Due to the catty comments that Daily Kos quoted from RedState America I got sort of immersed in some other posts at RedState America. If you understand me you realize that I believe keep your friends close and enemies closer.
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/06/04/mitt-romney-should-rethink-this/#comment-184969
And is this not why I never did so great in BlueState America? Long time readers may well be aware that I have been banned from all the big liberal blogs-Firedoglake, Daily KOS, and DemocraticUnderground.
So what's life like over at RedState? It's similar in a way to Firedoglake but yet it's also really different. What I noticed is that this one commentator, msbs05, declared he would not vote for Romney as he thinks him a fake conservative:
"will have to speak up loudly against Romney and his left leaning staff, just like we have with Obama, that is if he can pull off a win. I am still set on not voting for Romney, even with the threat of an Obama second term. I’m done with the repeated “lesser of two evils” votes the GOP keeps forcing me into by backing moderates. I worked for moderate McCain, donated my time and money, because he was a war hero. I did the same for GW Bush, because I found him so likeable. Romney is neither and gives me no reason to support him. Unless he picks someone like a Palin, with conservative values and an excitement for the constitution for VP he wont get my vote. Sadly, I am sure he will go with vanilla McDonnell of VA, who I like but is more establishment than free fighter."
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/06/04/mitt-romney-should-rethink-this/#comment-184969
You see lots of comments like this over at Firedoglake coming from the Left attacking Obama. What's different though is, well, let's read the first reply to msbs05:
"Romney is no McCain. He has already shown that. If you are not going to support the GOP nominee,then just go away."
Most comments were like this. Very few had anything good to say about msbs05. He tried to point out that he's from the state of Tennessee, and that it really doesn't matter anyway-Al Gore didn't Tennessee when he was on the Clinton ticket.
And this is how RedState America is different from BlueState America. In the liberal blogs you get killed for supporting Obama, on the conservative blogs you got killed for not supporting Romney-though both of them are sort of mirror images of themselves in a way-Obama is felt as too moderate by the Left and Romney is felt too moderate for the Right.
Anyway they don't like Leavitt. Yet they seem to be saying that's ok, he's just on the transition team as clintonformccain says:
"If Erick Erickson is uncomfortable with Leavitt working on Romney’s transition, then he can always vote for the alternative in November, Barack Obama. It’s unreasonable to demand that candidates toe the accepted conservative orthodoxy on 100% of issues and personnel choices."
What is not appreciated though is that it goes a lot deeper than this. Another person on the Romney team that the Right doesn't approve of is Glenn Hubbard. He's also been supportive of the health care exchanges and here-which should be the kiss of death-Barney Frank praises him warmly:
" was pleased to note that Glenn Hubbard, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under George W. Bush, has joined efforts to convince FHFA Administrator Edward DeMarco to drop his resistance to using the GSEs to help refinance mortgages and provide a boost to the economy. Mr. Hubbard not only makes the legal case that the FHFA has a legal mandate to support a “stable, liquid and efficient mortgage market,” but he makes a strong economic case as well. He writes “we believe that it’s important to focus on the GSEs, since their inaction is directly tied to the slow housing recovery.”
http://democrats.financialservices.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1453
There you go, cozying up to Barney Frank on mortgage refinancing specifically with regard to Fannie and Freddie-what's more a conservative bugaboo than that? Or how about this piece about Hubbard? It's title says it all "Are Mitt Romney's Economists Too Sane for GOP?"
"Romney’s team of economic wonks includes former George W. Bush aides Glenn Hubbard and Gregory Mankiw, former Senator Jim Talent, and former Congressman Vin Weber, who also co-chaired Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign. All have plenty of experience working on policy for Republican leaders, but with the GOP increasingly drawing its energy from the populist right, some of them hold positions that are considered heretical today."
"The widely respected Mankiw, who advised Romney on his first presidential run as well, is being singled out by critics and fans alike for his more independent views. He is a strong defender of climate change science and has advocated for a carbon tax to reduce emissions. In a 2007 New York Times op-ed, he expressed deep frustration that “political consultants” were preventing voters from seeing the light on the issue."
