Blackhatjack
Blackhatjack's JournalIn NC "The REPUBLICAN Horror Show" is about to begin ...
NC's 13 member Congressional delegation has flipped from a Democratic majority to a nine(9) member Republican majority.
NC's Governor is now Republican, first since 1993.
NC's Lt. Gov race went to the Republican candidate (UNLESS a recount upsets an 11,000 vote lead).
Republicans remain in control of the State General Assembly.
The confluence of redistricting by Republican map drawers, HUGE amounts of outside $$ from nameless faceless donors allowed under Citizens United, and Democratic Party mismanagement of their Gubernatorial Candidate and funding of his campaign, has led us to this place .... and it will be remembered as a dark time for decades to come.
The best thing NC Dems could do right now is ask President Obama to declare NC a political disaster area and direct the DNC to send us aid BEFORE Repubs are sworn into office.
A preview of some of the 'Horrors' to come?
*Corporate and upper income tax reform (for the ultra rich) is coming.
*Deregulation of business in NC and roll back of environmental and consumer protection laws are on the way.
*Teacher tenure laws are on the way out.
*Those who could afford to send their children to private schools will be getting tax paid vouchers to help them pay tuition(which $$ will come directly from the public schools funding that is already stretched to the breaking point).
*Medicaid coverage and funding for the poor is on the chopping block.
*And don't forget, given all the voter fraud that Repubs have identified we can expect a new voter ID law to disenfranchise voters who might vote Democratic in the future.
Democrats in NC have now been relegated to an opposition party.
IT would be natural for President Obama to look favorably on those states that helped put him over the top for a second term. However, don't forget that NC Dems delivered NC to Obama in 2008 by a margin of 14,000 votes out of over 4mil votes cast. The effort was there this time, and in the face of unfathomable $$ from outside NC Dems here came up 96,000 votes short out of over 4.4mil votes cast.
NC is NOT a Red State. But I fear we may be treated as one by those unfamiliar with the foregoing. We don't deserve this(but neither did NJ deserve getting hit by Sandy).
2014 and 2016 cannot come soon enough for NC. In the meantime we will have to rely on our friends to support us as we watch Repubs dismantle the NC we know and love.
And now .... the Horror Show begins .....
Will Romney's $$ Trump Conservative Fundies in Repub Party? That is the Question!
Romney has all the $$ he needs to win the Repub Nomination for President --and with the advent of Citizens United, he is assured of Millions more to roll in.
But Karl Rove proved that the Conservative Fundamentalist bloc could be motivated to reliably vote their beliefs, and framing the Repub candidate in descriptive terms that fit those beliefs is essential to create that motivation. And without them the Republican coalition of varied interests cannot be created which is necessary to win.
Romney has yet to seal the deal with the Conservative Fundamentalists, and losing Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado, are evidence of this. Further, running attack ads against Gingrich and Santorum are not advancing the Conservative agenda.
I don't know if Romney will win the Repub Nomination, but even if he does, it seems clear that he will never motivate the Conservative Fundamentalist voting bloc to vote for him in the General Election with President Obama.
My intuition is that the corporate blocs who have been turned loose to contribute $$ in this election are smart enough to know that Romney will be a loser in the General Election, and soon they will be searching for another candidate to support who can beat President Obama.
The keys to Romney's Demise are in this article about Gingrich ... LINK
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/07/newt-gingrich-minnesota-caucus-colorado-caucus_n_1258630.html"And there is still room in the Republican primary for a Romney alternative. About 39 percent of Florida Republican primary voters said they were not satisfied with their choices of candidates. Plus, Romney won only 37 percent of the most conservative voters in the first five states to hold caucuses or primaries, compared with Gingrich's 35 percent, Santorum's 17 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul's 9 percent, ... Romney has won only about 100 delegates so far. The eventual GOP nominee will need 1,144 delegates to secure the nomination.
