Category: What’s Up!

So, why were Willard Mitt Romney and other Republican Party candidates basically annihilated during the 2012 elections?  The answer is simple – in addition to the genius of the Obama campaign strategists, I believe there are four major reasons why Romney and other Republicans lost—(1) Flawed Leadership; (2) Far Right Agenda; (3) Lack of Credibility; and (4) Resolve of the American People.

Flawed Leadership – Romney had been practicing to become President since 1994 but was not prepared for the journey.  He should have known that his taxes, off-shore accounts, Bain Capital, and his Massachusetts healthcare law would become significant campaign issues. This past March, former presidential candidate Rick Santorum suggested that “re-electing President Barack Obama would be better than electing Republican rival Mitt Romney.” Fox News commentator, Ann Coulter, said that, “If we don’t run Chris Christie, Romney will be the nominee and he will lose to Obama.”  This past January, Newt Gingrich called Romney “a liar who would mislead the American people if elected to the White House.”  Romney’s leadership credentials were flawed and Republican leaders especially the Fox News crew disdained him.

Far Right Agenda – The Republican Party’s far right agenda especially dealing with women’s health and civil rights issues angered an extremely large constituency.  Congressman’s Issa’s hearing on women’s contraception without permitting female testimony and Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke intensified the problem.  Richard Murdock’s comment that rape resulting in pregnancy was “something God intended to happen” and Todd Akin’s comment about “legitimate rape” were not only reprehensible but alienated women.  The selection of Paul Ryan as the vice presidential candidate who has views similar to Murdock and Akin was a problem as well.  Abortion rights also became an important political divider and when Romney talked about appointing Supreme Court Justices to overturn Roe vs. Wade, his popularity continued to wane.  Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion. Romney’s “self deportation” comment that he made during a Republican presidential primary turned-off many of the Hispanic population. The threat to turn Medicare into a voucher program, to defund Planned Parenthood and make significant cuts in domestic programs did not go over very well.  The Romney video concerning the 47% was the last straw.  It validated his agenda and was the first nail in his coffin.

Lack of Credibility – The Romney campaign and Republican Super-Pacs flooded the airwaves with lies, distortions and fabrications about the President and Democratic senatorial and congressional candidates.  In addition, a different Romney appeared in each of the presidential debates.  During the first debate, Romney came across as a “denier” of the facts that he had been supporting since the start of his campaign.  At the second debate, a more conciliatory Romney showed up and seemed to be in agreement with the Obama policies.  At the third debate, Romney’s National Security showing was a disaster and his lack of preparation and ignorance was clear.  The main reason that Romney lost Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin was because of the blatant double-down lie he was advocating that Jeep was relocating to China that the residents of these states knew was a lie.  That was the second nail in the Romney coffin.

Resolve of the American People –Republican state officials launched an exceptional, centrally focused crusade to suppress democratic voters.  Republican governors and state legislators passed a variety of measures aimed at preventing millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from voting in the 2012 election.  The success of this effort would have been the most significant setback to voting rights in this country since passage of Voting Rights Act of 1965.  What these voter suppressors failed to consider, however, is the resolve of the American people who were so enraged at their actions that they were motivated to spend hours upon hours in lines just to exercise their right to vote.  While many thought that this constituency was not motivated enough to turn-out for this election, the crowds were huge especially among women, African Americans, Asians and Hispanics.  Not only did President Obama win a second term, but the Democrats picked up significant Senate and House seats.  This was the third nail in the Romney coffin.

In a previous article, I had predicted that Obama would win a second term with at least 310 electoral votes.  After Florida is called, his electoral votes will be 332.  I also said that Senate Democrats would pick up at least two additional seats and they did.  The House Democrats also picked up additional seats and three of the most despicable Tea Partiers, Joe Walsh, Todd Akin and Allen West, also lost.  In addition, Maryland residents approved same-sex marriage (Question 6) and the new Maryland casino (Question 7) by significant majorities.

