Romney… We’ve established that he’s not the solution, but the problem… Now, it’s time to bring on the dancing horses

The swiftboating of John Kerry, I guess, wasn’t a total loss. Sure, we lost the election because of it, but we learned a thing or two in the process. Most importantly, we learned from Karl Rove that, if you really want to destroy a man, it isn’t enough to just go after him where he’s vulnerable. No, if you really want to destroy a man, at least in the world of electoral politics, you have to find a way to take his most significant positive attribute, and transform it into a millstone around his neck. In 2004, with the country at war, it seemed like a given that John Kerry, who had earned a Purple Heart in Vietnam, would do well against George Bush, a draft-dodging frat boy who, evidence seems to indicate, had his well-connected father pull a few strings in order to keep him out of harm’s way. On the face of it, it seemed like a given that Kerry would obliterate the cowardly, perpetually-vacationing son of privilege who repeatedly neglected to act on intelligence concerning bin Laden’s plans to strike within America. But, that’s not what happened. Instead, Americans, through the work of Karl Rove and others, began to perceive Kerry, who volunteered to go to war, and led men in battle, as a pathetic coward, who went so far as to exaggerate the severity of the minor wounds that he received, in order to hasten his discharge from the military. They’d taken what should have been his most powerful asset – the fact that he was a hero who had saved men’s lives in battle – and called it into question… And that’s exactly what the Democrats are doing now to Mitt Romney. They’re taking his, “I’m a successful business man, and therefore qualified to take over this underperforming economy” line, and they’re poking him in the eye with it, repeatedly… Here, if you haven’t see it, is Obama’s most recent ad, which was released yesterday.

And, that, my friends, is how you win an election…

How great was the, “He’s not the solution, he’s the problem” line?

It also helps, of course, that every bit of it is true, unlike the bullshit anonymously pushed across the airwaves against John Kerry. As much as Romney would like to rewrite history, and say that the worse of Bain Capital’s offenses took place after he left, that’s just not the case. As much as he’d like to convince people that he’d retired from Bain in 1999, before the firm got heavily into the business of moving their portfolio companies from America to countries with cheaper labor, the facts indicate otherwise. In fact, SEC filings just came to light a few days ago, that show Romney was still a Managing Director in 2002. So, try as he might to sell himself as a businessman who created jobs in America, it would appear that it’s not going to fly. (He may have created wealth for a few, but he did not create American jobs in the process. He destroyed them.) And it’s certainly not helping that, every day, it seems as though a new off-shore account is found with ties to Romney. The Republicans, however, have been trying to mitigate the damage, and put a positive spin on it. Most recently, Republican Senator Lindsey Grahamn, trying to defend the indefensible, said, “It’s really American to avoid paying taxes.” Fortunately, however, it would seem that the Republicans haven’t been able to hold that ridiculous line. This weekend, a number of prominent Republicans began to ask that Romney do the right thing and release all of his financial records, making a clean breast of it. At the National Governors Association meeting a few days ago, Alabama’s Republican Governor, Robert Bentley, said, “If you have things to hide, then maybe you’re doing things wrong… I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people.

Try as he might, it doesn’t look as though Romney is going to be able to get away from it… And, as a result, his central message is crumbling at his feet. No longer is he the successful businessman who can solve all of our problems. Instead, he’s the man who exemplifies all that’s wrong with corporate America. He’s become the personification of the corporate greed that is bleeding our communities dry. In the words of White House senior advisor David Axelrod, “I’m not suggesting that (Romney has done anything illegal). But what I am suggesting is that he’s taken advantage of every single conceivable tax shelter and loophole that we can see.” And, in my opinion, unless Obama does something truly terrible between now and November, Romney doesn’t have a chance of recovering. Obama has defined him, and it’s stuck… And this is just beginning. One just hopes that he begins to taint the other Republicans running in November as well.

In case anyone from Obama’s campaign is reading this, I have the next Romney attack ad all worked out. Here it is in a nutshell. It would begin with footage of Romney telling members of the NAACP that black people need to stop looking for “free stuff”, and end with the scan of his 2010 tax filings, showing that he received a $77,000 tax deduction for having a “dancing horse”. And, the best part is, the soundtrack is already written, thanks to Echo and the Bunnymen.

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19 Comments

  1. Edward
    Posted July 15, 2012 at 10:49 pm | Permalink

    Romney asked for an apology.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/15/us-usa-campaign-idUSBRE86E0D920120715

  2. Rai Harashi
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 5:42 am | Permalink

    …and hopes Obama hasn’t seen his book: http://online.wsj.com/media/Romney_Book_DV_20100303131233.jpg

  3. Thom Elliott
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 7:36 am | Permalink

    Obama is a lock, has been the whole time, if there is one thing Americans dislike more then ethnic minorities, its cult members (of course a cult member would be elected before a woman, we hate women more then anything). Romney was a pathetic choice to begin with, the right today is peopled with sleezy businessmen and substanceless talking heads, they have nothing. Romney only looks the part, he has no flair for the kind of stone hearted arch-conservative cryptofascism which appeals to the modern, frothy mouthed, shark eyed base. Don’t worry, the robotic, amoral, Wall st centric, scholarly black (war criminal?) will defeat the walking-hairdo cult member handily. Unfortunately we all still lose.

