Dear Obama, Remind Voters Why They Don’t Trust Romney
October 15, 2012

 
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Projected Change in Defense SpendingAfter watching last Tuesday’s Vice Presidential debate, it was nice to hear Joe Biden point out just how extreme some of of the policies of his opponent are, but I was disappointed once again that the Romney/Ryan ticket was allowed to get away with whitewashing their extremist agenda and not having their true policy positions dragged kicking & screaming into the light of day. This got me thinking a lot about what I would tell President Obama on how to handle the next two debates: YOU NEED TO REMIND PEOPLE WHY THEY CAN’T TRUST THE GOP. It’s not complicated.

Keep in mind that both Romney and Ryan have conceded you “inherited a mess”. Well, POINT OUT WHO CREATED THAT MESS! As Bill Clinton said, their entire argument boils down to: “Ya know, we left him an awful mess. And we didn’t lift a finger to help him out. But he’s not fixing it fast enough so put us back in charge to have another shot at it!”

Remember this great line? The GOP drove the economy into a ditch, and now, after we’ve worked so hard to get it back out of that ditch, they want the keys back! We have to tell them, ‘No! You don’t know how to drive!‘” You first said it during the 2010 midterms, and repeated it again just last August to great effect. Like Reagan’s “youth & inexperience” line, those are the phrases that people remember after a debate. Don’t confuse these with “Zingers”. You’re making a historical point, not just getting in a funny “there you go again” line.

They continue to claim Democrats had “complete control of Congress for two years where they could do anything they wanted.” Bull! You only had a 60 vote majority in the Senate for 24 WORKING DAYS during that entire two years. You need to ask Romney: “If Democrats had ‘complete control for two years’, then explain the record number of filibusters?”
 

Rise of the Filibuster since Obama’s election
Rise of the Filibuster

 

When Romney then tries to point to his experience as “a Republican governor in a heavily Democratic state” as proof of his ability to “cross Party lines” and “work with Democrats”, point out that Romney VETOED EIGHT-HUNDRED BILLS as governor of Massachusetts, most of which had to be overridden in order to pass.

Remind people how Governor Romney STILL won’t release his taxes for years prior to announcing his run for the White House. “What is it he doesn’t want you to see? He wants to set tax policy for the entire nation yet he doesn’t trust you to see his returns?” If the governor hadn’t chosen to pad the bill in his most recent return, his tax rate would have been just NINE POINT FIVE PERCENT. And under the plan his running mate crafted, he’d pay just 0.82%! That’s a powerful fact that people can’t hear enough.

On abortion, NOW they say they believe in the exceptions of “rape, incest and life of the mother”, yet BOTH candidates support the “Personhood Amendment” that defines a fertilized egg as a person… the most radical piece of anti-choice legislation there is, which if passed would trump those exceptions and even make The Pill illegal. And Governor Romney has said that he would sign that bill into law!

Don’t be afraid to point out that forcing private insures to pay for birth control… something Republicans fought tooth & nail to prevent… will actually help REDUCE the number of abortions in this country!

Governor Romney has taken both sides of every issue, contradicting himself so many times that one can’t be sure what his position will be from week-to-week. His own opponent called him “a human wind sock”. What is his position on immigration? On abortion rights? On universal health care? Tax cuts for the wealthy? No one knows because what he said during the campaign to win the vote of the hard-Right wing of his Party, he now finds inconvenient and must backtrack on in order to compete in the general election. His own campaign manager compared this philosophy to an “Etch-a-Sketch”!

“That’s just not a serious plan. Nor is that a serious candidate.”

They insist their “$4.8-TRILLION dollar 20% across the board tax cut” won’t cost a dime, something that every reputable economist says is impossible. And when pressed for specifics on just how they’d accomplish that magical feat, the only “cut” they’ve identified so far is to “get rid of Big Bird”… which is only 1/100th of 1-percent of the Federal Budget!

“That’s just not a serious plan. Nor is that a serious candidate.”

We’ve been down this road before. Republicans promising massive tax cuts with no specifics on how to pay for them, promising that the cuts by themselves will miraculously generate tens of millions of jobs and billions in new tax revenue. We tried that. It doesn’t work!

“That’s just not a serious plan. Nor is that a serious candidate.”

You can’t afford another poor debate performance where you allow your opponent to recreate himself at will. An unchallenged lie is as good as the truth. Had you of just challenged Governor Romney every time he flip-flopped on one of his long-established positions, you likely would have won the first debate. And following the good jobs report last week, the discussion today would have been, “Is it all over for Mitt Romney?” instead of how he’s “closing the gap”.

Keys to victory:

  • Challenge Romney when he tries to change positions (and he will. HE HAS TO!). Look him in the eye and point it out when he does. Or better yet, in a sing/song voice say, “you’re doing it again!”
  • Give details where Romney obfuscates. This makes you look serious and your opponent not.
  • Tie Romney to the Ryan “Kill Medicare” Budget and remind people how much everyone hates it.
  • Don’t be afraid to use the “O”-word: “Obstruction”. Everyone knows GOP obstruction has stymied our recovery, but they need to hear it from you. (Maybe even bait Romney into a discussion on the “Super-Majority” myth.)

And keep repeating: “That’s just not a serious plan. Nor is that a serious candidate.”
 


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October 15, 2012 · Admin Mugsy · One Comment - Add
Posted in: Election, General, Politics

One Response

  1. Grant in Texas - October 15, 2012

    One reason Mitt may be hiding so many years of tax returns could be revealing just how much he has invested in China. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/romney-china-stock-investments

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