Friday, March 2, 2012
Haslam, Hagerty Stump for Romney in Memphis
Posted by Jackson Baker on Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 2:34 PM
- jb
- Haslam for Romney
Governor Bill Haslam, addressing a pro-Roimney rally in Memphis Thursday night, was his usual genial, upbeat self. Early in his remarks, he said,: “: I’m not somebody who’s a president basher. A lot of Republicans think our job is to tear down the president. Actually, I don’t think that. I talked to the president today. He called me about some storms in middle Tennessee. We had three fatalities, and he called me and made sure FEMA was doing everything they should....When he called me, I was actually visiting one of our prisons in southeast Tennessee. He said, ‘Governor, did I interrupt you? Where did I catch you?’’I said, ‘I’m in prison.’”
And, even though the last of the GOP presidential debates occurred two weeks ago in Arizona, a debate of sorts broke out between the governor and his director of economic development, Bill Hagerty.
- JB
- Hagerty blames it all on the media
Question: What did all of that mean? That the media made the race close in Michigan, and the relative absence of media in Arizona gave Romney an easy win there? That Romney's own actions, measured against those of his opponents, had not been a factor? That, for example, Romney's brain-teaser about loving "the height" of Michigan's trees had no bearing on voters' sense of the man?
Asked about that, Haslam would say,: “When you’re in our shoes, you’re always wishing the media would have a different spin on things, but I honestly think it’s a case of Romney’s having to win this the hard way….I’m one of those who thinks that’s not necessarily a bad thing….I think a tough primary can be a real proving ground….I do think the media loves a race. I think there’s times they want to see the underdog come up."
Fair enough. The media go to where the contests are (in this case, following the pols and the polls to Michigan, which was known to be a razor-close affair, despite being Romney's home state) and report what happens. And yes, they look for ways to keep the story fresh.
But the facts are still the facts, and it's easy to argue that Santorum lost his previous ten-point lead and the Michigan primary because of media reportage of the ex-Pennsylvania senator's horrendous fluffs of the previous week — beginning with his invoking Satan as some sort of omnipresent opposition ward heeler and continuing through insulting remarks about JFK's causing him to barf and concluding with Santorum's disparaging of the venerable American dream of achieving a college education.
Which is to say, the media may have helped Romney,not hurt him, just by doing their job.
And, surely, with a pair of polls showing Santorum owning a two-to-one edge over Romney in Tennessee, Romney has been risking a serious defeat in Tennessee by not being here while both his GOP rivals -- Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- have been (twice each.)
Maybe it's that fact, and not the mischief-making of the media, that should be blamed if the absent Romney can't make a race of it with his rivals in Tennessee. Oh, but the media have reported on Romney's absence, so maybe the media are to blame after all, for letting the cat out of the bag.
Comments (31)
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One trust fund baby (Bill Haslam), campaigning for another trust fund baby (Mitt Romney).
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I believe that former U.S Attorney David Kustoff should refrain from participating in partisan right-wing Republican politics. Kustoff swore to protect the Constitution of the United States of America. Also it was his duty to protect the rights of everyone including Democrats.
Kustoff should distance himself from Romney campaign immediately. He should return the $2,500 campaign contribution he gave to Romney according campaign disclosure records.
Stapletondia, as much as I appreciate your thought, I must, respectfully disagree with you. Regardless of ones position at one time, once out of office, a person retains the right of every citizen; the right to free speech and to donate, campaign for anyone he or she pleases.
If Kustoff was still a sitting U. S. Attorney General, that would be a different story. He is in private life now, and is free to voice his support, vocally and financially as he sees fit.
Anyway, Tennessee has no importance in the upcoming presidential election. Tennessee is a solid red state. The republicans know it and take it for granted; the democrats know it too, so they ignore the state. What Tennessee does will have no impact, electorally, on the outcome of the 2012 presidential elections.
Obama, his PACs, the DNC, the Unions, Michael Moore, Tricky Ricky and others are spending fortunes of money attacking Mitt Romney. And if you read between the lines, although the message is pretty blatant, Obama’s darlings in the media through Media Matters the NY Times, the major networks, CNN, MSNBC, and virtually every newspaper in the USA are running ‘hit jobs’ smearing Romney. Why? Obama’s scared to death of a November showdown with Mitt. People, we should listen! Don’t be played for saps. The message couldn’t be clearer. Unless you want Obama to have four more years to take this country down an irreversible road to ruin, vote for Mitt. Rick’s a good father, Newt’s a great historian, and Ron Paul may be the most fiscal conservative. But only Mitt can, and will, beat Obama. We need to unite this party before we let the media control the message and hand Obama victory. Let’s send a message. We’ve had a good debate, now we need to stop this suicidal path. Romney’s got the business savvy and the executive experience to right our nation’s course. United we stand, divided we will surely fall.
