I was perusing Politico this morning, because despite the site's well documented 'Drudge-rules-our-world' Republican bent and penchant for establishmentarianism, it definitely offers a valuable glimpse inside the beltway hive-mind. Roger Simon, whose work I usually abhor, had a brutal piece regarding Romney's convention speech, and Obama's much-anticipated response this week.
It starts with a tongue-in-cheek examination of the 'more in sorrow than in anger' approach Romney adopted towards Obama in his RNC acceptance speech. This may have resonated more with voters if not delivered with Romney's trademarked lip-smackin', furrowed-brow smarminess (and also, if it was, like, actually true).
Simon then lowers the boom:
“Four years ago, I know that many Americans felt a fresh excitement about the possibilities of a new president,” Romney said. “Americans were eager to go back to work, to live our lives the way Americans always have — optimistic and positive and confident in the future.”
Some, of course, did not get with the program. Some forgot that their goal was supposed to be an eagerness to get back to work and live their lives in optimism, confidence and positivity.
The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, seemed to have a different agenda. “The single most important thing we want to achieve,” he said, “is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
He continues:
But Romney has come to regret his wild enthusiasm for Obama. “Today, four years from the excitement of the last election, for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future,” Romney said in Tampa.
Actually, this is not true. Actually, this is a massive misstatement of fact, which means it is virtually guaranteed to be repeated in every Romney speech from now until Election Day.
At this point, I'm thinking that 'a massive misstatement of fact' is as close as a journo-pundit can come to calling the Romney/Ryan ticket a
clown car filled with four thousand Pinnochios with their pants on fire lying-liars, but I was happily mistaken! Simon proceeds to detail how the electorate has been pessimistic about the future going on 30 years now, including a huge spike during the administration of George W. Bush. Remember that guy? Simon does, and reminds the Republicans of the two term president they deified after 9/11 and then buried under the concrete blast-wall-hellscape surrounding the RNC in Tampa.
Wait, this is impossible. Americans felt worse off during the eight years of George W. Bush, our last Republican president, our last Republican steward of the economy?
How could this be? Didn’t George W. Bush reduce the debt so our children would not be burdened?
Well, no. According to my crack research staff (Wikipedia): “During the presidency of George W. Bush, the gross public debt increased from $5.7 trillion in January 2001 to $10.7 trillion by December 2008, due to decreasing tax rates and two unpaid wars.”
Oh, my. And there was also the collapse of the economy under Bush. How sad. But there is a solution that the Republicans came up with at their convention: Pretend it never happened. Pretend human history began with the disappointing Mr. Obama.
“I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed,” Romney said on Thursday. “But his promises gave way to disappointment and division.”
Yes, it is true. Things had been so good under Bush (fib), we felt so confident our children would have it so much better (untruth), we were so united behind Obama because everyone, even Republicans, wanted him to succeed (lie) that now Obama has deeply wounded our hopes, crushed our ego and us sent us running for the Zoloft or the Republican Party — take your pick.
Bam, that's how it's done media. Drop the euphemisms and call a lie a lie. Journo-punditry aint beanbag folks, and if Roger Simon can do it, boy-howdy so can you!
The rest of the article is spot on, calling out the Romney campaign for their disconcerting comfort with distortions and outright lies, and reminding us all that many, many of our problems, both foreign and domestic, can be laid at George Bush's feet. If Roger Simon of all people is writing this openly about Romney/Ryan mendacity, you can bet the rest of the bobbleheads on the Georgetown cocktail circuit are talking about it too.
Of course he ends the piece by stating that Obama has three days in Tampa to to make his case, or the American people will be 'done with him'. I have no doubt that Obama will make that case, and that in contrast to Romney, the Democrats will outline, you know, actual policies and plans for governing the country. Romney couldn't do that with any specificity, because he realizes that his policies are deeply unpopular and would scuttle his campaign permanently if widely understood by the electorate.
Final thought: I expect Charlotte to include heaping doses of Bush-bashing, and rightly so. Bush needs to be tied around Romney's neck like a millstone for the next 60 days. The other side can pretend that the entire Republican platform isn't a point by point retread of the failed policies of the Bush years, but we have the floor now, and WE will remind them and the rest of the country of that inconvenient truth. I look forward to the coming days.
Peace.