No this is not hyperbole. Like all Republicans, Romney hates America when we have a Democratic president. His recent shameless politicizing responding to the deaths of American ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and some of his staff starkly illustrates this hatred. Despite not even knowing the facts the Romney campaign gleefully lied and said that President Obama supported and apologized to the attackers.
So does Romney have the good sense to just tone down his attacks in a press conference today so he can at least seem a bit presidential? Of course not because everything is fair game when you hate the country under President Obama. He showed absolutely no respect for the fallen diplomats. Instead Romney glibly extended his attacks. Romney could not even contain his giddiness with the thought that this tragedy could help his candidacy. Here is a freeze frame of Romney showing his glee at the end of his news conference.
While Democrats after 911 showed President Bush massive support we all know if that same disaster happened with a Democratic President Republicans would immediately start playing the blame game. They blamed President Clinton for Al Qaeda attacks that were far less preventable because they were on foreign soil. In fact they blamed Clinton for the 911 attacks when he was not even president.
There is no question literally from day one the GOP has been conspiring against Obama to make him a one term president. The country be damned! In the eyes of the GOP not doing what is best for the citizens of this country is just collateral damage. We all know the troupe of men behaving badly including Paul Ryan met on the night of Obama’s inaguration to put party before country. They see America through a distorted prism that if the GOP is not in charge they are against America succeeding while a Democrat is in office.
The GOP argument is they still love the country but they just do not like the direction that Democrats are taking the country. This is another outright GOP lie. When Bush was in office people like Paul Ryan put their principles aside when they voted for two unfunded wars and even an unfunded expansion of a social program in Medicare Part D. Under Bush the GOP EXPANDED government by over 1.2 million government employees while claiming Obama is the statist even though he generally lessened the size of government. The GOP even goes against it’s really leader Grover Nordquist and is all of a sudden is against cutting taxes on the middle class only because Obama is for them.
As I have said before we are in a Cold Civil War in this country and like the Civil War under Lincoln there is a just and righteous side and a side that wants to tear America apart for the selfish and immoral ambitions.
Hi everybody. Just back from Spain where we followed the debacle of both the deaths of the four Americans and the reaction. The Spanish press was measured about Romney’s reaction but clearly they thought him disgusting.
As soon as we got home last night I found another dimension to this story I had not learned while overseas. One of the people who died at the Embassy was Glen Doherty, former Navy SEAL stationed at the Embassy in Libya. Glen was one of my colleagues with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, on the Advisory Board, and a presence for religious freedom everywhere. The extremism of the people who made and promoted the vile and despicable film that has spawned the outrage in the Mideast and the extremists who killed our ambassador and Glen among others is precisely what he stood against.
What sickens me is that both the RW perps in this country and the fundamentalists abroad are probably both high-fiving these deaths.
It’s what extremists do. Even extremists like Romney who saw the moment as political theater, not a human tragedy.
It is past time that we have candidates like Romney who promote war, extremism, and divisions, who make the intolerance worse instead of better. Romney promotes armed conflict in all quarters. In this case it already caused the death of someone whose work I admired. When our elected officials – or would-be elected officials – pound the drum for violence and do so without a breath of regard for the human consequences, then they are NO different from the slavering extremists on both sides who caused this to happen. Romney is a war monger without a shred of conviction about the issues, causes, consequences. And he’s the typical chickenhawk who does so without offering a single breath of engagement or sacrifice on his own or his family’s part.
Enough already.
A well-written commentary by Gail Collins in the NYT.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/opinion/collins-mitts-major-meltdown.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
I think you can still be a boring person like Romney and have a radical and reactionary thought process. Hard campaigns reveal a politician’s true character in that way. On the contrary that’s why when the right wing tries to portray President Obama as this left wing radical it never works.
Romney failed the 3am call test in a huge huge way like McCain did with his Lehman moment. Now we’ll see if voters pass the test and realize Romney simply does not have the stable temperament you need to be Commander -in-Chief.
In general the right is far far more radical than the left now, especially within the organized parties. Of course the first thing you leave at the door when you’re radical is your ability to reason and problem solve.
Absolutely, KQ. Some of the meanest people I’ve known have been incredibly boring when you try to engage them in conversation. As was often said about Dubya, they usually “lack curiosity,” which makes them dullards.
