Mitt Romney: Fake Working Class Hero

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio calls bullshit on Mitt Romney's plans to run as an anti-poverty Republican in 2016.

“Doing it in such a ham-handed manner in what appears to be a deathbed conversion is a strange way to suddenly come out of the box with it, and I find it disingenuous, and I think a lot of other people will too,” de Blasio told Politico in an interview over the weekend. “This is a guy who was pretty brazenly uninterested in addressing income inequality in 2012.”

“It is very telling that a guy who’s trying to find his way back to political relevance will grab onto it,” de Blasio said.

Mitt Romney positioning himself as a working class politico is hysterical. Does Romney really expect people to forget his famous 47 percent quote.

Romney: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48—he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. I mean that's what they sell every four years. And so my job is not to worry about those people—I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independents that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not, what it looks like. I mean, when you ask those people…we do all these polls—I find it amazing—we poll all these people, see where you stand on the polls, but 45 percent of the people will go with a Republican, and 48 or 4…

Romney can't call poor people freeloaders and then expect to be able to pander to them. It just isn't going ti work.

In related news: Republican Rep. Charlie Dent (PA) tells MSNBC Romney will lose if he runs in 2016.

Mitt Romney Used As GOP Fundraising Pitch

Imagine Democrats trying to use the John Kerry 2004 campaign to inspire the progressive base. That would never happen since it is a horrible idea. Gawker reports some Republican had to brilliant idea that Mitt Romney would inspire conservatives to give up their cash to to the NRSC. Conservatives gave their money for Mitt Romney in 2012 and that didn't work out too well.

Rick Scott Cancels the Jim Batmasian Fundraiser

Jim Batmasian was a Boca Raton real estate real estate developer. In 2008, Batmasian pleaded guilty to failing to pay $253,513 in federal payroll taxes. Batmasian did eight months at a South Carolina federal prison. One would think politician would want to steer clear of someone with Batmasian's criminal history. One would be wrong.

In 2012, Batsmasian attended a fundraiser for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. David Corn reported that this was the same fundraiser where Romney made his infamous "47 percent" remarks. Corn broke the story on the "47 percent" comments that haunted Romney throughout the rest of the presidential campaign. Romney having a convicted tax evader like Batmasian at the fundraiser did not help matters.

Apparent Gov. Rick Scott did not learn from Romney's mistake. Scott allowed Batmasian to host a fundraiser on his behave. Below is the invitation.

Scott cancelled the fundraiser after repeated attacks from the Florida Democratic Party.

“Two famous Florida fraudsters will link arms to collect campaign cash,” said Democratic Party spokesman Joshua Karp, adding that Batmasian, “unlike Rick Scott, couldn’t dodge a felony and served time federal prison.”

I continue to be amazed by how politically tone deaf Scott is. Did he really think no one was going to notice Batmasian hosting a fundraiser for him? Scott is incredibly out of touch with how other people think.

Quote of the Day: Ted Nugent Edition

"What’s A Feminist? Some Fat Pig Who Doesn’t Get It Often Enough?"

Ted Nugent, on VH1′s Behind the Music Remastered.

I usually ignore Nugent. I'm pointing this out since Mitt Romney sought Nugent's endorsement. Iff Romney wants to appear on the news talk shows then I see no reason of pointing out the stupidity of Romney linking himself to Nugent.

Mitt Romney Dances Gangnam Style

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney was at the Arizona LDS YSA Regional Conference. Morman singer. Alex Boye pulled Romney onstage to bust a move. I give Romney props for being a good sport.

Write A Caption: Mitt Romney

This photo from the moment Mitt Romney realized he lost the election to President Barack Obama.

Clint Eastwood's RNC Speech Made Romney Staffer Sick

"Double Down: Game Change 2012" is the follow-up novel to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann novel of the 2008 campaign. There is this gem from the 2012 Republican National Convention Mitt Romney's political adviser Stuart Stevens literally got sick during Clint Eastwood's empty chair speech.

Romney’s senior strategist, Stuart Stevens, was backstage with Romney watching Eastwood, and while the Republican nominee “seemed to think it was funny — at least at first,” the authors write, Stevens was so upset by the “disaster occurring on stage” that he “excused himself, went into another room and vomited.”

It is still amazing that the Romney campaign didn't vet Eastwood's speech.

Will Mitt Romney Please Go Away

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I'm leaning on the laughing side. Mitt Romney is still talking about the 2012 election. It seems Romney has a had a hard time accepting reality.

