On the heels of rocky foreign tour, Romney looks forward
Mitt Romney speaks at a town hall meeting at Central High School in Grand Junction, Colo., July 10, 2012.
/ NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyThe presumptive Republican nominee's six-day, three-country trip, which was meant to exhibit his skills as a statesman, was riddled with gaffes and controversies. From comments questioning the U.K.'s preparedness to host the Olympics; to controversial remarks about the relationship between "culture" and economic success; to a scuffle between his traveling press secretary and reporters, Romney was ridiculed by the British media and skewered by Democrats.
"He certainly didn't prove to anyone that he passed the commander in chief test," said top Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs in a press call Tuesday, seizing on the controversies as evidence of the former Massachusetts governor's leadership deficit.
Despite his troubles, however, the lasting impact of his missteps are questionable: The notion that voters will still care about Romney's trip abroad come November is debatable, and the candidate, back on U.S. soil, is swiftly refocusing his message to reflect the talking points he's been hammering home for months.
"This election is all about jobs, economy, spending, and debt, jobs, economy, spending, and debt. Bad press in London means absolutely nothing," said Republican strategist Whit Ayres. "The president has been completely incapable of getting us out of the ditch. It's time to try something else, and that something else is Mitt Romney. Nothing about the trip last week changed that one iota."
With less than 100 days until the November elections, both Romney and Mr. Obama are doubling down on efforts to raise money and woo voters - particularly among independents and moderates in the handful of battleground states that could prove pivotal in deciding the election.
A new CBS News/New York Times/Quinnipiac poll suggests Romney has some ground to make up in that arena.
The survey, conducted from July 24-30, shows Mr. Obama leading his presumptive Republican challenger 53 percent to 42 percent in Pennsylvania, and with a six-point lead in Ohio and Florida.
Terry Nelson, a Republican strategist and former adviser to the George W. Bush and John McCain presidential campaigns, cited a dramatic imbalance in Obama vs. Romney campaign spending as a possible reason for those numbers. But as the Romney campaign begins a push into the final stretch of the campaign, he says, that will likely change.
"Going forward I think that disparity is less likely to manifest itself in that way," Nelson said. "As the Romney advertising effort ramps up and they're able to get more positive information out there about their candidate, that will help them alleviate those numbers."
Today, the Romney campaign begins the first leg of an apparent battleground-state offensive, heading to Colorado for a series of public events for the first time since the Aurora movie theater shooting. According to Politico, he will also attend at least one high-profile fundraiser in Aspen with major GOP donors.
Next week, the candidate will set off on a multi-state bus tour, stopping in Florida, Ohio and Virginia where, according to CNN, he'll be greeted by "prominent Republican officials and campaign surrogates" at stops along the way. Some have pointed to the tour as a prime opportunity for the candidate to announce his hotly-anticipated vice presidential pick, although that announcement could come at any point between now and when the Republican National Convention begins, on Aug. 27.
In the meantime, the campaign has already launched a series of efforts - op-eds by both Romney and vice presidential contender Sen. Rob Portman, and a new TV spot slamming the Obama administration for bailing out the auto industry - circling back to the campaign's steady hammering of the Obama administration's economic policies.
"This is not a complicated strategy. When you're in the challengers shoes in conditions like these, you could execute the strategy better or worse but the fundamental strategic direction is patently obvious," said Ayres. Any deviation from this strategy between now and November, Ayres argues, is unlikely.
"The fundamental strategy of making this a referendum on a failed presidency is not going to change nor should it change," he said. "It's the right strategy."
Still, the window leading up to the Republican National Convention represents an opportunity for Romney to hone his message and build momentum behind his campaign.
"The period they're in now is to try to build momentum leading up to the convention," said Nelson. "It will be the time when more Americans have the chance to hear what the Republican party stands for and wants to do, and more importantly, what governor Romney stands for and wants to do. Now is the period when the Romney campaign gets to lay the groundwork."
Making sure his message is heard, then, is imperative for the candidate.
"We're definitely getting into that final stretch of the campaign," said Nelson. "Governor Romney's going to have to use this period leading up to the convention to continue articulate to voters what the's going to do to put the country on a sounder economic path."
