“If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact, then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone,” Romney told the nation’s leading civil rights group at their national convention in Houston, Texas. “Instead, it’s worse for African-Americans in almost every way. The unemployment rate, the duration of unemployment, average income and median family wealth are all worse for the black community.” – Romney to NAACP: Obama made it worse for you ‘in almost every way’
A SISTER SOULJAH moment in reverse at the NAACP for Mitt Romney.
He went into a crowd he knew would be hostile to his message about repealing Obamacare, which got him booed, as well as his assessment of the first African American president beloved by this crowd, but stood his ground on his message. Romney just bulled through it, unflinchingly.
After the booing quieted, he went on to say the Chamber of Commerce surveyed 1,500 members, asking them what impact Obamacare would have on them; their response was that it would make them “less likely to hire people.” Romney continued:
“So, I say again, if our priority is jobs, and that’s my priority, that’s something I’d change. And I’d replace…” – Mitt Romney
Romney went on to talk about means testing Social Security benefits, which you can also see in the clip above.
From McCay Coppins of Buzzfeed, this is what came later (see video below):
“I submit to you this, if you want a president who will make things better in the African-American community, you’re looking at him. You take a look.” – Mitt Romney
Unemployment in the African American community is over 14%. However, there is no voting block more loyal to Barack Obama, for obvious reasons.
Mitt Romney went into an African American crowd and challenged them on their own best interests as he sees it economically. Whether you like him or not, it revealed surety of Mitt Romney that we’ve not seen yet. If I’m his advisers and campaign I’d say it was as good as he could do in front of a crowd that loves Pres. Obama. In fact, he likely surprised them and just maybe a few others, depending on how the national press reports it, which is always a crap shoot, because the likely story line is not the one I’ve offered here, even if it’s the most candid.
It was an impressive political performance.
Well, I have to give Romney some credit for at least talking to African Americans instead of doing like most Republicans do–just call them names. Romney speaking to the NCAAP is like Obama trying to speak to white working class voters.
Yep, he deserves credit.
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I also find it interesting that you used the phrase “stood his ground” in your headline. Like the audience represented some sort of physical threat to Romney.
Balls. It was a Sista Soldier moment alright. You can BET the segment with the booing is going to be used to stir up the base and be used for fund raising.
It was as calculated and cynical a political move as I have ever seen.
I agree secular. I don’t think he looked couragous at all, I think he looked scary. Wait until he looks at the rest of us and tells us that he thinks America will make a fine banana republic after all only an annointed few have the ability to run this country and they deserve all the rewards..
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/11/1108655/-Romney-adviser-admits-Mitt-used-NAACP-speech-as-a-photo-op
Like I said.
It’s not any worse than Obama coming out for gay marriage at this point in time, or giving amnesty to illegal alien students at this time. Why didn’t Obama do these things a long time ago.? Only because he wants to be re-elected. He doesn’t give a sh-t about you, me or the rest of the country.
Go Romney.
I hate to tell you but you’re the last person Romney is concerned about unless he can fire you. The truth of the matter is middle class voters have nobody to vote for this election season.
You keep saying that Ga6, but, you never back it up with anything. I think Romney would be a better President than what we presently have. Obama has had over 3 years to prove something. But, still the economy sucks, we’re further in debt with little or nothing to show for it. Women and blacks are hurting more than they were before he was in office. People are angry and scared. We need a change because Obama is not working.
“You keep saying that Ga6, but, you never back it up with anything.”
Oh, I donknow, maybe mitten’s job creation in China for starts?
“We need a change because Obama is not working.”
Yeah, the repugnantklan/teabagging ass monkeys actively working to hurt the economy and deny millions of citizens their right to vote and deny women their right to reproductive choice hasn’t had any affect at all huh?
But then it figures that you would nonstop fluff for the repugnantklan/teabaggin crowds poster boy would it?
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I agree. This is ridiculous.
Romney doesn’t show= doesn’t care about the votes of Blacks, because his base is racist, and maybe he is, too.
Romney shows and panders= lying, ignoring the policies of his party.
Romney shows and speaks his mind= “Sister Soulja moment,” hypocrite, liar, weasel, whatever.
Heads I win, Tails you lose moment for Romney. Meanwhile, Obama can’t find the time, sends his VP= Obama deeply respects the NAACP, blah blah blah.
Again, this is just ridiculous, and I’m sure that in certain circles, