Romney advisers: Election is about economy, not who is cooler candidate

WASHINGTON-- Focusing tightly on their campaign's economy-first message, a pair of Mitt Romney's top advisers on Saturday dismissed recent efforts by the president to reach out to younger voters and the so-called "likability gap" between President Barack Obama and the presumptive GOP nominee with a simple argument: The 2012 election is not a popularity contest.

"This election is not going to be about who's cooler," Romney senior adviser Peter Flaherty said at a Washington Post Live Newsmaker Forum. "The question is going to be, who do you trust to run the economy?"


Eric Fehrnstrom, another top Romney adviser, also criticized Obama for his appearance earlier this week on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," on the University of North Carolina campus, where the president "Slow Jammed the News." Fehrnstrom said the president's performace was "off key," and showed inappropriate levity about an issue - the possible doubling of student loan interest rates - that deserved to be taken more seriously.

"You won't see the governor slow jam the news," Fehrnstrom said, not discounting the possibility Romney could appear on more late-night talk shows or even "Saturday Night Live," thanks to the ability of those shows to reach voters who normally don't follow politics as closely. 

And while Fehrnstrom predicted Americans would "fall in love with" Ann and Mitt Romney as the election progressed, the advisers' downplaying of personal popularity in favor of an economic-competency argument is consistent with Romney's own recent comments on the stump.

"Even if you like Barack Obama, we can't afford Barack Obama," Romney said at a campaign event in North Carolina on Wednesday.

Romney's advisers also alluded to that trip to North Carolina - and other recent campaign events in swing states - as illustrative of how they see the electoral map playing out in November.

"There are a handful of states that we view as key to the outcome," Fehnrstrom said, in response to a question from the forum's moderator, The Washington Post's Dan Balz. While declining to lay out a specific "path to victory," as the Obama campaign has done, Fehrnstrom said the campaign's geographical focuses would not be a surprise to anyone who has followed their recent movements, and that New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Virginia and North Carolina were all places where "the campaign will be waged."

Asked if there was any one reliably Democratic state that could be moved into the Romney column this fall, Fehrnstrom predicted that Michigan, where the former Massachusetts governor was born and raised, could flip from blue to red. They're familiar with the Romney "brand" there, Fehrnstrom said.

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The Presidency is the anti-thesis to a CEO. The CEO orders and his minions obey! Just try that method of governance in Washington DC. The DNA of any CEO thrust into the Washington system of political governance; guarantees the CEO/Neophyte an all expenses paid trip to the loony-bin where edicts are obeyed all the time!

  • 6 votes
Reply#52 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:35 PM EDT

Well, that and, of course, the goals of a good government are entirely different than those of good business.

Why anyone has ever made political points about making government run like business is a great mystery.

  • 3 votes
#52.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:47 PM EDT
Reply

we can all ''banter'' back and forth till the cows come home, but the truth is the 1776 system is tottally broken. one party is out for the rich, and big business, the other robs peter to pay paul, while paul smokes dope laying on the couch, jobless, hugging his bottle of jack dainels. we need a flat tax. we need polititians employment numbers cut in half! we need people to pull themselves up by thier boot straps! public sector wages average pay is 200 percent of private sector wages for the same type of work! every American working in the private sector should be outraged! As we all know, this is unsustainable, and soon ready to default and collapse. We are down the wrong road, Washington is dead, 1776 is gone long ago. We better wake-up soon, time Is runni'n out!

  • 2 votes
Reply#53 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:37 PM EDT

Fascist governments like ours, Germany's and Italy's are all "For the Rich".

If you wanted something better, you would have voted for Ron Paul.

The nations OLD PEOPLE voted as they did because they value their benefit checks more than their children's future.

    #53.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:50 PM EDT

    ron dont give a damn for anyone but his crazy mind

    • 3 votes
    #53.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:53 PM EDT

    Flat tax is a gift to the rich and how many poor people do you know--I know I lot of people working 2 shifts and still driving cars so old that back in the 60s you never saw cars that old on the road. But there are also plenty of Bentleys, maybe you're one of those owners

    • 3 votes
    #53.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:30 PM EDT
    Reply

    The Republican bitch they pay Americans to much money to work for them...and you people just love them and vote for them.. huh

    • 4 votes
    Reply#54 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:38 PM EDT

    " Even if you like Barack Obama, we can't afford Barack Obama"

    Wow what absurdity? Why people like a president? It is I believe, only for simple and fundamental reason, about leading the country in the right direction.