  4. Frolixo
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 8:08 am | Permalink

    Great attack ad. This is a lose/lose for Romney. He either refuses to release the tax info and it becomes an albatross or he does and it’s probably damaging (which is why he’s not releasing it). The Republicans knew Mitt would face a lot of hurdles in a presidential run which is why they tried anyone and everyone else in that painful Republican primary.

  5. Knox
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 9:05 am | Permalink

    I can’t recall what the rules are, but, if it’s possible for Romney to announce a running mate prior to the Republican convention, he’ll do it in the next week. He has to change the headlines, and, as of right now, that’s all he’s got to work with.

  6. Meta
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 10:18 am | Permalink

    Romney has a reason for not releasing those tax documents. He says they contain things that could hurt his chances of becoming president.

    http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/07/16/519241/romney-suggests-releasing-additional-tax-returns-could-be-politically-damaging/

  7. mark k
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 10:32 am | Permalink

    I’d like to see the paper work from the fast and furious, or Obama’s college transcripts or who paid for his college more. If Romney broke any tax laws Oblamer would have him in jail already. His tax records will come out, Republicans may use these issues for attention but they always believe in transparentcy. Remember no one died because of Romney’s taxes.

  8. Mr. X
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 11:27 am | Permalink

    WTF. You’re more interested in who paid for Obama to go to college when he was 18 than the fact that Romney hides his money in secret, numbered accounts around the world, where they can’t be taxed? Really? God, it amazes me that people like you exist.

  9. mark k
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 1:02 pm | Permalink

    Mr.X that is what we have the IRS for. Are you saying Romney did something criminal? Surely had Romney broke some tax laws Obama and his Chicago Thugs would have had him in jail. Or is this just about jealousy? I bet Romney paid more in taxes in one year then you will in a life time, seems to me Romney should be jealous of you not paying your fair share, not the other way around.

  10. John Galt
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 3:11 pm | Permalink

    Do we know for certain that Obama isn’t a robot? I mean, has anyone seen him cut his arm open and bleed human blood? I think it’s important for Romney to be forthcoming about his finances, but let’s prioritize here. Isn’t it more important to know that our President is made of flesh and blood?

  11. Eel
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 3:28 pm | Permalink

    Former George W. Bush aide Matthew Dowd on Romney’s insistence on not releasing his taxes.

    “There’s obviously something there, because if there was nothing there, he would say, ‘Have at it.'”?i>

  12. Baby Luciorn
    Posted July 16, 2012 at 11:05 pm | Permalink

    I like the part of the video where your severed head gives me your brittle heart.

    For the record, I would never break it. Not like that.

  13. dragon
    Posted July 17, 2012 at 1:02 am | Permalink

    If the CEO wasn’t Mitt, you must acquit!

  14. Dan
    Posted July 17, 2012 at 8:30 am | Permalink

    ““There’s obviously something there, because if there was nothing there, he would say, ‘Have at it.’”?”

    My guess is that there are years where he paid zero in income tax, while earning 10s of millions

  15. Josh
    Posted July 17, 2012 at 4:32 pm | Permalink

    It feels so good to get what I want at the hands of a brilliantly run campaign.

  16. Meta
    Posted July 17, 2012 at 7:19 pm | Permalink

    Rush Limbaugh says that the villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane because the filmmakers wanted to attack Romney. (They are apparently time travelers as well.)

    http://www.businessinsider.com/rush-limbaugh-bain-capital-batman-bane-obama-romney2012-7

  17. Eel
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    While I like your idea of a Bring on the Dancing Horses campaign, I think that Sarah Silverman has a better way of getting at Romney.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3wYU3jprTI

  18. Meta
    Posted July 18, 2012 at 3:00 pm | Permalink

    From the Boston Globe, 4/19/1994:

    With the tax-filing deadline looming, Republican Senate candidate Mitt Romney yesterday challenged Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to disclose his state and federal taxes to prove he has ‘nothing to hide.’

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/11/340682/flashback-romney-tax-return/

  19. Edward
    Posted July 19, 2012 at 9:46 am | Permalink

    Anne Romney says they won’t be releasing any more tax information because, they had “given all you people need to know.”

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/19/ann-romney-on-tax-returns-weve-given-all-you-people-need-to-know/

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