The more I think about The
Video involving Mitt Romney and his donors, the more convinced I become
that there was nothing all that revelatory about it. Really, did anything in that video surprise
you? I mean take away the self-righteous
contempt for the poor, not to mention the utter ignorance for the facts, and
what you’re left with is pretty much what we’ve seen from the Republican Party
the last four years. Shocked? You shouldn’t be. In fact, I would’ve been shocked had Romney
actually said anything contrary to the established orthodoxy.
Granted, Romney didn’t expect anyone to be recording the event,
so he was free to let his hair down and truly speak his mind. In fact that may be the only news-worthy item
to emerge out of this whole affair: that Mitt Romney is a conservative after
all.
For months, many among the more pragmatic-progressive
contingent had held out some hope that, should Romney win in November, he might
be able to govern as a center/right president and, like he did in
Massachusetts, reach across the aisle.
This video should put that notion to rest once and for all. This is who Mitt Romney is and, I suspect,
has always been most of his political life.
He was simply playing up to a more Democratic constituency when he was
running for office in Massachusetts. You
know the old saying, when in Rome? Make
no mistake about it; a President Mitt Romney would act very much like he
sounded in that room with those donors.
But, far more than simply damaging, perhaps mortally,
Romney’s already beleaguered campaign, the video crystalized for me what the
true heart and soul – assuming it has either – of the current GOP is all about. This is not a Party interested in reforming
government to make it more efficient and responsive; this is a Party hell-bent
on dismantling and discarding virtually every part of it, save for the military
industrial complex, which they will no doubt bulk up as they proceed to
reconstitute the Bush doctrine on a global scale.
And while they’re busy gutting the government, along with
all those pesky, profit-robbing regulations, they will reward their cronies
handsomely with the most grandiose, obscene tax cut imaginable, which they will
then attempt to pay for by destroying what’s left of the middle class through
the elimination of virtually every tax deduction possible up to and including
the federal tax exemption for the working poor, something even Ronald Reagan
would’ve railed against.
Just think about it for a moment. $5 trillion in tax breaks, most of it to the
wealthiest individuals in the country, and the elimination of the mortgage
interest, charitable and standard deductions.
That is the biggest income redistribution quite possibly in the nation’s
history, and all of it upward. If you
don’t think that’s what’s in store for America in a Romney Administration, you
weren’t paying very close attention to that video.
This is the war the Republicans have been waging on the
middle class and working poor for quite some time. There’s nothing new here. Indeed, the comments Romney made about the
47% of people who pay no income taxes have been uttered by other members of his
Party over the last several years. Most
of them have flown under the radar, much to the delight of the Republican
establishment. All this video really did
was to shine a giant spotlight on the obvious and make a few of the faithful
squirm a bit.
Already, Senate candidates in tight races have gone out of
their way to distance themselves from Romney’s comments. Scott Brown, George Allen and Linda McMahon
are among the growing contingent of Republicans who are feeling the heat from
the fallout of Romney’s moment of transparency.
Moderate conservatives like David Brooks and neocons like William
Kristol have publicly blasted Romney for, and I’m quoting the latter, being so
“arrogant and stupid.”
Arrogant, yes; stupid, hardly. If anything, Romney in general and the
Republican Party in particular have been quite adept and resourceful. They have preyed on the
fears and frustrations of millions of potential voters for the better part of four
years, hoping to cash in and complete the job they started in 2010. And, if history is any indicator, they may
just get their wish. No president since
Franklin Roosevelt has been reelected with such woeful employment numbers. Were it not for the sheer incompetence of his
campaign, Mitt Romney might well be enjoying a comfortable lead over Barack
Obama. Something to ponder.
As it is, he is still within striking distance of beating
him this November. I have long felt that
the polls, which show Obama ahead both nationally and in most of the swing
states, have been somewhat overly optimistic regarding his reelection
prospects. Some project him winning in a
landslide. Some progressives are even
starting to sound cocky and are pronouncing Romney as finished. Such thinking is foolish and premature.
The reality is that this remains, even with all the gaffes,
an extremely close race that will go down to the wire. Given what we know of recent presidential campaigns,
there is still plenty of time left for Mitt Romney to right his ship and steam
off with a victory. If George Bush can
win reelection, anything is possible.
It comes down to this: the candidate who can best sell his
vision for America in the upcoming debates will win, period. The President needs to definitively prove
that Mitt Romney’s 47% comments aren’t just morally wrong, they’re factually
wrong, as well. If you’re part of the
middle class or working poor, you better pray he succeeds.
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