The gloves are officially off in the battle for the GOP nomination, and Newt Gingrich's toadie Super PAC "Winning Our Future" is taking a page out of the Swift-Boating playbook by hitting Mitt Romney where it hurts the most: his years with Bain. Evidently a 30-minute "documentary" is forthcoming, the trailer for which is below. It is said to include four indisputable examples of how Bain under Romney took over companies and looted them, laying off all the rank and file employees. You can expect this storyline to play BIG in blue collar South Carolina. This bit of propaganda is seriously gonna rev up the torch and pitchfork crowd. Grab some popcorn, kids:
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I was thinking about the effect that Gingrich's anti-Romney campaign could have on SC voters before I read your description above - I definitely agree that Newt playing off of Romney's past with Bain could mix things up a bit.
Who will fill the gap in SC if voters turn from Romney?
I hope Gingrich tears Romney down on this. Gingrich can't actually attack Romney on the actual issues, because they are both on the wrong side of almost every one, but I don't care as long as Romney is knocked down a peg. After Florida this race is going to get interesting, Ron Paul is going to have to dominate Super Tuesday, and I'm confident he will.
So no one should ever get into business to make money? This country was founded on Capitalism if you take that away we become like the USSR....no thanks!
I can see this playing nicely into the hands of Mssrs Paul and Santorum, I actually think Gingrich will be tainted by association and is not a serious challenger anyway.
My forecast is that Santorum is going to start picking up votes from the fairy story/ jesus fans from Perry/Bachmann. Paul will hold about steady and Romney maybe falling back a little (following a strong showing in NH).
Which suggests to me that coming to Super Tuesday we are likely to see a pretty close three horse race. Ultimately I think Romney will get the nomination, fail to capture the imagination of the party fringes and alongside some improving employment numbers Obama will keep his job, albeit with a much reduced margin.
Definitely think a third candidate, most likely a is a real threat - which again points to an Obama victory.
I actually think VP could be crucial, if Romney can recruit a Perry-type conservative cowboy figure he could pose a real challenge.
I have removed myself from America. Given up on a society going downward. In Singapore, a society that has gone from an undeveloped country to one of the most advanced in less than a half century, you don't hear this kind of nonsense.
Right, because Singapore has been a free democracy for the last 50 years. Geeze.
The USA is number one in manufacturing in terms of nominal output, worldwide.
The USA is number three in terms of oil production, worldwide. It is also a net-exporter of oil products.
The USA is number one in natural gas production, worldwide. Natural Gas' lower price and cleaner emissions compared to other sources of fuel, coupled with a pretty well-established distribution infrastructure, make it a competitive fuel for the needs of the twenty-first century.
The USA is second in the world in coal production.
The USA is number one in the world, in terms of nominal kWh produce, in reneweable energy generation.
The USA has the world's strongest, most powerful military. It has 11 aircraft carriers, 900 bases worldwide in over 130 countries. It has 66,000 troops in Europe, and 35,000 troops in South Korea.
The USA maintains strong diplomatic relations with European countries, Latin American countries, and South East Asian countries. It also has strong ties with Saudi Arabia, Israel, India, and other Asian countries. It provides the majority of financing to the IMF, is a large international donor to humanitarian causes worldwide, and is home to the United Nations.
The USA has the world's largest equity markets. It also has the world's largest bond market, which is also the most liquid and safest security an individual or organization can invest in.
The GDP of the USA is three times the closest country, which is China. Yet, the Chinese uses the same amount of energy as the USA, and has four times the people. In other words, the USA is 3 times more energy efficient than China, and 12 times more efficient in terms of labor productivity. China's dependence on coal and foreign resources put it in a precarious position where it either loses its economic advantage, or sends itself into environmental oblivion.
On top of that, most of the price of consumer goods purchased from China stay in the USA. USA multinationals take a majority cut for design and distribution.
Every country besides the USA relies on foreign countries for over 90% of their productvity gains. The USA exports technology to almost every other country on Earth.
American universities lead the world in research and education. Foreign countries send their most talented potential pupils to America to learn from American professors and classmates.
The USA is number 2 in patents.
I don't see Singapore putting up these kinds of numbers.
While I agree with some of your bullets, your post seems short-sighted. I question your use of nominal as opposed to real and question your heavy reliance on govt produced manipulable statistics ie GDP. Considering M3 has been significantly rising, we have a growing trade deficit, and losing purchasing power your argument would generally be faulty. Additionally, your point on our equity and bond markets are clearly a result of irrationality and a matter of time before we see a correction. Almost all the benefits you describe are a result of the expansion of the monetary base which has bee non-stop over the past few centuries and will be unsustainable in the intermediate term.
