The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Worried, sleepless nights for Romney supporters will win the election

    By erica20 on Tue, 10/09/2012 - 11:43am |

    I think here is where his 47% comments will hurt him the most, where Obama's team defining Romney as the Bain CEO who wants to ship your jobs overseas in order to pad his Cayman Island bank accounts....

     
    AT's point needs to be the Obama team's most important message between now and the election, hammered home at every opportunity. It's a simple message, it has the advantage of being absolutely true, and it needs to be so clearly stated as to make every single moderate Romney supporter in the country lose sleep at night. It's got to be "The rich are different from you and me, and Romney is one of the rich guys." 
     
    I don't know how to be more clear about this--if the Democrats deliver this message, they will win the election by a mile--if they don't, they might just lose it.
     
    I hope that in his debate with Ryan, Biden brings up the Polaris factory that shipped 40 jobs to Mexico as soon as a big Republican supporter got hold of it. They need to relentlessly make this point, that if your job CAN be shipped overseas, it WILL be shipped overseas if the Republicans get elected. Ditto--if there's a way to cut your pay, you'll be taking a pay cut. And it's not like the money will be going to help other Americans, that money's headed for Switzerland or the Caymans.
     
    It needs to be very clear that Romney made his money by sucking the profit out of companies and carving up what was left. He says he wants to run the country like a business--but that business model wouldn't be very good for the country, would it????? (Cue cartoon of Romney with napkin around his neck and chainsaw at the ready, about to carve up a nicely-roasted USA.)
     
    And.....the reason this point needs to be relentlessly made is that it's the one point that CAN'T be bought away with Republican campaign money. In fact, the more money the Republicans spend, the more it proves itself. (I think in computer terms that's called a fatal loop or something.)
     
    Every Romney supporter in the country needs to spend the night before the election, tossing and turning, wondering if the Democrats are right about this.

    Comments

    You are a weirdo. Romney will win. I just take a sleeping pill and will be glad in the morning hearing Mitt Romney is the pres.

    And I am democrat..(or I was until this debate)


    by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/09/2012 - 7:57pm

    If one debate 'performance' where he lied and lied again, you think canceled out his 47% philosophy, his assault on women's rights, not putting forth any policy specifics, not to mention refusing to release his tax forms as well as using foreign accounts to dodge the US taxes (really nice for a potential POTUS) caused you to change your vote and party affiliation, then you could not have ever been for Obama or a Democrat. 

    I'm an Independent, but after doing tons of research on his past and present, as well as his constant flip-flops and let's not forget his demeanor when he traveled outside our borders, well, you do what you will. 

    Ha, based on one night's 'performance'?  You betcha. Go visit Rush, he's got what you want.


    by Aunt Sam on Tue, 10/09/2012 - 8:57pm

    You're anonymous and you're claiming you were a Democrat until the debate.  I would laugh but you're invisible to me.


    by Ramona on Tue, 10/09/2012 - 9:04pm

    Oh now, did one of you drop this comment in so I wouldn't feel bad about not having any responses? I thought it was such a big deal that I said we needed to scare Republicans and nobody else even mentioned it....


    by Erica (not verified) on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 12:21am

    Erica,

    Honestly, we would never post anything that stupid.  Smart ass, for sure - but stupid, nope.


    by Aunt Sam on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 1:28am

    But see, if you posted something dumb, I'd never suspect--except, ha! I did!  (emoticon of glee)


    by erica20 on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 10:52am

    nobody else even mentioned it.

    Some of us can be slower on the uptake deliberate processors. wink

    What your and oxy's insightful posts share is an attempt to come to grips with both the narrative and affective dynamics in the presidential race.  These dynamics almost surely will have much more to say about the outcome than what is said by either of these candidates on issues or content.  The "take" I've been gravitating to centers on the projection-of-confidence dynamics.  I think you're both onto something important and I hope there are folks high up in the O/B campaign decision loops who are thinking along the lines you two are.


    by AmericanDreamer on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 11:33pm

    Most people like to align themselves with a winner. How they define what a winner is can vary, but sometimes not as much as we'd hope....

