Mitt Romney has drawn praise for a seemingly magnanimous gesture Thursday night. During his speech to the Republican National Convention, Romney said, "I wish President Obama had succeeded, because I want America to succeed."
Only, that wasn't how Romney felt in March 2009, just weeks after President Obama was inaugurated. Video aired on Up w/ Chris Hayes on Saturday shows Romney saying quite the opposite -- that he wanted President Obama’s"liberal policies" to fail:
During an interview with CNN's Larry King on March 19, 2009, Romney said:
I want liberal policies to fail. I want him to fail in trying to put in place a health care plan that takes away the private sector from health care. I want him to fail in this cap and trade program as long as China and Brazil and Indonesia are not going to play in it. But I want him to succeed as a president, meaning, I want him to succeed in strengthening our economy, keeping us free, bringing our troops home in success from Iraq and Afghanistan. But I don't want his liberal policies to succeed.
Those remarks are especially revealing given the Romney campaign's avowed strategy of appealing to swing state voters who may have supported President Obama four years ago and who, despite their disappointment, remain reluctant to abandon the president altogether.
Romney's convention speech was crafted, in many respects, as an exhortation to those voters. “Americans have been patient," Romney said. "Americans have supported this president in good faith."
The Republican nominee's 2009 remarks, however, would seem to undercut that.
Sal Gentile (@salgentile) is a segment & digital producer for Up w/ Chris Hayes.
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And to complete the picture, Paul Ryan was part of the Republican committee, the very evening President Obama took office, to conspire for the President's failure.
Is this your 1st day at the American political table?
When GWB became president, the left tried their best to make him a 1 term president, remember?
Your 'generic "the left" is not parallel to a cabal of ELECTED GOP REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS PLOTTING TO THWART ALL THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSED LEGISLATION!
Sure, people wanted Bush out, in part because he did not really win the popular vote and the policies he advocated were therefore not actually ratified by his election/selection.
@ho-lee-cow No I don't remember. The dems in congress didn't always vote with GWB but they didn't vote down every bleeping thing he tried to do. Maybe you need some memory pills. Another thing...Obama doesn't lie like Romney and Ryan who are simply blatant pathological liars.
Governor Mitt Romney's speech was almost adequate to a politically disinterested independent except for the snarky, pro-sea level rise comment and the extremely brief mention of the two things Republicans actually legislate when they get power- taking away abortion rights and infringing on states rights to make their own laws about marriage.
I have to admit that the day I voted for Obama was the best I felt about him but that feeling was absolutely euphoric after GW Bush. I did not expect to get especially progressive legislation enacted when we do not have a fact based media but media propagandists and a lobbying intensive, filibuster prone Congress. I worried the day I voted for our President that a depression was an imminent possibility, I do not worry about that now. I now worry that Republicans in Congress will continue their obstruction to any legislation that will solve any of our problems.
Now to anyone who applies critical thinking to his speech it was completely inadequate. There were virtually no policy provisions and none that would solve our problems. The Republican Party is not, nor has it ever been in my voting life, fiscally conservative and their budget plan does not add up. What loopholes would they have to close to have tax rates at the level they propose and be revenue neutral? Can net taxes be kept the same on the middle class with these newly closed loopholes and lower rates? It seems to me Romney and Ryan say trust us and Obama and the Democrats say it is impossible without net taxes increasing on the middle class. I believe the Democrats not the guys who think school vouchers will solve all of the problems of our education and job training system and laugh about climate change (while temperatures this year are the highest ever again, the Gulf Coast floods again and last year's historic Texas/Oklahoma drought moves to huge swaths of the bread basket of the US).
His foreign policy critique was naive and untrue and neglected to adequately appreciate the service of so many Americans in Afghanistan and around the world be they in the military or public service.
He and the Republicans may want to demonize Obama's energy, trade and entrepreneurship policies but they are not really different than previous presidents. Our domestic energy production is up, our trade deficit fluctuates with oil prices and US exports are increasing, trade agreements were ratified, and the RMB is rising vs. the US dollar. And it is a ludicrous idea that all the ills small business faces are caused by Obamacare and not lack of demand or inaction by Congress on what used to be bipartisan ideas like an infrastructure bank or giving tax breaks to small businesses who invest in plants or equipment or hire veterans.
I didn't hear much about energy policies from the RNC except ANWR, off shore drilling and that I guess they think the US government should subsidize coal since it is no longer competitive with natural gas in electricity production. Maybe I missed their energy policy speakers but in view of rising gas prices at least partly due to the shut downs of refineries, the latest of which occurred due to Tropical Storm Isaac, I am mystified about the wisdom of the Keystone Pipeline. Why don't they invest that money to build a refinery away from the Gulf to decrease the concentration of refining capacity in that one region and to keep some kind of pressure on selling these oil sand's petroleum products more exclusively to the North American market and not in the Gulf of Mexico market where gas can be more easily exported.
