Sunday, March 20, 2016

Romney: Out-Of-Touch and Effete

One of the things that has long bothered me about conservatism is how out-of-touch so many of its representatives are with the public. Now, more than ever, conservatives need to speak the language of the public if they are to fend off the challenge of Trump. Unfortunately, they keep relying on people like Mitt Romney. Romney just attacked Trump and the way he did it highlights the problem. Observe.

Here's the problem. Too many conservatives don't seem to grasp the American psyche and they come across as naive Boy Scouts, mouth-foaming ministers or silver-spoon wusses. Enter Mitt Romney. Romney decided to dive into the War on Trump even though he is the last man who should lead an attack on Trump. For one thing, Americans despise losers. Whether it’s losing an election or the Super Bowl, number two is sh*t in the eyes of America. Seriously, Super Bowl losers have often commented that people viewed them as the worst team in the league despite actually being second best. Losing politicians become the butt of jokes. Losers like Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis all found themselves ostracized. So bringing back a loser like Romney is stupid to begin with and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of whom the American public respects.

Secondly, even if Romney had never lost, Romney comes across as out-of-touch. This is particularly bad against Trump, who is speaking the language of the public much more clearly than any politician. Indeed, Trump speaks to the very people who find Romney and the rest of the GOP “establishment” to be losers, effete, cowards, and unwilling to speak to the issues that bother them. What good can it possibly do then for Romney to come out and lead the attack against Trump? That only confirms to the Trumpsters that they are right to back Trump.

Even worse though, let’s look at some of what Romney said. Romney began by attacking Trump as a vulgar, sexually debased bully who is unfit for the presidency. Golly gee gosh! Trump is "vulgar"! So the fuck what?

This is the GOP blindspot. For as long as I’ve watched politics, the GOP has had this Boy Scout wing that can’t stand the idea that people swear and say nasty thing. This is amazingly out of touch. Look, I try to limit how much I swear, but I cuss regularly... almost every American does. Ditto on making sexually suggestive insults. It’s just not a big deal for 90%+ of Americans. Get over it, GOP. You are living in a fantasy world if you think the public doesn’t swear and doesn't say nasty things. And when Romney levels a charge that Trump is "vulgar," he sounds like some weirdo wanna-be Victorian who can't relate to the modern world or like Thurston Howell III whimpering, "Luvie, that man is vulgar!" That's not something people respect.

And what’s this sexually debased crap? Has Trump engaged in sex on stage? No. Is he a hard-core pornographer like Larry Flynt? Nope. So what has he done that Romney thinks qualifies as sexually debased? Multiple divorces? Come on. The American public doesn't care about any of this. None of it's even considered controversial outside of a tiny conservative circle, and using it as an attack only shows that conservatives remain weirdly obsessed with stopping unapproved sex.

So right out of the gate, Romney has leveled an attack which doesn't resonate in American culture except to show that Romney himself is out of touch with modern America. This is what it feels like listening to Romney champion conservatism:
Trump: Yo' Mama so fat.
Romney: It's not proper to insult another's mother.
Trump: Yo' Mama so fat her belly button gets home 15 minutes before she does.
Romney: That's not true. My mother is quite svelte.
Trump: Yo' Mama so fat she's got more chins than a Hong Kong phone book.
Romney: I declare, Sir. Cease and desist.
Trump: Yo' Mama so fat her ass has its own area code.
Romney: Do not use that vulgar word or I shall become irate! I'm thankful my country club would never let someone like you join.
Trump: Yo' Mama so fat the moon orbits her.
Romney: You will be receiving a sternly worded letter from my lawyer.
And it didn’t stop there. Consider these comments:
“I understand the anger Americans feel today. In the past, our presidents have channeled that anger, and forged it into resolve, into endurance and high purpose, and into the will to defeat the enemies of freedom. Our anger was transformed into energy directed for good. Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes.”
This statement is exactly what got Trump’s followers upset in the first place! Romney claims to understand the anger Americans feel, yet rather than addressing it, he suggests that the job of a president is to use that anger for some “high purpose.” Seriously, how insulting is that? Rather than understand that the problem is the things the political class has done, Romney openly says the problem is that Trump won't manipulate the public's anger the right way? WTF?! “Sure you’re pissed that I had an affair, honey, but why don’t you use all that angry energy to go bake me a cake.” Not only is this condescension, but he thinks the public isn't smart enough to realize that he's telling them this to their faces: vote for us, we will manipulate you better.