    Obama is walking a fine line here. I don't think he can be the one who bears the fear and doubt message, partly because it's not his style and partly because he has to be presidential. I think Clinton might need to gin up a barnburner about how the new old mitt is just as scary as the old, old mitt.

    Thanks AD!


    by Erica (not verified) on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 12:58am

    Most people like to align themselves with a winner. How they define what a winner is can vary, but sometimes not as much as we'd hope....

    Obama is walking a fine line here. I don't think he can be the one who bears the fear and doubt message, partly because it's not his style and partly because he has to be presidential. I think Clinton might need to gin up a barnburner about how the new old mitt is just as scary as the old, old mitt.

    Thanks AD!


    by Erica (not verified) on Thu, 10/11/2012 - 12:59am

    Erica, you are asking too much of Romney voters, I'm afraid.  They don't think like we do, and they're proud of that.  You would think his blatant lies and his CEO-like behavior would be huge turn-offs to voters who believe in "We, the People", but to the Republicans it's just what this country needs.

    Never mind that every ounce of historical evidence points in an opposite direction--they are not into facts, but into perceptions.   When they cheer Romney for being a business man, it's because they're anti-government (or at least think they're anti-government) and still believe that the one percent will get us out of this mess.

    They've allowed themselves to believe that government regulation is a terrible thing, especially in a recovery, and Romney and Ryan feed into that perception.  They're wily like that.  They know it's what they say and not what's true.  They know how to feed into voters' fears, and they know that they can only do it by lying.  Lying doesn't matter.

    That's what we have to come to terms with.  To the Republicans, lying doesn't matter.  We'll have to try and reach them some other way, but up to now we haven't been able to figure out which way that is.


    by Ramona on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 8:39am

    Fear and doubt. We need to reach them through fear and doubt. 

    This is why I was surprised when nobody commented right away about this post.

    Usually I'm all about patiently repeating the facts in an upbeat, clear manner until everybody is on the same page. But Oxy's post about how his kids are voting Republican got me thinking--that we need to be more direct about the genuine problems that Republicans will face if Mitt Romney applies his pragmatic business model to the good ol' USA.

    I said I hoped Oxy would tell his kids:

    If YOUR job can be shipped overseas, it WILL be shipped overseas.

    If YOUR pay can be cut, it WILL be cut. Oh, and by the way, you can say goodbye to raises forever, because you'll be in direct competition with overseas workers from now on.

    If YOUR health benefits can be cut, they WILL be cut. Again, remember that overseas worker will be happy to take the chance that nobody in his family will get sick.

    If the profits from those tax cuts CAN be sent overseas to the Cayman Islands or Switzerland, it WILL be sent there. It WILL NOT go to grow American businesses or help American families. Because that's the Romney business model--suck out the profit, and sell off what's left.

    Republicans say they want the USA run like a business. Well, there's the business model right there.

    Something else Oxy said has stuck with me--that if you look at any balance sheet, employees are always in the expense column. (We talk about job creators, but still there's no business in the country that puts its people in the asset column when it comes time to do the accounting.) PEOPLE ARE AN EXPENSE. And business owners are always working to cut expenses. It's very important to let our Republican friends know that in the Republican government model, people are an expense. Romney said so in his 47% speech. Maybe the adult males and to some extent adult females who are working are ok, but your kids, your grandma, your aging parents--all expenses, in the Republican mindset.

    Mitt's support softened so much because he said all those goofy things that made people doubt him. Now that he's proclaiming himself a centrist, his support will harden again--people will be thinking that he'll be the more-or-less easygoing, businesslike Governor of Massachusetts again. We need to let people know that there's no way it's going to be like that once Mitt is President, that Mitt is not up to the job, and that if Meaningless Mitt and Tea Party Ryan get their hands on the white house, nobody's job is safe.

    I am very serious. Republicans need to spend the next month worrying that maybe Mitt and Paul won't be great after all. Partly because it will change the election result, but mostly, because it's true.

    I can't believe I'm saying this, but instilling fear and doubt is the greatest public service we can perform for the next 28 days.


    by erica20 on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 11:35am

    CNN's Ohio poll that came out today could be the beginning of the worried and sleepless nights.  Hope springs eternal.


    by Elusive Trope on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 1:38pm