LIBOR I hope you're sarcastic in this post. First off your rant about the US being "3x as energy efficient as china" is complete horse shit. China has 4x as many people as the US and they still consume only the same amount of Natural Resources, etc.. Western thinking always puts the blame on China for over-use and over-population... Have you been to a Jewel Osco or a Whole Foods lately? In the US we can't even walk down aisles in our grocery stores so why do we point fingers at China when the problem is just as local as it is foreign.
I don't see the US having the strongest military with 11 aircraft carriers as a selling point. We are entirely wasteful. Countries know that we have some of the best technology and warfare. We don't need to Occupy Japan, Guam, etc just to prove that if anyone fucks with us we will nuke them.
Do you honestly want to know why the US maintains "strong diplomatic relations" with other countries? The only reason we don't get attacked on a daily basis is because they've seen what we can do to countries that disobey our will. We have shut South American countries completely out of our funding for the fact that they questioned how much of the worlds good we consume as a relationship to our percent of population. There are many movements that you do not hear about in US newspapers that demand the US stop in their abusive tirade over less developed countries. Just look up how Bolivia started an anti-US green policy and then the gov't here cut them off from over $1 billion /monthly of aid. Now Bolivia is lucky to gain any infrastructure improvements and is harshly monitored for the debt that they owe us, when we used to just dismiss us if they kept providing key exports (which they still do).
Also, you know those ethanol fueled cars people drive around? Brazil is able to produce corn (which is the main ingredient in ethanol) at about 10% of the price as we do in the US. But guess what... when big tobacco was lobbying for government support so was the US corn industry. Now they are subsidized and able to produce corn and get their excess production subsidized by the US gov't. While we farm in the midwest just to appease law makers, our supposed "free-market" government could be cutting costs by 90% just by buying corn from Brazil and end the subsidization of big business. That would allow us to contract a large part of our spending while providing consumer goods that involved corn to be offered to citizens at less than half the price. Instead, American farmers (who now only consist of Big Agriculture companies & Monsanto) will continue to reap healthy profits from being parasites on our corrupted government while we watch the rest of the world toil in despair and we can keep on printing money and pointing weapons.
Americans are so FUCKING BLIND to the rest of the world. I could honestly go on, example after example if you want...
^ What's your point
Newt wants Mitt to give back the money he made at Bain. Maybe Newt should give back the millions from Fannie/Freddie that he got for being a historian or whatever it was. He could always give money back to his supporters, they did pay $42,000 for him to transfer his personal contact list to his campaign.
Newt is a sleazy rat.
I think I want to be a corporate raider when I grow up...
This "they took our jobs" shit is just ridiculous. Sucks that politics always caters to the lowest common denominator.
I think Santorum is going to win the nomination at this point. Huntsman, maybe, but he is a little too liberal. It could also be Ron Paul.
I think Gingrich is out at this point. Romney is a little too liberal.
This may come down to a brokered convention- the first one in over 50 years.
Newt just might be the biggest hypocrite in North America: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/gingrichs-own-close-tie-t…
Jesus H. Christ. America has gone to shit when capitalists are attacked.
Additionally, once the euro issue passes its a matter of time before asia realizes the US is no safer. Asia has a large enough population to be a consumer for their manufacturing base and although release their dollar reserves would hurt for the near term it would be rational and in their favor to do so.
Romney isn't doing himself any favors with some of the stupid shit he's been saying, either. Just yesterday he made the comment, "I like being able to fire people."
Now, he meant it in a perfectly reasonable way because he was talking about people and companies who provide bad service, and how nice it is to be able to take your business elsewhere when that happens. But when was the last time a political rival kept anything in context on an attack ad?
You can expect to hear Romney saying, "I like being able to fire people." over and over and over again for the next couple months. How do you think that's going to play to a country in a recession with near double-digit unemployment?
He needs to get his head and in the game and quit providing sound bites to his opponents if he hopes to go the distance.
I think using this line against Romney will make whoever uses it look bad. You know that quoting Romney in this way is completely out of context is ridiculous and so do I. Whoever does turn it against Romney is hoping that we are stupid enough to believe that Romney said this in a relevant context, and that makes them look bad.
I'm sorry, have you met the American electorate? If brains were part of the equation, Ron Paul would already be President.
Wasn't Newt on Fortsmann Little's board?