    No doubt America and Americans are better off today relative to pre 2009 where the
    country was on the brink of the worst depression. The positives results were achieved in spite of all the hideous obstructions from the opposing party. Americans
    like their president today, because they know where he stands for, no time for
    zig and zag or presumptuous thinking

    • 6 votes
    Reply#55 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:38 PM EDT

    vote all the tea party out before we have no USofA

    • 6 votes
    Reply#56 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:40 PM EDT

    The Tea Party is the only hope this nation has at avoiding bankruptcy and third world despair. The Tea Party is the only force left trying to prevent the government from spending the nation to death.

    • 4 votes
    #56.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:51 PM EDT

    jem have you look at the stock market lately...funny look how much they are just sitting on right now...the Bologna has to stop with y'all

    • 4 votes
    #56.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:54 PM EDT
    Reply

    The Presidency is the anti-thesis to a CEO. The CEO orders and his minions obey! Just try that method of governance in Washington DC. The DNA of any CEO thrust into the Washington system of political governance; guarantees the CEO/Neophyte an all expenses paid trip to the loony-bin where things are obeyed all the time!

    • 2 votes
    Reply#57 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:41 PM EDT

    soon our nation will be called the USof Kochbrothers

    • 4 votes
    Reply#58 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:43 PM EDT

    If we are broke why is oil up..why is wall street at the top ..and we working people are the only ones struggling...if we are in bad shape like the CEO..say .they to would be hurting along with us now huh

    • 3 votes
    Reply#59 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:51 PM EDT

    Inflation manifests itself in strange ways sometimes.

    • 1 vote
    #59.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:52 PM EDT

    like them sitting on trillions your right

    • 4 votes
    #59.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:55 PM EDT
    Reply

    "I have a Black, a Women, two Jews and a Cripple. And we have talent!"

    James G. Watt --- Secretary of the Interior - 1981-1983

    • 3 votes
    Reply#60 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:51 PM EDT

    Well, it's either the USofKoch Brothers or Obozos' fiefdom....Hail to the King. Heil Obummer! You're off to see the Wizard , the wonderful Wizard of Scuz.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#61 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:53 PM EDT

    so im right huh

    • 3 votes
    #61.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:56 PM EDT

    I remain thankful for the Koch brothers and their willingness to fund the battle against the evil of liberalism!

    • 1 vote
    #61.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:15 PM EDT

    No You're Left.....Dumb left.

    • 2 votes
    #61.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:16 PM EDT

    oh my bad your right Bk..but your a secret homo

      #61.4 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:18 PM EDT

      Hope you're in the same economic class as the Koch brothers because that is the only people they care about

      • 4 votes
      #61.5 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:26 PM EDT
      Reply

      Romney and the Republicans have confused "coolness" with Obama's ability to relate to and understand ordinary Americans. There is something to being "cool" - it's called compassion and understanding. People like to be included, respected and attached. Republicans are doing so bad they have now got to resort to personal and personality insults. Mitt Romney is a stiff shirt, (many other names would do) and only fits in with his upper crust.

      • 6 votes
      Reply#62 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 4:54 PM EDT

      Yeah MG from Illinois.....As if ANYONE from Illinois can lecture INTELLIGENT peoplel on ANYTHING even similar to GOOD GOVERNANCE. You idiots keep our Federal Prisons filled with Corrupt politicians... And Obama is ONE OF THEM. So shut the hell up about what is required of a competent politician.

      • 2 votes
      #62.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:08 PM EDT
      Reply

      There is something to being "cool" - it's called compassion and understanding. People like to be included, respected and attached.

      MG, This won't make me or a lot of people feel better. Compassion and understanding will not put food on people's table, will not address our dangerous deficit, will not assure us that all problems pertaining to the economy will be addressed. It might have worked in 2008, but now we are 4 years into this recession and there has not been much improvement as unemployment staggers at 8.2%! People will not be voting on compassion and understanding this time around, they will be voting on frustration, impatience and finding real solutions! They will go for Romney!

      • 3 votes
      Reply#63 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:01 PM EDT

      Dee,

      Do some research before you post. Look at Republicans deficits in history.

      P.S. don't go to FOX to do your research!!!

      • 3 votes
      #63.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:15 PM EDT

      but who can they trust chad for wrong news

      • 2 votes
      #63.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:19 PM EDT
      Reply

      Bulletin...

      If there was a third political Party in Washington, this Election would be about how fast we could get rid of the existing corrupt 'Washington Establishment', both Democrats and Republicans, and how to return control of government back to the people.

      • 1 vote
      Reply#64 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:02 PM EDT

      yea we can call him El dummy huh

      • 1 vote
      #64.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:06 PM EDT
      Reply

      ron paul would have been the better choice. mitt will be out for the sinfully wealthy.

        Reply#65 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:03 PM EDT

        Ron Paul was the last hope this nation had for saving itself from financial disaster. Unfortunately, our nations elderly found a candidate who would actually cut government spending and end our failed militarists foreign policy and failed War-on-Drugs to be too scary so now we are doomed to a second great depression.

        It is sad and tragic what our nations OLD PEOPLE have done to us.

          #65.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:07 PM EDT
          Reply

          Talking to a liberal is, well, kinda' like chatting with a sheep......a few unintelligible grunts once in a while, mixed with noisy "feeding" sounds. Otherwise only a blank sheeplike stare, waiting for orders from the shephard. In this case, an incompetent shephard who blames their being "lost" on the PREVIOUS shephard, and spends most of his day trying to vcconvince the rest of us to join his lost flock by promising anything we desire at someone elses' expense. Can't wait for November.....bye bye shephard. And take this huge pile of sheep poop with you.

          • 3 votes
          Reply#66 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:04 PM EDT

          I'm sure when you are with sheep...there is very little talking on your part!

          • 1 vote
          #66.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:07 PM EDT

          yea but aren't we better then a deer looking at headlights at night when we talk to y'all..thats yalls look

            #66.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:08 PM EDT

            OK b dune, I will speak in a language you understand.....Baa BBBBBBBaaa baa Baaaaa Baaa. That's sheep talk for baa baaaaa bbaaaa.

            • 1 vote
            #66.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:11 PM EDT

            Liberals and Conservatives are both bad in that they both support limitless government expansion so long as they feel the government is acting in behalf of their interests and beliefs.

            Liberalism and Conservatism are both anti-Libery, anti-freedom, anti-prosperity.

            • 1 vote
            #66.4 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:13 PM EDT

            bk is a secret homo republican

              #66.5 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:13 PM EDT

              And elvis is the queen of queens....bet he even visited Slick Willie in the Oval Office to relax Willie with a hummer.

              • 1 vote
              #66.6 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:18 PM EDT

              BK

              You should have stopped when you were behind....now you are just embarrassing yourself!

              • 3 votes
              #66.7 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:19 PM EDT

              I told yall..he has weenie on his mind

                #66.8 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:20 PM EDT

                b dune ..the only thing I am behind is yo mama

                • 1 vote
                #66.9 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:28 PM EDT

                Talking to a Republican is kind of like talking to Romney; selfish,out of touch with everyone not making millions per year, driving expensive cars,building car elevators in their houses, and getting all their knowledge from FOX news instead of books and experts since experts are all subversives

                • 2 votes
                #66.10 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:37 PM EDT

                BK

                My mamma is dead - has been for about five years!

                Continue to embarrass yourself!

                • 2 votes
                #66.11 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:41 PM EDT
                Reply

                It took a group of GOP paid advisers to come up with "Romney isn't Cool"?

                • 3 votes
                Reply#67 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:06 PM EDT

                Yeah...we also coined the phrase " Slick Willie LOVES Oval Office Head"... Better??? And Obummer, Obozo, Osheetforbrains, Odumbo, Joe Birdbrain, Josheph Burden...Like those better??

                • 2 votes
                #67.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:12 PM EDT

                see I told yal what Bk has on his mind

                  #67.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:14 PM EDT

                  Yeh..you giving me a hummer, while I bang your wife and sister. I would have included your Auntie, but she looks TOO much like a sheep.

                    #67.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:19 PM EDT

                    Bk the weenie man on his mind

                      #67.4 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:22 PM EDT

                      BK

                      The GOP home office called in and said you aren't helping them any...

                      But for me - I say keep on keeping on - you are exactly the voice of the teapublicans that independents need to hear!

                      • 3 votes
                      #67.5 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:22 PM EDT

                      Trust me...I am an Independent. An Independent who is no longer buying the line of Socialist BullSheet from this idiot in the WH......Lying dog. And I know the Republican Party did not call in to anywhere on my behalf. They are almost as despicable as the ignorant a**ed Dimocraps in DC.

                      • 1 vote
                      #67.6 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:25 PM EDT

                      Interesting how those who proclaim they are "Indpendents" the loudest do all they can through words and actions to disprove it!

                      • 3 votes
                      #67.7 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:28 PM EDT
                      Reply

                      The one item that most, if not all these people are missing is food cost. We all have to eat. Since Obama took office the price of chop meat has more than doubled. Steak at $9.00 a pound takes out of reach for most people. Check your food bill , you can All thank Obama for that

                      • 3 votes
                      Reply#68 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:06 PM EDT

                      O.I.L

                      • 1 vote
                      #68.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:09 PM EDT

                      I'll assume you are a teapublican because you have included no data to back up your claim "chopped meat" doubled under Obama..."steak out for most people...

