Clinton-Bush-Rove-Atwater style of politics that has been formented by both the Bush and Clinton camps into full out partisan warfare for decades, an endless cycle of offense and retaliation.
Rosensaft justifiably condemns the Romney-GOP demonization of President Obama. In fairness, it is also important to recall that Bill and Hillary Clinton used very similar tactics in the 2008 primary against fellow Democrats. When Rosensaft says "it was disturbing to hear Governor Romney quip this past Friday that 'No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate.'" I agree. It was also disturbing to hear Hillary Rodham Clinton respond in 2008 to the question about whether Barack Obama was Muslim by saying "not as far as I know."
I hope Menachem Rosensaft will continue to use he resonant voice to speak out against attack politics in all of its forms, not in ways that may sound like just another volley in continuing partisan warfare.
Oddly enough, I found that quote of Bush's to be very powerful. Unfortunately, Americans did not interpret it as it was intended - which was for other countries, not Americans individually. Meaning, I dont need to support everything my govt does to be a patriot or a reasonably decent American.
I dont think Clinton's comment is as inflammatory as Romney's joke. The two simply arent comparable though it seems as though you think they are. Clinton was basically saying, I know him and he's not a Muslim (also, it really wouldnt matter if he was). Romney was making a joke about a volatile lie being told by his supporters. The whole birther movement served to undermine Obama's entire presidency, especially when you had elected politicians to Congress wondering the same thing.
I wish I was as trusting of the Clintons as you are. They are smart, lawyers, calcuating ... with every syllable of every word ... often purposely misleading.
Hillary not only said it in a way that left the door open, her campagin was widely viewed as the source of the photo distributed about the same time of Obama in Somoli triabal garb. Who knows for sure, except Hilalry. But it sure looks like pure wedge politics and fearmongering.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/03/hillary-obama-not-muslim-_n_89546.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8727.html
http://www.creators.com/opinion/debra-saunders/a-visual-whisper-campaign.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/obama-muslim_n_1706522.html
Time to PRESS 'EM.
Imagine Romney repudiated by the Mormons!
Time to make a call, Mr. Rosensaft.
Using your anology, it not about water being wet, it's about whether or not water must always be scalding hot.
Tell you what Menachem, you get Citizens United bucks out of the equation and your argument might have a chance. Totally better chance if we went with public finance of elections.
Seems Congress doesn't want that though, so we're stuck with the street fight and rolling in the gutter for the swollen bag of bet money.
Does Obama hate capitalism? Well lets see is Obama care capitalism hmmm no. Is class warfare capitalism? No. Is buying off the auto industry and stiffing the investors capitalism? No. Is shutting down the offshore oil field capitalism? No. I can’t think of one thing Obama has done that tells me he is pro capitalist can someone name me a few?
God, the Norwegians are blushing with embarrasment.
Obama was handed the keys to the kingdom. He had the unique opportunity that timing offers once in a lifetime.
The man, sadly, stands for nothing. I cannot vote for him again.
Change I Can Believe In is my first write in vote.
To protest the bait and switch of the Change Candidate and the rotten system that elevates these guys.