The Republican Party has yet to realize that the US electorate and issues have become more progressive.  The 2012 election was a repudiation of the right-wing radicalism and ideology.  In addition to overwhelming support of women, President Obama captured 93% of the African American vote, 72% of the Hispanic vote, and 73% of the Asian vote. Moreover, voters made history on Election Day by endorsing moves to allow gay marriage in Maine, Maryland and Washington State.  Minnesota voters also rejected a ballot measure that would have preserved an anti-gay marriage law in their constitution, and neighboring Wisconsin elected Tammy Baldwin as the country’s first openly gay U.S. senator.  For the Republican Party and its Christian conservative base to be competitive in future elections, they will have to accept the current reality including the fact that marriage equality has nothing to do with religious rights but everything to do with civil rights.  Although it’s difficult for many Christians to admit, this country was not founded on Christian principles and beliefs but as a “nation under God.”  Other US religions including Mormonism, Judaism, Islam, New Age and many others worship their god but do not promote Christian values, yet their faith is as strong.  As long as conservative Republicans continue to listen to Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other right-wing radical commentators, it is doubtful that the Party will abandon or severely limit its extreme right-wing ideology by the 2014 mid-term elections and as long as they continue that dogma, they will become irrelevant as a dominant political party, but that’s just my take.

 

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On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, despite the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars spent in negative advertisements to deny President Barack Obama a second term, he won by an overwhelming majority, and Willard Mitt Romney along with other Republicans got trounced.  Not only did Obama win, but he won in a landslide victory capturing over 300 electoral votes and over two million popular votes.  During the election process, Dick Morris, Fox News analyst, made several bizarre predictions grossly inconsistent with national polling data and common sense. His predictions were “so far out on the limb” that Bill O’Reilly told him that if Barack Obama wins the election, Morris would be “through.”  Morris predicted that: (1) Romney would defeat President Obama in “a landslide;” (2) Republicans were going to win 10 Senate seats; and (3) Obama would drop out of the presidential race, just to name a few of the Morris predictions.  Morris was wrong.  After recovering from “shell shock,” Mitt Romney told his supporters that he lost because “Hurricane Sandy” changed his momentum, a statement also not supported by the polls.

Many on the right were devastated at the Romney loss and the blame-game has begun.  Even before President Obama’s win was secured, Romney supporters and right wing commentators were eager to identify reasons Romney lost, and for some, Chris Christie topped the list. Governor Christie’s praise for Obama’s swift Hurricane Sandy response irritated conservatives and Romney insiders who were upset at the image of Romney’s most prolific surrogate touring the Jersey coastline with Obama in Marine One.  In an attempt to justify his own failed predictions, Morris said:  “But the more proximate cause of my error was that I did not take full account of the impact of hurricane Sandy and of Governor Chris Christie’s bipartisan march through New Jersey arm in arm with President Obama.  Not to mention Christie’s fawning promotion of Obama’s presidential leadership.  It made all the difference…By working seamlessly with an acerbic Republican Governor like Christie, Obama was able to blunt Romney’s advantage in this crucial area.”

Some conservative leaders also lashed out at Romney saying his attempts to paint himself as a centrist and hide his principles cost him the presidency.  They vowed to wage a war to put the Tea Party in charge of the Republican Party by the time it nominates its next presidential candidate.  “The battle to take over the Republican Party begins today and the failed Republican leadership should resign,” said Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com.  He said the lesson on Romney’s loss to President Obama on Tuesday is that the GOP must “never again” nominate “a big government established conservative for president.” Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots said Romney failed to make the kind of strong case for conservatism that would have won the election.  Of course it’s the Tea Party that probably cost the Republicans the Senate for the second election in a row.

Newt Gingrich said that party strategists were mistaken in believing the unemployment rate and struggling economy would doom Obama to a one-term presidency.  “We were wrong,” he said on “CBS This Morning.” He and other Republicans, such as Karl Rove, “misunderstood what was happening in the country.”  Part of the “rethinking” party leaders should do is how to appeal to Hispanics and other demographic groups who supported Obama’s re-election, Gingrich said.  “Unless we do that we’re going to be a minority party,” he said.

Ron Bonjean, a former communications adviser to Republican House and Senate leaders, said the party’s wing that opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage is poised to portray Romney’s loss as a repudiation of nominating more moderate candidates.  “They will likely call him a flawed candidate,” Bonjean said. “There’s going to be an element of Republicans who don’t think they went conservative enough.”

Shortly after the television networks called the race for President Obama, Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, sent an e-mail to reporters blaming the loss on “a weak moderate candidate, hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country-club establishment wing of the Republican Party. The presidential loss is unequivocally on them.”

