Robert Reich: Why Romney is going down

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune ^ | September 18, 2012 | Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich

[2ndDivisionVet]

Unemployment is still above 8 percent, job gains aren't even keeping up with population growth, the economy is barely moving forward. And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?

Because Republicans are failing the central test of electability. Instead of putting together the largest possible coalition of voters, they're relying largely on one slice of America -- middle-aged white men -- and alienating just about everyone else.

Start with Hispanics, whose electoral heft keeps growing as they become an ever-larger portion of the electorate. Hispanics now favor President Obama over Romney by a larger margin than they did six months ago.

Why? In February's Republican primary debate, Romney dubbed Arizona's controversial immigration policy, which authorized police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone who looks Hispanic, a "model law" for the rest of the nation.

Romney then attacked GOP rival Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, for supporting in-state tuition at the University of Texas for children of undocumented immigrants. And Romney advocates what he calls "self-deportation" -- making life so difficult for undocumented immigrants and their families that they choose to leave.

As if all this weren't enough, the GOP has been pushing voter ID laws all over America...

[2ndDivisionVet]

Comments?

[Oratam]

Obama goes down, if you believe a certain Chicago rent-boy.

[Viennacon]

Robert Reich, avid supporter of Obama’s Fourth Reich.

What a pile of garbage “Romney is alienating everyone apart from white men” Can they explain why married women support Romney? I suppose the minority of blacks, Jews and Hispanics who support Romney don’t count for anything. Liberalism = mental disorder.

[bigheadfred]

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 47% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns 45% of the vote.

That says it all.

[tanknetter]

And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?

Because "most polls" have now moved from oversampling Democrats by 5-6 points to oversampling them by 9, 10, 11 and even 13 points.

[cld51860]

How exactly are they alienating Hispanics? Just by being white themselves? Smacks of “reverse” racism to me. I hear/read crap like this all of the time but never see any tangible proof of this “alienation.”

[Hero]

Hardee har har.

Looney ideas from a looney man.

[bigheadfred]

LINK

[SoFloFreeper]

Robert the Dwarf doesn’t know what he is talking about.

Obamugabe is going to lose because he is ignoring the white vote and is unable to provide true prosperity for anyone of any race.

Obamugabe is the racist, not Mitt Romney.

The Republican convention, if the Dwarf hadn’t noticed, was chock full of Hispanics, women, blacks, and other so-called minority LEADERS...not people demanding a hand out.

The rest of America is slowly (but surely) coming to see the party of Obamugabe is not the party of John F. Kennedy...Bill Clinton is trying to keep up the facade, but most folks are waking up.

So the Dwarf is wrong.

[JaguarXKE]

Comments?

None that wouldn't get me banned.

[COBOL2Java]

[PauldArco]

Why Romney is going down isn’t because of his “tough stances” on immigration, illegals, or anything else. It is his total lack of TOUGH and CONSISTENT stances on ANYTHING AT ALL...

Why did conservatives push for someone who has no inner compass for conservative values? People may get upset at a certain policy or position that may not favor them personally, but they will respect someone who takes that position unapologetically, and doesn’t waiver with the political winds.

We have tough, smart consistent political voices among conservatives... why haven’t they been supported by the Repubs? I don’t want to whine, but at the moment am not in a good mood. Maybe later...

[Wage Slave]

Obama voters of all races are unintelligent and/or lazy. They will take the fruits of the labor of white men by force.

[verum ago]

And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?

Right out of the gates: bullsh*t. The article depends on a false notion.

they're relying largely on one slice of America -- middle-aged white men -- and alienating just about everyone else.

This is just the standard Dem tripe that they love repeating. Paint the Republicans as a bunch of crotchety old men, to contrast with their hip Man of the People. Whatever.

Or consider students, a significant and growing electoral force, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. What are Republicans doing to woo them back?

Enthusiasm amongst young voters for Obama is waaaaay down from 2008.

And, of course, they've come out against equal marriage rights for gay couples.

Which is why Obama has lost some of the black vote. They go to him by default, but are generally religious, and many are having trouble stomaching gay marriage.

Romney dubbed Arizona's controversial immigration policy, which authorized police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone who looks Hispanic, a "model law" for the rest of the nation.

That's not what the law requires, and it isn't an unpopular law.

As if all this weren't enough, the GOP has been pushing voter ID laws all over America, whose obvious aim is to intimidate Hispanic voters so they won't come to the polls. But they may be having the opposite effect -- emboldening the vast majority of ethnic Hispanics, who are American citizens, to vote in even greater numbers and lend even more support to Obama and other Democrats

Voter ID laws are supported by a majority in effectively all demographics, including blacks and Democrats!

According to polls, the political gender gap is widening.

The gender gap has actually been narrowing some, but Obama still has the female vote in the bag. Just wanted to point out another falsehood.

Republicans have even managed to antagonize seniors by seeking to turn Medicare into vouchers whose value won't keep up with rising health-care costs, and seeking to cut $800 billion out of Medicaid (which many seniors rely on for nursing home care).

It's Obama that's doing the cutting, actually. Anyone who pays attention can see that R&R are the one's that are right, and that the Dems are (gasp) straight up lying.

See the pattern here? This article relies on a lot of stretches, outdated info, and simple lies.

And of course, this totally ignores 2 things: in the latest Rasmussen poll, Obama has fallen behind on foreign policy due to his idiocy of late. And, most importantly:

"it's the economy, stupid"

[blueunicorn6]

Bobby is still around? Hey Bob, 1910 called. They want their ideas back.

[TomEwall]

Gallop now has Obama ahead by 1. They had him up by 6 or so a week ago. So that’s a five point move towards Romney. How is Romney falling further and further behind?

Maybe a few more “gaffes” will give him the lead.

[Emperor Palpatine]

I could care less what that moronic dwarf says.

[Col Frank Slade]

I guess Robert Reichhhhhhhhhhh hasn’t seen Obama’s poll numbers with Independents.

So low they are at eye level.

[robowombat]

Yes that is it. What we have is an alliance of people who went to or wished they had gone to ‘elite universities’ who were taught and believed what Limbaugh correctly calls ‘a bunch of nonsense’ about everything revolving around race, class and gender grievance forming the political overclass of a collection of constituencies of parasites, lunatics and losers. These people are mostly colored minorities, feminazis,queers, environuts and government employees. So that is what it boils down to the white (mostly) middle class versus the rest. The rest collectively want things done that are damaging to smaller businesses and destructive of normal morality and family cohesion. This is an existential fight by the middle class although they are not allowed to say so by their ‘betters’ in the GOP.

[NowApproachingMidnight]

Reich is a dolt: