Romney’s ‘47 percent’ comments aren’t going away, and they’re taking a toll
I notice most of the far right posters in issues here have been pretty tight lipped of late. Seeing that the ship is sinking fast must hurt for all those on in the alternative reality of the right wing circus. More bad news from a right leaning source no less..
DENVER — Everybody watching this weekend’s Redskins game saw the ad featuring Mitt Romney saying it. In focus groups, pollsters only have to say “47 percent” for voters to know what they’re talking about. And lest anyone in Ohio or Florida or Virginia forget, President Obama reminds them at each of his campaign stops.
The remarks in question were, as most of the country now knows, uttered by Romney in May to wealthy donors at a private fundraiser, at which he said that 47 percent of Americans will support Obama’s reelection and are government freeloaders who pay no income taxes, see themselves as “victims” and can’t be persuaded to “take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
In the two weeks since a surreptitious video of the remarks surfaced, they have pierced the national consciousness in a way that few blunders do. In the closing stretch of the presidential campaign, the moment has become a defining element of Romney’s candidacy.
And on Wednesday, the 47 percent issue is likely to come to the fore in an even more pronounced way, during the first presidential debate. Romney’s advisers — who acknowledge that the moment has hurt the Republican nominee among independent voters in battleground states — said he has rehearsed debate answers in which he argues that he is for “the 100 percent” and that his policy prescriptions would help the growing number of Americans under Obama’s presidency who are struggling to find work or living on food stamps.
“We wouldn’t be surprised, obviously, if that came up in the debate, and the governor’s prepared, obviously, to respond to that,” senior adviser Ed Gillespie told reporters Monday. “We believe the voters will see and appreciate the fact that what Governor Romney’s talking about would improve the quality of life for 100 percent of Americans.”
Ticking through a slew of economic statistics that make up the Republican indictment of Obama, Gillespie previewed Romney’s message: that he is running to help the 23 million Americans who are struggling to get jobs, the one in six who find themselves in poverty, the additional 15 million now relying on food stamps and the 50 percent of college graduates who can’t find employment.
But before Romney has a chance to say all that, his “47 percent” has already taken a toll, strategists in both parties said. The comments go to the heart of the way Obama is trying to define the race: not as a referendum on his stewardship of the economy, but as a choice between a president who fights for the middle class and a candidate who fights for the few.
“The Obama guys are pouring the coals on this on TV and driving it,” Republican strategist Alex Castellanos said. “You inform with reason, and you persuade with emotion. They’ve made the rational case that Romney’s policies would hurt the middle class, and this is the emotional counterpart.”
Castellanos, who advised Romney’s 2008 campaign but is not affiliated with his current one, said there is reason for the Republican’s team to be alarmed. “The only thing in politics that is worse than voters deciding that they don’t like you is when voters decide you don’t like them,” he said.
The Obama campaign has widely circulated a television ad that shows images of factory workers, veterans and families against audio of Romney’s 47 percent comments. The spot has a significant footprint, airing across each battleground state in nearly every local television market where the Obama campaign is doing any advertising. It is being shown not only during newscasts but also during such mainstream network programming as NFL games and “Saturday Night Live,” according to CMAG Kantar Media.
Romney’s comments about the 47 percent are weighing him down with voters, according to recent polls. Almost six in 10 voters nationally say that as president, he would do more to favor the wealthy than the middle class, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday. Specifically regarding the remarks, respondents to a Post-ABC poll from last week were displeased with Romney’s viewpoint: Fifty-four percent had an unfavorable impression of his comments, compared with 32 percent who had a favorable view.
Helped by Obama’s advertising effort, Romney’s 47 percent comments have had a shelf life beyond the damaging remarks he made earlier in the campaign, such as how he likes “being able to fire people who provide services to me,” or that he knows what it’s like to worry about getting a “pink slip,” or the $10,000 bet he once wagered during a debate.
This is in part because his remarks in the fundraiser video could not be dismissed as a gaffe. Longtime Democratic strategist Robert Shrum said many voters who recognize how awkward Romney can be at his rallies may have seen how fluent and comfortable he was at that fundraiser in Boca Raton, Fla., and concluded, “Wow, that really is the real Romney.”
“We could have a big debate about deficit reduction, and it doesn’t reach most people except for the headline. This is the kind of thing where the morning after, the week after, people get a cup of coffee, and they mention it to each other. It catches the popular imagination. And if Romney loses, it will become a benchmark and a hallmark of the campaign,” said Shrum, a top strategist on Al Gore’s and John Kerry’s presidential bids.
Romney’s brain trust understands this. Publicly, his advisers have said that the comments help crystallize a contrast in the two candidates’ governing philosophies: between what Romney sees as a society based on government dependence and one based on free enterprise.
Campaigning last week in Ohio, Romney repeatedly said that he was running to help all Americans — language that advisers said he is likely to reprise in the debate. “I think the president cares about the people of America; I care about all the people in America,” Romney said. “But I know how to help the people of America and make sure our future’s bright and prosperous for our kids and protect liberty, and he does not. I know what it takes.”
Privately, another Romney adviser said that there is “no question it’s had an impact.”
“I don’t think there’s any question it’s cut, and it’s best left alone. Trying to explain it is not helpful. The issue is how long does it hurt, and there is some minuscule but nonetheless hopeful sense that some is beginning to ebb,” said the adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment.
