Posted on 04/27/2012 7:44:20 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
The GOP has been told all along the story that Mitt Romney is more electable than any other candidate, Republican or Democrat.
It’s a story that I never really understood, except if one would promote Mitt as the type of non-ideological, banking-oriented technocrat that Europe’s embracing who raises taxes and spending in the name of deficit control.
Sure, Mitt’s a good family man apparently, and the GOP always has a soft spot for the Horatio Alger story that Mitt claims to represent. Taken together the cumulative is supposed to add up to unbeatable at the polls, especially when compared to Obama’s anti-American resume, presidency and campaign.
But in the last two weeks, Newt Gingrich has shown at least two of the Romney storylines to be myths- at least as to electability. And Newt accomplished this not with his double digit win in South Carolina, but with his attack on Romney’s experience at Bain Capital, combined with Mitt’s notable ideological flaws. .
While the GOP establishment has been busy denouncing Newt as promoting “class warfare” by his attacks on Mitt and Bain, they’ve missed the bigger picture issue that rank and file GOP voters have responded to: Mitt Romney’s experience doesn’t make him the anti-Obama. Rather, Mitt’s Wall Street past, combined with his record as governor of Massachusetts, represent the alliance between government and business that has led to runaway spending no matter which side has been in power.
Sure, Washington is to blame for most of the mess, but Wall Street has been complicit too. Behind every Solyndra loan was a commercial bank- in Solyndra’s case the Federal Financing Bank- that benefited from the risk free- for them- loans. Behind the financing of every budget deficit are more fees for Wall Street.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? They operated as a giant Ways and Means committee for Wall Street to off-load America’s housing risk on to the government. To be sure, Wall Street was just maximizing profits, as it’s supposed to. But is Romney the guy who’s going to shut down the Combine between business and government?
This from Scott Rasmussen:
While Romney would hope to position himself as a defender of free market competition, he is potentially vulnerable on the topic because only 35 percent of Americans believe that capitalism and a free market economy are the same thing. Candidate Romney, like many Republicans, tends to use the terms interchangeably. That's dangerous when 39 percent of voters nationwide believe the country has a system of crony capitalism, while only 34 percent believe free market capitalism is practiced. The rest aren't sure.
Interestingly, this is one issue with very little partisan divide. Republican, Democrats and unaffiliated voters hold similarly skeptical views. Seven out of 10 Americans believe that big government and big business work together against the rest of us. Voters don't mind businesses getting big; they just mind when the government gives them an unfair advantage over others.
Like what happened in Romneycare.
“What motivated Romney to enact RomneyCare, as former Romney/Obama adviser Jonathan Gruber explains here,” writes Cato’s healthcare policy expert Michael Cannon, “was the widespread desire (within Massachusetts) to hang on to $385 million of federal Medicaid money that Massachusetts had secured using one of Medicaid’s notorious and fraudulent “provider tax” scams. In other words, the whole purpose of RomneyCare was to enable Massachusetts to hold on to $385 million that it received by defrauding and taxing residents of other states. And of course, Romney/RomneyCare caused the tax burden that Massachusetts effectively imposes on non-Massachusetts residents to grow.”
When Romneycare was crafted there were people sitting around a table talking about healthcare, but they weren’t talking about cancer, or broken bones. They were talking about money. You got it and they want more of it, risk free in the same way they off-loaded risk in the housing sector.
While other parts of the economy are struggling, the healthcare sector is approaching all-time highs as represented by the S&P healthcare Select Sector fund. Romneycare and Obamacare, as seen in the chart below, have created an artificial floor for healthcare investments, protecting investors in a way that investors in the S&P 500, for example, don’t enjoy.
(Chart courtesy Yahoo! Finance)
The sooner we separate Washington from Wall Street, the better. And Romney is the only GOP candidate who forfeits the moral high ground in that argument to Obama. Any other GOP candidate will be able to credibly chastise Obama for the crony capitalism practiced by the left. But not Romney.
GOP voters, thankfully, haven’t been gulled into believing that every investor automatically qualifies as a free market capitalist- see Buffett, Warren and Soros, George. Voters are rightly saying that they are not sure that being a venture capitalist qualifies one, per se, to be president anymore than being a community organizer does; especially when one factors in Mitt’s historic socialization of healthcare in Massachusetts.
For GOP voters you can’t find a bigger attack on free markets or a stronger case of crony capitalism and government than that which Romneycare represents.
Voters- and Newt- have every right to be skeptical. That skepticism isn’t an attack on free markets, but support of free markets.
The sooner we get business out of government and government out of business, the quicker our economy will mend.
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So what is the solution?
Stay home and sit on our hands and let Obama have four more years to finish wrecking America?????
We tried this - or SOME of us did back in 2008.
Much as I dispise McCain, you can’t tell me America is better off today because OBAMA was elected and you can’t tell me America would be better off if Obama gets FOUR MORE YEARS to create havoc.
I am deeply and bitterly disappointed by our failure to wrest the nomination from a RINO. But I will be DAMNED if I let that Marxist Muslim Racist Radical get re-elected in 2012.
My suggestion, hold your nose, vote for Romeny and WORK LIKE HELL to get REAL Conservatives elected to Congress!!!
I TOTALLY, 110%, Agree!!
Can you tell me what the difference between a liberal R and a liberal D as president would be.
Romney has already stated he wants to work with democrats.