"I spoke with a leading Democrat, one of the top leaders of the Democratic party and he said, 'I thought you had won, one week out,'" Romney told Fox News' Neil Cavuto on Friday. "This was a very close race. But events occurred. The employment rate dropped below 8% for the first time just weeks before the election. That changed the national mood, the media celebrated that. Had it stayed above 8%, that would have made a difference.

"But all total, you're not going to spend your time going back and saying, what kind of events could have happened differently," he added. "I made plenty of mistakes in the campaign. The president made mistakes. No one runs a perfect campaign. The end result was he won, I lost, and you get over that."

Romney should take his own advice and get over it.

The Republican Party's Secret Weapon, Yes, It's Mitt Romney!

I can't blog this news about Mitt Romney without laughing. Please let this be through.

"As a first step, the former Republican presidential nominee plans to welcome 200 friends and supporters to a three-day summit next week that he will host at a Utah mountain resort. He is considering writing a book and a series of opinion pieces, and has plans to campaign for 2014 candidates. But he is wary of overdoing it."

I hope Romney does overdue it and campaigns with as many Republicans candidates as they can. The question is what Republican candidates will want to campaign with Mitt.

Update: Martha Jackovics makes good points about the down side of Romney hitting the campaign trail to stump for fellow Republicans.

If Romney indeed plans to "shape national priorities" I say what better way to call even more attention to income inequality, corporate welfare, the "dreaded" 47% crowd, and the need for tax reform.

Which is exactly why I want Mitt out in full force in 2014.

Quote of the Day

"A final take on this election: Mitt Romney was a glittering Sir Galahad who, given his impressive horse, armor, and lance, along with the decency and piety, assumed that he could win a joust in a fair charge against the other team's knight."

Victor Davis Hanson, of PJ Media.

The best comedy writing is from conservative media. Romney was more the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail than Sir Galahad. Anyone who say he doesn't care about 47 percent of America is far from decent.

Greatest Mitt and Ann Romney Caption

The Aristocrats have the best Mitt and Ann Romney caption ever.

Quote of the Day

"This bears repeating: Paul Ryan unfollowed Mitt Romney. That is hilarious."

Ian Donovan, reporting that Paul Ryan unfollowed Mitt Romney on Twitter.

Write A Caption: Mitt Romney

A less than happy looking Mitt Romney pumping his own gas.

Quote of the Day

"Many losing candidates became elder statesmen of their parties. What lessons will Romney have to teach his party? The art of crawling uselessly? How to contemn 47 percent of Americans less privileged and beautiful than his family? How to repudiate the past while damaging the future? It is said that he will write a book. Really? Does he want to relive a five-year-long experience of degradation? What can be worse than to sell your soul and find it not valuable enough to get anything for it? His friends can only hope he is too morally obtuse to realize that crushing truth. Losing elections is one thing. But the greater loss, the real loss, is the loss of honor."

Garry Wills, on Mitt Romney.

Romney had only one true constituency and that was his rich donors. In a conference call to his donors, Romney left no doubt that he believed his infamous 47 percent remark.

Romney argued that Obama’s healthcare plan’s promise of coverage “in perpetuity” was “highly motivational” to those voters making $25,000 to $35,000 who might not have been covered, as well as to African American and Hispanic voters. Pivoting to immigration, Romney said the Obama campaign’s efforts to paint him as “anti-immigrant” had been effective and that the administration’s promise to offer what he called “amnesty” to the children of illegal immigrants had helped turn out Hispanic voters in record numbers.

“The president’s campaign,” he said, “focused on giving targeted groups a big gift — so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars.”

Giving tax cuts to people like himself is not a gift. For someone who refused to say how much his tax plan would add to the deficit; I find it hilarious that positions once held by Republicans on immigration and health care are freebees.

More on Romney's conference call.

“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.”

Women have to pay for their birth control through their health coverage. Students have to repay their student loans. What Obama did was add birth control to the Affordable Care Act and stood against Republican attempts to increase student loan fees. Romney views these groups with disdain.

Update: Republican strategist Ana Navarro goes off on Mitt Romney.

Mr. Romney, Pres. Obama didn't win Hispanic vote b/c he offered "gifts". Obama won b/c u offered NOTHING. Hispanics work hard for their $.

Is there anybody that Romney will not piss off?

Update: Gov. Bobby Jindal comes out against Romney's "gifts" statement.

