Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, showed his true nature today in a way we had not seen before.
Romney went before the national meeting of The National Association For The Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the original and most prestigious civil rights organization in America, which celebrated its centennial in 2009.
He told the delegates that he was going to work to repeal “ObamaCare”, the Affordable Care Act declared constitutional by the Supreme Court two weeks ago, knowing full well that they would boo loudly at that statement. He seemed to revel in being booed, as it was very obvious that he wished to antagonize that group as part of a ploy to gain white supremacist support.
Romney went into that meeting knowing that many evangelical Christians and conservatives really do not like him, and are suspicious of his Mormon beliefs. So the answer was to show them how unpopular he was among African Americans, so as to make them realize that they have no choice but to support him, as with his Mormon faith,which did not allow blacks in the church before an epiphany by the Church leadership in 1978, he might not be all that bad for them, and certainly better than a mixed race President named Barack Obama.
Romney has demonstrated once again, but more nakedly than before, that he has no scruples, ethics, or morals, and will sell his soul to become President!
He also has made it clear by his pandering and cynicism that he is out to take any possibility of hope of a better life for African Americans and other minorities away from them, as he is simply a very wealthy man who could not care less about the plight of people who are poor or struggling, and not even just minorities, but also whites, who are down and out in the present economic recession!
Mitt Romney may have been born in the Midwest, and served in government in the Northeast, but he has shown that the old Southern strategy pursued regularly in the Republican Party since Richard Nixon’s election in 1968 is still alive and well in 2012, a strategy that appealed to white supremacists and very religious conservative voters who were drawn to the party by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, starting in the late 1970s.
If Mitt Romney had any ethics, he would be totally ashamed of himself, but he is not ashamed, and that is ultimately the problem–that he has no conscience, but only a mad obsession with becoming President without any sincerity, and with no principles at all, except self aggrandizement!
Professor,
While Republican Presidential nominee to be Thurston Howell Romney III may be clueless, I find your analysis and comparison to pandering to white supremacists to be totally wild, baseless speculation. I know the blog is opinion based, but this type of speculation is almost on par with birther accusations on the other side. Sorry, can’t buy it.
Sorry, Paul, that you do not like what I expressed, but if you paid attention to talk show hosts on MSNBC, they said much the same thing, particularly on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show. And since 1968, the GOP has been pandering to white supremacists to gain their support, since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed under Lyndon B. Johnson, and this included appealing to the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. So it is fine that you disagree, but i stand by it, in any case!
White Supremacist=American Nazi Party, Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. Did Lawrence O’Donnell compare Romney to that group?
I’d be very surprised if he did. Disagree with the beliefs, tactics and politics of the religious right, but that does not equate to White Supremacy.
I watch MSNBC all the time and I don’t quite remember hearing what you heard. Sorry to disagree with you on this one.
Paul, perhaps you have not been listening to TV tonight, or reading dozens of reports about Romeny’s speech to the NAACP. YOU are the one who is totally wrong…sorry. I call them as I see them. Romney knew exactly what he was doing today and PLANNED to get the boos from the people at the convention. Watch him while they booed…he snickered and made sure he waited long enough to really get a good sound bite. It sure didn’t take Faux long to get it on the air and use it as a sound bite to disparage African Americans. We are talking about 15 minutes! Now tell me that was not planned! Avis Jones-DeWeever, the executive director of the National Council of Negro Women, said Romney had accomplished a “calculated political ploy” by signaling to conservatives that he’s willing to tell backers of the health law that he wants to cut it.
If you cannot recognize a victory lap for Faux then YOU Paul are not paying attention.
This was a racist political stunt designed by a racist GOP that consistently demonizes President Obama as incapable of understanding “the real America.”
African Americans saw right through this stupid ploy and are calling it out for what it is. Romney has admitted that he planned to be booed. Romney was pandering to racist whites. Case closed.
The term “Racism” was used, and that equates to White Supremacy, but not necessarily with the American Nazi Party, The KKK, or David Duke, who I did not mention at all, and did not have in mind. One can be a racist without being connected to those groups or names.
By the way, I love this debate, and almost feel we are talking together! LOL 🙂
Thanks, Maggie, for your support on this issue, but I must say Paul is a very smart, learned, considerate commentator, who just happens to disagree on this one. We will all survive! But thanks again! 🙂
First of all, Romney gave the same speech on the Affordable Health Act to the NAACP that he has consistently given to every audience. If he gave a different take, he would be charged as pandering.Thinking that he had to change his message on the issue or completely not mentioning it to the NAACP is sort of “racist” thinking also.
He’s tone deaf! I don’t agree with his position no matter what audience he gives it to.
I just think it’s going over the line to equate it to intentionally pandering to “White Supremacists”, that’s all. Even though you did not mention the KKK, the American Nazi Party or David Duke, the connotation of those two words are usually equated with a far more radical interpretation.
You and Maggie and Avis Jones-DeWeever are also entitled to interpret what his motives were. I think she said he was pandering to “conservatives” not “racists”. Are we now equating conservatives as racists?
I assume,Maggie that you mean Fox News when you are referring to Faux. I think it is safe to say that most everyone depending on their news from that network already have made up their mind on their preferred candidate.
Using your thinking, I would surmise that the racist vote had already been locked up anyway. It’s the independent voters Romney needs to lock up and, if anything, he probably pissed them off more so.
Thurston Howell Romney III is an out of touch, clueless politician. I watched his entire speech on C-Span, not just the “sound bites”. I did not take his reaction as “snickering”, just his usual clueless grin when he gets opposition from a crowd and this was extended “opposition”.
Sooo…. on his next 100 campaign stump speeches when he repeats the same mantra on repealing “Obamacare”, and you continue to opine that he is pandering to white supremacists then your message will be consistent.
I just don’t think he gained any additional political mileage sticking to his usual speech.
He obviously has no answers to the problems of the country. He reminds that in a different sense of the character in the Robert Redford movie of the ’70’s– “The Candidate”.
At the end of that film, after running on a campaign of sound bites, the Redford candidate wins and among the tumult of his victory speech with the balloons and confetti falling, he turns to his campaign manager and silently utters two poignant words, “Now what”?
God forbid that a certain candidate gets to say those same two words on November 6th.
Wow, this debate between Paul and Maggie and the author is really becoming a true “Cross Fire”, and I am loving it. Good, vigorous, intellectual debate is what I would wish would happen every day on here and on cable, but it does not often happen.
So I congratulate both Paul and Maggie, and would love if this would continue on other entries that I put on this blog! 🙂
Another viewpoint from the Huffington Post on Romney’s speech. HuffPo is not exactly known for its conservative writers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt-romney-naacp-speech-_n_1669135.html?1342122945?ref=election-2012-blog&icid=maing-grid7%7Chp-desktop%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D178406
Ok, Paul! 🙂 I can see you are not willing to give up easily, or to make a concession to Maggie! LOL 🙂
I’m OK with Maggie, it’s you I’m after. LOL!
; )
You are hilarious! LOL 🙂
Let it go, it’s over, this country has become a toilet for 99%, a resort for about 400, and no one can fix it.