Romney closes out the primaries by attacking Obama’s unfairness
The news from last night was not that Mitt Romney easily swept the five states that held primaries; that was assured once Rick Santorum left the race, if not before. Nor was it the prospect, which is being confirmed this morning, that Newt Gingrich would also drop out of the race as a result.
No, the news is that Romney finally gave the speech some of us have been waiting for him to give. (Click here to see a video of the speech, which lasted about 13 minutes, or here to read the prepared remarks; he didn’t stray too far from them.)
The heart of it was the contrast he drew between himself and President Obama. First, what he said about the president:
Government is at the center of his vision. It dispenses the benefits, borrows what it can’t take, consumes a greater and greater share of the economy. You know, with Obamacare fully installed, government would have control of almost half of the economy, and we would have effectively ceased to be a free enterprise society.
This President is putting us on a path where our lives will be ruled by bureaucrats and boards, commissions and czars. He’s asking us to accept that Washington knows best — and can provide all.
We’ve already seen where that path leads. It erodes freedom. It deadens the entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help. Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever succeed in spreading poverty around. Other nations have chosen that path. It leads to chronic high unemployment, crushing debt, and stagnant wages.
And then there’s his counteroffer:
I have a very different vision for America, and for our future. It’s an America driven by freedom, where free people, pursuing happiness in their own unique ways, create free enterprises that employ more and more Americans. And because there are so many enterprises that are succeeding, the competition for hard-working, educated, skilled employees is intense, so wages and salaries rise.
I see an America with a growing middle class, with rising standards of living. I see children even more successful than their parents — some successful even beyond their wildest dreams — and others congratulating them for their achievement, not attacking them for it.
The repeated mentions of free enterprise, and the good line about congratulating people on their success rather than attacking them for it, are welcome. But here’s where Romney signaled an important theme leading to November:
This America is fundamentally fair. We will stop the unfairness of urban children being denied access to the good schools of their choice; we will stop the unfairness of politicians giving taxpayer money to their friends’ businesses; we will stop the unfairness of requiring union workers to contribute to politicians not of their choosing; we will stop the unfairness of government workers getting better pay and benefits than the very taxpayers they serve; and we will stop the unfairness of one generation passing larger and larger debts on to the next.
When an opponent — as Romney correctly said Obama would do — wants to run not on his record but on distractions and distortions and fuzzy notions of “fairness,” you hit back at what other people might consider unfair. And there is a great deal of unfairness to be found in Obama’s conventional liberal positions, some of which Romney catalogued.
This is a promising start to turning Obama’s raw populism on its ear.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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693 comments Add your comment
MarkV
April 27th, 2012
10:17 am
“The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers @10:15 Needy MarkV wants to cuddle up and spoon with government. Isnt that special?”
Another example of mindless stupidity/
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
10:21 am
The Obozo campaign is now publicly bashing people who have done nothing more than donating to the Romney campaign. They’ve also drafted an executive order requiring companies bidding on government work to disclose their officers’ campaign contributions.
Any of you America-loving, Constitution-defending libs got a problem with these Gestapo tactics?
The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers
April 27th, 2012
10:29 am
MarkV is an expert on mindless stupidity. He’s a liberal.
MarkV
April 27th, 2012
10:37 am
The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers @ 10:29 am: “MarkV is an expert on mindless stupidity. He’s a liberal.”
Another example of mindless stupidity.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
10:41 am
“U.S. Firms Add Jobs, but Mostly Abroad”
———
It’s a tragedy that Obozo has created a climate so hostile to business that they are forced to do their growing outside the U.S.
Hillbilly D
April 27th, 2012
10:43 am
It’s time for Kyle to put up a picture of a fish.
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
April 27th, 2012
10:45 am
“After cutting more taxes for the wealthy and undoing regulations that protect the average American, Romney has no plan or vision for the country. What does he really stand for?”