Then he said this:
“Here’s what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the American public for suckers — he gets a free ride to the White House and all we get is a lousy hat.”
Finally, a real attack calling Trump a phony and a fraud! (Wanna bet he felt all weird and trembly using the word "suckers" in public.) But how does Romney back up his name calling? Does he offer proof? Not really. He suggests proof by mentioning Trump University. But therein lies the danger. Most people don’t know about Trump University or they see the fraud charge as disputed and likely a litigation smear. So it doesn't register as an attack. Even worse though, this has an air to it of Mitt Elite-Ivy-School-Grad Romney blasting a for-profit college of the very kind that a vast number of lower and lower-middle class Americans are using to improve their employment chances. "You didn't go to a real school!" Then he actually accuses Trump of wanting “a free ride.” Really? If anyone got a free ride, it was Mitt. The average person scrimped and saved and took out tons of loans to pay their way through a local or non-fancy state college, or they worked manual labor jobs to get what they have. Mitt and his silver-spoon types are the ones we think of when it comes to elites getting free rides. This was an ill-advised attack which shows that 49% Romney doesn’t get that he’s seen as a trust fund baby. All of this comes across as disdain for normal people.

Romney won't even say what's on his mind. Rather than call Trump a fake, he says, “There are a number of people who claim that Mr. Trump is a conman, a fake.” This reeks of cowardly legalese. If you have something to say then say it, don’t hide behind the “gee, some people have said” line. That’s for cowards, lawyers and rumor sites trying not to get sued. Romney then doubles-down on his wimp status: “There is indeed evidence of that. Mr. Trump has changed his positions not just over the years, but over the course of the campaign.” Oh no!! You mean like you did? You mean like every other politician anywhere? That makes him a conman? Bullshit. And how in the world can you be such a wimp that you can’t just speak your allegation without adding the wimpy qualification about evidence? “Gee, there might kind of sort of be some evidence that might maybe back up the things those other people kind of said.” Can you get more cowardly, Mitt?

Finally, Romney again shows that he fails to understand people’s anger: “[Trump’s] personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.” Do you honestly think that anyone who supports Trump thinks America remains a shining city on a hill? Or do they see a land of unemployed because of an influx of Mexicans, a land where free speech has been killed in the name of political correctness, where rape culture is randomly savaging your men in college, where the attorney general actually claims that civil rights laws only apply to help blacks, where taxes keep rising to pay for vast numbers of lazy people, where big business gets trillions in bailouts paid for by small business owners in the hinterlands, where the stock market is rigged, the military fights endless wars against terrorists who get set loose once captured, where cops are gunned down in the streets, etc. Right or wrong, do you really think those people are worried that Trump's "vulgarity" will make America worse?

Look, I despise Trump. He’s a fraud and a turd and his supporters are stupid. But the reason Trump exists at all is that conservatives have lost touch with real Americans. Romney is a cold fish with no knowledge or connection to the American culture. He frets and ninnies about things that haven't mattered to Americans in seventy years, if ever. If conservatives want to win Americans, they need to learn to speak the language the public speaks, to address the things that concern the American public, and to stop sounding like weirdo outsiders. As long as conservatives sound like effete fops who tremble at swearing, fear sex, look down on people who don’t have trust funds, and remain incapable of understanding what has upset or turned off the American public, conservatism will be nothing more than a cute debating society for nostalgiacs.

39 comments:

LL said...

Trump is successful because Americans view him (as they do Sanders) as genuine. No teleprompter, no canned polemic sermons, limited talking points.