The RW does seem to have entered the meltdown zone. Just to stay informed, last night I skimmed through the transcript of Limbaugh’s earlier show. (I know, what a waste of valuable time and energy.) He’s almost incoherent. And full of conspiracy theories on how the media and the polling people and the leftists are all united in trying to spin this into an anti-Romney story. He’s beginning to sound like he’s channeling Kim Jung-Il.
Limbaugh would hate this picture for sure. This graph of polls almost made me giddy because President Obama is approaching the magic 50%.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/09/is_it_real.php?ref=fpblg
Sometimes graphs can be pure art, KQ.
Obama’s response to Romney’s idiocy was typical Obama. Calm, collected and completely correct. He was measured in his criticism and though he looked angry (and rightly so)he was still respectful. Obama is miles ahead of Romney in every way.
Presidential fits. Class act also. First rate family man. Good example. I can go on but …
What can Romney do at this point to change the image he’s just cemented for himself?
I think he just lost the Presidency…as long as Obama supporters keep donating and working as hard as they can!
Already 7% behind Obama nationally, this obscenity by Romney can only push his numbers down farther.
The jobs report this month had no effect on the polls and I doubt it will in October unless it’s amazingly good. So no help for Romney there.
The debates won’t allow Romney to undo this damage, no way in a debate to really change the perception of him as someone who only cares about winning…since that’s exactly what the debates are about (you can’t display altruism in a national debate where you’re trying to grab the Presidency). And now there are more issues for a moderator and Obama to hammer Romney on. So no help there.
I simply don’t see anything, even bad news on the economy or continuing conflict in the ME that makes Romney look like a better choice for President.
The SuperPACs will finance hundreds of millions of propaganda ads, that’s true, but ads can’t convince people to vote for someone they’re already convinced against. Having seen that be the case here in CA where Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina lost despite their mega millions, I think that will be the case again.
If I was betting on this race, I would bet heavily right now on Obama, going into the debates and the final 7 weeks of the election, there just doesn’t seem to be the time and opportunities for Romney to gain enough momentum to reverse the negatives and become a desirable choice.
I was just reading tonight that undecideds are moving towards Obama in droves. Remember what I said the other day when I found out 55-60% of undecideds are women.
If it’s possible Romney has now run a campaign much worse than McCain did in 2008. I even think McCain’s Lehman moment was not this tone deaf.
We are passed the anything can happen stage. Anything did happen today and Romney completely blew it. We are going into the something incredible has to happen stage for Romney to win.
I still think the debates are the only thing that can move DICK (morris’) needle anyway.
What we are finding is the GOP in full meltdown mode. They are attacking the pollsters and media because they can’t handle reality. They nominated someone much more like themselves than they will ever accept. A guy who thinks America is Faux News and right wing radio and nothing else.
Very encouraging info, KQ. I don’t know that I’d go as far as Romney’s campaign being worse than McCain’s. On top of all the mistakes McCain made campaigning including his Lehman moment, he picked Palin as his VP.
Romney is a terrible candidate but I think McCain picking Palin as being one heartbeat away from the Presidency gives him the crown…or should I say, dunce cap.
I really don’t see any opportunity for Romney to reverse the current trends enough to win (as long as Obama supporters get out and vote, volunteer and donate!).
I just don’t think the debates can do it for Romney, no matter how snarky his insults or how much he lies or beats lowered expectations.
Each debate will nail Romney’s feet down on being a liar and a phony (every time he gives that phony chuckle, his ratings go down) and a flip flopper. Obama surely will bring up Romney’s lies, corner him on details for his budget, slashing Medicaid, cutting taxes for the wealthy. No matter how well Romney can duck and hide and attack Obama, there is no way for Romney to come out of any debate without taking blows to one degree or another.
Is there anything Romney can say to erase what he did, attacking our President and being partisan during an attack on our country on 9/11? Nope. Can he avoid being hammered for his many lies? Nope.
There is no way IMO Romney can score a clean knockout of Obama in any of the debates or erase history that Americans are already well aware of.
And one has got to imagine that Obama is champing at the bit to confront Romney on his lies.
The first Presidential debate is only 2 weeks away. Not much will change the current dynamics between now and then. The election will only be 4 weeks away after that debate, with two more Pres debates and one VP debate along the way.
That’s it, that’s all that’s really left barring other outside events which, as with these Muslim protests, would seem to make Obama look more Presidential and Romney more unPresidential and petty.
