Romney’s Bad Week Continues….
From Robert Creamer in the Huffington Post:
Romney’s bad week began on Friday, June 15, when the Administration announced that the Department of Homeland Security would defer action to remove the “Dreamers” — undocumented young people who came to this country before the age of 16 and were less than 30 years of age. This includes the young people who would have been covered by the Dream Act that passed the House and received a majority vote in the Senate in 2010 — back when Democrats still controlled both bodies. Unfortunately, the Dream Act did not receive final passage in the Senate because it was blocked by a Republican filibuster. […]
[A]s a political matter, it was also a game changer. President Obama already led Romney among Hispanic voters by ratios of two or three to one in most polls. But over the last three years, Republicans have successfully blocked all of his attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform through Congress, and his bold action for the Dreamers sent a bolt of electricity through the Latino electorate. His action will almost certainly turbocharge efforts to boost Hispanic voter turnout that will likely be decisive in key swing states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida — and may still put Arizona in play. […]
[R]omney spent the week dodging questions from reporters — and Dream students — about whether he would leave President Obama’s action in place if he were elected. The political impact of these events was on display at last week’s conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). Romney was given tepid, polite applause. Obama received a thunderous ovation.
In his speech to the group, Romney pledged that he could be trusted to “keep his promises.” The next day, the President pointed out in his remarks that one of those Romney “promises” was a firm pledge to “veto the Dream Act” earlier in the campaign.
Creamer’s article was written prior to the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday on SB 1070. The Court struck almost the entire law save for the most controversial provision allowing police officers to check the immigration status of those they pull over, ostensibly for other crimes. The court deferred action on that provision, waiting to see if it is indeed applied in a discriminatory fashion, as it will be. If you don’t think so, and you think every blue eyed blond haired white person in Arizona is going to be asked their immigration status, then I will buy you a drink. So eventually, that part of the law will be struck down as well, unless of course the conservatives on the Court no longer think the 14th Amendment has any force and affect.
So what was Romney’s response to the Court’s action? When he finally gathered enough courage to take a stand after 12 hours of ducking the press and having his flunkies sound like automotons refusing to budge from talking points, he announced that is experiencing what you humans call “disappointment.” He wants the Court to give more latitude, not less, to the states. The rest of his statements on the court’s ruling had to do with President Obama’s failure to pass an immigration reform law, even though an immigration reform law (the “Dream” Act) did actually receive majority votes in both chambers of Congresss before his own Republican Party filibustered it to death.
Immigration is a horrible issue for Romney. His party, if it is to remain a competitive national party rather than a racist whites only Southern party in the generation, must attract Hispanics. But if he dares changes any of hardline anti-immigration and anti-Hispanic policies so he can appear moderate in the general election and appealing to Hispanics, he risks depressing racist White turnout, which is the base of his party. And he needs Bushian 2004 intensity of the party base to win this election. Any depression of the GOP base turnout will doom him to a landslide loss.
Hence Romney’s cowardly hiding yesterday. Hence his mealy mouthed response expressing “disappointment.” Hence his Obama bashing. I remember reading somewhere, and I have forgotten where, that GOP operatives’s worst scenario for this week was to have an immigration ruling striking down 1070 on Monday, while the Obamacare ruling waited until Thursday. The dream scenario for the GOP was to have both rulings together on Monday, so that the news on Obamacare would drown out any immigration news. But their worst case scenario happened instead. Such a pity.
Back to Creamer….
But last week’s development on the immigration and the Dream Act [and this week’s Immigration ruling] did more than damage Romney with Hispanics and help mobilize them to participate in the fall election. It also turned around the political momentum in the race. In politics, like sports, momentum — the bandwagon effect — is a big factor. Last week it returned to the Obama camp after several weeks of bad economic news and Romney’s consolidation of his base as he secured the GOP nomination.
Romney had sought to continue his previous momentum through a bus tour that carried his economic message to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan — all states the President had won in 2008 — all critical to the outcome in 2012. The first day of his bus tour was eclipsed by the President’s action on immigration. Day two, the big news was the campaign’s decision to wave off a planned stop at a Wawa store in Quakerstown, Pa., when 150 Democrats and former Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania gathered there to greet Romney’s bus.