Romney backed Rubio, then he backed Kasich, now he's backing Cruz, but we all know that deep in his heart he's hoping that the party in a brokered convention.

Trump is less of a fraud than Romney is. He's not the conservative that Cruz is but he has a far better chance of winning than Cruz does in a general election because of the limited number of Americans who believe in what Cruz is selling.

Anthony said...

As I've said many times before, Trump is Romney 2.0. He is a trust fund baby whose record is even further to the party's left than Romney's, and he also won the primary by being more anti-immigrant/populist than his much more conservative rivals.

Hillary Clinton has no political talents or abiliy to connect with people and wouldn't be in politics if she didn't happen to be married to Bill Clinton. She lucked out in the primary this time because her only opponent was an ancient socialist. She will luck out in the general if her opponent is a guy who attacks white woman for no discernible reason (getting on the outs with Fox News and splitting Breitbart is an incredibly impressive accomplishment and that level of idiocy will no doubt continue on into the general) and whose supporters throw a beating to a minority or three at rallies on a weekly basis.

If God gave Hillary the ability to craft her dream opponent, she would make Trump.

I agree Romney is a weird guy to attack Trump, but honestly given how Trump's supporters have kind of placed themselves in his hands and don't worry about anything he does or says, there is no such animal as a good person to attack Trump.

Patriot said...

Andrew......Good summation of Trump's appeal. I think people see both of them as mega-rich, yet they also see how each made their money. Trump does things with his money that are tangible - hotels, casinos, and my favorite..golf courses. Sure, they cater to the high end in most cases yet people understand them as the source of his wealth.

Romney did what to get his money? Hedge funds? Leveraging capital markets? Collateralizing debt obligations in international currency funds?!

See? Americans understand Trump's wealth...they have no idea how Romney made his billions. Therefore, it's a physical manifestation of how the American people relate to them. Trump....physical things I can see and use. Romney....whaaaa?! How?!

And I think you're spot on with Trump's appeal to the white, middle class. Unless I'm mistaken, aren't they still the largest voting bloc out there? Why wouldn't he appeal to them? No one else has for decades. Politicians have all tried to get this racial or ethnic group on their side by promising to provide government handouts. They forgot who mainly pays for all that.....the middle class.

Yes it bothers me to see and hear about the "violence" at Trump events. Yet it is never excused like every riot, BLM thug rush or cop-killing mob that the left "organizes." Imagine if a Tea Party group went to a Hillary event and shouted obscenities at every supporter who went inside, and then once the event started, got up shouting at everyone that they were racists and bigots....daring someone to grab them or even respond in kind. How do we think the media would present that to the public? So, there's no excuse for throwing an elbow or the crowd manhandling an agitator at any Trump event. Yet what gets the press? The response, not the crude, rude behavior that precipitated the response.

I think Americans....middle class.....see all this and see the bias. They then brush it off knowing that it's done to make Trump look even more like "Hitler, Mussolini, etc." by the press.

all the prisses in the Repub Party are shocked, shocked that there is violence and crude talk at a Trump rally. F em all. They're the reason Trump is even viable, much as your post states.

Good job.

Critch said...