I think that after the first debate on October 3rd, the die should pretty well be cast and I anticipate that it will be Obama holding a 3-4 point lead over Romney through election day.
Absolutely no single aspect of Romney’s matches the biggest error McCain made like you said. But when it comes to personal gaffes and strategic mistakes Romney has done worse. Even the way McCain conducted his convention was much better than Romney’s and McCain’s over all campaign was much more disciplined. Then again now learning a bit more about Steve Schmidt, McCain’s campaign manager, from his commentary on MSNBC he’s a pretty sharp guy. In fact I think the Lehman moment was McCain’s doing not his campaign’s. While I’ve heard Romney is his own biggest adviser and we all know how unintelligent he is now.
BTW, congrats on your article hitting 200 likes on Facebook! Well done!
Cheers I was hoping my foray into the social networking thingy would help promote the Planet.
Romney is clueless about foreign policy, women’s rights, gay rights, and our President. He is so out of touch with reality. Americans are struggling to survive and he wants to give more tax breaks to the richest.
He is a “chickenhawk” but never served in the military himself. I bet his sons haven’t either. I call him “chickenhawk”because he would send others sons and daughters to WAR but NOT himself.
While he was living it up in France recruiting people for his cult “religion” I was in Vietnam getting shot at as an infantryman. (1969)
You’ve got it, Nirek. He would be Bush’s third term. You’ve got more credibility in your little finger than he has in his whole cowardly body.
Thank you for the kind words,Kesmam.
I never thought Romney had a chance to become president . Now I know he wont be. What a blunder he made yesterday!
To make ANY kind of statement before all the facts are known, especially regarding a situation in the Middle East, shows such a lack of leadership, a lack of understanding of foreign policy, a lack of understanding of the job of Commander-in-Chief, and a lack of being able to frame a response in a diplomatic manner, how unqualified Romney is to be President.
I truly believe that all this talk from the right wing, of President Obama “apologizing” for America, is indicative of their complete misunderstanding of what an apology is.
All I say to those right wingers is ask Osama Bin Laden or Qaddafi if Obama apologized to them.
KQ you said in a short post what would have taken me a long time to write because I would have rehashed too many grievances. Kudos to you for getting the point across so expertly. With that said, I have to say once again, some factions of the Republican party are traitorous(sp?). If Dems were acting in this manner our candidate would be beat so bad we would be crying in our soup. Not so on the right, they follow their pied piper right over the cliff. Wonder what their landing is going to finally feel like?
Cheers for the kind comments Sue. I just call ’em as I see ’em.
Unfit for Government by Andrew Sullivan
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/unfit-for-government.html
Btw, one of those promoting this film is the Koran burning creep,Terry Jones. Causing riots that led to deaths in Afghanistan last year, wasn’t enough for this pos. He should be arrested.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/09/is-sam-bacile-even-a-real-person.html
The man is dispicable, just dispicable
Hi Sue. He has blood on his hands, that’s for sure.
I was pretty proud of Sullivan this time around.
Yup Terry Jones is the ‘Christian idiot’ in the tweet I posted.
Hi K, “Idiot” doesn’t cut it, with this sicko I would go with that “Spawn of Satan” does, there is nothing remotely Christian about him. Yes, Sullivan did a great job of exposing Romney and the fact that he is unfit to be POTUS. Good for him.
A tweet sums the whole situation the best.
I hate the Twitter 140 character limit but sometimes it helps boil things down to the basic truths.
Terrific article, KQ.
I may be wrong, but I’m sensing that now the RW is trying to take the focus off that film as a cause for the rioting. The most recent spin I’m catching is that this was really about hurting the U.S. on the anniversary of 9/11. Or about expressing disapproval of this President in the ME. Anything but the movie.
In other words, if I were a betting person, I would wager that over the next few hours/days, this will be spun by the right as an Obama foreign policy failure, and a successful attack by Al Qaeda type forces on a date that is a sensitive point for Americans. The connection with Sam Bacile’s hate-mongering will be completely severed.
Which is so much further into the land of the dark side that it makes Romney, as the stooge of the RW, even more sinister –if that’s even possible. He is actually a pretty darn frightening individual when you get to know more of him.
