Mitt Romney — who refused to speak with the press for the final 24 days of the presidential election — gave his farewell address, fittingly, on a conference call with fatcat donors on his national finance committee.
In his own robotic way, Romney was just as petulant as Nixon. But instead of attacking the media, Romney took the opportunity to kick around Americans who voted for Pres. Obama — by accusing them of trading their votes for perks like “free contraceptives” and insurance coverage:
Mr. Romney said that the president had followed the “old playbook” of wooing specific interest groups — “especially the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people,” Mr. Romney explained — with targeted gifts and initiatives.
“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.
“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”
And:
“With regards to African American voters, ‘Obamacare’ was a huge plus — and was highly motivational to African American voters. You can imagine for somebody making $25—, or $30—, or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free healthcare — particularly if you don’t have it, getting free healthcare worth, what, $10,000 a family, in perpetuity, I mean this is huge. Likewise with Hispanic voters, free healthcare was a big plus.”
Got that? No one really knows why Romney wanted to become president so badly. He never really said what motivated him. But it certainly appeared that the central rationale for his campaign was to preserve and protect the privileged world occupied by his fellow plutocrats, particularly by preventing them from having to pay their fair share in taxes.
Despite all that, now he is accusing the majority of Americans who voted against him of selling their vote for free stuff that isn’t actually free. Health insurance for young people under age 26 is paid for by their parents. Women pay for their contraceptives through their insurance, just as men do for their “free” Viagra. And — as this notorious liar surely knows — the individual mandate in both Romneycare and Obamacare is not “free,” the point of it is to lower costs, but it requires everyone to buy insurance from giant health insurance corporations.
In the call, Romney also confirmed what everyone, especially Republicans, know to be obvious — he won’t be running for office again:
“And so now we’re looking and saying, ‘O.K., what can we do going forward?’ But frankly we’re still so troubled by the past, it’s hard to put together our plans from the future.”
He added half-jokingly that the close-knit group, which excelled in fund-raising but was ultimately unable to propel Mr. Romney into the Oval Office, could even help with “perhaps the selection of a future nominee — which, by the way, will not be me.”
Nixon — who had also served in the House of Representatives and the Senate and as vice president and had run for the presidency against John Kennedy in 1960 — did, of course, run for office again. He ran for the presidency and won in 1968, and then he ran for reelection and won in 1972. He was forced to resign in August 1974 in order to escape impeachment over corruption charges related to the Watergate scandal.
Let’s hope Romney doesn’t change his mind as Nixon did and run again. That would be one flip-flop too many.
Now Romney knows money can’t buy everything! Despite all odds, our President prevailed. He still has an uphill battle fighting a Red House which has blocked his every move in an attempt to squash his goals of bringing the Middle Class equal pay, women’s rights, gay rights and affordable healthcare. The Bush Administration drove our economy into a swift nose dive and Obama is still the patsy. Watch conservative hands paint him in Blackface with a visual commentary of how Barack has been bamboozled at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/10/bamboozling-obama.html
Mr. Romney doesn’t believe in public education, public transportation, or public health service. Despite having more money than he has time to spend, he would not have the government fund PBS, the public broadcasting system, which puts on Sesame Street and Big Bird. Romney, Ryan, and all those who listen to Rush Limbaugh resent having to pay taxes for highways and flood protection, etc. Greed is the master of these men, not national interest or the general welfare. Americans in the middle class got Romney’s message loud and clear,In addition, he was a phoniest candidate since Nixon who seemed to know nothing except Tea Party lies and contortions.
Thurston Howell RoMoney can now go back to the Cayman Islands and live happily ever.
The most telling part about Mr. Romney’s analysis of the reasons he lost is “the president followed the “old playbook.” It’s telling because it’s actually the reason Romney lost. The GOP playbook has a page that says “choose your positions based on what the singularly ignorant right wing noise machine tells you.” Romney, and his team, proved just how completely they took that page to heart.
We are, here in the immediate aftermath of the election, beginning to hear a handful of voices from the right suggesting ripping that page out of the playbook. We shall see if the GOP actually listens to those new, few, voices of reason in their ranks, or not.
It’s going to be a great ride.
Mitt, it’s called, “running on your record.” You couldn’t do that because no sooner do you take an action or a stand than you disavow it. Obama had plenty to be proud of, and no need to hide his accomplishments.
Many republicans don’t get it, and I doubt if they ever will. They still believe that people like myself voted for the president because we are of the same race and we are looking for hm to “give” us something. If only. I voted for the president because his policies would move the nation forward and grow the middle class. Because I’m a retired teacher, I especially like the idea of investing in education at all levels, including promoting science and mathematics education, and I also believe in combating climate change, protecting our environment, providing affordable healthcare to our citizens, and ensuring that Social Security and Medicare are there for our elderly citizens, among other things. The”gift” I received when PBO won the election last week was the triumph of citizens choosing his policies over the failed GOP policies. This is more than enough for me, but again, this is something that Romney and those like him will never understand.