Today in New York, Obama strategist David Axelrod took questions from reporters at a Bloomberg forum. NR was there. Right up front, Axelrod noted the “juxtaposition of the president’s speech yesterday with the one Mitt Romney made today.” He argued that the president’s detailed speech in Kansas, derided by many conservatives, “was a very thorough explication of his views on what the great challenges facing this country [and] his view on the economic challenges facing the country.”
He then attacked Romney’s speech, which presented the concept of an “entitlement nation,” as “deeply offensive to many middle class Americans.” He argued that Romney’s “suggestion was that somehow it was lack of effort that was prompting them to fall behind, not natural economic forces [or] policies that conspired against them,” suggesting it was “a perspective formed by [Romney’s] own experiences at Bain.” Axelrod said, “There’s a fundamentally different view of what is going on this country . . . a real sharp distinction that you can tell from these two speeches . . . that will help frame the debate.”
Next, Axelrod addressed the state of the Republican party, which “has split into two parties . . . the Tea Party and the Martini Party,” “the right-wing populists/social-conservatives . . . and the old center-right corporate Republicans.” He continued, “By orientation, Romney is more of the Martini Party sect. He’s spent the last six years banging on the door of the other, trying to win admission, abrogating one fundamental principle after another. They’re just not buying it . . . there’s a sense that they don’t really know what he stands for and they want a more authentic exponent of their view.”
Finally, Axelrod also cast doubt on Romney’s ability to campaign on his business experience, scoffing at “the notion that someone . . . would be a strong compelling candidate in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania when [he has] a history of closing down plants and outsourcing jobs in order to maximize [his] own profit.”
What a putts (the perfectly fitting Yiddish word is blocked!)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe's just saying that to cover for the fact that even more Middle-Class are offended by the Obama Administration's wasteful spending and irresponsible focus on growth of government without any regard for the economic consequences.
It's a lot easier to play the class warfare card than it is to explain why your guy's policies have been junk for the very class you're pretending to defend.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's amazing that a man who isn't a member of the middle class knows what offends the middle class and a man who isn't a member of the Republican Party knows that it has split into two parties. Perhaps he should worry about the split in his own party between pro-life, fiscal conservative, national security Democrats and the pro-abortion, spendaholic, anti-war Democrats.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDavid Axelrod - a boil on the butt of humanity
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHaha. Yeah, you run Obama's record in Pa. and Ohio, Axl Rose. Both states elected (R) govs. last year.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe's going to go down as one of the worst thank to his divisiveness and tone-deafness. That feat is no small achievement given the people who have come before him.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOxymoron of the day: A Martini Republican Mormon.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse(capcha was "pig's ear")
I'd be curious to know how much time and money the White House spent focus-testing the phrase "Martini Party." I'd bet whoever came up with it thought it was pure gold.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama "thoroughly" "explicates" nothing, ever, other than all the reasons why Barack Obama is awesome.
He gives lofty platitudes and expects everyone else to do the heavy lifting on the details.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually Obama intentionally uses opaque phrases like "change" and "fairness" so people can project their personal interpretations of such vacuous statements unfettered by any taint of his actual intentions.
Its a very clever gimmick. You get a lot of people who believe what they want to believe without every having to actually say anything that can be, substantively, challenged.
Is taxing some people at 90% income tax rates "fair"? Is having 50% of the populace pay no income tax "fair"? These details make for a "messy" conversation. Better to be vague and get elected than to be clear, well understood and fully rejected.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLiving - your post reminded me of Rush Limbaugh's term for Jimmy Carter --- "America's Hemorrhoid." I think that is as descriptive as it can be... he flares up every now and then and causes a lot of discomfort!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseActually I think he is a pimple on a boil on a hemorrhoid.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"He argued that the president’s detailed speech in Kansas"
A speech that was given three "Pinocchios" by the Washington Post, yesterday.
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Considering it's WaPo, that's practically the big middle finger.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI read the transcript of the speech - as much as I could stand - and the WaPo article at the link. That Obama would claim with essentially no support at all that some billionaires pay less than 1% in taxes speaks volumes about our worst-ever president. His spiel: Your life is hard not because of me and not because of you but because capitalism and billionaires are bad. Vote for me and I'll figure out a way to take more of their money and give it to you.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's so aggravating that Axelrod's statements don't come with warning labels.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo Axelrod believes that "a strong compelling candidate in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania" is one that's on record and saying he wants to close down the coal industry? They really are idiots.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama bleating about 'fairness' while shoveling tax dollars at Green Energy companies run by political cronies is deeply offensive to the middle class.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe "hope and change" failure on display.
On a day when the Democratic Partisans old pal goes to prison for 14 years, Axelrod is busy projecting who they are afraid of in the General Election.
And Axelrod has nothing, the Stimulus was a failure, unemployment a disaster, growth is nowhere, opportunity is nonexistent, Obamacare is a nightmare, etc.
Obama is a joke, and no one bothers to listen to his folly anymore - one of the quickest lame duck failures in US History.
The American Pubic are not happy with the Axelrod - Obama - Pelosi - Reid - Clinton - Schumer mess.
Even "smart power" is an utter failure, having Team Obama vindicate everything they once demeaned about the Bush Administration.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYup, they're really scared of Romney.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn 1984 Orwell wrote about Duck Speak:
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Orwell was amazing. Barry speaks the way of fictional future totalitarians of the past.
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