Mitt Romney obviously got his bounce from the Iowa straw poll. Big Mitt finally got off the 10% mark in the RCP average and has passed McCain at 13.5% to 11.7% in the national polls. He also leads in Iowa and New Hampshire.
What's not to like about Mitt? He's handsome, clean-cut, well-spoken, and seemingly sincere. I imagine that he also knows who's the president of Pakistan. The main questions about Romney come from liberals like Josh Marshall at TPM who think that Romney's too transparently dishonest to be taken seriously. Here TPM catches Mitt in a particularly gratuitous lie concerning Teddy Kennedy.
But I don't see why Marshall has to be so "negative." Liberals tend to overuse the "outrage" pedal in relation to conservatives anyway. I think it would be much better just to say that Romney was doing a little "job training." Given that routine lying is practically a job requirement for a Republican president, Romney will need to sharpen his "truth evasion" skills as a way to prepare for the job.
In fact, the next time Romney tells a whopper, people should stand up and cheer. It shows that he's really serious about winning.
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Liberals tend to overuse the "outrage" pedal in relation to conservatives anyway.
Are there two of you who don't quite see eye-to-eye in that head of yours?
I don't think the right can be defeated through "outrage" alone and I try to manifest as little of it as possible.
I am outraged and the lack of outrage Dr. Caric!! It is most outrageous indeed!
I like that ef, fresh from a blog that peddles an outrage du jour, whether it's me (thankfully forgotten), the professor, Scott Beauchamp, Barrack Obama, Muslims (those dirty jerks!) etc, all the right wing peddles is derision and outrage. Their big ideas have either been abject failures (Iraq, tax cutting, race-baiting) or have been summarily rejected by the American people (privatize Social Security, for instance).
Most of the left-wing websites exist to laugh at Malkin in her cheer-leading suit, but, rf, you have the cojones to imply the Left is enraged constantly?
Gotta say, kid, I like the moxie. 10,000 points for style, but minus a million for common sense.
Read todd mayo, Pandagon, Atrios, Kos, etc ... and see who is outraged.
amen, brother.
Todd, then surf over Malkin, Ace of Spades, Blackfive, and Portein Wisdom for an exciting view of the far right. See which side you think is outraged.
timb - The outrage that flows from the fingers of todd mayo makes Atrios, Pandagon, and the Gleens seem like pikers.
ON THE NOSE RIC! "Given that routine lying is practically a job requirement for a Republican president, Romney will need to sharpen his "truth evasion" skills as a way to prepare for the job."
"In fact, the next time Romney tells a whopper, people should stand up and cheer. It shows that he's really serious about winning."
Mitt Romney is an especially big problem for me because he is a Mormon and so am I. So, everytime he opens his mouth with some damn-fool idea like sending MORE people to Gitmo, I have to spend weeks telling people that most Mormons do not support detaining people indefinately without cause. Most of us oppose torture as a means of obtaining information from detainees. Most of us don't have a father who opposed Civil Rights and was a member of the hideously misguided John Birch Society. The man is a blight on the good members of our faith. Between Mitt Romney and Orrin Hatch, the reputation of our religion is in severe jeopardy.
He pays no attention to perhaps the most central tenet of our faith. The admonition to look after "the least of these", in reference to the poor, the sick, children,the homeless; none of these are exactly Romney's base.
Condemnations of economic sins can be found in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. Indeed, I think it would be safe to say that preoccupation with economic sin is one of the major themes of the scriptures. Not so for Romney, a third generation millionaire.
So the next time Romney talks about making his own tax cuts permanent, or the next time he mentions something about any kind of de-regulation of big business or perhaps raises the specter of destroying Social Security remember please he is very much in the minority in those views in relation to the majority of church members. The scriptures back me up and bury Mitt. Consider the following:
"If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." (Exodus 22:25)
"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:21-24)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)
"And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish. Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just–but I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in
the kingdom of God. For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?...And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done. I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him.." (Mosiah 4:16-26)
"But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." (Doctrine and Covenants 49:20)
Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenents, the four books that make up the canon of scripture in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I only scratched the surface in each example.
All over the place in these scriptures, one finds condemnation of those economic practices that involve withholding our wealth from the poor and the socially excluded. In fact, they go farther, instructing us to seek absolute equality in earthly things as a prerequisite to achieving celestial spiritual status.
Clearly,these economic messages, which permeate our scriptures, were not given proper attention in the Romney household. Has anyone ever heard Mitt speak about our duty to give to the poor or on the gospel requirement that we structure our society to achieve material equality? Of course not. Because he does not want it.
In this Romney is following an example from the scriptures but it is the wrong example. In the New Testament, the Pharisees were condemned at least in part because they obsessed on the non-economic parts of the Law of Moses but neglected the commandment to help the poor and the oppressed. Romney and Hatch alike are nothing more or less than modern Pharisees who are selectively obedient to the teachings of the scriptures.
I know what Mitt knows but never acknowledges. Selfishness, greed, huge disparities between the very rich and very poor are grievous sins for those of our faith who have the means to help but do not.
In effect, it is an economic sin to have enough (or too much) to eat when others are starving. Mitt has plenty and he supports policies that will keep it that way. He may not be ashamed but I am. Like I said, most of us don't think as Mitt thinks.
Indeed, I think it would be safe to say that preoccupation with economic sin is one of the major themes of the scriptures. Not so for Romney, a third generation millionaire.
Being wealthy is a sin? How do you know that he does nothing to help? I know it is useless to discuss things with you, but the idea that you know the only true enlightened way, and those that do not share your views are evil or are sinners is patently absurd.
Todd Mayo gives us a pristine example of how the Left deals with those that do not toe the party line. Clarence Thomas becomes and Uncle Tom. Condoleeza Rice becomes a House Negro. Essentially, the Left simply makes dissenters (Isn't dissent supposed to be the highest form of patriotism?) inauthentic, and then dismisses them.
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