One of the "effete snobs" that VP Agnew mentioned once. Look, I used to be a conservative Democrat, I was raised by a bunch of Roosevelt Democrats in the South. We're Roman Catholic, we're Irish, Hell, we were all just Democrats..but they left us. They allowed unrestricted immigration and trade policies that killed jobs in our areas. Somehow, the right to privacy (which isn't in the Constitution) morphed into the killing of 100s of thousands babies in the name of equality for women. THEY (those effete SOBs) decided that they should decide what kind of guns and how many Americans should have, and that it was somehow treasonous to even think that the 2nd Amendment was about something other than bird hunting. I became a Republican under Reagan, he did great things, I wasn't on board with him on everything, but he was sincere, and he wasn't one of those effete SOBs. The we got HW Bush, a good man, probably honest but not effectual. Then we got Billy Boy, oh my God, I lived in Arkansas when he was governor, have you people lost your mind? The governor's mansion was his Rumpus Room, his Jungle Room like Elvis had at Graceland...his wife is a shrill Harpy, both of them were deep in shady deals..but they could charm someone's pants off,,and he did on several occasions...then here comes W, who I liked for the most part. He inherited a mess and was hit with 9/11 early in his tenure. However, Iraq for a variety of reasons was a disaster, although I blame the Dems right along with the GOP for that one. Now we've had 8 years of a touchy, thin skinned black guy who wasn't raised in any way, shape, or form in the American black experience, but they act like he is the Messiah. Really, what has he done for poor blacks, whites, Hispanics or anyone else? Zip. Interest rates are low because of a policy that keeps them low artificially, there will be Hell to pay...you thought 2008 was bad, wait until those rates tick up 1-2-3- or even 4 points...and they will at some point. Americans don't understand that balancing the budget year to year does not do anything about that massive $19 Trillion dollars in debt. Lot's of people live year to year, paying their mortgage, cars and other debt, but they're only paying minimums, they're only holding on. That's what we're doing, we're only holding on. This morning the effete SOBs on the news were all wondering how Trump and to a certain extent Bernie got so far...well, they did it...I suspect those effete SOBs are sitting in their ivory towers like French aristocrats wondering when the rabble will show up at Versailles. Figuratively speaking, Claire Wolfe is right, 'It's too late to take the Republic back by voting, but it's too early to start shooting the SOBs.'

I don't mean to sound so reactionary, because I'm not, but those people we've been voting for have done nothing, maybe it is time to show them who's boss.

BevfromNYC said...

Traveling today, so I will comment later this afternoon. But right now I am at the airport and being forced to listen to Hillary lie her way through a speech before AIPAC. Please make it stop....

Critch said...

Hillary would lie when the truth would do...

Anthony said...

Andrew,

From where I stand, Trump is talk radio's dream candidate. I think it is highly unlikely he will win but I would love to watch if he did.

As I've said in the context of the black community on numerous subjects (including prison, education and poverty) many times, most people's lives are defined not by others, but by the choices they (and their parents) have made.

People who are in a bad place and tell themselves it is because of the world conspiring against their kind and pin their hopes of salvation on a politician who will radically change America in order to put them higher up on the food chain are setting themselves up for disappointment.

EPorvaznik said...

Thanks a lot for the country club mention with Trump's faux "Dozens-ing" on Romney, AP! Now I can't help but think of the Donald as Al Czervik calling Judge Smayles' Bushwood a dump.

As for the GOP being out of touch, you couldn't be more dead-on (accent on the "dead" -- whoo, I bet they were something before electricity). Witnessed this first-hand at the final Republican Party Animals event, held in 2011, with PA Rep. Mike Kelly as the guest of honor, and featuring my band playing a song we penned for the Congressman before headlining later in the evening. Well, even though the RPA group had always been billed as "Not your grandfather's or your father's Republican Party" (heck, their inaugural event in 2009 featured scantily clad pole dancers), our brand of originals and covers were a little heavier and louder than what gray-hairs in attendance could handle, and our set was cut short. The only thing missing was Huey Lewis with a megaphone telling us we were too darn loud. Our openers that night, The Gary Graham Garage Band, quickly back on stage to supply the same-ol', same ol' hits from the 60s and 70s.

Que sera sera, but the sooner the GOP relies less on lowest common denominator, beat-you-over-the-head with simplistic/cliche lyrics, instead embracing the likes of bands like AlfonZo Rachel's 20 Lb. Sledge, or Gary Eaton's The Army You Have, the better we'll be in winning the music narrative.

Shameless share: https://youtu.be/IX2fwZfx2eg

AndrewPrice said...

LL, I think what you're seeing on both sides is that the political parties have lost touch with the public. The Democrats lost their ideology and became a party of grievances. To remain electable, however, the Democrats began doing favors for Big Business. And even though they talk hard left, they act like cronies. The GOP, however, has a different problem. They let their fringe run wild and invent this purity idea. That's something you can never satisfy, especially as their fringe is so angry. Basically, they want blood rather than results.

