The Democrats’ bad week
And that really points to what must be the deepest reason for the Democrats’ strange response to the debate. The president can’t run on his record, and he isn’t proposing a second term agenda. All he has to run on is the caricature of Mitt Romney that his campaign, his surrogates, and liberal opinion makers in the press have been fashioning for a year. Their goal has been to prevent the election from becoming a referendum on the incumbent, which the Romney campaign had clearly hoped it could be, and to make it not even a choice election but a referendum on the challenger. Obama seemed to have a remarkable degree of success with this approach, but the debate represented Romney’s response: Rather than continue to insist that the election should simply be a referendum on Obama, Romney effectively presented a case for seeing it as a choice between two agendas, and presented his own proposals and vision in his own terms. The Obama campaign had been able to paint Romney in scary colors for months because Romney had declined to describe himself and his agenda much. Now that he’s finally running for president, the Democrats have a problem.
But if that’s their predicament, then surely their panicked response of the last few days is only making things worse. They can’t really expect people to treat them as a trusted source about Romney’s agenda and ignore Romney himself. But if they’ve lost control of the Romney story—even if they merely fight it to a draw—they don’t have much of a case to make for themselves. The public is unhappy with the economy and the direction of the country, and Obama is not proposing to do anything differently if he is given another four years.
Blowback
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It’s John Kerry’s fault dang it!
Rocks on October 8, 2012 at 4:24 PM
That’s not true, I believe he proposes to play 150 rounds of golf rather than 104 rounds….*SHEESH* You Mitt-bots just lie, lie, lie all the time.
JFKY on October 8, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Wanted: this headline, again and again!
22044 on October 8, 2012 at 4:31 PM
Obama blew $300 million in ad money in one Colorado night.
faraway on October 8, 2012 at 4:32 PM
PEW
Romney 49/45
Chuck Schick on October 8, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Atomic Bomb.
Del Dolemonte on October 8, 2012 at 4:36 PM
I believe it was:
ATOMIC. BOMB.
Chuck Schick on October 8, 2012 at 4:39 PM
OMG, a 12 point Death Spiral
faraway on October 8, 2012 at 4:40 PM
If you think Dems would like to forget the past few days, just wait till Joe BiteMe inevitably beclowns himself Thursday night.
A refresher:
BIDEN: Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.
And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.
1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”
4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.
5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
6. ALTERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.
9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
~
He also said something ridiculous about France and the US liberating Syria or something similar.
Can’t wait for Thursday!
Akzed on October 8, 2012 at 4:41 PM
Not bad news considering we get to hear ol’ sloJoe later in the week.
You just know Ryan will be trying to get under his skin. No knowing what Joe will say.
Jabberwock on October 8, 2012 at 4:42 PM
Funny how they characterize Mitt’s lead as “narrow”… hahah.. I’d wager there was nary such an adjective when Obama was up by a point or two.
gatorboy on October 8, 2012 at 4:43 PM
I was thinking more along the lines of 4 BAD YEARS, that must just be…
hillsoftx on October 8, 2012 at 4:45 PM
Most interesting takeaway:
Guess “teh war on wymenz” isn’t working so hot for them anymore.
Deep Thought on October 8, 2012 at 4:51 PM
No, it was the altitude!
itsnotaboutme on October 8, 2012 at 4:55 PM
I think what is happening to Obama is what happened to Carter in October 1980 except Obama had a smaller lead than Carter had and he is tanking earlier than Carter did.
crosspatch on October 8, 2012 at 5:04 PM
Let’s not talk about it.
davidk on October 8, 2012 at 5:12 PM
He’s lying. The other guy is lying. They’re all lying. They’re all lying about lying. I could be lying. I could be lying about lying. Unless it was a lie.
You may commence brain-melt.
trigon on October 8, 2012 at 5:54 PM
Because the economy sucks, and because most people outside the privileged castes are supporting unemployed and underemployed friends and relatives, the election has to be a referendum on Obama
The only way for the Obama gang to get past that reality is to paint Romney worse than Obama. Anything short of Adolph Hitler is not worse than 4 buck gas and having your cousin sleeping in the living room, so Romney has to be kept muzzled and out of sight
There were a couple turning points. The GOP convention was not great, but Clint Eastwood was. He validated Romney, and Romney became more than an avatar.
Romney had picked up momentum when he chose Ryan, and that momentum was crushed by a mass campaign to flood the MSM with A.B.R. noise – anything but Ryan
But Ryan popped out of a basket at the convention at just the right moment, and he was a refreshing change from the wizened sneaky snake eyed pols usually foisted on the public.
The MSM tried so hard to suppress the Ryan impact, they made Ryan look a lot better than the MSM PR. This is called a backfire which is going to carry into his debate with Biden
Ryan projects wholesomeness and he has a new goal to save the old folks from Obamacare. Biden looks crafty, like the old dude at the family reunion whom all the young females keep an eye on, lest he remove the plaid jacket, adjust his dentures and try to get one of them to dance or at least buy some life insurance from him
You can convince people of a lot, but you cannot convince them they are not in pain, when they are
entagor on October 8, 2012 at 5:55 PM
Have fun
Schadenfreude on October 8, 2012 at 7:01 PM