In South Carolina, former Massachusetts Gov. Willard Mitt Romney may have had the worst week in politics ever.
When Romney and his well-organized, well-financed forces descended upon South Carolina for their final push to take the coveted South Carolina Republican Primary prize he had the chance to leave the Palmetto State with a nearly unassailable 3-0 record in the first three GOP contests of 2012.
Instead, (after discovering he actually lost in Iowa to former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum), Romney staggered out of South Carolina with a 1-3 record in the 2012 competition for the GOP nomination after former Speaker of the House Newton Leroy Gingrich gleefully and completely peeled the bark off of Romney, whipping him by 12 percentage points in the primary.
A week before his epic fail in South Carolina, most polls had Romney up by double digits in the state.
Then, Mitt stepped to the microphone.
And Willard wilted spectacularly once the white-hot media spotlight focused on his vast wealth; he fumbled and squirmed and dithered over and over again when asked about releasing his income taxes.
During the now infamous CNN debate in South Carolina – where all others were swept up in Newt’s mercurial wrath as he stomped a mud-hole in debate moderator Jon King – King managed to recover enough to ask Romney about his taxes. He invoked the memory of Romney’s dad, George Romney, the three-time governor of Michigan and one-time presidential candidate.
King reminded Mitt that his dad released 12 years of his tax returns when he ran for president and asked if the son would follow the father.
“Maybe,” was Romney’s one-word tepid initial response, which was followed by more mumbo-jumbo, which was promptly interrupted by booing and jeers by the crowd witnessing the debate.
“Microphone check, 1-2…”
The day after his disastrous debate performance, Romney attempted again, to shed dim light on his finances when he alluded to the speaking fees he received over the last year sheepishly characterizing the amount as, “not very much.” Well, what didn’t amount to much for Romney was about $374,000.
“Let me clear my throat…”
Romney, worth upwards of a quarter of a billion dollars talked about what it was really like on, “the streets of America,” even while he pays an income tax rate of 13.9 percent, less than half of what the vast majority of Americans pay in taxes, Americans who make a micro-slither of Romney’s income. Then, when the conversation turned to tax fairness and income inequality, he labeled such discussions as, “the politics of envy,” and that those discussions should only take place in the confines of, “quiet rooms.”
(Romney taps the microphone) “Yo, is this thing on?”
It is absolutely inexplicable that a man who has been running for president for the last six years, a man whose immense fortune is well publicized could be so horribly ill-prepared to discuss his finances on the campaign trail. And his towering ineptness may have cost him the South Carolina Primary.
But, it’s deeper than that for Mitt…
Romney’s inability to talk about his money, his visceral discomfort with that discussion is rooted in an inherent disconnect with America’s economic reality; it’s harder out here for more of us out here than it has been for decades. Many of us our struggling prodigiously, but Romney can only lend a tin ear to the people’s pain.
We’ve had wealthy presidents before, John Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, but they never had a problem connecting with the American people. However, Romney is clearly clueless.
After all, this is the cat who so happily quipped, “I like firing people,” while campaigning in Iowa. Although the mainstream media has bent over backwards to point out that the comment was taken out of context, I argue, “I like firing people,” was revelatory…that’s who Romney is.
“I like firing people…”
Romney touts his work with Bain Capital, a private equity firm and claims the company he founded helped create 100,000 jobs, a claim that many suggest is dubious. But, the truth is Bain Capital’s purpose isn’t to, “create jobs;” Bain’s purpose is to make money for their investors.
Yet, Romney would have us believe his time at Bain is at the core of why he is most qualified to be the next President of the United States and repair our troubled economy. But, why should we believe Romney can fix our money when he’s so afraid to talk about his own?
Romney might think it’s cute to say President Obama, “draws his inspiration from the capitals of Europe,” attempting to promote the insidious notion that the president is somehow foreign. But, it seems Romney, who has parked millions of dollars in several European banks to duck the IRS, is rather comfortable in Europe…Je suis Mitt Romney, j’ai beaucoup d’argent.”
“Microphone check 1-2 what is this?”
