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Mr. Romney Goes to Washington

 
You have to love how Mitt Romney is trying to recast himself as the Champion of the Middle Class, fresh off his big victory in Florida.  This from a guy who made over $45 mil the last two years as an "unemployed" governor.  I wonder if he tells his campaign staff to call him "Governor," as this was the only public office he has ever held, unless you count his stint as head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

He was noted as a moderate in Massachusetts, supporting traditional "liberal" policies such as health care, which he now runs away from.  He used additional "fees" on everything from drivers' to gun licenses to help cover additional expenses, rather than raise taxes.  He even came up with a "gasoline retailer fee" of 2 cents per gallon to generate about $60 million in additional revenue.  Obviously, this is a guy who knows how to count his pennies.  One would suppose he would come up with similarly creative means of overcoming our massive debt burden, if he were ever elected President.  Yet, time and time again he runs away from his record as governor, and presents himself as a "businessman."

Alas, the good Mormon seems to be having a hard time winning over the religious faithful in the Republican party, most of whom are "middle class."  Seems Mitt's idea of middle class differs significantly from that of the mainstream.

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Comments

  1. Looks like Romney is channeling Rambo once again,

    http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-calls-leon-panettas-afghanistan-withdrawal-announcement-034650994--abc-news.html

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  2. Interesting that the only apparent reference to Massachusetts is the Winslow Homer-esque painting he is blocking out with his fat head.

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  3. Nothing like trying to make yourself look like the president. Kind of sad when you think about it.

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  4. His whole campaign is kind of sad when you think about it. This guy hasn't stopped running for President since 2007. He commissioned this portrait in 2009, after his failed first bid for the WH. He's also gone out of his way to distance himself from his record as governor in Massachusetts. Little wonder given how it is assailed by his "conservative" challengers at every turn.

    If he had any integrity, he would have stood up for health care, instead he vows to repeal it. Now, here he is going after Obama's FP, which if anything is a direct extension of the Conservatives. He is such a hollow person that is little wonder the Republicans are having such a hard time accepting him as their assumptive nominee.

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  5. Well, he is unemployed as he likes to say ...

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  6. Although it's almost impossible to be a moderate in the Republican party, Romney's embrace of right wing nonsense is incredibly transparent.

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  7. Is it just an optical illusion or is that picture behind Romney a little crooked?

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  8. It does look a little crooked. Maybe the artist was trying to say something?

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  9. A little crooked -- good one.

    I had noticed the picture frame too and wondered if they had pulled the desk away from the wall a bit which would make the wall appear to recede in the background. I also like the cute cheerleader photo of his wife on the desk.

    There's something a little off all the way around with that picture, but then there's something a little off about the subject, too, so I guess that fits.

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  10. Now I get the framed picture in the background. It's a rectangular halo.

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  11. Gintaras, how's the weather where you are? We've had a balmy winter other than three days when it didn't stop snowing.

    I just saw Vilnius on the weather map at -24. Even at "c" that's still cold!

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  12. Very cold week, av. It was as low as -27 C, which is way too cold for my tastes. But, ice fishermen should be happy. The lakes are finally frozen over.

    I see the Mormon won Nevada. No big surprise, although I thought Ron Paul would get more support out West. Interesting, how he polls well at the beginning of each election cycle, but can't sustain any momentum through the primaries. I would have thought him a much better choice over Newt.

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  13. How anyone could vote for any of them is beyond me, but I only live in this country. I no longer claim to understand it.

    (It was once -60 F in Montana -- only -50 or so in town -- but I think those days are over.)

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  14. Don't count on it, av. We thought we were in for a mild winter with temps above freezing well into December, but it seems it just came late. No sign of this cold front lifting anytime soon. Looks like the kids will stay home from school tomorrow as well.