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milek0032: "The first presidential candidate in history with secret offshore accounts, the first to refuse to release tax returns, and the first to refuse to disclose the names of his campaign contributors. How do we know he is not evading tax with the off shore accounts, cheating on his returns, or collecting donations from foreign nationals. He refuses to answer questions, refuses to provide documentation, and refuses to follow the rules".
By refusing to give specifics and details on every aspect of his life and his proposals, how in the world can we believe he didn't go to Europe for secret foreign donations?
I thought the national debt was a problem. I though tax increases were a no-no. I guess those things are only a problem for Democrats but not Republicons.
"Jay Leno made a joke out it the other night. On the other hand when Romney ran the Olympics in Salt Lake-two guys were on TV that took part in it..."
LOL! Obviously you watch too much reality TV, and confuse it with REALITY!
Jay Leno is a late night comedian, hardly the purveyor of the truth!
The two-guys talking about the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were part of a romney campaign political advertisement, you're obviously confusing with reality!
You're comparing peaches to kumquats, and conveniently forget all the taxpayer money that romney requested and received for 2002, in order to pull off his magic feat! LOL!
"Republicans have only the past, the past before modern science, the past before civil rights. They are the losers on the socio-political front and they are striving ever harder to retain some modicum of relevancy in the world. But that shall not be. The Economist a couple weeks ago noted that Republicans are no longer a relevant force in California. One has to ask, as Virginia changes, as New Mexico changes, in eight or twelve years, what if anything will be left for the Republicans? Probably nothing. Some new party will emerge that represents the conservative side of economics, but which embraces the social changes that have happened. And the Republican Party will be history."
Yes, there is no doubt about it, as the demographics of the U.S. change, as older conservatives die off and are replaced with much more tolerant youngsters today as far as race, sexual orientation, religion vs. atheists/agnostics, unfettered capitalism, climate change, alternative energy, etc.... is concerned, I believe that you're probably correct that some kind of conservative party embracing fiscal responsibility for a change will emerge, leaving the GOP in the dust for eternity!
"Are you also in denial about bush's need to make all Americans home buyers with the 2003 low-income home buyer's subsidies?"
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louiville2_2 August 2, 2012 12:05 PM EDT
"What are you talking about"
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You mean that faux nooz didn't tell you about this:
American Dream Downpayment Assistance Act
On December 16, 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law the American Dream Downpayment Initiative, which was aimed at helping approximately "40,000 low-income families a year" with their down payment and closing costs, and further strengthen America's housing market.
This legislation complemented the President's "aggressive housing agenda" announced in a speech he gave at the Department of Housing and Urban Development on June 18, 2002. In this speech the President outlined the partnerships needed to make homeownership a reality for millions more Americans by the end of the decade.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/home/addi/
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Of course, after you admit to the above 2003 legislation, you can take a look at the "Timeline of the United States housing bubble," starting in 1999 with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act "Financial Services Modernization Act" -- repeals Glass-Steagall Act, deregulates banking, insurance and securities into a financial services industry allow financial institutions to grow very large; limits Community Reinvestment Coverage of smaller banks and makes community groups report certain financial relationships with banks.
2001 - 2006
- 1997-2005:Mortgage fraud increased by 1,411 percent.
- 2001-2005: United States housing bubble (part of the world housing bubble).
- 2001: US Federal Reserve lowers Federal funds rate 11 times, from 6.5% to 1.75%.
- 2002-2003: Mortgage denial rate of 14 percent for conventional home purchase loans, half of 1997.
- 2002: Annual home price appreciation of 10% or more in California, Florida, and most Northeastern states. Annual home-value growth at highest rate since 1980.
- June 17, 2002: President G.W. Bush sets goal of increasing minority home owners by at least 5.5 million by 2010 through billions of dollars in tax credits, subsidies and a Fannie Mae commitment of $440 billion to establish NeighborWorks America with faith based organizations.
June: Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan lowers federal reserve's key interest rate to 1%, the lowest in 45 years.
September: Bush administration recommended moving governmental supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under a new agency created within the Department of the Treasury. The changes were blocked by the GOP Congress.
December: President Bush signs the American Dream Downpayment Act to be implemented under the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The goal was to provide a maximum downpayment assistance grant of either $10,000 or six percent of the purchase price of the home, whichever was greater. In addition, the Bush Administration committed to reforming the homebuying process that would lower closing costs by approximately $700 per loan. It was said it would further stimulate homeownership for all Americans.
