David Axelrod: Mitt Romney Is A Martini Party Member Wanting Tea Party Cred

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by Agent_286, Dec 8, 2011.

  1. Agent_286

    Agent_286 New Member

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    David Axelrod: Mitt Romney Is A Martini Party Member Wanting Tea Party Cred

    By Sam Stein | HuffPost | 12/ 7/11 06:57 PM ET

    “In more direct terms than usual, a top adviser for President Barack Obama's reelection campaign charged former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with being a lifelong member of the country's elite who is concerned principally with serving members of his own class.

    David Axelrod, the president's top communications aide, declined to call the potential Republican nominee an "elitist" outright, instead saying that he would let this publication make that determination. But the descriptors he applied to Romney left little doubt about how the Obama campaign has decided to brand its still-likely opponent.

    "The Republican Party has split into two parties. You have got the Tea Party and the martini party," Axelrod said, at a briefing of reporters in New York City, sponsored by Bloomberg View. "By orientation, Romney is more of the martini party set. He's spent the last six years banging on the door of the other group trying to win admission, abrogating one fundamental principle after another to try and prove his mettle to them. But they are just not buying."

    A prepared line delivered in his opening remarks, the mention of a so-called martini party was not Axelrod's only attempt to cast Romney as upper crust.

    Pointing to the former governor's proposal to slash capital gains tax rates in order to help the middle class, he suggested that Romney himself might "lend his accountant to help them keep track of their vast capital gains."

    "I mean, it's a joke," he said, concluding that the move would not help the middle class much at all.

    Turning Romney into a caricature of the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans is hardly an innovative twist. Romney has been portrayed similarly during all of his campaigns, from his first run for office (the 1994 Senate race against Ted Kennedy) to his most recent (the 2008 presidential campaign). His personal wealth, estimated at $250 million, and previous job history, as head of the private equity firm Bain Capital lend themselves to the attack line.

    That said, Axelrod's remark did cap off a day in which issues of class dominated the conversation. Hours before Axelrod addressed reporters, Romney told a crowd at the Republican Jewish Coalition forum in Washington D.C. that the president "seeks to replace our merit-based society with an entitlement society" where "everyone receives the same or similar rewards."

    Asked to respond to the martini party shot, Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul sent HuffPost the following.

    "This is Barack Obama's America: More people than ever before go to sleep each night without a job. More people go to sleep each night on food stamps. And more people go to sleep each night with their homes facing foreclosure. Americans are wondering how they will make ends meet – that is Barack Obama's legacy – and his response is to blame someone else."

    Lost in the scuffle was the candidate who currently stands a better chance, according to most public opinion polls, of being the Republican nominee.

    During Axelrod's briefing, which lasted longer than an hour, Newt Gingrich remained a secondary topic. The former House Speaker's name did come up -- at one point, Axelrod said that "he could be the nominee" – and his unexpected climb up the polls was analyzed. But it was clear that the president's political advisers either see Gingrich as unlikely to hold on to his lead or view him as the candidate they most want to emerge and are therefore refraining from attacking him sharply.

    "I think at the fundamental core, his economic theory is very much the same as all the other Republicans," Axelrod said of Gingrich. "And so, it may be delivered in a more flamboyant package, it may come embroidered with self-puffery, but it is still essentially the same debate."

    Asked if the Obama campaign was shifting focus or resources to accommodate Gingrich's current position in the primary polls, he added: ‘We will have all the information that we need to make sure those choices are clear, and we certainly are going to monitor what is being said. In the speaker's case, that requires a lot of monitoring, because he says a lot.’ "

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/david-axelrod-mitt-romney-tea-party_n_1135284.html
    ……

    I think Axelrod is champing at the bit to get to Newt Gingrich if he succeeds in becoming the nominee. It really doesn’t matter who gets the nomination because the republicans/T-baggers are going to be soundly defeated in 2012 and all will be filing for unemployment.