VOTE ROMNEY TUESDAY !!!
HEY OTP, Have your read Judge Andersons recent ruling on the suit filed by the 8 Memphis residents challenging the city/county government consoliation vote?
Let's me spell it out for you. Each county suburb gets to participate.
"U.S. Dist. Judge S. Thomas Anderson on Friday granted the suburbs a right to intervene in the case, in part, because the suburbs would not be able to protect their interests otherwise. "
Yes, this is me laughing about your former predictions. Hope you aren't a baseball fan because you are out of stikes.
Vote 4 Rick is a Vote for Barack...Rick Santorum won overwhelming -- among Democrats and liberals. Had he not attempted to kidnap the Republican primary by encouraging Obama supporters to vote against Mitt, his margin of victory would have been about twice as large.
Frank Chance,
One doesn't need to "read between the lines" to understand why the President is running ads highlighting Mitt Romney's flipflopping. The reason that's being done is, President Obama is running against Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney will be the Republic party nominee and everyone knows that. Therefore, there is no reason for the President, or any of the groups supporting him, to be running ads against Senator Santorum or any of the other Republic candidates.
As for having the best chance to defeat the President in November, the truth is that none of the Republic candidates are very likely at all to defeat President Obama. Of all the Republic candidates left in the race, if Senator Santorum were to get the nomination, he's probably the one who could give the President the best run for his money. That's because the majority of the "base" of the Republic party are teabaggers and social conservatives and they know two things: (1) that Senator Santorum really is one of them, and (2) Mitt Romney really is not one of them.
Because of that, Senator Santorum would excite the base and cause a large turnout among the christianists and teabaggers. At the same time, however, the majority of the American public would never vote for Senator Santorum because he is, in fact, a true blue social conservative and he's so right wing most independents and practically all Democrats would vote against him, giving President Obama win. The bottom line is, most Americans simply do not want sex nazis running the country.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, has a long record of being a liberal when it comes to social issues. In addition that, Mitt Romney is the father of what has become the bane of most Republic party members existence: Obamacare. There's a long op-ed piece from 2009 that has recently been in the news again wherein Mitt Romney is urging President Obama to adopt Romneycare as the national healthcare plan and that's exactly what President Obama did. A lot of Democrats fault the President for just simply adopting the Republic/Mitt Romney model of healthcare because we wanted a single payor system but, lucky for him, President Obama is not being primaried.
Because he's a liberal trying to get the nomination of an extremely right wing conservative party, Mitt Romney has had to reverse course on just about everything he's ever claimed he was in favor of. That makes him appear to be a "flip flopper" and the teabagger/right wing social conservative base doesn't trust him and they're not going to turn out to vote for him in November. That's why, even in the polls most favorable to him, Mitt Romney consistently only has the support of about 30 to 40 % of Republic voters. The majority of your party, the social conservatives, just don't trust or like him. Therefore, because he can't even excite the majority of the members of his own party, Mitt Romney will be the easiest Republic candidate for President Obama to defeat in November.
The Republic party really is in a quite precarious position. Way back in the eighties the Republic establishment made a deal with the devil, in the incarnation at the time of the "Moral Majority," in order to have enough votes to win elections. This was a good idea at the time because, before then, most members of the Republic party were just rich people who wanted to pay less in taxes and make more money by getting rid of government regulations. Unfortunately, there weren't enough really rich people to carry elections so the plan was devised to convince right wing christians that the Republics shared their "morals." This, sure enough, swelled the ranks of the Republic party but, at the same time, as the party was taken over by crazies, the majority of Americans began being turned off by their antics. The end result is, unless the Republic party purges itself of the right wing social conservatives, it will end up being nothing but a regional party that runs well in the Bible belt and nowhere else.
If the Republic party establishment had enough foresight, they would just go ahead and get behind Rick Santorum and let him win the nomination. While he would probably do better in the election against President Obama than Romney, he would, nonetheless, lose. At that point the Republic party leaders could explain to the right wingers that their ideas have been presented to the American people and soundly refuted and the Republic party could send them on their way and return to its roots as a fiscally conservative, social liberal party and, much to their surprise, I would imagine, they'll end up winning elections again.
If they nominate Romney and he loses, the cry of the right wingers will be that he lost because he wasn't a "true conservative" and then you'll have to go through all this again in 2016 and every election thereafter until you finally exorcise the cancer (in the form of teabaggin right wing social conservatives) from your party.