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony, My point isn't so much how to win over Trump's supporters because those aren't people the GOP wants. My point is more the problem conservatives have in winning back conservatives, like myself, because they always seem to offer this choice between a guy like Trump who is an idiot but comes across very much like a common man and a guy like Romney who comes across more like a spokesman for a country club than someone who wants to lead conservatism. Until the GOP is more at ease with the American public, conservatism will remain an outsider philosophy.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks Patriot. I definitely see Trump's very existence being the result of the GOP's failures. Had they listened to the public and been more concerned with fixing the things that made the public angry than channeling that anger into some public works project, then there would have been no room for Trump. But they didn't. Instead, they kept trying to sell themselves on issues that only mattered to the insiders and they never bothered to connect to the American people.

When Reagan spoke, it sounded like common sense. Everyone got it, understood it, and understood why it mattered. When a guy like Romney speaks, it sounds like you're listening to someone read a legal disclaimer.

Koshcat said...

Great post and responses. I really appreciate what Patriot stated regarding how Trump made his money verses Romney. I hadn't thought of it but spot on and perhaps worse than stated. Trump made his money taking chances, buying real-estate and building things. Romney made his money buying companies, breaking them up, and selling off assets. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing nefarious with what Romney did but to the average American it feels more destructive versus Trump's constructive approach.

Trump also has the advantage of not being a hypocrite. Trump, outside of business, is more of a true libertarian. He doesn't give a shit if you're a transsexual, gay prostitute legally here from Botswana. As for the business side, he's a true liberal fascist. That is where I fear him.

AndrewPrice said...

Critch, I think you're seeing a combination of two things. First, both parties stopped representing the public and started representing small groups of single-issue types. They learned that this was all it took to get elected and to fund raise and to get the things they needed. But they also realized that giving those people what they wanted would end the gravy train. Hence, politics has become a game for suckers where candidates make promises they never intend to keep to a small, angry portion of the electorate and they ignore the public. But the public isn't doing well and that's become the real problem. The public needs some things fixed and the parties are too slow to grasp what those are and, to the extent it even tries, it is just helping the people who made them all rich and happy.

I see that as the root of the problems today.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, If Hillary's lips are moving, then she's lying.

EPorvaznik said...

>>The Democrats lost their ideology and became a party of grievances.>>

It all went to hell in the 90s when they ceased being the party of JFK ("... ask what you can do for your country"), instead becoming the party of Teddy Kennedy ("... ask what your country can do for you"). The party abandoned me, been voting GOP ever since.

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony, I think he's talk radio's dream candidate because of the language he uses, not because of his policies. But I don't think they realize the difference. It will definitely be interesting if he gets elected to see how long it takes before they decide that he's their number one villain.

Critch said...

I'm very libertarian, I don't care if folks are different color, gay, straight, etc..I really don't...but for crying out loud, and this is for both parties...there's a lot of stuff that just none of your damn business...do your jobs and stay out of people's lives....

AndrewPrice said...

Eric, That's the problem. Whenever I've spent time with GOP people, they talk about how "hip" they are, but they sound like parents trying to sound cool and then they cite examples that are decades out of date. Then you say the word 'ass' or 'crap' (while thinking 'sh*t' and 'f*ck') and they all look around like you just raped a nun. And these people then think they are qualified to reach out to the public. Good grief.

EPorvaznik said...

Parker & Stone, Gutfeld, Gavin McInnes: that's my conservative/libertarian party.

AndrewPrice said...

Thanks, Koshcat. There certainly is something to idea of how they made their money. Americans respect people who invent things and get rich. But there is a real disconnect with people who make their money through M&As, lawsuits and finance. Those jobs don't really create value for the country, they absorb it. Hence, you rarely see average people saying anything nice about the people who get rich that way.

Like you I also get the sense that Trump is a social libertarian and an economic fascist, but I have a hard time figuring out what Trump really is because he seems to be all over the place. Hopefully, his fascism is just for show.

