2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumRomney Laughingly Recalls Father's Layoffs
The GOP frontrunner recalled a "humorous" anecdote to Wisconsin voters in a conference call about how his father, George Romney, closed an auto factory in Michigan during his businessman years only to go to great lengths to hide this fact from voters when he ran from governor in the same state. Not only that, he suggested this gave him a closer relationship to Wisconsin, the state where George Romney shipped his factory, in his own current campaign. From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
One of most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors
They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said Romney. And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin. Now later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.
Romney said he recalled a parade in which the school band marching with his fathers campaign only knew the Wisconsin fight song, not the Michigan song.
So every time they would start playing On Wisconsin, on Wisconsin, my dads political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop, because they didnt want people in Michigan to be reminded that my dad had moved production to Wisconsin, said Romney, laughing.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-laughingly-recalls-fathers-layoffs
Do the American people need any more reminders of how out-of-touch Romney is?!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,276 posts)Ha. Ha. Ha.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)Warpy
(110,903 posts)That's the problem with plutocrats, they only see institutions and never see the human beings that staff them and are badly hurt when they shuffle those institutions around to different places.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)stopped thinking about what the product was, and worried more about making their "Quotas"
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Can't wait for Jon Stewart to get on this one.
denem
(11,045 posts)right now, on both sides, for very different different reasons.
Thegonagle
(806 posts)is that he actually told it as if it was some "me and my father" moment that people would relate to.
Awkward!
Swede Atlanta
(3,596 posts)If he were a Christian which for many of us that belong to traditional Christian traditions question, Christ would be aghast at the humor he finds in this. He is so totally personally and emotionally removed from the lives of American citizens to make us cry. I thought it was bad enough when Bush Sr. was amazed at a barcode scanner in a grocery store. I think Mittens doesn't even know people have zippers in their pants.
Worried senior
(1,328 posts)gets brought up in the general election. His sense of humor leaves a lot to be desired.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)It would make a good ad for Pres. Obama.
LiberalFighter
(50,496 posts)msu2ba
(340 posts)1. The melody was actually the high school's fight song with different words than Wisconsin's. It's a very popular tune for school songs. Most likely this is the explanation.
2. The band director was deliberately screwing with him. We had a high percentage of awful people, including the only eventual murderer I've ever had in a class, in a particular graduating class. The director played "The Hallelujah Chorus" as the recessional for their graduation. He received many chuckles and thumbs up from the faculty. Music selections are often picked for a message. Less likely.
3. Rmoney is lying again, and just pulled this "memory" out of his ass. Always a possibility.
mackattack
(344 posts)we all pretty much fight songs from Big 10 schools. If you want UMs song but the team across town has it, well then you just go with Wisconsin or something. Wisky is very popular. Its not that big of a deal to use songs from other states...Growing up 1 county away from OSU, we had Iowas fight song.
marble falls
(56,358 posts)also bet the marching band after a week on the road with the campaign stiffs knew exactly what they were doing. Dick Tuck probably fixed it.
Botany
(70,291 posts)What a hoot closing a factory and screwing the workers .....
zeemike
(18,998 posts)What is funy to him is how his father fooled the voters...the joke was on them.
rurallib
(62,344 posts)Just like Mitt of Bain wants them to do!
teewrex
(96 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)barbtries
(28,702 posts)good news for november that.
BattyDem
(11,075 posts)I would think that the first thing they'd tell him before doing an interview is:
"DO NOT talk about companies you or your father have run or owned, DO NOT talk about your friends who run or own companies, DO NOT talk about jobs that were lost because of the actions of you or your father ... and never, EVER, under any circumstances, laugh, giggle, chuckle or smirk when talking about putting people out of work!!!"
Seriously ... WTF is wrong with him? How could anyone who has spent months touring the country think this tale would be "humorous" to average Americans?
I really want to laugh at him ... but in the back of my mind, I keep thinking, "Oh crap, what if he wins??"
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)BattyDem
(11,075 posts)Of course, she blamed everyone else for them (the media, the Democrats, the liberal bloggers, etc.), but at least she usually had enough sense to know something was wrong. Mittens doesn't have a freakin' clue! He lives in a bubble ... and "Bubble Boy" is about to get the GOP nomination!
mackattack
(344 posts)BattyDem
(11,075 posts)Kablooie
(18,571 posts)DesertRat
(27,995 posts)eyewall
(674 posts)There's no reason to believe he'll get any better in the general election.
What do they have up their sleeve? I don't see the appropriate level of panic in the GOP.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Paper Roses
(7,468 posts)totally out of touch you are.
Keep it up, it is good for the President.
colorado_ufo
(5,717 posts)I know a lot of DU'ers know and love Aspies, but I am married to one, and it ain't a bed of roses.
I am 100% sure that Mittens has full-blown Asperger's syndrome, and like most of these folks, he is highly intelligent and capable, very successful, and doesn't have a clue how to relate to the rest of the world. They are not born with much empathy. Good people, law abiding, protective of family, but regularly break the hearts of family, friends (if they have any), co-workers, employees, and strangers, since they just don't "get it" when it comes to both their actions and their words.
For those of you who don't know about this syndrome, just Google. The truth of what I am saying will become apparent. And if Mittens ever became president, his relations with foreign dignitaries would fare even worse than W's.
mackattack
(344 posts)you may be on to something here. Usually when people get to the level Romeny has, they are able to fake empathy enough to get by. George II seemed like he cared about regular people via his speeches and stuff. Roment doesnt even do that. This is a valid point
Javaman
(62,439 posts)and many people on here thought he didn't have Asperger's syndrome.
the popular belief is that he's a sociopath.
(please do not take away from my post that I am at all confusing the two or associating the two conditions)
Upon reflection and watching mitten's more and more, I too am now of the belief that he is a sociopath. I honestly believe the man has zero conscious.
I think most of the really wealthy people in this world don't have much of a conscious. I believe they think they don't need to have one. That their money buys them a world were they aren't required or do they need to have a conscious. And at some point, when you live without a conscious for long enough, you evolve into a sociopath.
DesertRat
(27,995 posts)I have a family member with Asperger's and am a former special needs teacher. I do think that he is extremely wealthy and out-of-touch with the average American, but I don't think that he's on the autism spectrum. Just mho.
polichick
(37,152 posts)It totally didn't register that closing a plant is serious business for most people - and he suggested that his dad, like himself, was most interested in how that sort of thing looks while campaigning. CLUELESS.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)but to Republicans, especially family values types, this is almost as funny as it gets. If Romney had described some of the people his father laid off losing their insurance, getting divorced over money problems, and even dying, he would have had the Teabaggers in the audience rolling in the aisles.
mlevans
(843 posts)Guess the apple didn't fall all that far from the tree after all.
DemzRock
(1,016 posts)Really?
polmaven
(9,463 posts)So that's where he gets his fondness for firing people!
EC
(12,287 posts)This is the way corp owners and their pals converse...having a laugh at the expense of all us little folk. Laying off people, closing factories etc. and watching the people cry and act frantic is just so funny to them. Look how they all sat at their windows and laughed at Occupy.
Javaman
(62,439 posts)you told all those people that worked for you that they were fired because they were cutting into your overhead and preventing you from building that beach resort in the Caymens! Har har, that was a laugh riot.
this man is a sociopath.