Either way, President Obama will in November and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of watching all the Republic right wingers eat crow.
Homersimpson, you are late with that news. I posted about that this morning on another article, principal resigned in Haywood County.
I haven't lost anything yet. There are no strikes. It is only right that those entities are allowed to intervene. That would be the democratic and fair way. Their intervention will, in no way affect the judges ruling.
I researched the subject today as I am sure the lawyers already have.
The city/county consolidation rules were made a part of the Tennessee State Constitution in 1853. This was at the behest of the whites in Shelby County. Yes, this was at the height of the Jim Crow era. The population of Shelby County, according to the U. S. Census grew from 482,000 to 627,000 from 1050 to 1060. Blacks were rapidly approaching the majority in Memphis and consequently Shelby County. Because of past obstacles to and the supression of the black vote, most black memphians were not politically astute at the time. The whites of Shelby County , seeing the population trend. created these consolidation rules so as to always have a safe haven, away from possible domination from Memphis, which was rapidly becoming majority black.
So, Homer I relish the fact that they are intervening. With the history surrounding the dual vote requirements will only help Memphis in this lawsuit.
I didn't realize how big of a deal this lawsuit is until I started researching the matter. If the ruling comes down that these consolidation policies violate the one man, one vote principle and that all people in Shelby County should vote as one, then why shouldn't all Shelb Countians have a vote on whether to allow the suburban cities to break away from the SCS. Since Memphis is now a part of the SCS, along with the rest of the county, Memphis' interest iwill not be protected by not being allowed to vote on a large and economically viable part of it to secede. Just as the suburbs are being allowed to intervene to protect their interests, should not Memphis have an interest to protect in the formation of msd's, which is really seceding from the SCS?
Think about that one.
Homersimpson, let me correct my earlier post. The constitution of the state was amended in 1953, not 1853.
BigbabyJesus, I am with you on this one. Rick or Mitt will lose to President Obama.
I disagree on your thoughts on Mitt's business background. It is shallow and not what it is cracked up to be on the surface. His business record is precisely why he will lose.
Mitt Romney was, maybe, the worst governor in Ma. history. In his four years as governor, Mitt was 47 out of 50 states in job growth. He raised taxes sky high.
His record at Bain Capital is really what will do him in. Kennedy used this against him, very effectively when he tried for Kennedy's senate seat. Bain Capital was a slash and burn operation. They forced companies, in trouble, to sell; they then put thos companies in a lot of debt, cut workers, cancelled their pensions, stripped the company and sold off the assets. This is well documented and known by the midwest.
He claim he saved the olympics, but the record is clear. He was bailed out by the federal government to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for the olympics. Most of that money was then paid out to frieds and business people in his circle in Utah.
The Obama campaign has all of this and is just waiting for the nomination to be over before they carpet bomb him, nationally with millions of dollars of ads.
This is why he will lose.
Washington State overwhelmingly picks Romney 1st, Ron Paul 2nd, Tricky Ricky 3rd, & Newt last. The Romney Train is gathering speed and it’s steamrolling over Obama right to the White House. On Tuesday there will be a long pit stop in Tennessee. Now’s the time to jump on board, there’s plenty of room. Let’s make sure Obama hears the loud roar of the locomotive and feels the shaking under his feet. This is his worst nightmare: Romney vs Obama, the only match up he knows he can’t win. Let’s unite now & show the media we will not let this divisive campaign deter our ultimate goal of beating Obama now.
ROMNEY/RUBIO 2012 & 2016
Much space is being wasted here about a dick. Again, Mitt Romney is a dick. You can all grill your burgers and enjoy the day now.
Frank Chance, it is funny reading your post, your false view of Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney is not even liked by the conservatives in his on party. But, then again, which Mitt are we talking about? LOL
Evidently you have the use of a computer. Use it to really get the skinny on Mitt. If you do, I guarantee you will find that his record of governor and especially his business record with Bain Capital will do him in. Romney, not only did he not create jobs, he raided companies, cut salaries, cancelled pensions of the workers, stripped the companies, sold off their assets, and used tax credits to move jobs overseas. This is not hyperbole, these are facts. As governor, his state was 47 out of 50 in job creation. He raised taxes more than any governor of his state in history. Bragging about balancing the state budget while governor is no great feat. THE CONSTITUTION OF HIS STATE MANDATES THAT EVERY GOVERNOR BALANCE THE BUDGET.
