Mitt Romney’s latest forty seven percent!

For those who have not heard in this busy post election news cycle, Mitt Romney held a post election conference call with many of his large donors in an attempt to explain why he and Paul Ryan lost the election last week. In that conference call, Romney has claimed that the president bought the votes of many constituent groups such as blacks, Latinos and young people under twenty six. Romney called them "gifts"! Romney cited a number of social programs as the reason that blacks voted for President Obama. He cited things like health insurance coverage for those under twenty six for the young vote. And, he cited the executive order on the dream act as the reason that Latinos voted for the president. In the shadow of that one way conversation, Republicans such as governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have disagreed and castigated Mr. Romney for trying to further divide the nation instead of trying to broaden the base of the party.

Jindal is the incoming head of the Republican governors association which is made up of himself and twenty nine other like partied executive state leaders.

It is incumbent on us to remind everyone who reads this space that it was just about two months or so ago that Romney’s comments made at a private, off the record, large donor fundraiser last may came to light due to the efforts of Mother Jones and former president Jimmy Carter’s grandson to uncover the taped presentation that was made down in Boca Raton, Florida during that month. The comments that Romney made there have become part of the history, the legend, and the lore of American presidential politics as few other gaffes have. We probably don’t need to remind anyone of what Romney said, but, to be brief, he simply stated that there were about forty seven percent of the American population that were takers who did not really contribute much if anything to the national economy while taking in various forms and amounts from those who were striving for success.

There has been a little bit of a cottage industry growing up around Romney since his election defeat that he might be a person who has things to offer to the national discourse, particularly in the areas of tax reform. His ideas about limiting the amount of tax deductions to a set amount like 35,000 dollars per return have gained some traction in certain circles as the debate about what to do about the deficit and the debt have suddenly gripped the nation once again. Although these ideas, from a not unintelligent man, might have some validity, there is a moral component to all of this and all that Mitt Romney has done with this latest blame game for his defeat laid at the feet of the president and, by inference, to segments of the voting population, is to once again validate the opinion that he is a man who lives in a different world than most of the rest of America does. There was no excuse for the comments that Romney made last May except to come to the realization with these latest remarks that the man meant every word of them both! And, that casts deep shadows over whatever future this sixty five year old plutocrat might have going further in the national discourse. There is no question that the nation needs any good ideas that can come forth from whatever source they might emerge. However, as this nation goes forward, the morals of those making these assertions need to be closely scrutinized. And, as we and others have stated before, Mitt Romney appears to be a person who is basically amoral! It was explained that Romney did not mean what he said back in May and was, as a salesman, just trying to close a deal and get some big bucks from those who could more than afford to part with them. It is another thing entirely to make the statements that he made on a open phone call that he must have known would be released in one form or another to the media and to America at large. We wonder just what kind of deal that Romney was trying to close this time around! He did a good job of conceding defeat on election night and left a good taste in much of Americas mouth! And then turn around and do this!

It must be a terrible thing to lose a presidential election! Others who have lost in the past have described various feelings about the experience. George McGovern stated that he thought up until election night of 1972 that he was actually going to win when, in point of fact, he went down to one of the largest election landslide defeats ever seen in this nation at the hands of Richard Nixon. There has been much speculation as to what those around Mitt Romney were telling and showing him right up to election day. What ever it was that they said must have just added to the shock that Romney felt as was evidenced by the fact that he had not even thought about writing a concession speech in advance of election night.. And, that brings up a bigger issue. Romney’s ruminations in that post election donor phone call might further lead segments of the radical right to the belief that what Romney said was actually true. Bobby Jindal is among those trying to lead the Republican party out of its nightmare and having the just defeated party standard bearer make the statements that he did is simply further dividing the nation that Romney claims that Barack Obama has been trying to do. In point of fact, the Republican party has been playing the politics of wedge issues and division for a very long time now and there are many, a majority in fact, who are getting tired of the game.

We do not know what part that Mitt Romney wants to play in the future of his party or his nation, if any at all. But, blaming others for your own bad decisions in a campaign that was dotted with them is no way to begin your stint as one of the party’s elder statesmen. But, just perhaps, Romney is following in the footsteps of the last to lose to Obama before him--John McCain. McCain has been playing the role of obstructionist and petty critic ever since 2008 came to a close every chance that he has had. It was one of the saddest scenes that we have ever seen when McCain caved into the supreme court’s decision in the Citizen’s United case when he had championed campaign finance reform for most of his long legislative career, and did it with barely a whimper. He then followed that up with one of the most feckless reelection campaigns that we have ever seen when he abandoned all of his remaining principles just to get one more term in the senate. The Republican party and the nation of which it is a part need better from their standard bearers if this nation is to be worth leading in the coming years! And, it is just perhaps the native wisdom of the American electorate that neither one of them was given the reigns of government!

IOVHO,

Regards,

Joe

To say that "God exists" is the greatest understatement ever made across space and time.