And to LIBOR, what's your point? You can't honestly argue the US hasn't gone downhill over the last twenty odd years. Throwing money at defence never made a country great, only broke.
I am arguing just that. I think you are an idiot if you look at the facts and still think the US is going downhill. I'm sorry that the media has inundated you with this idea that we are somehow falling behind, when we clearly have an enormous lead over the competition.
I'm not arguing that the US hasn't lost some ground in some areas, or that it will continue to be the dominant superpower that it is today. But the US is still strong economically, it has a strong set of cultural, social, and political institutions (including strong property rights, do they have those in China?), and it continues to lead the world in technological innovation. I'm not suggesting we aren't without our own set of problems, but I think its a bit of an overreach to claim that the US is in decline in any way.
Why is Romney, and a good portion of the field, above Huntsman?
As I don't live in the US (since Bush II), I would greatly appreciate someone's insight.
If it's really that bad, I give up. But I have some hope.
Romney is going to win the nomination. Why are people still fighting or doubting this. It was decided before everything.
Everyone knows Romney was a Wall Street guy so now Newt is following orders and bringing it out. It will get saturated in the press now, when there is nothing to lose. This will desensitize the electorate and make it old news. Obama wont say shit about it since he received epic donations from Wall Street himself.
Romney is the QB and everyone else is protecting the pocket. This is ridiculous.
Ron Pauls job is to energize the libertarian base and bring Romney more to the right. That is all.
I love Ron Paul but if you think the majority of Americans want freedom you are nuts. Most Americans just want to be told what to do and protected from their own sloth and ignorance.
BTW, Ed, how do you see Ron Paul's position on abolishing the Fed. Granted, the Fed has too much power and not enough oversight, but we can fix that without abolishing it.
Of all the terrible things Woodrow Wilson inflicted on this country (income tax, the precursor to the UN, the Federal Trade Commission, etc...) it was the enactment of the Federal Reserve that he was most ashamed of later in life, and the one aspect of his presidency he actually apologized for.
Now, if the guy who gave birth to the creature wanted it destroyed, I don't see any reason to keep it around.
I would love an election between Ron Paul and Barack Obama.
We can't go the neocon route. That died in 2006.
We can't go with tax cuts. The Oblunderer screwed that up with his $1 Trillion deficits.
We CAN go with smaller, limited, and responsible government. Ron Paul stands for that.
Romney's message is that he is "America's CEO". He obviously knew these attacks were coming. The 24 hour news cant stay with a story for long, and he will brush it off.
South Carolina is the last stand for the "Value Voters" and its not looking like they can stop him there. Once he wins Florida it is OVER. Unless it comes out that Romney has illegitimate children with a minority he will be the GOP's man.
The popular governor of SC endorsed Romney. In the bag. He took Iowa and will take NH.
Romney is going to get it. Why are people still thinking otherwise.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance
Romney has nearly 3x Paul who will continue until the end and gain support for his cause, but not win the nomination.
What RP should do is retire, become president of the American Libertarian Party (I would call it the Jeffersonian Party) and start getting Reps and Senators elected and for a Libertarian block in Congress. Easier and something obtainable.
Presidents have no power, Congress does.
great link, thanks for sharing
^^^ Apparently, America's CEO enjoys firing people.
If Romney could outsource the evangelicals he would.
Wall Street hasn't decided anything. The RNC has decided.
I don't know how anyone can honestly tell me that the MAJORITY of Americans truly want liberty. People want government, they want to be told what not to do, they want to look at a label and buy something without and research, they want to think they are safe because some high school drop out is patting them down at a security check point.
I love liberty. I am also independent, educated and entrepreneurial. I would imagine many of us on this site are. We are not the majority. We would greatly benefit from a reduced government, but the millions and millions of people who depend on their government parents would be scared shitless.
Ultimately, why do we even care. If you have money you will have freedom. The people who want expansive government are poor people who have neither. Rich people could always get an abortion. Rich people never go to jail for drugs. Rich people don't care about regulations because they have lawyers get around it.
Why are WE, the free people, trying to give people who don't want freedom and who cant handle it, more of it. If anything, I want the government to regulate THEM even more.
I wish it wasn't the case, but it just is. Hopefully RP will increase the amount of libertarians in this country and one day we can have a majority who both want and can handle less government. Until then it isn't going to happen.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/01/huntsm…
^Paul and Huntsman battling for moderate and liberal voters in NH. Interesting take on how the two campaigns have responded.