                      1. we dems had to give up eating "steak" during the last administration

                      2. per Bureau of Labor statistics from Jan 2009 through Dec 2011 ..

                      100% ground beef increased 24% Bacon 22%

                      Nice attempt on your part though!

                      • 4 votes
                      #68.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:16 PM EDT

                      Who's eating steak? Since the bankers took 13 trillion out of the world economy for themselves I'm living on cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for dinner----NO MORE GREEDY REPUBLICANS THAT WANT TO TURN THE REST OF US INTO SLAVES, I'M OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THINGS CAN BE BETTER

                      • 5 votes
                      #68.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:22 PM EDT
                      Reply

                      "The question is going to be, who do you trust to run the economy?"

                      I sure as hell will never trust a vulture capitalist like you Romney. The world would be better off without you.

                      • 5 votes
                      Reply#69 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:13 PM EDT

                      Red baron is tottally correct. I'm 53 years old. and never have I seen Inflation this bad, this past 4-years. gas up 200 percent since oh-bummer took office, food, depending the item, up 200-300 percent! the ecoomy's shot, yet prices just soaring! be scared when really stupid people vote for 4-more years of this november 4th!!!

                      • 3 votes
                      Reply#70 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:15 PM EDT

                      Wow,,,,,Memory loss is one of the first signs

                      Just 4 years ago under Bush gas prices were higher than they are right now,,,,,,And they are going down quickly since Obama initiated a price
                      gouging commitee to look into it.

                      • 5 votes
                      #70.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:19 PM EDT

                      raider rider

                      "gas up 200%"

                      get together with Red Baron and see if one of you will actually lists something that supports your claims...see #68.2

                      or just admit the two of you "blatantly lie" to make your post sound better!

                      gas is not up 200% and you know it!

                      you aren't at a tea party rally where everyone just takes what you say as gospel!

                      you two embarrass each other!

                      • 5 votes
                      #70.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:34 PM EDT

                      In June of 2008, average gas price was $4.10/gallon. Saying it has gone up 200% is a total lie.

                      http: //news.consumerreports.org/cars/2008/06/gas-prices-4.html

                      • 1 vote
                      #70.3 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:55 AM EDT

                      Since we've seen a speculative spike in gas prices will Republicans FINALLY stop blocking reasonable regulation of speculation in the commodities market?

                        #70.4 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:23 AM EDT
                        Reply

                        The economy is going to be a hard sell for Republicans considering basically since the day Obama's policies took effect we have had a steadily improving economy
                        Gotta remember his first year was under Bush's budget and policies as with any
                        President. Same problem with jobs 2 years of steady job growth.

                        As far as "cool",,,,,,,Thats just icing on the Democratic cake, Wait until Bill pulls
                        out his sax again ;)

                        Of course then theres that whole ending wars, Bin Laden dead, Kaddafi dead,
                        Pirates on the run, less than half as many illegals getting into the USA, HCR,
                        WSR, Ledbetter act, etc Republicans seem to think all happened by magic (or
                        didn't happen at all)

                        But then, There is my favorite, Obama repealed every Republican gun ban for the last 30 years (In the REAL world Democrats have NEVER banned a firearm)

                        • 4 votes
                        Reply#71 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:16 PM EDT

                        Hey Bo...What frigging planet do you live on?? Oh, I know ...either the planet of SEIU, UAW or ACORN.

                        • 2 votes
                        #71.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:23 PM EDT

                        Hey Bo, Was this the Change You Hoped For?

                        WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home prices dropped in February in most major U.S. cities for a sixth straight month, a sign that modest sales gains haven't been enough to boost prices.

                        The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index shows that prices dropped in February from January in 16 of the 20 cities it tracks.

                        http://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-home-prices-drop-6th-130235133.html

                        Retirement may be mission impossible for Gen X

                        http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47063393/ns/today-money/#.T5hZhtUf8ow

                        New orders for manufactured goods took the largest drop in three years last month, in a worrisome sign for manufacturing, which has been one of the economy's bright spots.

                        The Commerce Department said Wednesday that durable goods orders tumbled 4.2 percent in March to $202.6 billion. It was the second decrease in the past three months. Orders rose by 1.9 percent in February.

                        http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/25/11388509-orders-for-long-lasting-goods-tumbled-in-march?chromedomain=testblog

                        NABE’s latest forecast of 45 leading business economists calls for the jobless rate this year to average 8.3 percent, its current level, and drop only slightly to 7.8 percent next year, based on expected slow economic growth.