    Pretty-boy multi-millionaire Romney would be the worst person to become president, as we already have enough elected officials representing the richest 1% as it is, and Newt Gingrich is in another universe where he is King and only comes back to Earth to con some more money for his visits to Tiffany’s to keep his young wife happy with expensive Tiffany jewelry and Mediterranean cruises. OMG: could anything look more debiltating for the republicans/T-baggers?

    To sit and watch all those wax-figure candidates fail every prepared answer to every prepared question is really agonizing, and I am beginning to miss serial-sexual-predator Herman Cain just to bring some jocularity back to the debates. Maybe the Koch Brothers can convince Newt Gingrich to have Cain as his running mate…or Ginger White…who shows great promise for straight talk, courage under fire, and in-your-face truthfulness.

    As it is this has been a very middle-school type of debate, with the mental morons competing for attention while the bright candidates are ignored. I smell defeat by a landslide if any of the candidates on display now gets the nomination. Seriously guys, don’t you have anyone that can win? Have you checked in the lower echelons of your party, or did you already do that?
     
  2. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    Honestly I think Romney would be the best republican option for liberals....by leaps and bounds....probably the best in some time.
     
  3. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    think of a Nixon republican without all the corruption, paranoia, anti-semitism (I assume) with nicer hair....
     
  4. Agent_286

    Agent_286 New Member

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    .....

    Either one is ok with the Dems., but Gingrich has so much baggage to discuss in a debate, don't you think?

    And I would not like to see Romney under those hot harsh lights when his makeup starts to run as Obama asks him about his aides buying all the computers, and scrubbing everything else clean as he left the governorship in Massachusetts.
     
  5. TheLastBoyScout

    TheLastBoyScout New Member

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    The Tea Party is going to be left without a candidate.

    Most of them will look at the career politician, the establishment dinosaur Newt, hold their nose, and say "Good enough, we hate Obama".
     
  6. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    oh Newt would be easier to beat...

    but I think Romney would be a reasonable republican president, like the 1st Bush....or again, Nixon without the corruption
     
  7. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    I wouldnt be shocked to see Ron Paul take a big segment with him if he goes 3rd party
     
  8. TheLastBoyScout

    TheLastBoyScout New Member

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    I would....
     
  9. The Mello Guy

    The Mello Guy Well-Known Member

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    if he can make the case that Romneys as liberal as Obama ...which even I can make....

    and throw in a little mormon card....

    its possible
     
  10. Agent_286

    Agent_286 New Member

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    ....

    That is precisely what the 2012 election needs, as too many people will not vote republican/T-bagger nor Democrat in this election, and many will just stay home because they have no other party to vote a worthy candidate into power.

    This is a prime time for a 3rd party (Independent?) to jump seriously into the world of politics. It is exactly what is missing from this election process.

    Ron Paul would make an excellent president with Senator Bernie Sanders as VP would get my vote for sure.
     
  11. Mac-7

    Mac-7 Banned

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    Romney's not good enough for the Tea Party?

    Oh gee.

    Knowing how much Axelrod looks out for our best interests who does he recommend we support in 2012?
     
  12. Lowden Clear

    Lowden Clear Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Holding your nose acknowledges there is a problem. Covering your eyes, in the case of Obama supporters, acknowledges you don't want to accept he is a problem.
     
  13. Mac-7

    Mac-7 Banned

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    Well said.
     
  14. TheLastBoyScout

    TheLastBoyScout New Member

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    You've implicitly acknowledged plenty right there.....

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Smartmouthwoman

    Smartmouthwoman Bless your heart Past Donor

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    Another Huffpo desperation piece. Gotta wonder if that paper is reporting on anything except Republicans?

    Nobody cares what Axlerod thinks.

    Unless he likes one of the GOP candidates. Now that would be newsworthy.
     
  16. xsited1

    xsited1 New Member

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    David Axelrod is scum.
     

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