I suggest you check out this site, Odis: http://www.mittromney.com/issues
Real Athens
April 27th, 2012
10:49 am
Tibby @ 8:22 PM:
“You’re trolls, wasting your lives on a conservative blog with one goal in mind: Insult and denigrate anyone who doesn’t agree with you.”
Please. Count the number of times you posted on this thread yesterday — or any day for that matter (hence my inquiry regarding your employment) While doing so, enumerate the number of insults you’ve hurled at folks who don’t agree with you.
Your statement above is one of the most ironic things I’ve ever read posted here. Please write it is at least slightly tongue in cheek. If not. Wow.
Mitt Rob-Me and Ann Wannabe First Lady
April 27th, 2012
10:51 am
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
10:21 am
The Obozo campaign is now publicly bashing people who have done nothing more than donating to the Romney campaign. They’ve also drafted an executive order requiring companies bidding on government work to disclose their officers’ campaign contributions.
Any of you America-loving, Constitution-defending libs got a problem with these Gestapo tactics?
**********************************************
N O P E
Mitt Rob-Me and Ann Wannabe First Lady
April 27th, 2012
10:52 am
@The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers
April 27th, 2012
10:15 am
Needy MarkV wants to cuddle up and spoon with government. Isnt that special?
******************************************************
You sound like the GREEN EYED MONSTER.
Mitt Rob-Me and Ann Wannabe First Lady
April 27th, 2012
10:57 am
@The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers
April 27th, 2012
9:22 am
The people, themselves, should decide, through their votes, what they want from their government and what they want their government to be. They are, in fact, their government – a representative government.
I want the government small and out of my life. I don’t want to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with a bunch of libs. As far as anyone quoting Joe Biden, i just made a deposit in a toilet that was less offensive and had a higher IQ than that crass idiot.
***********************************************************************
Just REMEMBER:
Obama walks softly and CARRIES A BIG STICK.
Don’t hate the player HATE THE GAME.
heeheehehheeeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
April 27th, 2012
11:13 am
Real Athens, there are any number of people who come onto this site to have some sort of meaningful conversation. In most cases, we start of with detailed, reasoned, and more importantly, FACTUAL posts responding to something Kyle has written.
Only after REPEATED mindless and off-topic posts, do we who have attempted to have an intelligent discussion respond to your drivel in the same manner as you do all the time.
You are free to check out the facts on EVERY topic Kyle starts by reading what I, and others, start off with before you and your liberal losers begin dragging the discussion downward.
I made a legitimate attempt to bring the level of discussion back up again yesterday (and would hope for still today) by asking you and others with your beliefs to do something rare for you to do – THINK – and the best you’ve got is your latest post?
Quit whining and at least ATTEMPT to take up my challenge ov over 24 hours ago, instead of posting more inaccurate screed on your part and dodging the issue once again.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
11:24 am
Romney believes companies should be able to locate in whatever state they want.
Agree or disagree?
Tiberius - Banned from Bookman's and proud of it!
April 27th, 2012
11:41 am
Mary Elizabeth, your view is completely skewed. Advancement happens when people are motivated to do something, and your motivation of doing things for the common good is simply not motivation enough.
Your system and world-view breeds all innovation out of the human species. Need proof? What advancements in virtually anything has China or North Korea supplied to the world in the past 60 years? In any endeavor?
When you cite the common good, you forget that one of the meanings to the word “common” is ordinary, or unexceptional. Mankind isn’t ordinary or unexceptional, except when they are forced to endure excessive regulation and government intervention.
Stop trying to change human nature. Your attempts to diminish us all, in order to get us all to the same level, goes against the grain of what makes the human race exceptional.
Odis
April 27th, 2012
11:42 am
The only thing that Romney stands for is pure unchecked capitalism, people be damned! “Corporations are people my friend”. Give me a break. Greed shouldn’t be a governing philosophy. At least not here in America.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare === Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
April 27th, 2012
11:57 am
What are the three demographic groups whose electoral impact is growing fastest? Hispanics, women and young people. Who are Republicans pissing off the most? Latinos, women, and young people.