2003-2007: The Federal Reserve failed to use its supervisory and regulatory authority over banks, mortgage underwriters and other lenders, who abandoned loan standards (employment history, income, down payments, credit rating, assets, property loan-to-value ratio and debt-servicing ability), emphasizing instead lender's ability to securitize and repackage subprime loans.
Then, low and behold, in 2004, U.S. homeownership rate peaked with an all time high of 69.2 percent!
And, in the following year of 2005: United States housing market correction ("bubble bursting").
Why do you suppose that the republicans are so in love with the Gilded Age, and want to take us backwards?
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An excellent observation. I recall during the 1980 campaign, a political cartoon showing "Reagan's America" with Reagan driving a Model T Ford and an old hound walking beside the car.
I think that the problem is that Republicans are tied to a world view that has long ceased to reflect reality. Archaeologists in the 1830s finding dinosaur bones rattled their confirmed idea that the world was only 6,000 years old, give or take a few days. Darwin shook their idea that the world was in an unchanging state and that humans were always as they appear now. Hubble blew away their concept of how big the universe is and destroyed any remaining hope they had that humans on earth were the center of God's attention. Niels Bohr and quantum mechanics eliminated the idea that the world is actually as it appears at the smallest level. All of this is antithetical to Christian teachings about the world we live in. If science is right, religion is wrong.
Then, too, their religion "guided" them to patriarchal conclusions about the role of women, and taught them further that slavery was acceptable and that the white people of the world were superior to all others. All this was so comforting to the white males who had power, excluded women from voting, professions and business, and by the by, did the same and worse to minorities.
The rise of the concept of civil rights and the quick national acceptance of the concept of equal protection for all persons blew all those racist, patriarchal ways of living out of the water. They could not hold the line at Black Americans. They could not hold the line at women. They could not hold the line at atheists, Jews and Muslims. They could not hold the line at disabled people. They could not hold the line at gays.
Republicans have only the past, the past before modern science, the past before civil rights. They are the losers on the socio-political front and they are striving ever harder to retain some modicum of relevancy in the world. But that shall not be. The Economist a couple weeks ago noted that Republicans are no longer a relevant force in California. One has to ask, as Virginia changes, as New Mexico changes, in eight or twelve years, what if anything will be left for the Republicans? Probably nothing. Some new party will emerge that represents the conservative side of economics, but which embraces the social changes that have happened. And the Republican Party will be history.
"Then, too, their religion 'guided' them to patriarchal conclusions about the role of women, and taught them further that slavery was acceptable and that the white people of the world were superior to all others. All this was so comforting to the white males who had power, excluded women from voting, professions and business, and by the by, did the same and worse to minorities."
Yes, so obviously the republicans long for the days of old, when life was much simpler, and we didn't have to worry about silly things like civil rights for ALL, since the Constitution was written by a bunch of white men just for their rights -- everyone else be damned!
"Meanwhile the Republicons are planning to MASSIVELY increase the debt just like they do every time they get the chance. SO they can then blame the Democrats. It's like clockwork."
Yes, it's all in the GOP playbook of total obfuscation in their endless shell game.
Not only does mitt romney want to make the bush tax cuts permanent for all at a cost of $4 Trillion over the first decade, but also have congress pass his "more of the same" economic policy of even greater tax cuts mainly for the wealthy like him at another cost of $5 Trillion over the first decade.
Then, as the debt continues to grow like today with the massive increase in the military/industrial complex spending and the severe revenue shortfall due to the bush tax cuts/corporate tax cuts, they can point their boney fingers at the Dems! LOL!
An error was made in the first sentence. Please read "charging" to "limping".
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louiville2_2 August 2, 2012 12:13 PM EDT
"So how is raising taxes here on corporations going to slow or stop the export of profits?.....so you look at the laffer curve.."
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Obviously you mean the GOP LAUGHTER CURVE -- the one where republicans lower our individual and corporate tax rates to ZERO -- so that we can continue this laughable and delusional 'starve the beast' insanity, and just watch our military-industrial complex grow with borrowed money and our roads/bridges/schools/electric grid/etc. crumble all around us, as the wealthy keep putting more of their trillions in offshore tax havens and tax shelter!
Laughable!