AndrewPrice said...

Eric, I think the Democrats started to fail under LBJ. The few times they've managed to win the presidency since then has been when they ran people who promised they were different -- Carter, Clinton, Obama. Only Clinton proved to be different.

AndrewPrice said...

Critch, The old saying is that the Democrats want into your wallet and the Republicans want into your bedroom. I've often felt that a party which tempered the instincts of both would do very well.

BevfromNYC said...

Sorry, CommentaramaPoliticians, just flew in and, boy, are my arms tired. I just spent the weekend with family and have not been paying one bit of attention to the world. Therefore carry on here...

Oh, by the way, my first news of the week - Florida defamation suit - Hulk Hogan was just awarded another $25M in punitive damages against Gawker to add to the already $115M he was already awarded. Oops, I guess admitting in a deposition that your ethical limit to posting sex tapes is children under 4 didn't go over well with the jury...

BevfromNYC said...

I'm not sure what I think of the uncivility that this election cycle has taken on. I get why you can see that Trump is a builder and Romney is a destroyer. However, I have seen what Trump has done to NYC and it ain't pretty. Yes, he revamped the Wohlman skating rink and the Carousel in Central Park in record time, but the Medillin cartel did similar things in Columbia to placate the masses too. Trump has a long history of making contracts and then strong-arming his vendors into taking nickels on the dollar after the the work was done threatening long, drawn out lawsuits if the vendors didn't cave. His word is worthless. As many people has he is purported to have employed in his endeavors, more have lost their jobs because of his many bankruptcies and divorces.

I am no prude, but telling the world that people will riot if he doesn't get what he wants is criminal.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I don't disagree at all, but look at what you wrote. What you wrote is a much more valid criticism than Romney calling him "vulgar." That's the problem. You get that the way to defeat Trump is to point out what he's done. Romney thinks it's about pointing out that he isn't a gentleman.

Huge difference.

AndrewPrice said...

Eric, They're all very "with it."

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I'm hoping this destroyed Gawker and chills the other rumor/smear sites.

Kit said...

Avoiding this for the sake of my sanity.

Note: Glad someone stuck it to Gawker big time.

Anthony said...

Bill Clinton was a liability in 2008 and he will apparently be a liability in 2016.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/bill-clinton-slams-the-awful-legacy-of-the-last-eight-years/

Former Democratic president Bill Clinton made a comment during a Washington campaign rally Monday which seemed to unintentionally (or intentionally) disparage the presidency of Barack Obama, denouncing the “awful legacy of the last eight years.”

Clinton was campaigning for his wife Hillary Clinton, saying she was exactly the “change-maker” the country needed. “She always finds a way to make something good happen, to make people feel empowered, to buy people into the process, to make democracy work the way the framers intended for it to work.”

Critch said...

More attacks in Europe, 28 or so dead in Brussels...I wonder how that EU inclusiveness is working now?

AndrewPrice said...

Clinton has never been great. He's had a willing media. But right now, the media isn't as willing (just like 2008), so they are pointing out his idiocy rather than covering it up.

AndrewPrice said...

Now now Critch. We shouldn't rush to judgment. Maybe it was Christian group for Alabama? Or a little old Norwegian woman with nail scissors.

Kit said...

I'm guessing it was Methodist. There is a reason they wanted our aid in attacking Rock Ridge.

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, That is the film reference winner of the month! LOL!

"I didn't get a harrumph out of that guy!"

Critch said...

"Hello boys, I missed you..."

BevfromNYC said...

Well, you're all wrong. I know you will be shocked to hear that it wasn't Alabaman Baptists or those darn Norwegian elderly. Yeah, ISIS claimed responsibility and even more shocking and right on schedule, European Muslims fear the backlash. I have no sympathy for European Muslims who fear the backlash...

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, Me neither.

AndrewPrice said...

BTW, tryanmax has reviewed Zootopia at the film site.

tryanmax's review

ScottDS said...

I'm back from my vacation and this is for Kit's Blazing Saddles reference.

Click here. :-)

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