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/27/the_gops_demographic_death_wish/
mwuahahahahahahaa
Finn McCool (Class Warfare === Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
April 27th, 2012
12:00 pm
Romney believes companies should be able to locate in whatever state they want.
Huh? They can’t? They can’t move their headquarters to another state? If I own an internet company I can’t pack my stuff up and move to another state? If I own a flower shop I can’t shut the doors, turn out the lights, and head to another state?
Not Part of Romney's "FLOCK"
April 27th, 2012
12:01 pm
Tiberius
Who the heck are you to set parameters? You don’t run this blog
Kyle and some of the “flock” that drool over your posts might find you amusing, but YOU do NOT run this blog………..
But keep your little chest poked out as you type away and act all smug with your FAUX Alpha persona if that is what makes you feel good and gets you through life
Take care
Peace
Real Athens
April 27th, 2012
12:04 pm
Tibby:
The discourse you and I engage in has been occurring throughout the history of this great nation. The problem I have is when you (or anyone else) posts opinion, conjecture, hearsay et al. as fact. I understand that this is an opinion blog.
However, as evidenced in your post above if anyone posts a differing opinion it is dragging the discussion downward.
I don’t kid myself that I am going to change your mind. You’re a self-proclaimed “lightning rod of hate” banned from discussion with others and proud of that fact. Everyone who doesn’t agree with you is a “liberal loser” unable to “THINK” and a “whiner” and “issue dodger”. That simply is not true, not factual and not representative of this country — which seems pretty evenly divided at the moment.
So be it. I f@#king hate intolerance. You seem to represent it in spades and furious anger too. I reminds me of the stereotypical old man who won’t let kids walk across his yard.
Your challenge? OK. I went to Mitt’s website. I do not regard his call to repeal everything Obama indicative of leadership. Romney instituted the individual mandate (an idea first proffered by the Heritage Foundation) and I don’t agree with it. Nor did I agree completely with the public option.
I do believe that the ideas presented here represent a better health care system than we have today.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/august-2009/viewpoint/overview/our-prescription-for-health-care-ov.htm
Some of the ideas are already in Romneycare.
Try and have a good day.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare === Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
April 27th, 2012
12:11 pm
All told, over 400 Republican bills are pending in state legislatures, attacking womens’ reproductive rights. But even this doesn’t seem enough for the GOP. Republicans in Wisconsin just repealed a law designed to prevent employers from discriminating against women.
Same source.
400?
400???
Really?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
12:24 pm
Finn agrees with Romney that companies should be able to locate in any state they wish to.
Better not let your libtard friends find out!
Mary Elizabeth
April 27th, 2012
12:36 pm
“When you cite the common good, you forget that one of the meanings to the word “common” is ordinary, or unexceptional. Mankind isn’t ordinary or unexceptional, except when they are forced to endure excessive regulation and government intervention.”
=======================================================
My beliefs in human rights and the “common good” (in the connotations of “true for all” or “shared together”) have been developed through studying the thoughts and worldviews of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. Would you consider either of those leaders to be “ordinary” or “unexceptional?” As I had mentioned in my earlier post this morning, FDR spoke of a Second Bill of Rights for all Americans and he secured Social Security for all Americans in their old age. Eleanor Roosevelt modeled her own message, entitled, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” of which she spoke and advocated throughout the world via the United Nations, upon her husband’s Second Bill of Rights for all Americans.
In all due respect, you are making associations of thought that are simply stereotypical in nature. The associations that you draw, in fact, do not have to correlate. One can be both a leader of avenues and innovations of his or her talents, and also be the beneficiary of society’s social programs, which benefit all.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
12:41 pm
FDR: Part of the problem.
md
April 27th, 2012
1:00 pm
Social programs only work if all involved choose to participate……..when they don’t, the system breaks down.