“I don’t think that represents where we are as a party and where we’re going as a party," Jindal continued. “That has got to be one of the most fundamental takeaways from this election: If we’re going to continue to be a competitive party and win elections on the national stage and continue to fight for our conservative principles, we need two messages to get out loudly and clearly: One, we are fighting for 100 percent of the votes, and secondly, our policies benefit every American who wants to pursue the American dream. Period. No exceptions."

Republicans are free from having to defend the buffoonish Romney. They can publicly kick his ass to their heart's content. I can't say I blame their anger. Romney really was that bad of a candidate and he is still damaging the Republican brand after the election.

Romney's Fantasy-Based Campaign

The Romney campaign falsely believed that The Drudge Report and the late Andrew Breitbart's media empire was going to replacement mainstream media. Anyone who saw Karl Rove's meltdown on Fox News knows that is not going to happen. You can only bullshit people for so long before reality comes crashing down. Lenny Alcivar, spokesman for the Romney campaign thought otherwise.

When this election is over, one of the lessons that will be learned by the mainstream media is that they no longer have a toe-hold on how Americans receive their news. Never before –in a way that has taken Democrats off stride –have we seen the confluence of an aggressive online community, led by Breitbart, and an aggressive campaign team not willing to cede an inch of ground to Democrats. This combination has created a new political reality. We no longer allow the mainstream media to define the political realities in America. The rise of Breitbart, Drudge and others, combined with an aggressive Romney campaign is a powerful tool in the arsenal of the conservative movement. If I talk to Breitbart about an issue, thousands more will hear our message than if we give a quote to one of the hill rags.

Alcivar's interview with Breitbart News reminds me of an infamous encounter journalist Ron Suskind had with a President Bush staffer. That staffer is believed to be Rove.

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he define d as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment priniples and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality --judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

Just like the Bush administration, the Romney campaign wanted to create their own reality. That is why they believed in skewed polls and bogus political consultants. The result was Obama winning a second term. Living a in fantasyland is what people do when they don't have empirical evidence on their side.

President Elect Romney's Website.

Taegan Goddard took some screen shots of the Mitt Romney President Elect website before it was taken down. This is one to save for the ages.

Romney, Ohio, & Trump

The media has declared President Obama the winner. The Mitt Romney campaign is contesting the vote in Ohio. Romney has other problems. Obama just pulled into the lead in Virginia. The college electoral map is so bad for Romney that Ohio will not likely help him.

If Romney is going to start contesting votes then Donald Trump is going to have to hold off on his calls for armed revolution against President Obama.

He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012

It is amazing that Trump is taken seriously in Republican circles.

Update: Dave Weigel tweets this bad news for Team Romney.

Nobody tell Rove, but the Ohio GOP has conceded and gone home.

Romney Headquarters Not Talking To Media

George Zornick of The Nation tweets this. Team Romney is in shock and shutting down.

On CNN, Candy Crowley says the Romney campaign has stopped answering calls and emails within the last hour.

Wow.

Romney Party Not Worth the Cost

They are passing out Romney chocolates twitter.com/rumpfshaker/st…

— Sarah Rumpf (@rumpfshaker) November 7, 2012

Media have to pay to get into the Romney campaign election night headquarters. For their money they get tiny pieces of candy that look like condom packs.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is locked in a tight race with Democratic President Barack Obama, will be holding his election night gathering at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, where access costs anywhere from $75 for a chair in the ballroom to $1,020 for permission to use the media filing center. Broadcast news organizations will be paying up to $6,500 for workspace.

Rich people like Romney are the cheapest and greediest imaginable.

Pasco County Swings Republican

Mitch Perry writes that Republicans outvoted Democratsin Pasco County, Florida by 8 points.

No, that's not just early voting/vote by absentee calculations - Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley is actually posting in something like real time - as real as it gets, I suppose - the total number of votes cast today, Election Day, in Pasco.

As of 4 p.m., 81,950 ballots had been cast in total by Republican voters - that includes early voting, absentee, and votes at the polls. Democrats were at 41,650. Broken down percentage wise, that's 43 percent for Republicans, 35 percent for Democrats.

No Democrat has won Pasco County since Al Gore won by under a thousand votes. I'm actually surprised to learn that Gore won the county in 2000. Pasco County is very rural and conservative. Romney needs to do well in counties like Pasco, in order to win Florida. Short answer: Obamanever hadachance in Pasco County