Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Boobirds

Mitt Romney delivers a speech before the NAACP. Mitt Romney promises to repeal "Obamacare". Mitt Romney is met with a chorus of boos.



My favorite part is how the video cuts just as Mitt Romney starts to mention "a survey of the Chamber of Commerce." That'll win 'em back, Mitt!

In any event, I'm curious what the impact of this booing will be. The odds are nothing -- it's no news that Black people disagree with Republican policies. But assuming we do care what Black people think, there is something notable about this. Sometimes a politician can go into a group's backyard, elicit boos, and come out ahead -- spin it as telling "tough truths" or "tough love". But that doesn't quite work here -- the GOP's attack on the ACA hasn't been that it is good for some but ultimately unaffordable. It is that it is a moral catastrophe loathed and despised by everyone. That narrative can't really countenance people booing at eliminating it -- it's predicated off of pretty universal disdain for the program.
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5 comments:

Tony Henke said...

Wowza. I think you may lose some of your smarts when you write about the presidential race.

The Romney quote after the video cuts off is:

“You know, there was a survey of the Chamber of Commerce — they carried out a survey of their members, about 1,500 surveyed, and uh, they asked them what effect Obamacare would have on their plans, and three-quarters of them said it made them less likely to hire people. So I say, again, that if our priority is jobs, and that’s my priority, that’s something I’d change and replace.”

But, lol, the NAACP crowd definitely would not be interested in that.

#2: Is there anyone on the planet who thinks the ACA is "loathed and despised by everyone"? I doubt it. Isn't the GOP position that it is unpopular, and bad policy? Seems like a weird straw man.

tl;dr: This post could be shortened to "Lol the other team's guy got booed. Fuck yea." without loss of content.

xoxo,

Tony

1:53 PM
PG said...

The problem with citing the Chamber of Commerce as the opinion of small business people generally is that, well, it's not. It's very biased toward conservative membership -- not just economic conservatism (taxes and regulation bad), but issues like voter ID requirements and campaign finance reform as part of an effort to maximize conservative political influence and minimize Democratic voting.

That's why it's laughable to cite the Chamber when talking to the NAACP -- the two are directly opposed on the huge, racially-significant issue of voting restrictions. The Chamber also has a poor record on civil rights legislation and caselaw (check out their amicus briefs) because they don't want employees to be able to bring/win lawsuits alleging discrimination.

That said, I've seen speculation that getting booed by the NAACP may help to shore up support for Romney in certain conservative quarters. Enemy of my enemy...

6:23 PM
PG said...

Also, re #2, has the GOP acknowledged in its official statements regarding the ACA that it helps *anyone*?

6:50 PM
Tony Henke said...

I have not yet entered the circle of hell in which one reads the GOP's official statements.

8:31 PM
David Schraub said...

I'm pretty sure the GOP's stance on the ACA is that it taxes the rich to set up death panels exterminating the poor.

9:56 PM

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