He opposed the auto bailouts. Look what happened after the bailouts, Gm has added directly over 150,000 jobs. There has been a collateral addition of 500,00 jobs. GM, Ford, and Chrysler have made profits in the billion for the first time since the 1990's. GM is now the number one auto manufacturer in the world. The great thing about this is, THE LOANS FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ALL PAID BACK OR ARE ON COURSE TO BE PAID OUT AHEAD OF TIME. Mitt, his greatest claim to fame, HE PRACTICALLY AUTHORED THE AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE LAW . Yes he instituted it in MA first, then he wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to put in the individual mandate. It is in black and white, with his signature.
Oh, on the great job he did with the olympics. He was successful in turning that around, AFTER GETTING A BAILOUT FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THE TUNES OF HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. Instead of spreading the money around, he gave business deals to his UTAH cronies. But yet, he was against the bailout for the auto companies.
WHAT A RECORD!
Mark Rubio for VP. I wish! Mark Rubio has been non existence in the senate. He has not helped on any significant legislation. But he also lied about his family background. He said and bragged about his parents fleeing Cuba as a result of Castro. Come to find out, his parents left Cuba years before Castro came to power. They left, not because of communist oppression, but to make the almighty dollar. Securing the hispanic vote; you evidently don't know anything about the hispanic vote. Rubio is cuban, not mexican, or central american. THEIR IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. Cubans in Fl may vote because of him, but mexicans, central americans don't really care about him.
Finally, President Obama will either have or close to one billion dollars and will be able to carpet bomb Romney with Romney's own record all over the U.S..
Keep dreaming! .
Clearly OTP agrees with me. Mitt's a dick. A dick with suit pants underneath his jeans.
Oh, forgot to mention Ann Romney, sorry. Ann Romney is a dick also.
I apologize to commenters and Flyer staffers for being so vague. I am aware I have a problem with trying to get a point across. What I'm trying to convey here, I guess, is that Mitt Romney is a giant, mind-blowing dick. A dick of huge proportions, a dick for the ages, a dick that could sell out Wembley Stadium to all his dickless fans. Other than that, Romney/Palin 2012!
Homersimpson, I haven't heard from you lately. Feeling okay?
You didn't respond to my last post, I wonder why.
Well, it doesn't really matter. I just have a suggestion for you. You are highly educated, physics teacher,pursuing your PHD and all. I have great admiration and appreciation for your knowledge of math, and your diesire to make the schools better.
To make your education complete, may I suggest that you study your history, American History. It would be helpful to you to concentrate your studies on the period following reconstruction and the passage of the Jim Crow Laws of the south. Study Tennessee history and how the state passed a bunch of Jim Crow laws designed to protect their power base in Shelby County. I suggest you do this so as to make you be better at posting on matters that are a result of these laws that were put on the books. Your arguments, so far, sound logical, but , you are missing the scope of the legislative process and what brought about these laws.
Homer, I believe that you are a sincere person and if you knew the history of the struggle for true equal rights, you would be more understanding. Actually, knowing the history and you being a caring female professional, I believe that you will become more impartial to the situation of cit/county consolidation and the school merger.
This is a Positive Story! We need someone with executive and business experience to fix the mess our country is in. The true conservative and our only hope to unseat Obama, which is our ultimate goal is Mitt. Here’s an example of his ‘take charge’ leadership and integrity: http://www.snopes.com/politics/romney/sear…
Mitt shuts down Bain, sets up headquarters in NYC to find missing employee's daughter.
If beating Obama isn’t enough to excite the base, then prepare to hand him 4 more years.
Vote smart. Romney 2012
Frank Chance, we don't need a businessman who cut jobs, robbed employees' of their pensions, leaving the federal government, taxpayers to pay the tab. We definately don't need a businessman who used tax credits, again taxpayers money, to send jobs overseas. We don't need a businessman who think so little of America that he puts large sums of money overseas, in the cayman islands, the same banks that was set up and used by the drug cartels.
Now, Frank, please give us some of the specific business that shows he is for all of the people in the U.S. I think I will be able to refute all of them with facts.
The base can be fired up all you want, without the independents, and women, they constitute 53% of the voters, he won't win.
According to demographics and future demographics, the republican party, nationally, is in its death spiral.
If Obama was white, he would win re-election in a landslide.
SO PLEASE, GIVE US A BLOW BY BLOW ACCOUNT OF MITT ROMNEY'S EXPERIENCE AND HOW IT MAKES HIM BETTER QUALIFIED THAN OBAMA.