Matters were made worse when, after diverting to a more friendly Wawa, Romney marveled at the “touch screen” sandwich machine that local Wawa customers had used for a decade — recreating the out of touch moment first experienced by the first President Bush when he was awestruck by supermarket bar code scanners in the early 1990’s. Of course, Romney had already shown his contempt for convenience stores early in the campaign when he complained that what turned out to be cookies made by a favorite Pennsylvania bakery looked like they came from a 7-11 store.
And things just kept getting worse for the GOP. On Monday of last week, a group of nuns launched their own press tour: “Nuns on the Bus — the Nuns Drive for Family, Faith and Fairness.” This two-week press tour — complete with a bus wrapped with their slogan and powerful testimony from Catholic Women Religious — focused on the fact that the Ryan-Romney-Republican budget does not square with Catholic values. The “Nuns on the Bus” tour generated press coverage of Biblical proportions everywhere it went — including key swing states in the presidential and congressional races. It continues until July 3.
Finally, at the end of the week, the Washington Post published a major story exploring how — when he was head of Bain Capital — Romney was a “pioneer” outsourcing American jobs abroad. All the Romney campaign could do to respond was quibble over the term “outsourcing” and “offshoring.”
In a campaign stop in Florida on Friday, President Obama argued that we don’t need a “pioneer in outsourcing” in the Oval Office. Instead we need someone who will work every waking moment to create American jobs. Obama campaign senior adviser, David Axelrod, tweeted that Romney is running to be “Outsourcerer-in-chief.”
There’s no other way to put it. This issue is devastating for the Romney candidacy. That’s because it simultaneously moves the two groups of voters that affect the outcome of any election: persuadables and mobilizables.
It is particularly important to white working class swing voters that are President Obama’s weakest swing demographic. At the same time it energizes his base — especially organized labor and progressives.
The campaign is going to be full of bad weeks for both sides. And Mitt Romney just experienced his first bad week, and his own actions on immigration has extended it into a two week event.
Will the Court striking down Obamacare save him?
I have a hard time accepting that ANYTHING will keep the southern white racists from voting against Obama. Sure, they may hold their nose harder, and possibly talk of a 2016 primary for ol’ Mitt…. but rest assured, Fox News will have them swearing he is the second coming of Palin by the mid terms. The only solace i take is that his campaign seems to be just as scared of losing his base as we are hopeful that he might, so they are taking measures not to.
Ben, just because someone votes against Obama does not necessarily mean they are racist. Maybe they are voting against Obama because he is as useless as a teet on a boar pig.
This coming from a Democrat who voted FOR Obama.
Your use of the word “NECESSARILY” pretty much sums it up : ) . . . the disrespect the Office of the President has endured regardless of who occupies it . . . is beyond belief!
Preston: Are you a southern white? No? Then nobody was talking about you.
Cassandra wants to post this:
Ah, Geezer, but Preston is just as infuriating as those southern white racists. Since he is a Democrat voting against Obama, I assume he is a purist who did not get his pony, and thinks electing Romney will teach Obama and all of us a good lesson.
His logic is as sound as a racist’s.
Preston, I never said people who vote against Obama are southern white racists. I said southern white racists… of which there are many… WILL vote against Obama no matter what Romney does. Read the whole post.
It’s very telling when people are really quick to tell you how not racist THEY are when the term is merely mentioned.
“there are racist people out there”
“NOT ME!!!! I HAVE BLACK FRIENDS, IM NOT RACIST!!! I SAW AMERICAN GANGSTER…… TWICE!!!”
Fact: if you are a tea partier, you are a racist.
Why? Because if runaway government spending, deficits and debt was your chief complaint, you would have been burning Bush in effigy for 8 years.
but but… bush was just trying to keep us safe!! and it worked! Osama is dead, Al queda is destroyed, Iraq is won! All because of BUsh…. Now that Obama,,,, invading afghanistan and taking credit for all of Bush’s victories… HE’S the racist!
see how easy it is to become a bag of tea?
