Day: March 23, 2012

One-Word Impressions of the GOP Candidates

Buck Banks

Remember the old word-association game where I would say a word and you would say the first word that came to mind? Pew Research did much the same thing in a new poll that elicited “quick, off-the-cuff public impressions” of the GOP presidential candidates.

Predictably, they are mostly unflattering:

For Mitt Romney, the overall number of people citing money or wealth has soared since late last year, with mentions of his religion way down. His top five in the new poll are “no,” “rich,” “good,” “Mormon” and “moderate.”

The top five for Rick Santorum: “conservative,” “no,” “good,” “OK,” and “crazy.”

For Newt Gingrich: “old,” “no,” “idiot,” “untrustworthy” and “dislike.”

Lack of a Base Leaves Romney Unprotected

Buck Banks

He gets almost no benefit of the doubt. Every gaffe becomes a story; every mistake become fodder for late-night comedians. And more importantly, this is what happens when you don’t have a solid base of support that can serve as a cocoon of protection during the toughest of times. … Successful presidential candidates (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama) had grassroots supporters rushing to their defense, even in the toughest of political times. Romney — right now — doesn’t have this. In fact, it was notable during yesterday’s Etch-A-Sketch controversy that we didn’t see many prominent conservatives railing against media bias or unfairness. Instead, they were either standing on the sidelines or piling on. And that’s a problem for Romney.

— NBC’s First Read, noting the feeding frenzy over the Etch-A-Sketch comments yesterday highlights a big problem for Mitt Romney.

Biden Criticizes Romney In Florida Stump Speech

Buck Banks

Let’s cut through it and say it in plain English. The ‘cut’ is cutting Social Security. The ‘cap’ is putting a cap on what we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay in taxes. And the ‘balance’ is balancing the budget on the backs of seniors and middle class Americans.

— Vice President Joe Biden, delivering the second of his campaign speeches framing the general election for Team Obama in senior-citizen-rich Florida, and criticizing Mitt Romney for supporting “Cut, Cap, and Balance.”

If Republicans on Supreme Court Kill ‘Obamacare,’ Ranks of the Uninsured Will Rise to 60 Million

Jon Ponder

photos-scotus-aca

When the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate later this year, the Republican-dominated court will either decide the case on its merits or it will play politics and vote to kill the mandate with a party line vote intended to help Mitt Romney, the putative Republican presidential nominee, get elected in the fall.

If the Republican justices rule based on the merits, it’s likely they will find that the mandate is constitutional, just as the GOP-dominated D.C. Court of Appeals did in November.

If the Republican Supremes vote their party line — as they did in Bush v. Gore, in 2000, with disastrous results — they will certainly help Romney get elected, which will achieve their political goal of ensuring a GOP corporatist majority on the court for a generation or more.

But, as with Bush v. Gore, a party line vote against the ACA by the Republican justices will produce dire consequences for the American people. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, if the Affordable Care Act is overturned, it will force another 10 million Americans into the ranks of the uninsured, raising the number of people without health insurance coverage in the United States to 60 million — which is roughly the population of Great Britain.

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