Joan Walsh: Mitt Romney, the hollow man

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/30/mitt_romney_the_hollow_man/

Mitt Romney, the hollow man
He likens hurricane relief to cleaning up "rubbish and paper products" from a football field. Is he joking?
By Joan Walsh


snip//

It’s impossible not to see that this storm has devastated Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy. The response to the hurricane has seemed like one long dramatic Obama campaign commercial, a lesson in “We’re all in this together,” while Romney, the man who said he’d dismantle FEMA, flails on the sidelines.

Romney’s “relief” event outside of Dayton, Ohio, was surreal enough to be a campaign parody, with the candidate comparing the federal government’s hurricane relief efforts to the time he and some friends had to clean up a football field strewn with “rubbish and paper products.” It was supposed to be a parable of how Republicans handle disaster – with private charity, not government intervention – as Romney told his audience, “It’s part of the American spirit, the American way, to give to people in need.” The Republican went on to talk about the time some Hurricane Katrina survivors were rerouted from Houston to Cape Cod and the good people of Cape Cod responded by donating food and, yes, television sets.

snip//

After Romney’s laughable relief event Tuesday, reporters swarmed him to ask if he still favors sending FEMA funding and responsibility back to the states. From the Romney pool report:

“Gov are you going to eliminate FEMA?” a print pooler shouted, receiving no response.

Wires reporters asked more questions about FEMA that were ignored.

Romney kept coming over near pool to pick up more water. He ignored these questions:

“Gov are you going to see some storm damage?”

“Gov has {New Jersey Gov.} Chris Christie invited you to come survey storm damage?”

“Gov you’ve been asked 14 times, why are you refusing to answer the question?”

Romney won’t answer because he can’t. We saw him pivot to the center, to become the white Barack Obama, in the three debates, as he realized his unpopular policies and his contempt for 47 percent of the country was dooming his presidential bid. He’s got no standing now to talk about how he’d handle this disaster. The heroes of Sandy, so far, are the first responders, the cops and firefighters and emergency technicians, the folks evacuating patients from hospitals and trapped citizens from flooding. These are the people who’ve been demonized by Republicans for the last two years: the public workers who have become the new “welfare queens.” When Obama pushed a jobs bill that would have helped states and cities avoid laying off such workers, GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell derided it as a “bailout,” and Paul Ryan, of course, voted against it.

snip//

As I write, the president is arriving at a Red Cross site to ask Americans for donations. Chris Christie, meanwhile, has rebuffed Romney’s offer to visit New Jersey’s devastated shore. (Politics aside: Really, what could Romney offer?) I can’t be sure whether or how much disaster relief will matter to swing state voters outside of the hurricane zone, but I am stranded (on a blue island) in the swing state of Wisconsin, where people are tuned in to the storm and the government response. No one can be reassured by Romney’s empty posturing. Unless there is some government-abetted or neglected further disaster, I think Obama will be reelected next Tuesday. Hurricane Sandy has reminded us what’s at stake.

[Buddaman]

1. Excellent read....Thank you.

[Lisa D]

2. Great article!

This awful tragedy is shining a bright light on Romney and he's trying to hide behind his "relief effort campaign event" until it all just goes away.

[snagglepuss]

3. Everytime I see a photo of that damaged crane

on top of the new uber luxury condo in NY, I think of Rmoney - one limp dick.

[longship]

5. Heavens to murgatroyd!

Zat you?

Exit stage left!

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

6. Thank you for that!

I see that limp-dicked crane out my window... now it will remind me of MittWitt and his Horsie! (no not the dancing one)

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. This is the way the world ends...

...

[Cha]

7. Brilliant article from Joan Walsh..thank you, babylonsistah.

My feeling about Christie's response in this crisis is this.. It's Devastating to the Citizens of New Jersey and they do not want to see him playing politics with mitt "shallow man" romney. It's serious business and that means helping them the best way he can. And, we know what that means.