                        http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/05/11006026-sharp-drop-in-jobless-rate-raises-questions-for-economists?lite

                        Tuesday, April 10, 2012

                        How Did a Russian Oligarch End Up With Cutting Edge U.S. Battery Technology? (HEV)

                        From the Chicago Tribune:
                        U.S.-backed battery company's sale to Russian tycoon sparks anxiety

                        Batteries made in America for America and backed by America. That's how politicians hailed Ener1.

                        The company tapped the country's top scientists at Argonne National Lab in Illinois, and U.S. taxpayers pledged up to $118 million in federal stimulus funds and $80 million in state and local incentives to help Ener1 produce cutting-edge battery technology for electric cars and the U.S. military.

                        "This is about the future. And the question is which nation is going to seize the future. Some nation is going to grab it by the throat. One of the nations of the world is going to lead the world in green energy and technology," Vice President Joe Biden said in January 2011 in a speech praising federal support for Ener1 at its facility in Indiana.

                        That nation, it turns out, is Russia.

                        A little more than a year after Biden's visit to Ener1's Indiana manufacturing plant, the company's technology is owned outright by Boris Zingarevich, a Russian businessman with ties to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a fact that concerns some technology experts in the U.S.

                        Zingarevich acquired Ener1 out of bankruptcy March 30 with an agreement to infuse $81 million in financing, giving him a sophisticated line of batteries that can power electric cars, store electricity for power grids and supply portable power for soldiers. His plans for Ener1 aren't known. A company spokesman declined to comment, saying Ener1 is privately held. Zingarevich couldn't be reached for comment....MORE

                        http://climateerinvest.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-did-russian-oligarch-eund-up-with.html

                        • 2 votes
                        #71.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:25 PM EDT

                        The planet of reality and facts BK,,,,,,,,Possibly something you know NOTHING about?

                        • 3 votes
                        #71.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:26 PM EDT

                        Bk lives in the town of homo republican vill with lots of restrooms to choose from

                          #71.4 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:27 PM EDT

                          yeh elvis...saw you in a public restroom the other day next to Larry....Wow, both of you have very wide "stances"...Why were your pants knees so wet???

                          • 1 vote
                          #71.5 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:31 PM EDT

                          Zingarevich acquired Ener1 out of bankruptcy March 30 with an agreement to infuse $81 million in financing

                          Damn Capitalist Russian Republicans (Soviet REPUBLIC!!)

                          • 3 votes
                          #71.6 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:33 PM EDT

                          Bo..you are a liberal ...liberals know nothing about reality OR facts....Liberals take their direction from the Dimocraps, Unions, Community Organizers...very little thinking with any liberal, much less free thought.

                            #71.7 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:33 PM EDT

                            bk has brain farts all the time when he talks to people

                              #71.8 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:45 PM EDT

                              Nice rant BK, Now find some facts to back it up

                              Liberal,,, Hardly
                              Democrat? Wrong again

                              • 2 votes
                              #71.9 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:54 PM EDT

                              Put down the bong Bo you don't know diddly.

                                #71.10 - Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:23 PM EDT
                                Reply

                                Ok, call it about trust to run the economy. Why would anyone in the country trust a venture capitalist who broke up companies for his own gain to the tune of $450 million (his assets and various trust funds) to run our economy in a way that would benefit regular wage earners? His disclosed plans will certainly benefit the very rich like himself when he takes the individual tax rate for million income people to 25% but where in his gutting of government programs and trickle down theories that have been tried is there anything for people making less than 250K per year.

                                • 5 votes
                                Reply#72 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:16 PM EDT

                                Whatever it takes to get the marxist occupier out of the White House.

                                • 2 votes
                                #73 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:17 PM EDT

                                Replacing Obama with Romney will do no good. Both candidates are identical where it counts.

                                If you want to do some good; vote LIBERTARIAN.

                                Otherwise, you are voting for upcoming tragedy

                                  #73.1 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:19 PM EDT

                                  Marxist??? Marx was a Republican leader from the Wiemar Republic

                                  Almost as silly as calling Obama a Communist when ALL Communist
                                  are Republicans and all Communist nations ARE Republics.

                                  Call him a Socialist, It makes more sense in that he is Socially Responsible

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #73.2 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:22 PM EDT

                                  Bo, obviously you never studied Marx. Marx said that socialism was the means of transitioning from capitalism to communism.

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #73.3 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:27 PM EDT

                                  Marxist and communist when used by the republicans have nothing to do with political philosophy. They are code words for the one they would love to use but can’t anymore. There are about a hundred of them at last count. Michelle Bachmann added a new on recently – tar baby. Cute huh!! Do you really think that any republicans have a clue what a marxist or communist really is or what the words mean?

