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Governorship of Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Half-Steps to Obama

Jamelle BouieApr 04, 2012
(AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In an election year, political speeches have more in common with hip-hop “diss” tracks then they do with anything else. In which case, President Obama’s speech last night was the “Ether” to the Republican Party’s “Takeover”—an assured, aggressive response that methodically destroyed the GOP’s rationale for its slavish devotion to the rich.

Women Flee the GOP

Jamelle BouieApr 02, 2012
(Barack Obama/Flickr)

It’s always an open question as to whether Beltway-based controversies spread out to the public at large. Etch A Sketch is an incredibly apt way of describing Mitt Romney’s persona, but so far, the comment has gone unnoticed by those who don’t follow politics for entertainment or for a living (two overlapping spheres).

Paul Ryan Endorses Mitt Romney

Jamelle BouieMar 30, 2012
(Jamelle Bouie/The American Prospect)

Now that Mitt Romney has effectively won the Republican presidential nomination, major figures within the party have come out to endorse him and push the other candidates out of the race. Romney’s latest endorsement comes from House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, who—on Fox and Friends this morning—warned that the GOP primary could become “counterproductive” if it doesn’t end soon:

“We need to coalesce as conservatives” around a nominee, Ryan said. “The longer we drag it out the harder it is to win in November. … I am convinced that Mitt Romney has the skills, the tenacity, the principles and the courage to put America back on track."

Romney's Out of Flops on Abortion

Paul WaldmanFeb 22, 2012
(Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

Lots of politicians, and quite a few presidential candidates, have changed their minds on abortion. This is partly because, in its broadest terms, it is a weighty, complex issue with a legitimate case to be made on both sides, even if one side has a stronger case (I'm not talking here about subsidiary issues like parental consent or the despicable laws requiring women to get ultrasounds or anything like that, just the basic question of whether abortion is right or wrong). It's also because in recent years, both parties have tolerated less and less deviation on the issue, particularly in anyone who wants to be their presidential nominee. There are still a few pro-life Democrats (like Harry Reid) and pro-choice Republicans (like Olympia Snowe), but the days when someone could hope to get on a national ticket without toeing the line on abortion are gone.

So if you've been around a while, there's a chance you held one belief in your early years, but then moved to align with your party later on. This is what happened, for instance, to George H.W. Bush (a great advocate of reproductive rights in his early years as a member of Congress) and Al Gore (who started off his career pro-life). Chances are most people don't even know that about Bush or Gore, but people sure do know that Mitt Romney changed his views on abortion. Why? A few reasons...

Oops, He Did it Again

Jamelle BouieFeb 22, 2012

Mitt Romney’s main problem with conservative voters is that they don’t trust him or his commitment to conservative values. And for good reason; it’s only been six years since he left office as the moderate, pro-choice governor of a liberal state who pioneered health care reform for the country. Romney has tried to overcome this with constant pandering, open contempt for President Obama, and casual dishonesty, but it hasn’t done the trick. What’s more, there are times when the mask slips, and Romney reveals how much he actually is a boring technocrat. Yesterday was one of those times:

Mitt Romney: Liberal Economist

Patrick CaldwellFeb 06, 2012
(Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

Say you’re a presidential candidate shifting to the general election after your place as the party's nominee seems firmly settled. The entire logic of your candidacy has been built on business experience as the answer to an economic downturn, and you plan to assail the community-organizer president for not understanding how the private sector works. A high rate of unemployment is your friend. Voters will be dissatisfied enough with the general state of their lives that you should easily waltz past the incumbent president without having to do the tricky work of laying out your own vision for the country. Except, after a year of laying the groundwork for this sort of campaign, the economy slowly begins to recover. Things are certainly not in good shape, but the trend lines are beginning to move in the right direction and people are once again hopeful.

Wall Street Backs One of Its Own

Harold MeyersonFeb 03, 2012
Flickr/Matthew Knott

Bankers are supposed to be the personifications of economic reasoning, but anyone looking at the financial reports of the presidential candidates and super PACs that have come out this week might conclude that there’s more to their political calculations than dollars and cents. Indeed, what these reports fairly shout is that Wall Street’s political picks have been swayed by offended egos and tribalism.

The Success of Romney's Health-Care Pander

Jamelle BouieFeb 02, 2012
Governor Mitt Romney signs Massachusetts health care reform in 2006.

Last year, at the University of Michigan, Mitt Romney gave a speech on health care to address his prior support for the individual mandate—the linchpin for the Affordable Care Act and Romneycare in Massachusetts. The core of his speech—and of his message on health care since then—was that it’s unacceptable for the federal government to require health insurance for its citizens. As he said:

Our plan was a state solution to a state problem. And his is a power grab by the federal government to put in place a one size fits all plan across the nation.

His Own Worst Enemy

Jamelle BouieFeb 01, 2012

If Mitt Romney has a big problem in the Republican primary, it’s himself. The former Massachusetts governor can’t seem to keep his foot out of his mouth, and has—through misstatements—portrayed himself as a cold and heartless shill for the 1 percent. Here are some of the greatest hits:

Mitt Romney’s Tax Problem

John SidesJan 27, 2012

 

How the Other Half Banks

Today's Balance Sheet: Mitt Romney makes beaucoup bucks.

Jaime FullerJan 24, 2012

Mitt Romney released his tax returns today, revealing that he made a combined $42.6 million in 2010 and 2011, mostly through capital gains. Because the bulk of his wealth was made through investment, Romney only paid $6.2 million in taxes, which translates into a 13.9 percent tax rate in 2010 and an estimated 15.4 percent rate in 2011. Those rates place him in the same tax bracket as a couple making $70,000 a year.

All the Taxes Owed

Patrick CaldwellJan 24, 2012
AP Photo

Mitt Romney's reluctance to reveal his income and tax information received center-stage attention once again at last night's debate. After weeks of immense scrutiny and criticism from his opponents, Romney caved and agreed to release his tax returns from 2010 and the projections for his 2011 return.

Academic v. Troll

John SidesJan 23, 2012

 

Cranky Reader: Sides, you’re not just a moron, but a coward.
 
Me: Say what?
 
CR: You’ve been hyping the “inevitability of Romney” since, oh, 2008.  Now the South Carolina primary has made you look like an idiot.  And 24 hours later you still haven’t blogged about it.  Coward.
 
Me: Oh, I see.
 
CR: Admit you were wrong.  Admit that this political science theory you’ve been slobbering over is wrong.  You know, from The Party Decides?  The one that says that party leaders strongly influence nominations and that the endorsements of these leaders is a key indicator of who’ll get the nomination?  Romney has garnered lots of endorsements.  Gingrich hasn’t.  In fact, lots of party leaders hate him.  So you were wrong.
 
Me: Why should I admit that I was wrong or that theory is wrong?  The primary isn’t over yet.
 
CR: Yeah, but that Gallup graph you posted last week?  Now look at it.  In fact, Gallup’s homepage says Romney’s nationwide margin over Gingrich is even closer today: 5 points.
 
Me: True enough.
 
CR: So admit you were wrong.
 
Me: Look at it this way.  If I had told you months ago that Mitt Romney would lose Iowa and South Carolina but win the New Hampshire primary, what would you have said?
 
CR: Well, at that time I would have said that was a pretty obvious prediction.  But did you make that prediction?  Where’s the link?
 
Me: I didn’t make that prediction.  I’m just pointing out that, in some sense, there is maybe a bit less drama here than meets the eye.  Lots of eventual nominees lose some primaries or caucuses.
 
CR: Fair point, but don’t be so blase.  Nate Silver pointed out something highly unusual: Gingrich came from really far back to beat Romney.
 
Me: That is unusual. No argument there.
 
CR: Here’s a theory: Republican voters just can’t stand Romney.
 
Me: That’s not right.  I’ve been arguing that votes against Romney do not equate “deep dissatisfaction for Romney.”  Romney is generally viewed favorably, even by supporters of his opponents!   But of course that doesn’t make him everyone’s first choice, nor does it mean that they like everything about him.  Definitely read Noam Scheiber’s new piece at The New Republic.  He was the one who originally said “deep dissatisfaction.”  In this piece he says “deep ambivalence.”  He’s ostensibly disagreeing with me, but I don’t actually disagree that a substantial number of Republican voters are ambivalent about Romney.  But deep ambivalence is different than deep dissatisfaction.
 
CR: Please don’t distract from your idiocy by initiating some tedious debate with another blogger.
 
Me: Fine.  Here’s the deal.  Some voters support Romney.  Some never will.  But the rest have both pro and con views about Romney, which means they haven’t committed to supporting him or opposing him.  And that’s true for most of the other candidates too.
 
CR: Go on.
 
Me: When people’s attitudes aren’t yet crystallized, they are more susceptible to the effects of new information.  And let’s face it, the salient information about Romney between the NH and SC primaries wasn’t helpful to him: there was more about Bain, and the “not much” he earned in speaking fees, and his 15% tax rate, and so on.  Meanwhile, Gingrich scored some points by lecturing the moderator in a couple debates and was able to generate a fresh round of positive coverage.
 
CR: So what you’re saying is that the balance of information—favorable or unfavorable—is what’s driving this?  What about the notion that voters are just refusing to go along with what the media is telling them?  Like, they won’t just vote for whoever the media wants to anoint.
 
Me: I wasn’t aware that the media was trying to anoint Romney when they were writing a jillion stories about Bain Capital.  But more important, I just don’t think voters make decisions by saying, “I’m not going to let The Media push me around!”  I think that voters who could be tempted to vote for someone other than Romney—and a more conservative state like South Carolina would naturally have a large number of these voters—ended up seeing a lot of negative news about him at the same time as they saw positive news about Gingrich.  Jon Bernstein put it this way:
 
And with all of those unenthusiastic voters out there, it’s not all that surprising that we can see a lot of undecided voters swing one way or another in reaction to campaign events.

Take Your Free Speech Elsewhere

Jamelle BouieJan 20, 2012

 

NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA—Mitt Romney’s events are usually calm, which is why it was a surprise to hear yelling and see police drag two people, apparently Occupy protesters, out of the crowd. “She’s being choked! She’s being choked!” yelled one of the protesters, and I—along with several other reporters—rushed to see what the commotion was about. After dragging them onto a parking lot, the police went back, leaving the two demonstrators shouting at both the police and the Romney campaign.

The Tax Return Cometh

Today's Balance Sheet: Mitt Romney had a bad week.

Jaime FullerJan 18, 2012

Although Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, and he is the runaway favorite in the polls, his image has taken a severe beating lately. His economic credentials are the foundation of his campaign, but it has become embarrassingly easy to portray the front-runner as someone who doesn't understand the economic pain many Americans are suffering right now. Yesterday, the Obama campaign's dirt pile on its likely general-election opponent grew substantially when Romney revealed his tax rate and made another unfortunately worded statement on his wealth.

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