tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post478301900730274480..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Plum Line: Mitt DoleJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-85920180834569809232012-02-12T10:59:37.092-06:002012-02-12T10:59:37.092-06:00In other words, you don't have much advice for...In other words, you don't have much advice for him at all, other than "Hope the economy tanks."<br /><br />The bailouts and the stimulus are still very unpopular. That's partly tied to the economy itself, even more than Obamacare is--there was a perception that the stimulus was supposed to get us out of this economic mess, and the fact it didn't, at least for the average American, led many people to judge it a failure--but I think bailouts are the type of thing that will always be intrinsically unpopular.<br /><br />Of course, the fact that Romney is on record having expressed (qualified) support for the bailouts and even the stimulus makes it that much harder for him. He'll do it, for sure, but the Democrats will have plenty of material to at least neutralize him on this issue, just like with the individual mandate.<br /><br />Obama's civil-liberties initiatives in 2008 are generally unpopular, and it isn't surprising he didn't follow through with most of them, to the left's consternation. (He was even starting to back down during the 2008 campaign.) Romney will try to paint him as an ACLU lover who is "weak on terror," but it won't wash. Not for the man who got Bin Laden.<br /><br />Any other ideas?Kylopodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06932528611103718373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-13976357037973165092012-02-12T09:09:07.454-06:002012-02-12T09:09:07.454-06:00It would be nice to have public policy issues for ...It would be nice to have public policy issues for which Romney was on the side of the majority. There's some, sort of, but not really..."Obamacare" polls below 50%, but just repeal isn't very popular even in the abstract, and certainly not when you get into details.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-36166135552957321922012-02-12T08:59:12.216-06:002012-02-12T08:59:12.216-06:00If, however, the economy is just solid enough that...<i>If, however, the economy is just solid enough that it isn’t self-evident to most swing voters that Obama must be replaced, then Romney is headed for trouble. Simply saying that the economy is horrible and that a businessman is needed won’t do. Going the Bob Dole route and claiming Obama doesn’t believe in America will likely work as well for him as for Dole.</i><br /><br />Then what message do you suggest he run on, in those circumstances (borderline economy)?Kylopodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06932528611103718373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-88357672905254046262012-02-12T08:26:43.815-06:002012-02-12T08:26:43.815-06:00Can't Obama go after Romney for saying that Am...Can't Obama go after Romney for saying that America is no longer the strongest nation in the world?goetheannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-60116437475850822982012-02-11T10:16:30.546-06:002012-02-11T10:16:30.546-06:00The line in Plum Line that jumped out at me was &q...The line in Plum Line that jumped out at me was "Granted, Romney was speaking to conservatives and not to a general election audience, but I can’t think of a single Romney proposal so far that was crafted for a larger audience." <br /><br />It seems to me that even if the primaries ended tomorrow and Mitt went into general election mode, it will be very difficult for him to "move to the center" as they say. One reason is that moving around ideologically is Mitt's weakness, and one that conservatives, particularly tea partiers and disgruntled supporters of the other "anyone but Romney's" will be ever-alert for. <br /><br />Another reason is that the entire, explicit Repub message this year is that we are a Red America, and Blue Americans need to either capitulate or move. W didn't have this problem at all in 2000 - Obama's 2004 convention speech would have been incomprehensible then. "Rovism" may have helped W beat Kerry as an incumbent "war president", but it's possible that he could have won without it, and in any event it seems that today's Rovism is worse than the master's back in the day. <br /><br />But, I'm not a scientist, so I could be wrong. Am I? Are there examples of candidates who ran hard right or hard left in the primaries and then went on to mount a credible center-right or center-left campaign in the general? Is that even the right question to ask?Geoff Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17117921607237662932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-71655623989573927472012-02-11T09:04:02.354-06:002012-02-11T09:04:02.354-06:00Hah. He was constantly trying to balance Bain Capi...Hah. He was constantly trying to balance Bain Capital's budget, to make sure the bankruptcies it caused and disastrous investments it made didn't hurt Bain's investors and deplete the fund -- had to balance the failures with the windfalls.<br /><br />That sentence is actually genius: it does in a way precisely describe what a PE fund works to do (including to avoid gov. oversight), but it's worded sufficiently ambiguously that one thinks he's explaining the role of a traditional manager, not an investment manager engaged in buyouts, beholden to investors and working with a leveraged-up company. It's deeply misleading, but it's not technically a lie.PFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00263515090451316188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-4801361807713207382012-02-10T23:46:40.377-06:002012-02-10T23:46:40.377-06:00Great Plum Line column with fun bits of humor thro...Great Plum Line column with fun bits of humor throughout. Inspired by CPAC?ModeratePolihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01721945380057992971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-81457861822871666582012-02-10T20:37:50.455-06:002012-02-10T20:37:50.455-06:00Yep, none of Mitt's PE deals ever went bankrup...Yep, none of Mitt's PE deals ever went bankrupt. None.Sam Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09038834556201336243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-80558300462812077992012-02-10T19:29:55.122-06:002012-02-10T19:29:55.122-06:00Eliminating waste.
Seamus taught him that.Eliminating waste.<br /><br />Seamus taught him that.andrew longnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-21556515141691221832012-02-10T17:58:05.399-06:002012-02-10T17:58:05.399-06:00So Bain never borrowed? Never loaded the companie...So Bain never borrowed? Never loaded the companies it acquired up with debt? (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/13/winning-our-future/video-blames-bain-capital-demise-kb-toys/)<br /><br />The mind boggles...Don Coffinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07198988872512792834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-85108708988376460542012-02-10T16:40:26.426-06:002012-02-10T16:40:26.426-06:00Not to mention that the irony of someone who's...Not to mention that the irony of someone who's willing to do or say just about anything to be President bragging about "keeping as far away from government as humanly possible" is pretty striking.AMSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-76281620711258001942012-02-10T16:30:05.551-06:002012-02-10T16:30:05.551-06:00And here I thought we still spend more on the mili...And here I thought we still spend more on the military than every other country on earth combined. If Obama actually cut the military so much that that is no longer true, then my enthusiasm for voting to re-elect him just skyrocketed! Thanks for the info, Mitt!Ron E.noreply@blogger.com