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #73.4 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:35 PM EDT

                                  Larry obviously you never studied period

                                  Marx created Communism as we know it with a clear cut blueprint

                                  No financial regulation or protections
                                  No FDA
                                  No EPA
                                  No OSHA
                                  No minimum wage
                                  No retirement benefits
                                  No healthcare benefits

                                  You know, All those things Communist Republics do not have and Republicans in the USA are trying to get rid of

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #73.5 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:39 PM EDT

                                  Jim, I thought Santorum's "Blaa" people was kind of,,,,,,,,Inventive??

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #73.6 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:40 PM EDT

                                  You can keep denying it all you want but the facts are the facts and you certainly are not unique in denying the connection to marxist socialism that is the core of Democratic liberal belief.

                                  1. the Democratic party platform has mirrored the Communist Manifesto for nearly 100 years

                                  2. Liberals enthusiastically support that platform

                                  3. The members of the Progressive Caucus are also members of the Democratic Socialists USA party

                                  4. Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate as a candidate of the Socialist New Party created by the Democratic Socialists USA party

                                  5. Barack Obama has been endorsed by the Communist Party USA in both 2008 and again for the 2012 election. Why do you think they would do that?

                                  I've read and re-read the Manifesto, Critique of the Gotha Programme, his 1844 “Critical Notes on the Article ‘The King of Prussia and Social Reform,’” his 1874 “Notes on Bakunin’s Book Statehood and Anarchy,” in “The Second Draft, Writings on the Paris Commune”, I've bought my copy of Mao's "Little Red Book" in 1966. I've been to both Cuba and China

                                  In Critique of the Gotha Programme Marx stated what has become the political strategy of today's left:

                                  Between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.

                                  Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (1875)

                                  the following summary of modern socialist thought also mirrors current Democratic liberal ideology

                                  “Socialism is not statism, or the collective ownership of the means of production. It is a judgment on the priorities of economic policy. It is for that reason that I believe that... the community takes precedence over the individual in the values that legitimate economic policy. The first lien on the resources of a society therefore should be to establish that 'social minimum' which would allow individuals to lead a life of self-respect, to be members of the community.

                                  Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. xii

                                  Bell captures what the Socialist International itself says is the evolution of socialism

                                  59. Democratic socialism today is based on the same values on which it was founded. But they must be formulated critically, both assimilating past experience and looking ahead to the future. For instance, experience has shown that while nationalisation in some circumstances may be necessary, it is not by itself a sovereign remedy for social ills. Likewise, economic growth can often be destructive and divisive, especially where private interests evade their social and ecological responsibility. Neither private nor State ownership by themselves guarantee either economic efficiency or social justice.

                                  60. The democratic socialist movement continues to advocate both socialisation and public property within the framework of a mixed economy. It is clear that the internationalisation of the economy and the global technological revolution make democratic control more important than ever. But social control of the economy is a goal that can be achieved through a wide range of economic means according to time and place, including:

                                  - democratic, participative and decentralised production policies; public supervision of investment; protection of the public and social interest; and socialisation of the costs and benefits of economic change;

                                  - worker participation and joint decision-making at company and workplace level as well as union involvement in the determination of national economic policy;

                                  - self-managed cooperatives of workers and farmers;

                                  - public enterprises, with democratic forms of control and decision-making where this is necessary to enable governments to realise social and economic priorities;

                                  - democratisation of the institutions of the world financial and economic system to allow full participation by all countries;

                                  - international control and monitoring of the activities of transnational corporations, including cross-frontier trade union rights within such corporations.

                                  61. There is no single or fixed model for economic democracy and there is room for bold experimentation in different countries. But the underlying principle is clear - not simply formal, legal control by the State, but substantial involvement by workers themselves and by their communities in economic decision-making. This principle must apply both nationally and internationally.

                                  62. In societies structured in this fashion, and committed to genuine economic and social equality, markets can and must function as a dynamic way of promoting innovation and signalling the desires of consumers through the economy as a whole. Markets should not be dominated by big business power, and manipulated by misinformation.

                                  63. The concentration of economic power in few private hands must be replaced by a different order in which each person is entitled - as citizen, consumer or wage-earner - to influence the direction and distribution of production, the shaping of the means of production, and the conditions of working life. This will come about by involvement of the citizen in economic policies, by guaranteeing wage earners an influence in their workplace, by fostering open and accountable competition both domestically and internationally and by strengthening the position of consumers relative to producers.

                                  64. A democratic society must compensate for the defects of even the most responsible market systems. Government must not function simply as the repair shop for the damage brought about by market inadequacies or the uncontrolled application of new technologies. Rather the State must regulate the market in the interests of the people and obtain for all workers the benefits of technology, both in work experience and through the growth of leisure time and meaningful possibilities for individual development.