We know he supports abortion, the homosexual agenda, man made global warming, appointment/confirming of liberal judges, welfare, government mandates, gun grabs, doesn’t like conservatives and wont work with them, has five positions on every issue......so really what is the difference?
We need a conservative congress (house and senate) Romney will not have coat strings to make that happen.
Even if Romney were to win, it’s not likely we will take the senate and may lose seats in the house.
Do you really think Romney will govern as a conservative with his history of liberalism, both personal and private?
Rather, Mitt’s Wall Street past, combined with his record as governor of Massachusetts, represent the alliance between government and business that has led to runaway spending no matter which side has been in power.
It’s not just about Mitt. This is the problem with all party elite candidates. It doesn’t matter which party, the system is set up to make the connected even more wealthy. This won’t end well if we don’t stop it soon, and having Rush and Hannity scream “class warfare” every time someone points out that there is a problem only enables the crooks.
Rather, Mitt’s Wall Street past, combined with his record as governor of Massachusetts, represent the alliance between government and business that has led to runaway spending no matter which side has been in power.
It’s not just about Mitt. This is the problem with all party elite candidates. It doesn’t matter which party, the system is set up to make the connected even more wealthy. This won’t end well if we don’t stop it soon, and having Rush and Hannity scream “class warfare” every time someone points out that there is a problem only enables the crooks.
The fact of the matter is that all RINO's are crony capitalists. Even the last RINO to hold high office, Arnold of California, put it well when he said in a moment of frankness that a healthy private sector is necessary to generate the tax revenue necessary to grow the nanny state.
Huge, huge difference from ObaMao who will p*ss away taxpayer money rewarding political cronies like Solyndra, RINO crony capitalists at least return some benefit to the economy at large.
If this country were worthy of anything better, the debate would be between conservatives and Romney RINOs, not Romney RINOs and Obama Marxists.
Freepers seem to think that unless we do something the “whole game is over”. I have been trying to explain for some time that “the date which you refer to is not in the future”. I beleive it was Claire Wolfe who said, “It is too late to do anything about it and too soon to shoot the bastards.”
You're absolutely right! I think that kind of knee-jerk response is as bad as the left screaming "racism!" when someone uses the word "niggardly" or points out that Obama is skinny. And likely to discredit, in the public mind, any defense of free-market capitalism.
I see your still working hard to get Obama elected .
You trash Meg Whitmsn no stop in the exact same manner when she was the only thing stopping Jerry Brown and the Dems from full control in CA !
How dud that work out ?
Your agenda is sadly obvious .
Are still a fan if the Soros run Texas Tribune ?
You ran an identical AstroTurf campaign against Rick Perry using Soros crap
“Can you tell me what the difference between a liberal R and a liberal D as president would be.”
Obama is not your Garden variety Democrat Liberal.
He is a black racist who may be a closet Muslim. He lives in the world of the 19th century, tilting, like Don Quixote, against western capitalist colonialist widnmills which no longer exist except in his mind. My guess is he has ties to the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam. I don’t beleive he is a Natural Born Citizen as defined by the Constitution.
Everything about his background is shady and vague - his grades, where he went to school, where he was educated,where he got the money for his education and campaign - I could go on and on.
“Romney has already stated he wants to work with democrats.”
They all SAY they will work with the other party, and on common ground they do - but its RARE. Rhetoric for the election. They smile at each other and hold daggers behind their backs.
“We know he supports abortion, the homosexual agenda, man made global warming, appointment/confirming of liberal judges, welfare, government mandates, gun grabs, doesn’t like conservatives and wont work with them, has five positions on every issue......so really what is the difference?”
Sort of, Sort of, sort of. But compared to the man in the Oval Office, he is not as adamant on ANY of these as Obama is. As a Republican, he is subject to political pressure from his own party. And if he isn’t we can try to throw him out on his butt next time around.
“We need a conservative congress (house and senate) Romney will not have coat strings to make that happen.”
YES. WE need to produce a conservative CONGRESS to keep ROMNEY in line. A Conservative Congress with Obama in the White House will cause total gridlock and give the Dems ammo to try and blow us away next time around.
“Do you really think Romney will govern as a conservative with his history of liberalism, both personal and private?”
Compared to the alternative, he will far more susceptible to our pressure and that of conservatives in Congress. He is to the right of Obama.
Look, I had “Anybody but Romney” for my TAGLINE. I don’t like Romney. But I think Romney is basically a guy who loves America even though he sees it from another perspective than we do. Obama, on the other hand, hates America, hates success, hates people who work for a living, hates wewstern culture, hates Chritianity and Judaism, and is the total, unrestricted antithesis of everything we hold so dear.
Its a bitter pill to swallow, but we have done it before. HOLD YOUR NOSE. Vote for Romney. And go out and vote for, contribute to, and campaign for, CONSERVATIVE CONGRESSMEN - Tea Party People if possible.
We have no other choice I can think of. If you can, let me know. I’m open to advice.
I will never leave America.
I will never give up.
I will go down fighting them every inch of the way.
I will fight them on guns, abortion, gay rights, free enterprise, Islam, Sharia, etc.
I see hope ahead if we work hard, think smart and don’t give up, or make stupid choices like allowing this Marxist Muslim Liar to get re-elected.
Sometimes you need to ally yourself with somebody you are not particuarly fond of to defeat somebody far worse.
Look at the U.S. and Stalin versus Hitler and Tojo.
Reality is hard.
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