Cardenas, who has not endorsed a candidate this election but who was with Romney in 2008 and attended his victory rally in Tampa last Tuesday, said Romney's lead in the primary is because he is winning over "transaction voters." "There are two reasons to vote for somebody," Cardenas explained. "You're kind of wedded to what their belief system is and to enthusiasm and passion. Or this is more like a transaction for you, and you say, 'Well, I'm a conservative; I want [Obama] out of the White House no matter what, and this is a guy, I think, that will most likely beat him. So I'm not marrying the guy but I'm certainly entering into a transaction here where he gets my vote.'"
"Romney gets the vast majority of transaction voters -- those who are not passionate for one candidate or the other but have a common purpose of beating President Obama," Cardenas said. "That's where his big lead comes from. Now, can he build up the enthusiasm? That stands to be seen."
MORE
******************
edited to add excerpt above
While this article is titled about what Newt Gingrich has to do to survive in his struggle with Romney, it clearly sets out the problems that dog Romney's campaign for the Repub nomination.
Romney is detailed as not having closed the deal with Repub conservatives, and that those who have voted for Romney have done so as "transactional" voters --they want Obama removed from the White House, and they will vote for Romney since he has the best chance of beating Obama in the General Election --BUT they are not enthusiastic about Romney, and there is plenty of time and over a thousand delegates remaining to be won if Gingrich can differentiate himself at the CAC.
To this date, Romney has never polled at 50% or higher, and his unfavorability numbers continue to rise.
IT does not take a genius to realize that Romney has a problem that huge $$ converted to negative advertising cannot overcome.
IF Gingrich can drive a wedge between Romney and the Repub Conservative wing by contrasting his various opposing positions on conservative issues, then Romney may become history's most highly financed candidate for the Republican presidential nomination to LOSE.
Hmmm....Did Romney Pay ZERO taxes in 2008? (This Guy May Be Onto Something)
In 2008, Did Romney(the taxpayer) lend himself(the politician) $45 mil? And pay ZERO taxes that year 2008?
Read it for yourself?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/did-mitt-romney-pay-any-t_b_1222395.html
"I think Mitt Romney didn't pay any taxes in 2008.
Not 35%. Not 15%. Zero.
Between February 2007 and February 2008, Mitt Romney made a huge financial blunder. He lent Mitt Romney $45 million to run for president. (In July 2008, he wrote a letter to the FEC, informing them that Mitt Romney was "forgiving the outstanding loans" to Mitt Romney and that the loans should be "reclassified as contributions."
Where did successful businessman Mitt Romney get the $45 million to lend politician Mitt Romney, loser and clod? If he got the cash by liquidating stock, he did at least some of it during the Dow's 200-point decline in the winter of 2007/2008.
I'm not saying that's what he did -- and it's impossible to know without his returns -- but if he did, isn't possible that he took a substantial loss?"
MORE
Romney is VULNERABLE on issue He Has Huge $$ in Overseas Bank Accts --DING! DING!
The Quarter Billionaire Kid has a problem. He's got so much $$ that he has to stash a lot of it in overseas bank accounts --and by the way not pay taxes on it while it is there.
Hmmmm .... he wants to be President, wants to help reign in the huge debt and NOT raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations. So you would think he would want to pay his fair share right?
The Gingrich film may touch on this, but really there is fertile soil to till here against Romney.
And the gist of it is that Romney really has no defense to raise against these attacks.
DEMS ? Are you paying attention?
This is setting up for another MASSIVE FAILURE for Romney ...
Romney can't decide if he is in or out of Iowa. He has a huge war chest full of campaign $$ to spend, waits until after the straw polls are over, and then decides to go all in. His SuperPac spends relentlessly on attack ads directed at Gingrich. And yet he never crosses 25% in any poll.
Now with 2 days to go, he has real competition in the latest polls from both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, both within a couple of percentage points --and a polling margin of error of 4% or more.
There is not a doubt that New Hampshire will go with Romney.