I think you too quickly dismiss what the conservatives are saying. I disagree with the positions and I object to the dishonest tactics employed, but I think it is important to be accurate about what they think. Many feel that any means to and end is morally acceptable if it achieves the goal saving the country / derailing "socialism". In general, I accept the analysis that it is a strategy to "starve the beast" of big gubmint. Run up deficit spending then the dems will be cornered by the inevitable fiscal crisis. Military spending is inflated since it is a sacred cow and death to Dems who try to cut it. Keep spending extremely painful until the public gets panicked enough that they will consider cuts to social security and medicare.
That's where we are now. There is a significant segment of the population that believes the Dems not the GOP are the spendthrifts, that the GOP are the responsible managers not the Dems. They play on superficial historical associations.
Not really the sort of stuff that stands up to critical thinking as you say, but their attitude is that they will use any political tool that works. To be fair, many "practical" democratic political operatives think the same way. Many Americans regard it as a corrosive practice. I do- regardless if the player is dem or gop.
I am curious why you were euphoric about G W Bush. Was it because you thought there would be a return from Voodoo economics / other excesses of the Reagan period, or that you felt there would be a continuation of the Reagan policies, and that the nation averted some sort of disaster which Dukakis represented to you?
I was euphoric about voting for Obama after what I see as the utter failure of the GW Bush era (not GHW Bush). I was euphoric to vote against the Republicans and for a candidate that actually thinks like me. I haven't voted for a Republican for President since I voted for Reagan in my first voting experience in 1980. I now wouldn't vote for a Republican for anything. I often "hold my nose" and vote for certain Democrats and even sometimes waste my vote on third parties. Obama was not and will not be that sort of vote for me. I think Obama has done a great job considering the obstacles he has faced. He's not perfect and I never thought he was but compared to the other side I will be euphoric again to vote for him and against the undemocratic, intolerant, profits over environment, war-mongering, anti-diplomacy party.
Sorry if my earlier ramblings were unclear.
No, you were clear. I think most readers would walk away with the sense you intended. When you wrote "but that feeling was absolutely euphoric..." I don't assume political common ground, so I thought it plausible you were speaking in general about the feeling one has after voting for someone who won. I took the meaning that you were an independent happy when HW won, and was comparing it to your joy when Obama won.
While I see now that this was incorrect, I do know there are many in this peculiar set. It is kind of this funny political area that iconoclasts like Jerry Brown and Ron Paul can move within. Some have perspectives that are generally dismissive- for example that both the Dem and GOP are clones regarding [fill in the subject], and they are looking for a true alternative, or the one who is going to be more genuine really going after a problem rather than paying lip service to it while actually going back to business as usual.
I caught some of your show this am...do you ever have a true Republican on...or are you guys afraid...keep laughing at the "You did build it" slogan from Romney...you all do not live in the real world...people are pissed Obama said this...I mean, lots of people...I own a business and I am friends with many business owners in my area...some that were staunch Obama supporters are so angry now that he said that...he lost their suppport...he said it, people are very angry about it, and you need to stop laughing about Romney addressing it...he is right to do it and he is winning people over..
Chris hayes be objective? LOL like all the rest of the talking heads on MSLSD, one-way street with these people.
A few months back hayes had Stephen Moore on, Moore handed hayes's azz to him on a plate.
One thing about chris hayes, he's the smartest guy he knows.
Re: #3
What we don't know is who they ask to be on the show who then decline.
People who agree to be on a show like Up with Chris Hayes do so with the expectation that there will be honest dialog with statements based on actual facts.
Business are not built out in the middle of nowhere and then build the roads, put in the sewer and power lines etc by themselves.
When I go shopping, I only go to stores that I can get to by road. If the roads are bad, I don't go there. I expect that when I walk from my car to the door, I will be safe (police protection).
When a business is looking for a location, isn't it true that often they go to the local government and see what deals they can get - whether it is tax breaks or upgrade of roads at tax payer expense to meet the needs of the business?
Don't businesses also check out the skills of the local work force?
Once all of that (meaning infrastructure) is in place, it is really all up to the owner to make business successful - to build it.
For a business owner to claim that they built the business all by themselves is a slap in my face as a tax payer.
I also want to mention that infrastructure is only part of the environment that a business operates.
We need to make sure that the infrastructure supports business but also the tax code, regulations, and tax-payer funded loans if the business needs it.
Finally, this whole issue is a distraction from what seems to be the biggest issues that businesses face. The issue is not that a business is built independent of government, but that businesses are profoundly affected by the environment that is created by government. And when that environment is not supporting businesses, things need to be fixed.
And the president's quote was mutilated, since he was talking about all the people who necessarily helped you on your way to success: those who taught you to add, subtract, multiply and divide, for example. Were you born with that knowledge, which is crucial to running a business? NO.