Our 1st assistance program is taxpayer funded education……of which 1/3 of kids are currently choosing not to participate. This in turn places a burden on society that threatens the very programs put in place for the benefit of all. Current estimates have dropouts costing society $300 billion annually……that’s per year for those that may have dropped out early.
Now, apply the same scenario to the other programs in which folks are choosing not to participate in and one can see we have a problem…….and selfish is NOT restricted to one end of the spectrum.
muckec
April 27th, 2012
1:01 pm
Good article. I think all Americans should realize how involved our government is becoming in our economy and hopefully they will come to the same conclusion that this will ulimtately limit our growth in the future.
Unfortunately, I do not believe that fairness will ever be seen in polictics (whether Republican or Democrat). The politicians will always be looking to feed the hands that place them in office, and over the past two decades the general publics involvement in elections are dwindling while the large corproations and lobbying groups involvement in the elections keeps increasing.
Dusty
April 27th, 2012
1:13 pm
Well, my friends, there are things around to discuss other than the faults of other bloggers. That is fun of sorts but somewhat boring after a while Maybe Kyle is taking a sabbatical. Shhhh..
I tell you what.. Let’ s “talk” Luckovich, who closed his blog. That’s one way to silence all objectors
Today, Lucko draws Romney as dismissing Bush. WHAT! Bush? With the debt hanging above us, Cynthia McKinney appearing AGAIN, President Obama “politicing” at Fort Stewart after arriving on Air Force One (at taxpayer expense), the country “drooping” while Washsington sleeps, foreclosed homes popping up like toadstools! Luckovich wants to point fingers as BUSH?
Well, Bush does remind me of one thing and Mary Elizabeth quoted FDR’s words that picture it. He said, “For unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace around the world!”
Bush knew that. He kept us safe after terrorism delivered its supreme surprise attack. Terrorists hit around the world but never the USA again.
Bush will be held in high esteem in history. Luckovich will only be a flea on the backs of patriots.
I miss that interest in the welfare of America as it sinks deeper and deeper into debt.
Finn McCool (Class Warfare === Stopping Rich People from TAKING MORE of OUR MONEY)
April 27th, 2012
1:23 pm
He kept us safe after terrorism delivered its supreme surprise attack
“after” being the key word there.
Real Athens
April 27th, 2012
1:26 pm
All president’s (past, present and for the foreseeable future) are required to travel on Air Force One.
“Obama is the first president to pay for re-election travel under updated rules adopted by the Federal Election Commission in 2009 to implement a lobbying and ethics reform law passed by Congress in 2007.
David Mason, a former FEC chairman, said the new rules — linking reimbursement amounts to charter air rates rather than commercial airfare — require the Obama campaign to pay significantly more than it would have under the old rules.”
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
1:28 pm
Luckovich is out of material and his cartoons of late reflect the bitterness of one who has discovered his Messiah is at best an incompetent phony and at worst an America-hating Marxist.
md
April 27th, 2012
1:36 pm
“All president’s (past, present and for the foreseeable future) are required to travel on Air Force One.”
Yes, but they are not required to use it for a bill signing at Fort Stewart when there are numerous bases in the DC area that would have served the same purpose and cost the taxpayers much less money……this guy is just out of touch with the struggling masses and the amount of money he could be saving…….but chooses not to.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
2:04 pm
“after” being the key word there.
——-
As in “after” eight years of doing nothing about Islamofascist terrorism and allowing Osama bin Laden to operate unfettered by American intelligence or military.
MarkV
April 27th, 2012
2:07 pm
Dusty,
Your adulation of President Bush is touching, but you arguments are not very convincing. Let me say first, however, that while I think GWB was not a good president, I acknowledge that he was not universally a bad one, and I do not think he is a bad person. He did some good things. But there is the undeniable fact that his terms ended with a very deep recession. Those, like you, who always claim that Obama is responsible of everything happening during his term, should therefore admit that Bush’s presidency was a failure.