Charles Krauthammer, a conservative political columnist, dismissed Romney as “a transitional figure,” on Fox News. “He’s a Northeastern liberal, and that’s not where we’re going,” Krauthammer said. “That’s not where the future of the Republican Party is.”  Krauthammer said a new generation of Republican leaders, such as Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio, will give the party a more conservative bent.  Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly said that the folks who voted for Obama wanted “free stuff” and that’s what Obama would give them.  Karl Rove told his donors that Hurricane Sandy was the cause of the Romney downfall.  ”The billionaire donors I hear are livid,” one Republican operative told The Huffington Post. “There is some holy hell to pay. Karl Rove has a lot of explaining to do…I don’t know how you tell your donors that we spent $390 million and got nothing.”  Karl Rove also suggested that the Obama campaign had successfully “suppressed the vote” with negative advertising.  Part of the Obama advertising campaign strategy was to define Romney early and to that degree, Rove does have a point.

CONTINUED IN PART II

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This is a continuation of my article on the last presidential debate held on October 22, 2012, and we pick up with the Romney lies, fabrications and myths.

6) “[W]e are going to have North American energy independence. We’re going to do it by taking full advantage of oil, coal, gas, nuclear and our renewables.” Romney would actually eliminate the fuel efficiency standards that are moving the United States towards energy independence even though his campaign plan relies on these rules to meet his goals.

7) “[W]e’re going to have to have training programs that work for our workers.” Paul Ryan’s budget, which Romney has fully endorsed, calls for spending 33 percent less on “Education, training, employment, and social services” than Obama’s budget.

8) “And I’ll get us on track to a balanced budget.” Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut plan and his increases to military spending without a way to pay for would explode the deficit.

9) “Well, Republicans and Democrats came together on a bipartisan basis to put in place education principles that focused on having great teachers in the classroom.” Education experts have weak praise for Romney’s proposals while he was governor. “His impact was inconsequential,” said Glen Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. “People viewed his proposals as political talking points, and no one took Romney seriously.”

10) “So I’d get rid of [Obamacare] from day one. To the extent humanly possible, we get that out.” Romney cannot unilaterally eliminate a bill passed by Congress and his plan to grant states waivers may also be a non-starter.

11) “Number two, we take some programs that we are going to keep, like Medicaid, which is a program for the poor.” Medicaid isn’t just a program for the poor. While it provides health coverage for “millions of low-income children and families who lack access to the private health insurance system,” it also offers “insurance to millions of people with chronic illnesses or disabilities” and is “the nation’s largest source of coverage for long-term care, covering more than two-thirds of all nursing home residents.” Medicaid is also a key source of coverage for pregnant women.

12) “[W]e’ll take [Medicaid] for the poor and we give it to the states to run because states run these programs more efficiently.” A Congressional Budget Office analysis of Paul Ryan’s proposal to block grant Medicaid found that if federal spending for Medicaid decreased, “states would face significant challenges in achieving sufficient cost savings through efficiencies to mitigate the loss of federal funding.” As a result, enrollees could “face more limited access to care,” higher out-of-pocket costs, and “providers could face more uncompensated care as beneficiaries lost coverage for certain benefits or lost coverage altogether.”

13) “Our Navy is old — excuse me, our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917…That, in my view, is making — is making our future less certain and less secure. The U.S. Navy is smaller than it was in 1917, but it is not making America less safe. The Navy has actually grown in the number of ships under Obama and Romney’s plan to increase shipbuilding is unrealistic.  As one historian told PolitiFact, counting the number of ships or aircraft “is not a good measurement of defense strength because their capabilities have increased dramatically in recent decades.” Romney’s comparison “doesn’t pass ‘the giggle test,’” he said.

14) “And then the president began what I have called an apology tour, of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America. I think they looked at that and saw weakness.” Obama never embarked on an “apology tour.”

15) “And I think that when the president said he was going to create daylight between ourselves and Israel that they noticed that as well.” They haven’t noticed because it’s not true. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak told CNN, “President Obama is doing . . . more than anything that I can remember in the past [in regard to our security].” “When I look at the record of President Obama concerning the major issues, security, I think it’s a highly satisfactory record, from an Israeli point of view,” said Israeli President Shimon Peres.