                                  http://www.socialistinternational.org/viewArticle.cfm?ArticleID=31

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #73.7 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:46 PM EDT

                                  the Democrats began reflecting the view of marxists in the late 1800s. With the election of Wilson, they began implementing marxist ideology. Although Wilson was a devout Christian, he embraced the notion of collectivism over the individual liberty principles of our Constitutional Republic.

                                  In the late 19th century, the Populist Party arose out of agrarian economic and political protest, was short lived, and passed into history. Yet, in time, it achieved most of its platform. At the national level, the presidential administration of Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) and the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) enacted most of the Populist demands into law.

                                  http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/articles/163/farmers-the-populist-party-and-mississippi-1870-1900

                                  there are NO significant differences between the Democratic Party platform and the Communist Manifesto.

                                  The Democratic Socialists of the USA boast of their allegiance to and the close relationship of the Democratic Party to them. Nearly all the members of the Progressive Caucus are also members of the DSUSA. This was noted on the Progressive Caucus website up until 2004 when they took it down as people like myself began posting it.

                                  Here is the list from 2004

                                  The Democratic Socialists of America, Progressive Caucus members lists the following elected Representatives in the US House of Representatives as members (as of 2004):

                                  OFFICERS Dennis Kucinich (CO-CHAIR, OHIO-10) Barbara Lee (CO-CHAIR, CALIFORNIA-09) Lynn Woolsey (VICE-CHAIR, CALIFORNIA-06) Peter DeFazio (OFFICER, OREGON-04) Jesse Jackson, Jr (OFFICER, ILLINOIS-02) Major Owens (OFFICER, NEW YORK-11) Bernie Sanders (OFFICER, VERMONT) Hilda Solis (OFFICER, CALIFORNIA-31)

                                  MEMBERS Neil Abercrombie (HI-01), Tammy Baldwin (WI-02), Xavier Becerra (CA-30), David Bonior (MI-10), Corrine Brown (FL-03), Sherrod Brown (OH-13), Michael Capuano (MA-08), Julia Carson (IN-10), William Clay (MO-01), John Conyers (MI-14), Danny Davis (IL-07), Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Lane Evans (IL-17), Eni Faleomavaega (American Samoa), Sam Farr (CA-17), Chaka Fattah (PA-02), Bob Filner (CA-50), Barney Frank (MA-04), Luis Gutierrez (IL-04), Earl Hilliard (AL-07), Maurice Hinchey (NY-26), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02), Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH-11), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Tom Lantos (CA-12), John Lewis (GA-05), Jim McDermott (WA-07), James P. McGovern (MA-03), Carrie Meek (FL-17), George Miller (CA-07), Patsy Mink (HI-02), Jerry Nadler (NY-08), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), John Oliver (MA-01), Ed Pastor (AZ-02), Donald Payne (NJ-10)., Nancy Pelosi (CA-08), Jan Schakowski (IL-09), Jose Serrany (NY-16), Hilds Solis (CA-31), Pete Stark (CA-13), Bennie Thompson (MS-02), John Tierney (MA-06), Tom Udall (NM-03), Nydia Velazquez (NY-12), Maxine Waters (CA-35), Mel Watt (NC-12), Henry Waxman (CA-29), Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)

                                  The Communist Party in 2008 endorsed Obama

                                  Obama was a member of the socialist New Party in Illinois. That is a published fact and beyond dispute. Here is the New Party link noting Obama as a New Party candidate for the Illinois State Senate seat that he won

                                  http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng42.html#anchor792932

                                  the New Party was formed and backed financially by the Democratic Socialists thus making Obama also a member of the DSA

                                  Here's what their founder Michael Harrington said

                                  "Put it this way. Marx was a democrat with a small d. The Democratic Socialists envision a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning...and racial equality. I share an immediate program with liberals in this country because the best liberalism leads toward socialism.... I want to be on the left wing of the possible."

                                  Obama just received a critical endorsement, The Communist Party USA. The Communist Party USA leader, Sam Webb, explains why he will continue to support Obama and Democrats in 2012. The Communist Party USA has consistently supported and infiltrated the Democratic Party.

                                  Also note, Sam Webb, the leader of the party, called Obama a friend back in 2008.

