Mitt Romney's 'awkward, delusional' unemployment gaffe

http://news.yahoo.com ^ | June 17, 2011 | Yahoo News

[Maelstorm]

New York – The GOP presidential candidate worth $200 million tells a group of jobless Floridians that he's unemployed, too. Will voters get the joke?

Speaking with a group of unemployed Floridians on Thursday, Mitt Romney offered to "tell my story," too, starting with the fact that "I'm also unemployed." Romney chuckled, and so did the group of eight Florida voters. Democrats were less amused, pointing out that a full-time presidential candidate worth $200 million, while technically looking for work, probably shouldn't compare himself with struggling Americans. Romney's "brand of aw-shucks, cornball humor" has long been hit or miss, says Jonathan Weisman in The Wall Street Journal. Will this particular joke come back to haunt him?

Yes. Romney clearly isn't ready for prime time: The Republican frontrunner's "gift for odd, awkward, delusional gaffes" is almost unparalleled, says Tom Levenson at Balloon Juice. It's no wonder the "ridiculously wealthy Romney" can't persuade "the common clay that he is just like the least among us." He isn't. Stick to attacking President Obama, Mittens. "Not ready for prime time"

Give Mitt a break: It's true that Romney is playing the same "silly political games" with some of Obama's verbal miscues on unemployment, says Jay Bookman at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But still, "give it a break, people. Seriously." Mitt "was actually being kind of funny" here. But more importantly, it's a long time between now and the election, and we should let the candidates "be human between now and then." "In defense of Mitt Romney, amateur (unemployed) comedian"

[Maelstorm]

Yeah the 200 Million dollar man thinks unemployment is something to joke about. If this was Palin or even Obama this would not be pass over as nothing. This man is a joke. MA was 47th in job creation out of 50 during his tenure. The vast majority of his judicial appointmnets(2/3) were liberal Democrats and Democrat leaning independents while Gov. Out of 36 appointments only 9 were Republicans. One judge in particular was responsible for the release of a violent criminal that later killed a newly wed couple over $5. He also spend hundreds of thousands of dollars while the state was in fiscal decline on the "Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth". The big thing you find is that this man didn't even try to fight. Is this what you want to follow 2010 with? A return to Gerald Ford/Richard Nixon?

Even if we manage to win with this smuck we'd lose something much more valuable our souls. I'll never vote for the man. Him and Hunstman will never get my vote. We've worked too hard to surrender to this kind of thing.

[isthisnickcool]

Maybe Romney and Perry can team up?

Dumb and dumber...

[Maelstorm]

The guy just back at the beginning of the mounth was hammering Obama on joking about unemployed Americans.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/06/mitt-romney-rebukes-obama-unemployed-americans-are-not-just-statistics.html

Where are the GOP elites who salivate at skewering Sarah?

[FrankR]

[Williams]

In my crabby older age I’ve beome distressed elections get decided over this meaningless stuff.

[AU72]

More made about this then Obama’s ATM and shovel ready gaffes this week.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Little behaviors, off the cuff remarks, and seemingly harmless gaffes can trigger a lot of subconscious reactions in people.

This was a horrible gaffe, it conveyed stronger than any words from an opponent that Romney is not in an empathetic place with people who are struggling in this economy.

[Paladin2]

Willard has gone Galt.

[RobRoy]

I would really like to see someone compile a list of those who are pegging this ridiculous clown as the frontrunner to help us determine who are the rino’s in the room.

He embodies so many of the things that caused me to leave the republican party I hardly know where to start.

[tips up]

Like Barry’s comment on “shovel ready jobs”.

[Paladin2]

Willard has likely put in more than a fair amount of time and effort to attaining his financial situation. It's not like he is 22 yr old.

Maybe he is trying to starve the gov't beast.