Your main argument seems to be that he kept us safe. Well, technically, he did not. 9/11 happened on his watch. I do not want to get into arguments about whether he could or could not do something to prevent it, or whose fault it was. I just want to make two points about your claim. One, that other presidents have “kept us safe” against terrorism, and second, that “terrorists hit around the world but never the USA again” is a rather silly argument. After such a big success of 9/11, there is no reason to believe, and nom evidence, that that had the intention. But again, I do not want to disparage Bush’s effort to keep us safe, even though I very much disagree with some of the methods. It is a complicated world we live in.
And in this complicated world with serious issues at stake, it is more than a little petty to harp on such things as the use of Air Force One, Not only in view of the policy of reimbursement, which Real Athens has explained, but because other presidents, including GWB, used to be routinely accused of the same.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
2:13 pm
4-6% unemployment and $300 billion deficits is a failure.
8-10% unemployment and $1.3 trillion deficits is a success.
You’re called “libtards” for a reason.
Dusty
April 27th, 2012
2:48 pm
MarkV
Your allegiance to anything liberal is also touching. You choose to ignore the fact that the debt of this country has risen greatly under President Obama. You choose to ignore that he is a very expensive president in his personal ventures, whether it be vacation of re-election efforts. You choose to ignore that this country has made so little progress under his guidance that it is listed in miniscule numbers. You also choose to ignore the fact that Obama is following in many of Bush’s programs although Obama promised before election to change all of them. Is he too then a bad president because he has continued so many times that Bush started such as Guantanamo, troop withdrawal, security? That we are facing another recession just starting again under Obama? That construction is at a standstill and the price of homes is at lowest level? That the president shows little pride in his own country?
Your moderate tones somewhat quell your criticism but they do not change the fact that you are as blind as a bat to any failure of our current president. You follow the familiar steps of blaming the previous president for what has happened the last three years.
I suggest you open your mind to what is happening NOW before you start blaming the past for most failures.
Tiberius - Banned by Bookman and proud of it!
April 27th, 2012
2:49 pm
Romneys ” flock”, no I don’t get to set the agenda, however I used that challenge to prove a point. One that is glaringly lost on you liberals.
You’re incapable of having a reasoned, factual discussion. Period. You were given every opportunity to up you games and you all failed miserably.
Congratulations. We now know you’re a bunch of losers who just troll on conservative blogs to insult people you disagree with. What a sad existence you people have.
TNT
April 27th, 2012
2:53 pm
Romney’s speach:
Wave the flag, wave the flag, call opponent names and use phrases like “czars” and “bureaucrats” in vague generalities, Wave the flag.
Don’t offer any specific plans, just oppose your opponent.
End on a Wave the Flag moment.
So easy even a robot can do it.
Dusty
April 27th, 2012
2:55 pm
Finn McCool, you do make me laugh!
You STILL say that Bush should have prepared for an attack on the USA in nine months, something that Clinton did NOT do in eight years.
Keep up the fine comments, my friend. Your leaky liberal camouflage is somewhat enjoyable.
Dusty
April 27th, 2012
3:01 pm
Real Athens,
I thought you were a graduate of UGA? Basket weaving?
Keep telling us how Obama is NOT spending our money wastefully and is totally concerned with our debt and acting like a miser in Washington and playing second fiddle to Scrooge in financial matters!!
Yep, keep it up. We need a few fairy tales as the day grows longer.
TNT
April 27th, 2012
3:03 pm
Dusty,
Surely you don’t forget that GWB had precise warnings by Deputy Clarks for more than 3 months about the 9/11 attack and did nothing. Yet, in his very first Cabinet meeting he was asking for something to give reason for an attack on Iraq.
If you missed all this, then you haven’t enough gunpowder to enter the explosive discussion.