Look for Huntsman in 2016 or 2020 he is being groomed as we speak. The way politics works especially for the Republican party is that you have to put your dues in and wait your turn. Romney put his time in and he will be the candidate even if the poll numbers do not show. Ron Paul could win all the Primaries but would never be the candidate unless he goes independent.
^^^ On foreign policy, presidents have a lot of power. That's what scares me about Romney.
Yes, FP, but American voters also don't give a shit about FP. It consistently ranks below the economy or other things. You can thank the all volunteer military and the fact that war is rather surgical at this point.
Pretty surprising statistics from the article duffmt6 posted:
I didn't realize the good doctor was pulling this kind of weight from the left side of the aisle. Good to see.
I think what Ron Paul will do is pass the torch onto his son Rand, already a US Senator. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Rand runs for POTUS in 2016.
Everyone knows that Vermin Supreme is the only logical choice. He is going to post a strong showing in the NH Primary.
comment deleted
Who comes to Romney's defense? Good old Ron.
Romney's team needs to come out with an ad that shows how many jobs Mitt Romney saved during his time at Bain because of his restructuring of bankrupt businesses. I would even find one of the companies he turned around and put a couple of their employees on TV talking about how XYZ Company and their positions would not exist right now if it were not for a company like Bain taking over and making shit happen.
The left obviously is going to come out and compare Romney to Gordon Gekko, but I'm thinking it's going to end up flopping hard. Just look at how Occupy is now regarded as a bunch of idiots.
Occupy is regarded as idiots on wall street, but when I come back to speak with my extended family in Wisconsin, I hear a different tune. Even the side of the family that supports Scott Walker. "So, ah, are you glad the feds bailed you guys out two years ago? When are we going to see the benefits of this socialist bailout? Oh, I see."
Cross the Appalachian mountains, and even the Republicans start singing a different tune about Wall Street.
Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor is not libertarianism. It is fascism.
Amen
Well said.
So no one is dropping out tonight. I have no idea how Rick Perry has $$$ and can afford the plane ticket to South Carolina at this point. Ron Paul sure looks like he is for real now. The non-Paul crowd is going to come at Romney hard about the jobs and bain capital issues in the next week for sure.
If Romney wins South Carolina this thing is over so next week will quite interesting.
Romney will be the nominee. Deal with it.
I was wondering how accurate is this in terms of views of some of the candidates (from 2008):
http://www.2decide.com/table.htm
Ron Paul defends Romney on Bain, says opponents talking it up are "arguing like Democrats":
I am constantly assured of American voting public's propensity to have votes influenced by the most basest level denominator issues. It is great how the public is led by the media to vote for issues they SHOULD care about that effect their day-to-day lives the least. Issues such as foreign policy barely register a blip and a sure way to tank your numbers down if that's your field of expertise.
Maybe the UN will take me?
Whoops, effect --> affect. I durn no hoe to type Amuricon.
Here we go http://www.webcasts.com/kingofbain/
[quote=Lubyanka]Here we go http://www.webcasts.com/kingofbain/[/quote]
First 30 seconds: Capitalism made America great
Last 29:30: Fuck Capitalism
Bloomberg gives the tl;dr version: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-11/anti-romney-film-stretches-tru…
Cannot believe I spent 30 minutes watching that crap. The marion Ampad people were the best. I am glad Mitt made 100mm on that deal. Blaming Mitt for losing their homes.
Romney has the republican nomination in the bag but Paul has the money and support to make a viable third party run. Even if he does not decide to do this, which I think he will, I am very skeptical that any of the 15% or so of the republican party that currently supports him will ever vote for romney even vs Obama....I know I wont I'll just stay home like I did in 2008. The cleaving of the libertarian faction away from the republican base has in my opinion made it very difficult for any traditional republican to win a general election in the near future.
@Bondarb I'm with you. I was actually fortunate enough to vote for Ron Paul in 2008 because he was on the ballot in Louisiana (yet another funny thing about La politics - any party can put any candidate on the ballot - with or without the candidate's blessing, so Paul was run under the Louisiana Taxpayer Party), but if he's not the GOP candidate and doesn't launch a 3rd party bid, I'll just sit this one out like I did in 2004.
What many Americans don't realize is how important voter turnout is to whomever eventually gets elected. If enough people stay away and don't vote, it robs the eventual winner of legitimacy on the world stage. Sure, you might be President, but if only 35% of the country came out to vote you clearly don't hold any sway over your citizens.
That's why in 3rd world dictatorships voting is mandatory and voter turnout is always 95%+.
Refusing to vote is a vote.
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