Did you create the neighborhood in which your business is located? NO...
ho-lee-cow, steven moore is a moron hack who dont know @!$%# about the economy
Here's the thing about the Republicans trying to mine discontent with Obama into some kind of vote-grabbing fantsy of their own.....every liberal I know who is disenchanted with Obama is unhappy BECAUSE Obama is already too much like Romney. That stuff about not investigating how we got lied into invading a country that had done nothing to us, the bail outs, the way none of the crooks who almost destroyed the world economy are in the slammer and all are still getting their big bonuses. And then there is the fed that is stealing from elderly savers, apparently the only ones in this country besides the richest of the rich who still have anything left to steal. I LOATHE the Republicans and everything they stand for, and I can't watch their convention without having a flashback to those purple Band Aid fingers mocking a guy's purple heart. But the truth remains, under GWB, I was getting 5% interest on my savings, enough to provide dental care and home maintenance. Now I am getting 1/4 of 1% and, when I ask the Democrats for whom I voted to explain why the recession must be waited out on the backs of elderly savers, I am promised an answer, but they never get back to me.
Attn: Mitt
You can't have it both ways!
Granted, you have the liar vote wrapped up.
Just heard Hayes and friends saying Glen Beck makes up facts to appease his audience. why doesn't he call out Andrea Mitchell and tell her to get her "facts" right after she was caught quoting "facts" that when John Sununu called her on them she stammered and clearly had no answer except "I'll check those numbers and get back to you". Well that hasn't happened yet. Also if she had her "facts" right to begin with she would have argued her point then. Hayes acts like Fox News, Beck and any other conservative are slaves to the Republican party. If that is true at least they admit it unlike MSNBC, NBC, CNN and all the rest refuse to admit they blindly back obama no matter what he says or does.
Hayes thinks Cuba is a great counrty.
They never ever say that obama has done anything wrong and every thing he does is the best that can be done. That can not be said about any president.
There are plenty of people on the left unhappy with Obama's centrism. Specifically:
You want some more complaints from real progressives, just take a look at the show Democracy Now! Most of Hayes' guests are rather centrist and moderate.
In my opinion, Up with Chris Hayes has evolved, into being the most serious attempt at substantive journalism, on cable news. Consistantly insightful, and constantly attempting to bring, points of view, into clarity.
Perhaps the next Black President will actually get a fair shake. Poles for the average white male shows that they don't like Obama, Why is this? I will tell you why, it is because many but not all white males refuse to respect Black men in
power or positions of Authority. Those men should learn to respect people of color in power just as they do those who look just like them. I would never have wanted the position of being the first model of a black president. Being the guinea pig for first African American president has shown the truth about bigotry and race in America. From day one those angry white men in congress decided that under no circumstances would they allow the first black president to succeed. The same men threw everything and the kitchen sink at our president to make him fail, even lowering our nations AAA credit rating. The same bitter angry white men in Congress and the senate disrespected our president in public, made a complaint about him speaking to their children on an annual school student address every president in the past has given, and even asked for his birth certificate. They did everything buy call him the N-word to his face. President Obama has had 5 times the amount of death threats to his life than any other president in our history, and the amount of hate groups went from 300 to 1600 throughout the nation, hate groups that attempt to arm themselves and claim a desire to overthrow the government. All this because a black man was elected the highest honor of president of the United States of America. The great American melting pot is not so great in my eyes after watching all what has happened to this president who has done nothing wrong except not be the color that those who hate him wish he would be.
Agree with your assesssment 100%! I have been absolutely ashamed at the way people on the right have been so viciously disrespectful of this noble and decent man.
Today's factoid about the GOP's economic history - We know the Founding Fathers gave the House of Representatives the power of the purse and we know the Republican Party has controlled that body for all but four years, from 1995 to 2012. And frankly, fiscally, their record sucks. Why is it that when Republicans keep spouting this lie about Democrats having super majorities in Congress, those highly paid, constitutionally protected journalists fail to remind them of the facts. Do you think we would have gotten into this economic and political mess if the Republicans did not control the House for 13 of the last 17 years.
A question for Mitt, the Dems, and the American (open-minded voter) voter: What do you think of Mitt's definition of success? If you read the Rolling Stone article, Mitt's definition of success is loading up companies with debt, using the debt to pay yourself huge consulting fees, and cutting jobs until the company can pay off the debt. The success part is where Mitt and friends make massive amounts of money and probably put it into Swiss or Caribbean bank accounts. Is that what Americans view of success is?
I still think Mitt is a pirate. When he was on board with the guy who started The Villages (old white military retirees located near the Veterans' hospital near Ocala), with that old Cayman Island jolly Roger flag unfurled in the breeze.... that is ho ho ho and a bottle of rum as they cruised off scott free leaving the rest of the country in debt; the massive small government fools who fall for this resentment politics. Like all good thieves, when they are busy picking your pocket, they are going to point over to the black guy over there as the source of your future and past loss. There has never been nor will there ever be honor among thieves.
The statement that Romney made about Obama succeeding is such a lie; the Republicans have worked extremely hard and relentless to keep Obama from succeeding; the Republicans have not accomplished anything; they have tried to make themselves look good, by attempting to make the President of the United States look bad; they look like idiots at this time! The Republicans certainly have not made progress. I am a registered Republican and will vote for Obama.