                                  Sam Webb Via People’s World:

                                  http://politicons.net/congrats-communist-party-usa-endorses-barack-obama-and-democrats-for-2012-election/

                                  http://peoplesworld.org/does-it-matter-which-party-wins/

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #73.8 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:50 PM EDT

                                  Bo – you made Larry Robinson go absolutely nuts. Must have hit a nerve. Some people believe that democracy is the government doing everything possible to help the super rich at the expense of everyone else.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  #73.9 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:55 PM EDT

                                  In 2010, in a report prepared for the Communist Party 29th National Convention

                                  Currently, the conditions rarely if ever allow us to run open Communists for office. When members do run for office, it is within the auspices of the Democratic Party. Otherwise, we find ourselves supporting progressive (and in some instances not-so-progressive) Democratic candidates. Despite how much many of us would love to run comrades for office as Communists, we all agree that this is how we currently have to function in this political climate.

                                  Marx continues:

                                  "In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and with it also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished, after labor has become not only a livelihood but life's prime want, after the productive forces have increased with the all-round development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly -- only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois law be left behind in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!"

                                  Only now can we fully appreciate the correctness of Engels' remarks mercilessly ridiculing the absurdity of combining the words "freedom" and "state". So long as the state exists there is no freedom. When there is freedom, there will be no state.

                                  The economic basis for the complete withering away of the state is such a high state of development of communism at which the antithesis between mental and physical labor disappears, at which there consequently disappears one of the principal sources of modern social inequality -- a source, moreover, which cannot on any account be removed immediately by the mere conversion of the means of production into public property, by the mere exploitation of the capitalists.

                                  • 2 votes
                                  #73.10 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:57 PM EDT

                                  1. the Democratic party platform has mirrored the Communist Manifesto for nearly 100 years

                                  2. Liberals enthusiastically support that platform

                                  Hmmmm,,,,,,I thought ALL Communist nations were,,,,,,,REPUBLICS!!!!

                                  Are you accusing Democrats of supporting Republicans??

                                    #73.11 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:57 PM EDT

                                    All of these are from the Communist Manifesto and are core liberal Democrat policies and beliefs

                                    A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

                                    Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. (eminent domain)

                                    Abolition of all rights of inheritance. (estate tax)

                                    Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. (Federal Reserve)

                                    Centralization of the means of communication and transport in he hands of the state. (FCC & Dept Of Transportation)

                                    Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. (AIG, GM, Dept of Agriculture, OSHA, EPA)

                                    Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. (unionism)

                                    Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. (urbanization)

                                    Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc (John Dewey a communist and founder of American Public Schools -Dewey considered "the great task of the school" to be "to counteract and transform those domestic and neighborhood tendencies" which he specifically and accurately identified as "the influence of home and Church." In order for Dewey's "progressive" agenda to advance, the moral authority of "home and Church" would have to be undermined and replaced with the authority of the state.)

                                    “The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital. (homosexual marriage, feminism)

                                    “seek to end all religious belief and practice (which is a common sentiment here by the socialists)

                                    • 2 votes
                                    #73.12 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:59 PM EDT

                                    Larry,

                                    Quit cutting and pasting from your radical web site. You are another mouth breather that doesn't have an original thought in that tiny little brain of yours.

                                      #73.13 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:24 PM EDT

                                      Chad, I've accumulate this information over 50 plus years of study and political activism. You can't even imagine all the information I have. And I will never relent from exposing liberalism for what it is.

                                      BTW, any time you want to compare personal achievement in career and education, I'm up for it.

                                      • 2 votes
                                      #73.14 - Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:18 AM EDT

                                      This "Larry Robinson" knows too much about Communism and Socialism and is putting it out there for everyone to read. I think we need to look into this Comrade. What is his real name and what is his game? Pretendes to be right wing to get his poison out. We're unto you Comrade.

                                      • 1 vote
                                      #73.15 - Sun Apr 29, 2012 9:38 AM EDT
                                      Reply

                                      This is what it all comes down to. Does Mitt care about the 99% ? Remember He still makes money by corporate raiding!!!!

                                      • 5 votes
                                      Reply#74 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:20 PM EDT

                                      The right wing seems to want to talk about government spending and the national debt. Look at a chart of government spending. Record increases by Reagan, Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. Clinton and Obama – little to no increase.

                                      What has Obama added to the national debt? Take out Obama’s first budget which was Bush’s last budget and in place when Obama took office. Then take out the cost of Bush’s stupid wars and the cost of Bush’s tax cuts for the super rich and what are you left with? Exactly $14.37. This is what Obama has added to the national debt.

                                      • 2 votes
                                      Reply#75 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:24 PM EDT

                                      And while Fehrnstrom predicted Americans would "fall in love with" Ann and Mitt Romney as the election progressed,

                                      Romney has been running for President for at least 6 years, and sadly for him nobody is falling in love with him ... hell his own party does not like him much.

                                      • 3 votes
                                      Reply#76 - Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:24 PM EDT
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