Mary Elizabeth
April 27th, 2012
3:04 pm
“Well, Bush does remind me of one thing and Mary Elizabeth quoted FDR’s words that picture it. He said, ‘For unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace around the world!’ ”
=========================================================
In the context in which FDR spoke those words, he was addressing the social security of America’s citizens. He said, for instance, that having a job that pays an adequate wage, having decent housing, having healthcare and a good education, and knowing that one has social security in one’s old age would all create security in the American people. He believed, in other words, that if Americans were left socially bereft and insecure, they would not be able to advance peace in the world.
Watch the video, below, to hear FDR’s words which will give the meaning of his closing statement in context: “For unless there is security here at home, there cannot be lasting peace in the world.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZ5bx9AyI4
Tiberius - Banned by Bookman and proud of it!
April 27th, 2012
3:09 pm
Mary Elizabeth, it is incredibly easy to look exceptional when you’re using someone else’s money.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 27th, 2012
3:12 pm
TNT, there isn’t anything “precise” about the warnings given to our President Bush.
“al Qaeda determined to strike America”? On what day is that NOT the case?
9/11 was conceived, planned, and trained for long before our President Bush was even inaugurated.
9/11: Another Democrat mess cleaned up by Republicans.
Tiberius - Banned by Bookman and proud of it!
April 27th, 2012
3:13 pm
TNT, you DO realize Romney was making a victory speech and not a policy speech don’t you? And you do know the difference when one is used over another, right?
Try a bit of objectivity, will you?
DannyX
April 27th, 2012
3:27 pm
“End on a Wave the Flag moment.”
Then sing “America the Beautiful.”
LMAO!!
Dusty
April 27th, 2012
3:29 pm
TNT
Sure, I know that Clarke wrote a book and explained how he knew more than the whole secuirty system and he just couldn’t get Bush to move on one man’s opinion.
Where was Clark when Clinton was president? Why did Congress agree with the same facts that Bush found true?
You surely do know how to pick and choose your “facts”. Did you know that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor because some sailor saw a blip on his radar screen and nothing was done? Yes siree. That proves that Rooosevelt LET Pearl Harbor happen.
Funny how history changes as people decide to view it. You are going to have a lot of work making Obama look good after this term. A whole lot of work!
MarkV
April 27th, 2012
3:31 pm
Dusty @2:48 pm
Dusty,
Funny, I thought what you had written was about President Bush, not President Obama. Even funnier is how you know all the things I ignore, and how you know that I am blind as a bat.
I wish I could have the time now to get to those points, but I do not. Have fun fighting the other blind liberals in the meantime.
saywhat?
April 27th, 2012
3:48 pm
Dusty condemning ANYBODY’s alleged “blindness” to the faults of a president is like Adolf Hitler condemning Nazis. She stumbled through 8 years of the worst presidency of the modern era without finding fault or mistake number one (but hey, neither could he when asked), her eyes glowing with pride and reverence for W the boy blunder. TOO. FRICKIN’. FUNNY. Its almost like Dusty is one of those parody posters like Redneck at Bookman’s. She is living proof of Poe’s Law.
TNT
April 27th, 2012
3:59 pm
Wrong, again, Dusty.
Clarke reported the knowledge of the CIA and DoD to the Cabinet, but Bush et al ignored it. The plans were very specific and the conclusion was that the World Trade Center was a likely target….Still nothing but tax cuts for the wealthy and searching for a phoney excuse to attack Iraq.
Not Part of Romney's "FLOCK"
April 27th, 2012
4:08 pm
Tiberius
Will call names, huff and puff and blow this blog down………….
hahahahahah
Keep doing what you do…………………..
Not Part of Romney's "FLOCK"
April 27th, 2012
4:10 pm
“We now know you’re a bunch of losers who just troll on conservative blogs to insult people you disagree with. What a sad existence you people have.”
No irony there