16) “And — and — we should not have wasted these four years to the extent they — they continue to be able to spin these centrifuges and get that much closer.” Obama hasn’t wasted time on Iran. In July 2012, Obama signed into law the most effective sanctions ever put into place against Iran, targeting the country’s oil and financial sectors. These sanctions were imposed unilaterally by the U.S. and come in addition to the four rounds of sanctions the UN has enacted since 2006. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the sanctions “very effective,” and Romney has said he would continue them if elected.

17) “I would tighten those sanctions. I would say that ships that carry Iranian oil can’t come into our ports. I imagine the E.U. would agree with us as well.” Almost no Iranian oil has come into the United States since Ronald Reagan signed an executive order in 1987 banning all U.S. imports from Iran. The nation received a small amount of oil from Iran after the first Gulf War in 1991.  So much for Romney’s National Security knowledge.

18) “I see jihadists continuing to spread, whether they’re rising or just about the same level, hard to precisely measure, but it’s clear they’re there. They’re very strong.” Obama’s policies appear to have gravely weakened al Qaeda Central, the lead arm of the organization in Pakistan and Afghanistan principally responsible for 9/11.

19) “It’s not government investments that makes businesses grow and hire people.”  Why then does the Romney campaign routinely push government military spending as a way to create jobs and boost businesses?

20) “My plan to get the [auto] industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks. It was President Bush that wrote the first checks. I disagree with that. I said they need — these [auto] companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy.” Romney’s plan for the auto bailout would have ensured the collapse of the auto industry. In his editorial titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” Romney advocated for letting the private sector finance the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler.  Auto insiders, however, said that plan was “reckless” and “pure fantasy.”

21) “Research is great. Providing funding to universities and think tanks is great. But investing in companies? Absolutely not.” Ryan’s plan, which Romney endorses, “could cut spending on non-defense related research and development by 5%, or $3.2 billion, below the fiscal-year 2012 budget, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Over the long term, Ryan’s small-government approach would shrink funding for research and development to historically small sizes.”

22) “One is a path represented by the president, which at the end of four years would mean we’d have $20 trillion in debt heading towards Greece.” The U.S. is not headed down a path like that of Greece. Greece, contrary to popular belief, had a revenue problem rather than a spending problem. While its spending was high compared to US standards — 50.4 percent of GDP compared to 38 percent of GDP in the US — its spending was average among European nations. As CAP’s Michael Linden and Sabina Dewan note, “Over the past 10 years, Greece has consistently spent less, as a share of GDP, than the European Union as a whole.” However, it generated less that 40 percent of GDP from revenue — one of the lowest rates in the EU.

23) “I was in a state where my legislature was 87 percent Democrat. I learned how to get along on the other side of the aisle.” Given Romney’s 844 vetoes as governor, Massachusetts legislators dispute this claim.  As the New York Times has noted, “The big-ticket items that Mr. Romney proposed when he entered office in January 2003 went largely unrealized, and some that were achieved turned out to have a comparatively minor impact.”

24) “We should key our foreign aid, our direct foreign investment, and that of our friends, we should coordinate it to make sure that we — we push back and give them more economic development.” Romney’s website promises to “Reduce Foreign Aid—Savings: $100 Million.” “Stop borrowing money from countries that oppose America’s interests in order to give it back to them in the form of foreign aid,” it says. In November of 2011, Romney said he would start foreign aid for every country “at Zero” and call on them to make their case for U.S. financial assistance.

Democrats agreed that President Obama lost the first debate in Denver by large margins, and Romney’s poll numbers soared. When they met at Hofstra University, a much more assertive Obama showed up and polls showed he was the winner by a large majority.  However, Romney’s right-wing supporters including Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram and Bill O’Reilly tried to spin Romney’s debate performance as a win.  Obviously, they were watching another channel.  It remains to be seen if this debate will provide a “bounce” for either but we will get the final verdict on November 6, 2012.

Here are my 2012 election predictions:  Obama will win a second term with at least 310 electoral votes; the democratic Senate will pick up at least two additional seats; the House will be close and can go either way but by a very small margin.  For Maryland residents, both Questions 6 and 7 will pass by overwhelming majorities.  There is another complication that could impact the turnout for Romney and that is his Mormon faith.  Although I don’t believe that one’s faith should be an issue in a presidential election, in a recent television special on Mormonism, Christians who were interviewed stated that they would not vote for Romney because he is a Mormon.

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