The adviser added, optimistically, that voters could give Romney the benefit of the doubt in the debate. “That’s the only time he has to adequately explain it, and people might actually pay attention to his answer,” the adviser said.
Romney’s ‘47 percent’ comments aren’t going away - The Washington Post
Republicans in Close Senate Races Keep Romney at Distance
More signs the noose is tightening around Mitts neck...
Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, pressed this week as to whether he’s distancing himself from his party’s presidential nominee, avoided a direct answer, saying he and Mitt Romney are “two different people.”
“He’s out campaigning all over the country,” Brown said of Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, at an Oct. 1 debate against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren. “I’m running in Massachusetts.”
From Boston to Honolulu, Senate Republican candidates are putting some space between themselves and their nominee as President Barack Obama opens a lead in national and state polls.
In Connecticut, Linda McMahon stayed away from Sept. 30 fundraisers headlined by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. In Nevada, U.S. Representative Dean Heller skipped a chance to share the stage with Romney at a Sept. 21 rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In a North Dakota television ad, Republican Senator Rick Berg says he’ll “serve as a check on Obama’s failed policies,” a phrase that skips past Election Day and Romney’s chances of winning.
Only one Republican in a competitive Senate race has aired a campaign ad in which he appears alongside Romney -- Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
Most of the competitive Senate seats are outside the presidential battleground, meaning those races already were somewhat isolated from Romney’s campaign. That gap began to widen as congressional candidates condemned a secretly recorded video that surfaced Sept. 17 in which Romney told donors that 47 percent of Americans see themselves as “victims” who feel entitled to government aid.
Survival First
“People running in campaigns look out for their own survival first, and they have little to gain and much potentially to lose by embracing Romney,” said John Pitney , a political scientist and professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.
Democrats with close races in Republican-leaning states are adopting similar strategies. Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin skipped the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina last month.
In North Dakota, both candidates are seeking to unhinge their messages -- and prospects -- from the top of their party’s ticket.
Former North Dakota attorney general Heidi Heitkamp, who is running against Berg, told the Associated Press in May that Obama “failed in the one test America had for him, which was to unite the country.”
‘Absolutely’ Didn’t Agree
Berg told The Washington Post on Sept. 20 that he “absolutely” didn’t agree with Romney’s assessment of 47 percent of Americans. “From my perspective, we need to help people up,” Berg said. “We need to lift them up, help them have the opportunity to succeed.”
Brian Walsh, the National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director, said the trend won’t prevent the party from working as a team if Romney is elected.
“The difference between the two parties is striking, while Democratic candidates want to talk about anything but their big government record, Republicans up-and-down the ticket are united around a message of lower taxes, reining-in wasteful spending, and rolling back government regulations that are hurting job growth,” he said.
“Of course there will always be occasions every presidential cycle where candidates disagree on certain issues,” Walsh said. Romney’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In addition to Berg, Brown rejected Romney’s comments about government aid recipients, noting his mother once received public assistance.
Engaging Democrats
Of all the candidates, Brown has moved the furthest from Romney, at times crossing the partisan line and engaging the Democratic camp.
At this week’s debate, Brown said he was “honored to stand with the president and the White House” at a signing ceremony for legislation Brown sponsored to ban insider trading by members of Congress. A Brown campaign ad shows an image of the first-term Republican shaking hands with Obama at the ceremony as the Democratic president tells Brown “Good Job.” It ran more than 1,000 times between Aug. 26 and Sept. 24, according to New York-based Kantar Media’s CMAG, which tracks advertising.
Obama leads Romney in Massachusetts, while polls indicate the Senate race is close, with Warren, a Harvard University professor, narrowly edging Brown in some surveys. Sixty percent of likely Massachusetts voters prefer Obama, compared with 32 percent for Romney, according to a WBUR poll conducted Sept. 26- 28. The survey, based on telephone interviews with 504 likely voters, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.
McMahon Race
In Connecticut, McMahon rejected Romney’s comments about 47 percent of Americans, saying “the vast majority of those who rely on government are not in that situation because they want to be.” She is running against Democratic U.S. Representative Chris Murphy for the seat of retiring independent Senator Joe Lieberman.
Eli Zupnick, a spokesman for Murphy, said in a statement that McMahon’s decision not to attend the Ryan events showed she wanted to “run” from her party’s presidential ticket.
Murphy’s campaign also tried to use the Ryan fundraising visit to tie McMahon to the vice presidential nominee’s proposal to revamp Medicare, the government’s health-care program for the elderly.
Ryan Plan
Starting in 2023, Ryan’s plan would convert Medicare into a voucher program, offering seniors a fixed-dollar amount of support based on a competitive bidding process.
McMahon’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Two days before Heller skipped Romney’s Las Vegas rally, he told reporters in Washington that he doesn’t “view the world the same way” as Romney when it comes to people who receive government assistance. Heller, who was appointed last year to fill a seat left open by Republican Senator John Ensign’s resignation, is in a competitive race against Democratic U.S. Representative Shelley Berkley.
In Obama’s home state of Hawaii, Republican Linda Lingle told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sept. 19 that she was “not responsible for the statements of Mitt Romney,” adding that she didn’t “agree with his characterization of all individuals who are receiving government assistance.”
Republicans in Close Senate Races Keep Romney at Distance - Businessweek