I hope the gop don't try to use the personal attacks on Obama. I would hate for it to come out that Romney's family, grandfather, moved the family to Mexico to get away from the law against polygamy. Yes rather than follow the law, he moved with his wives and their children to Mexico to avoid arrest and imprisonment. What a family? LOL
Good morning, everyone! A lovely, albeit chilly, day in Memphistown. Just read a fascinating news report, that 4 out of 5 dentists agree: Mitt Romney is a dick. And get this! 9 out of 10 gynecologists say they're convinced that Rick Santorum has old Beta tapes of "Fritz The Cat" in his upstairs closet. Wild!
I really wish Phlo would just tell us how he feels instead of always sugar-coating it.
Wow, B, you're absolutely right. Clearly, unlike, say, oldtimeplayer, I'm not getting my point across, and that is my fault. Sometimes it's hard to do in writing. I'm so much better just verbalizing at the Flying Saucer with friends on a given night, rather than trying to submit impassioned posts to my beloved Flyer. I have failed miserably, and I'll be the first to admit it. So, what's in store now? I'm regrouping and undergoing a bit of self-discovery. And I have found a pearl in the oyster. A whole new way of looking at things. I feel a huge sense of relief, but very embarrassed and a bit ashamed that this is playing out in public. I'm a very private guy, and unlike, say, oldtimeplayer, don't feel the need to bore the f**k out of everyone. So, in closing, I'll reveal my glorious epiphany, my revelation sent directly from Zeus and his running buddies: If you open a box that Justin Timberlake or Andy Samberg presents to you, Mitt Romney will be in it.
Reluctant as I am to jump into any thread where OTP has begun yet another tediously pontifical string of authoritative, self-righteous comments, I could be wrong (four words that undoubtedly have never been uttered by OTP in close proximity to each other), but I don't believe there's the proverbial snowball's chance that this country, besotted by main line Christianity as it's become, would elect a Mormon president. That, plus the reputation for untrustworthiness Mormonism has built for itself, only the most recent example of which (aside from Romney's own demonstrated disdain for the truth) is the continuation of the practice of posthumous baptisms in the face of many undertakings to cease and desist from doing so.
The polling hasn't revealed the breadth of this antipathy because of what used to be called the "Bradley effect," namely that voters are reluctant to voice a racial, ethnic or religious bias against a candidate in responding to a poll, though not at all reluctant to let it dictate their vote.
I don't understand how people who consider themselves to be a conservative back Mitt Romney when if you do any research at all, as easy as watching him in videos on youtube, you find what he really stands for. There are many videos where he himself speaks to his beliefs and stances on the issues, showing him to be a moderate at the very best, liberal on most.Romney is truly only slightly right of Obama on most issues. I can understand changing your postion on 1 or 2 issues, but to change on the majority of them just reeks of political expediency.
In the general election, Obama would clean Romney's clock just as he did to McCain in 08.Obama will prove him to be the politically expediate candidate he is through the above mentioned videos, showing him espousing his moderate liberal stances on most issues previous to 07, then his sudden conversion to "Conservatism" on the very same issues as he ramped up his campaign for the Republican Presidential primary in 08. Obama will definately portray Romney as a representative of the 1% with his untold wealth and secretive accounts in the Cayman Islands and Swiss banks. This class-warfare will play well with the Democrats and a large percentage of Independants, as well as the mainstream media.Romney will not fair well in the debates against Obama either. He has had few really good debate performances, only actually winning the 2 held in Florida. That's 2 out of approximately 19, enough said!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAkKl3Y8xmQ
Conservatives win elections by running on and standing firm on their Conservative principles. Newt Gingrich has an undeniable ability to articulate the Conservative view better than anyone. Newt will take Obama to the proverbial woodshed in any debate, on any issue, at any time. Besides, he has the most feasible, well thought-out plans of all the candidates to begin turning our great country around to recovery, prosperity, security, and back to our roots as intended by our founding fathers.But don't take my word for it. Go to www.Newt.org, see for yourself, do more research, then make your decision.
99% of the comments made on Newt Gingrich are inaccurate to put it nicely! Find the truth here....
http://www.newt.org/answers/
Then look at his plans to turn America around here:
http://www.newt.org/solutions/
Don't let the Republican establishment and pundits lead you astray. Do your own research, then make up your own mind, based on facts, not calculated misrepresentations.
Hey Phlo, if Romney is a dick (assuming I understood your previous posts) then what does that make Newt? I have a few suggestions, but wanted to seek the advice of Zeus' oracle first.
Excellent question, Merc, and one I'd love to address. Newt's dick is a tiny little thing tucked way underneath his huge gut. I have this on good authority, because one of his 36 wives told me late one night at one of those Atlanta vampire bars. So I guess I'll call him Newt Dickless.
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