....and I don't think Mitt Romney likes what he's hearing.
Various polls are now saying Willard "the Mitt" Romney is losing ground in the few critical up-for-grab states that are going to decide who will be our next President. Sure, there are numerous things that could turn his campaign around, but as I see it, they are all outside his control.
Brick Obama could have a brain fart during the debates, but I think he's too smart for that. Israel could turn Tehran into a smoking hole, causing them to close the Strait of Hormuz. Gas goes up to $8 a gallon, and Obama could be sending out resumes. Who knows? Unemployment could take a huge leap up, but with holiday hiring now kicking off, that doesn't seem likely.
So where did Romney go wrong? As I've said for months, most Americans don't want an "extreme" candidate from either end of the spectrum. Remember the extremely liberal Democratic Party of the 1980's? The Republican's ultra-conservative Tea Party of today is that far to the right. Many middle-class mature voters are turned off by those types. Why didn't Mitt move towards the center?
Instead he picked lightning rod Paul Ryan for a running mate, IMO a bad mistake. Seniors see him as the guy who's gonna mess with their Medicare and Social Security. Even though Ryan said nothing for them would change, seniors don't believe him. It's sort of like how, when one company buys another, they always say, "No operational changes are expected."
Yeah, right. Six months later divisions have been sold-off, pensions and health care have been overhauled for the worse, and a few more pink slips are passed out every Friday. That's how many seniors see Paul Ryan. And just coincidentally, battle-ground states Ohio and Florida are loaded with seniors.
And the "47%" quip, the "my wife has two Cadillacs", and the "I don't know anything about NASCAR but several of my friends own teams" hasn't exactly made folks want to invite Mitt and Ann over for hot dogs and a friendly game of backyard horse shoes. There's just no "warm fuzzy".
Nope, I don't think Mitt Romney has enough time left to distance himself from the Tea Party "Young Guns" and reinvent himself as a moderate (that he probably really is). I guess we can read the expert's election post mortem three months from now and see if my analysis was on target or not. One thing no one can argue with is this has been a ridiculously expensive, nasty election. Can you imagine the free-for-all in 2016?
S
WOW! What a great birthday so far! I took the dog out this morning at oh-dark-thirty to find the temperature at 63 degrees. Woohoo! Then I came back in to a big plate of brownies K made for me, complete with "Happy B-Day" written across it. I would show it to you, but I've already eaten "Happ..". Yes, I had a brownie for breakfast. Sue me. ;)
Today is supposedly the first day of my semi-retirement, but all I see ahead of me is work. Besides the client I met with last Saturday, another one of our homeowners from 16 years ago has sold their home and wants us to build them another. I've been helping them look for some property, and yesterday they made an offer on one and it was accepted. Looks like the next step is to visit the architect. Then another one of our homeowners, this one from 14 years ago, wants to meet today to discuss building them a new home, too. Looks like I'll have to postpone "sleeping in" for a while longer.
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Looks like this election will be the most expensive ever....to the tune of $2 BILLION dollars spent, which means at least that much was donated to the politicians all combined, right?
OK, let's think this through: We have a TRILLION dollar deficit and our Congress / President are beating the bushes looking for ways to save a buck. They've come up with the noble idea of closing tax loopholes and ending expensive subsidies to selected companies and industries, ideas which have been (on the surface) universally praised.
At the same time rich individuals and large corporations and their PAC's have donated the vast bulk of that $2,000,000,000 the politicians have in their re-election war chests. So we're to believe they're giving generously to politicians to show their support for them for closing THEIR tax loopholes and ending THEIR subsidies?
Why yes, I would like to buy a time share in a high-rise ocean-view condo in Nebraska, complete with a private white sandy beach and palm trees. Who should I make the check payable to?
S
Can anyone explain to me Mitt Romney's grand strategy in choosing Paul Ryan as a running mate? If he has one at all it baffles me. All he did was solidify those conservative / Tea Party folks who were going to vote for him anyway. He might now be able to bring in Ryan's home state of Wisconsin, but it will probably cost him Florida and several other states with large senior populations.
And politicians usually like to talk in vague, opaque language, giving out as few details as possible so the opposition will have a difficult time pinning them down with specifics to pound on. Not this time! Ryan has a detailed, articulate budget plan that will be a lightning rod issue. Again, those who were already going to vote conservative will, while those who weren't still won't. But now many of those absolutely vital moderate swing voters, many of them elderly, will have reason (Medicare / Social Security) to vote Democratic. You just don't make the elderly's Medicare or Social Security benefits the centerpiece of a campaign, especially if it is to "reform" it.
This violates all rules of general elections. You appeal to your core supporters in the primaries, and then move towards the middle when appealing to the larger population. Just watch....Obama will appeal to the moderates with reassuring words while criticizing Romney as an extremist, and Romney will have to distance himself from his own Veep's controversial budget plan. He should have brought Ryan on board later after the election (if he won) as a cabinet member.
This is just bizarre.
S