[Maelstorm]

I could live with Perry though I’d just like for once a non establishment Presidential candidate who didn’t go to the “best” schools and didn’t get put on the fast track to riches from their rich daddies who actually had to work their way to the top from meager means. We have been betrayed from the Democrats and the Republicans by people who have the right resumes but have no common sense and no real passion for liberty or the principles on which this country was founded.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

I don’t care about Romney’s gaffes. I care about him being another weak and failing John McCain!!! I want an attack dog out there blasting Obama from morning until night!!! You good folks should go to the library and take out Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Hitler’s follow-up, but unpublished book. Obama is following both tomes to a tee. Folks, IMHO, we got one chance to destroy Obama and the Democrat Party politically come November, 2012. We can not afford to lose in 2012. If that happens, it will not only be the economy that fails, much worse will befall the American people. Wise up, open up your eyes. Obama, his wife and their cronies are all American haters and....that includes all Americans!!!

[mlizzy]

This was a horrible gaffe, it conveyed stronger than any words from an opponent that Romney is not in an empathetic place with people who are struggling in this economy.

Yes. I'm with you. He'll never get our vote no matter what he says or does, but this was so insensitive, I could hardly believe it. There's thousands upon thousands of people still trying to come up with June's rent, and July is almost here.

[andy58-in-nh]

I think the reporting tends to miss the point. It's not that Romney is inexperienced ("not ready for prime time"). It's that he is artificial - trying to be whatever he thinks his audience wants him to be - that makes him sound so goofy.

Romney is as much of a silver-spoon fed candidate as John Kerry or Al Gore, and has no true idea about what is happening to average Americans these days or what their lives are like. I have always sensed that his true focus is inward rather than outward; one who thrives on being influential, not on the power of ideas. We already have a President who thinks the world of himself. We don't need another.

[ExTxMarine]

This man is the epitome of how Democrats see the Republican party! They call us hypocrites because the party is made-up of primarily Christians but half our front-runners believe in abortion on demand. The party demands government stay out of our lives, yet one of our front-runner created the original ObamaCare! We tell people that we care about the middle-Americans, but one of our front-runners doesn’t even understand the touchy subject of prolonged unemployment!

I hear people say, “I don’t want a ‘regular’ person to be President, but we don’t need these elites.” I say, “BS!”
Please, can we have a normal person? I want a normal, everyday, regular person who has had to worry about making a payroll! Someone who understands that a government budget is just like a family budget: when the money runs out, you stop going out for surf and turf every night and you simply pay the lights, water, rent and gas bills!!

Someone, please, PLEASE tell Mitt, Newt, T-Paw, ALL THESE USEFUL IDIOTS, to sit down and SHUT THE ... UP! I apologize for the rant, but please! PLEASE, let’s stop the stupidity!!

[Maelstorm]

Yes because we can’t have the election decided over Mitt Romney’s fiscal and social liberal record.

[sofaman]

ditto.

Obama jokes about shovel-ready jobs, but this is a 'gaffe'.

[Maelstorm]

I went door to door for McCain Palin with my three kids and one in a stroller and gave up countless weekends but not for this man. His record is horrible, he is committed to the same bad mandates and socialist ideas at the state level as Obama is at the federal level. I’m not buying. If other conservatives and Republicans want to go submissive then cry when they are out of power again because someone like Mitt Romney who has a history of being wrong on policies becomes their standard bearer and soils the who movement as being up for sale.

If we’d listened to the people pushing Romney what do you think would have happenned in 2010. I know what would have happenned we’d have had just more of the same. We’d have had Charlie Crist not Marco Rubio, we’d have had Trey Grayson not Rand Paul, we’d have had Robert Bennet not Mike Lee and I don’t even have to go into the House races. We don’t win by winning with losers who don’t fight and don’t share our principles. All they end up doing is validating leftist premises. We have a unique alignment in 2012 where we can elect a solid conservative President who has fight in them and will build on our victories. Does anyone think in their heart of hearts or by any rational reasoned stretch that Mitt Romney is that man?

[ilgipper]

dumb on Mitt’s part, but it played well with the unemployed he was meeting with. As another poster said, elections need to be decided on more important things than a minor gaffe. If the guy continues to make stupid comments, then we have a problem. Of course, I think Mitt’s a big problem to begin with, so tone deaf humor hurting Mitt is fine with me.