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  15. What gets me is this continued berating of Obama. Have any of these guys even looked at the recent economic figures. Unemployment continues to go down. Production continues to rise. As Sullivan noted in his article, it does indeed seem that Obama has played the "long game" about as well as you can play it, and you are going to see an ever more desperate Romney try to paint Obama in the worst possible terms despite the continually improving economy. I'm sure the Repugs will try to find a way to "muck things up" this summer in a last ditch effort to sabotage the recovery, and throw the blame on Obama.

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  16. I don't think it has anything to do with the economy. They are going to continue to go after him personally and with the billions at their disposal, they might yet be successful.

    I read a really interesting book awhile back on Keynes and Hayek -- using the two men to flesh out the conflict between the two schools of economic thought. Although the author sometimes shows some sympathy to Hayek's beliefs, in the end he showed that only Keynesian thinking has it in it to step in and save the capitalist system (e.g., during FDR's administration). Hayek (and Ron Paul and Romney if his comments are to be believed) would let the entire system collapse in a heap.

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  17. If nothing else, you would think the GOP'ers have figured out how well Keynesian economics works with the military. It is a huge entirely subsidized industry. Energy and agriculture also rely to a large degree on subsidies. Yet, they would make us think that their rhetorical free market capitalism with no government subsidies or regulations is the only thing that makes America strong. What a joke!

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  18. This is the Republicans' biggest fear,

    http://news.yahoo.com/obama-could-alter-stance-federal-appeals-courts-145337583.html

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  19. Let's hope so! Seems like he is not so interested in putting an ideologue on the bench, but rather someone who can bring a more modest human-based approach to the law. If he could counter some of the real crazies on the supreme court, he'd be doing the country a real favor. (He'd actually make a great judge himself at some point.)

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  20. There is one good thing about this long drawn out highly broadcast primary season that even Fox News can't counter since viewers see for themselves what these people really believe (from Ezra Klein at the Post):

    The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows President Obama's approval rating has risen to 50 percent and he's opened up a six-point lead against Mitt Romney. In part, that's because the primary is hurting Romney. A majority of Americans who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what they're hearing among the Republicans, and by 2 to 1, Americans say that the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him. But in part, that's because a rebounding economy is helping Obama. Which is why all eyes in the West Wing will be on Greece this week, where a deal that could keep Europe stable and the recovery going is in danger of falling apart.

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  21. Romney needs to put his rivals to rest soon, as the attacks are having an adverse cumulative effect on him,

    The public by 53-36 percent, a 17-point margin, thinks Obama better understands the economic problems people are having. Obama leads Romney by 55-37 percent in trust to better protect the interests of the middle class, and remarkably, by 10 points, 52-42 percent, in trust to handle taxes."

    http://news.yahoo.com/romney-takes-nevada-obama-takes-lead-note-133150286--abc-news.html

    Those are some pretty disturbing numbers.

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  22. Looks like Mr. Romney got caught looking ahead,

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/voting-underway-colorado-early-results-coming-minnesota-missouri-023723997.html

    You figure Mitt would have at least taken Colorado.

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  23. That was quite an upset -- I've been a loyal follower of all of this until Nevada. And then I sort of lost interest. I was surprised to see the headlines this a.m. Looks like they might have a race to the bottom on their hands in the Republican party.

    To be honest, Santorum scares me more than Mitt because his beliefs are so extreme. And yet if you heard his speech in Iowa or New Hampshire, he has a real working man appeal to voters as if he's just one of them.

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  24. Apparently most people didn't show much interest in these caucuses and primary until the results were announced,

    "Not only was the Missouri vote a "beauty contest," binding no delegates, but the turnout there was less than 6 percent of the voting-age population — a paltry number for a statewide primary."

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/02/08/146564059/did-santorum-win-big-or-win-squat-what-s-a-nation-to-believe?sc=fb&cc=fp

    However, a win is a win, or in this case three.

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  25. And it makes headlines even though it's just a proforma activity in Missouri (an expensive one for the state, though). All this positive news has to be good for Santorum's campaign.

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  26. Santorum would fair about as well in a general election as Gingrich. The Republicans are really shooting themselves in the foot in this campaign.

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