"As the architect of the 2003 Bush tax cut, Glenn Hubbard’s conservative credentials are solid enough, but Reuter’s James Pethokoukis notes that he supported cap and trade a few years ago when Republicans were briefly turning green. He now backs a similar carbon tax as Mankiw."
"Over at the Washington Post, Ezra Klein points out that among Romney’s advisers Mankiw backed a gas tax, Hubbard supports closing loopholes (which Grover Norquist says violates his no-tax pledge), and Weber supported the Bowles-Simpson plan for deficit reduction that included a tax increase. The current Republican presidential field has unanimously gone on record opposing any increase in taxes, even if paired with ten times the amount in spending cuts. "
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/are-mitt-romneys-economists-too-sane.php
I wonder how many of these Right wingers over at Erick Erickson know that Romney's number one economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, supports a gas tax, a carbon tax, believes in global warming and actually is considered to be the father of New Keynesianism?
Hubbard was for cap and trade!! That's anathema for the Right. And it was Hubbard who wrote the forward to Romney's economic plan.
http://www.mittromney.com/sites/default/files/shared/BelieveInAmerica-PlanForJobsAndEconomicGrowth-Full.pdf
So what's clear from these RedState commentators is they don't even know the tip of the iceberg of who's really on Mitt Romney's team
Sax,
ReplyDeleteYou just described the difference between an owner and renter.
There's a book you should read, so much so if you wishlist it I'll buy it for you...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Redneck-Manifesto-Hillbillies-Scapegoats/dp/0684838648
One unusual argument Goad makes is that indentured servants were treated far worse than slaves, because you stopped running a IS after 7 years, but a slave you took care of could last you a lifetime.
Or you could imagine it as driving a rental car (with insurance) vs. your own.
The A Power, the top 35% of America, the Tea Party they OWN this country, it is THEiRS.
They are not "entertained" or "excited" by politics, it is not "theoretical" for them, they don't stay up late at night enthralled in college discussions thinking they are having thoughts no one ever thought of before.
In short, they are REAL, they are deeply pragmatic and far wiser. They are college educated, they are the pillars of the community, they get hit up DAILY for favors from others around them (including their extended family) and have a long list of people they both owe and respect and people they know are not trustworthy.
They have met life head on, and are on the plus side of the equation.
For christs sake man, it is the 60's hippies shitting on you today.
----
if you can't conceptualize it, go to a small town under 250K drive down the main drag, and realize all those open businesses are all owned by someone not in the "1%" and they still hate Obama.
You can't beat these people, because you are not the B power. the B power are the 1%.
You are just the C power.
the only thing you really do is either deliver votes to the A poer or the B power agenda.
For you, your only real choice is;
A. side with Main Street republicans
B. side with fortune 1000 management
You DO NOT have to decide WHICH master will better take care of you long term.
You DO have to figure out how to get A and B fighting and keep them destabilized - dont let one win.
I'd argue that since you stopped siding with A ever, you have been gettuing your as kicked.
"You just described the difference between an owner and renter."
ReplyDeleteGreat. Where did I do that exactly? LOL
Thanks for the book offer. Guess I can never say all Righties are born misers again.
I think I know who you mean by A listers-these are the people in my neighborhood I grew up here in Long Island NY.
ReplyDeleteYou are right in your analogy of them as the "assholes of the body" or whatever. They do often seem very anal-they have not so much any wants just the anxiety that someone somehwere could somehow be having a good time on their dime.
But this hardly means they really always vote their own interests.
But I can offer them something to day if you want to talk turkey. See what I like is the guy who wants to cut a deal. What I hate is people who are too "pricipled" for the muck of politics.
Again, the progressive consumption tax, if it really would be revenue neutral and would take away the payroll tax-not by cutting SS and Medicare-that's something that the A list should like. After all every week they see 25% of their paycheck gone in payroll taxes.