You know I’m not into conspiracy theories kes, but this director suddenly disappearing is not just because the spineless creep is afraid for his life, it’s because of who else has given money to produce and support this stupid film, and the chance of public exposure. Whoever it might be, I’ll guarantee that it’s a Romney backer with money to burn, and nothing much in the IQ department except political gain thoughts. The timing of this film and the crazy D’Souza one, just smell of political gaming. The D’Souza one flopped and fizzled out like a wet firework, and this one has cost 4 lives, and a huge, unrepairable hole in the GOP race for anyone with just an ounce of decency in their make up.
What Romney thought was going to be his chance to bring the president down, misfired horribly, and I don’t think he can do a thing to repair the damage before November. It highlights that Romney is another empty suit with nothing of any substance to run on. Roll on to the debates, I’m sure that the president has been keeping score. 🙂
Bring on the debates, my friend! 😆
Thanks for this article, KQ, you really nailed it.
I mentioned in a comment yesterday that I found many Republicans in office to be definitively traitorous.
I don’t see how this attack by Romney on America and its President after a terrible tragedy like this can be defined as anything else.
I can’t remember every in our recent history where an attack on America was immediately embraced by a political opponent of the President. Romney’s disgusting glee at the attack is exactly the kind of unAmericanism he purports to be offended by in the Egypt embassy’s initial response (which occurred before the killing of the US Ambassador and staff in Libya and was not made by the Obama Admin).
It’s so true, if 9/11 happened under a Dem President, we would have seen a horrible and disgusting savaging like this by the extremists on the RW and instead of coming together, America would have been torn severely apart when it could least afford to be divided.
If a terrorist attack occurred under Obama, we see exactly what Romney, Palin and Priebus, who speaks for the entire GOP, would do. They would give aid and comfort to the murderers of innocent human life just for political gain, as they have in this case. These people are little reptilian creatures that need to be quarrantined from decent society.
Thank goodness that Repubs and Dems in the MSM and in the world of politics have come out almost in unison to condemn Romney for his unPresidential and unseemly behavior. Romney is getting pounded for his nakedly opportunistic, unpatriotic and heartless response and I would suggest that this will go on for days and be very resonant with Americans.
Can Americans imagine the nightmare that a President Romney would lead America into after this? Someone who anxiously pushes the “attack” button before the facts are in because trying to take political advantage of the murder of others comes first?
And being that Romney’s deaf to criticism and how he’s perceived, he’s continued to double down on his attacks today. I know he’s desperate and the Bush neocons and incompetent aides around him have created a bubble for him where he thinks he’s so clever for lying blatantly or making traitorous type verbal attacks on our nation and President, but I think this is one anti-American bridge too far for him.
Romney’s whole RNC was aimed at presenting him as a good American and a caring, nice man. I’d suggest that this mercenary use of murdered Americans to further his political ambitions, the day after 9/11 and a focus on how Americans need to come together after a tragedy, has fully undone any repairs made to his image and have decimated it even more.
I don’t see how Romney recovers from this exhibition of incompetence, heartlessness and self-centered greed. No matter how he does in debates, he can’t undo what he’s just done and how it exposes his inhumanity.
Voters are really paying attention now and I think he has just solidified his image and Obama’s lead over him with no recourse for reversing that.
Indeed many spot on points AdLib. This is unAmericanism on an unprecedented level since the hot Civil War.
I didn’t want to get into the politics in my initial post but I hoped you and others would discuss it. This is simply Romney’s ‘I’m suspending my campaign’ moment. Just like McCain was reactionary and inept in the face of an economic disaster Romney has shown similar weaknesses in dealing with an international disaster.
The point is not that Romney and other Americans don’t have a right to criticize the president. But the time is not now. That’s the main reason why both sides are criticizing Romney’s outrageous reactions.
A greater point is it shows Romney’s true character or lack thereof. The fact that he’s grinning says it all and should be looped over and over in the media.
We have seen in a very tough four years that Obama’s biggest strength is being cool under fire. He always gets all the facts and has a reasonable response no matter how dire the situation. When he’s wrong he acknowledges and moves on like an adult. Probably the sickest part of Romney’s behavior is doubling down and trying to parse his attacks. He is simply a child incapable of accepting any blame. Like most in the modern GOP Romney is a radical thinker and hardly conservative in that way.
Inline with what you said Romney’s behavior is exactly what terrorist want. Just like Putin is leveraging Romney’s epic fail on calling Russia America’s #1 geopolitical foe. Romney is doing more damage to American relations around the world than any political candidate in history.