And the RMoney bus circled, honked and hooted outside of an Obama Campaign event yesterday.
Once a bully, always a bully — right?
Cass: They’re trying to nail down the Evan Quietsch vote.
😆
2 things are certain, the Rich keep doing what makes them Rich, and the Poor keep doing what makes them Poor… Democrats love the Poor…
The Poor will always be around because Democrats must have as many as possible to survive…
For People to Prosper, is bad news for Democrats… They gotta have People out there dumb enough to believe that Republicans are suppressing the Vote, just by investigating Fast n’ Furious… What?
They also need as many Poor Uneducated Mexicans as possible… Some folks have caught on to them and they must be replaced…
Presidents that think they can’t be replaced (HW Bush, Carter) usually get replaced… O’bama believes it can’t happen to him…
@Rockland “O’bama”
dude, why? got sick of trying to insult him by pretending he’s muslim? now you think suggesting that he is Irish will ….. do what exactly?
Anyone who believes that voting for romney instead of obama is racist, carries within themselves prejudices of their own, which are keeping them from seeing the real reasons americans are seeking, and will get a new leader.
@Rd “Anyone who believes that voting for romney instead of obama is racist, carries within themselves prejudices of their own”
The irony… Have you read your own posts here at DL?
Le, I have not re read my post, but I know I don,t have a prejudice bone in my body. I am simply voting for the best man for the job, that is romney. By the way, someone who gives themselves the nickname liberal elite, must really think they possess the view of the masses. Instead of you guys spewing out this ficticious racist malarky, why dont you float out a more plausible theory why people har voting against obama. He never works, we hired him to run the country. Instead we have seen 3 solid years of campaigning. Now that is a key reason people will vote against him, not racism
@Rd “Le, I have not re read my post, but I know I don,t have a prejudice bone in my body.”
Well then, maybe it’s your brain.
“By the way, someone who gives themselves the nickname liberal elite…”
Sort of like ‘Yankee’? Originally meant as an insult…
“why dont you float out a more plausible theory why people har voting against obama.”
Well. I’ve read nearly all your (mostly dishonest) reasons and it basically comes down to racism as the only thing that makes a lick of sense as way of true justification. Racists lie to hide their racism. How am I supposed to interpret your attempts at subterfuge?
“He never works, we hired him to run the country.”
See what I mean? What a bunch of racist crock!! The truth is that Obama makes a serious effort to learn before making decisions. I can’t remember a harder working president. It was GWB who was the guy who refused to work and delegated nearly everything to uncle Dick and his cronies.
@Rd “I am simply voting for the best man for the job, that is romney.”
Best for whom? The irony is that if Romney wins, I will have considerably more money to spend and you will likely have less money to spend, yet I will vote for Obama and you will vote against your financial interests. Can you really afford to do that? How about your family? Are you willing to make them sacrifice so I can spend more? Really??
It’s the middle class that will suffer most under Romney as the Gini index jumps higher..
And why will the Gini index rise? There are dozens of reasons. But consistent policies that help the wealthy at the expense of the worker and the retiree will all serve to drive it up.
Romney may appear to be on both sides of every issue, but not on issues that will basically take your money and give it to me. On those he is very consistent.
If you voted for B. Hussein in 2008 to prove you’re not racist, you will have to vote for Romney in 2012 to prove you’re not an idiot.
“If you voted for B. Hussein in 2008 to prove you’re not racist”
Looks line the null set. Hey racist… Do you honestly believe that anyone voted that way?
So I guess you missed the part about Obama’s ineptitude and this administration’s inability to address the serious economic issues that we currently face. He is content to placate the useful idiots rather than solve problems. It’s all about ideology.
@R “So I guess you missed the part about Obama’s ineptitude and this administration’s inability to address the serious economic issues that we currently face.”
You mean his ineptitude at getting around everything that the GOP has blocked. Yes. That IS a serious problem. Should I be mad at Obama or the GOP?
Hmmm…. That’s not so tough is it? I’ll bet even you could figure that one out.