BUT if Romney loses Iowa, wins in N.H., and heads to South CArolina --he is going to LOSE there. It is looking like he can spend all the money he has and it won't cut it with the social conservatives of S.C.
At that point you would have either 3 different winners in the first 3 states, or one of the candidates not named Romney will have two(2) wins and Romney will have one win in N.H. and 2 losses.
At that point there will be some serious intra party bloodletting going on ... and the problems that Romney has minimized so far will be magnified by the rightwingers, fundamentalists, and tea partiers --all to the horror of independents and Karl Rove and company who will smell inevitable disaster in the general election.
A lot depends on the turnout in Iowa, but keep in mind these are caucuses and not traditional style elections. Paul's ground base is formidable, and the Christian fundamentalists seem to be turning to Rick Santorum in a big way (and rejecting Michele Bachmann).
IT is hard to believe a candidate could have more than 4-7 times the campaign $$ to spend against his closest opponents and still lose .... but that is what the Romney campaign is facing if they fail to pull out the win in Iowa.
At that point there is going to be a civil war going on inside the Republican Party the likes of which we have never seen. Who ends up with the official Party nomination will most likely be someone who is not named Romney.
Clueless and Ironic? Romney compares Obama to Marie Antoinette's
First, the multi-millionaire Romney characterizes himself as "unemployed" --as if he has something in common with regular middle class unemployed.
Second, Romney touts his experience as a CEO running a business --but fails to mention that he directed the business to acquire businesses, fire their employees, and move jobs overseas.
Third, Romney won't be a part of any effort to impose a small surtax on the super rich millionaires to offset the cost of paying for the extension of the payroll tax holiday for middle class citizens.
Now, the clueless Romney has chose to compare comments by Obama as similar to those attributable to Marie Antoinette ("Let them eat cake" ) showing disdain for the suffering lower classes. IF that hat fits anyone's head, it belongs to Romney.
What irony when you consider that everything Romney stands for is to protect the richest taxpayers and corporations.
House caved, check! Now a sharp stick needed to poke the House Tea Party Repubs ....
The good ship "House Republicans" is in dangerous waters now that Capt. Boehner has led them to cave on the Senate passed 2 month extension of the payroll tax bill.
One can just imagine the mental disturbance of the right wing Tea Party Repub members of the House.
All that is likely needed to push them over the brink is someone to jab them a little with a sharp stick, reminding them that they did what they promised never to do -- compromise to accept President Obama's position on a bill they hotly contested.
As soon as the rest of the country witnesses the fit they are about to pitch, Repubs will have even more problems appealing to Independents and Moderates in November!
So Romney Thinks He Can Get By Without Releasing His Tax Returns?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/22/mitt-romney-money_n_1165595.htmlRomney staffers are scrambling to come up with reasons why Romney has decided not to release his tax returns. One of the better ones I heard was that the information would 'confuse' voters. Right?..... Yeah, that's the ticket!
I think there is no way he can hide the fact that he paid a lower tax rate than the people he hired to work for him. In fact it is rumored that the vastness of his wealth has resulted in him only paying a 15% capital gains tax.
Too bad Romney is 'unemployed' and that his family spent time in a small house last year (that is $4mil home) per his son.
I think the average voter will find little in common with Mitt, and it is only a matter of time before he is forced to release his tax returns if he wants to be President of the US.
Anyone notice Repubs shouting "class warfare" to protect richest 1% are NOT WORKING ANYMORE?
Iin the past Repubs have whipped out the old "class warfare" defense against any mention that the richest 1% and corporations should pay a little more.
And now there is a discernible absence of such calls by Repubs.
IMHO it is a sign that they understand this is not working anymore to deflect public anger.
Politicians always have been tone deaf when it was required in order to receive fat campaign contributions. But in this case, we just may be sitting on the crest of a huge wave that is about to engulf the Republican Party and sweep them out of office --and the Tea Party Conservatives may just help the cause!
Profile Information
Member since: Sat Apr 8, 2006, 11:05 AMNumber of posts: 11,061
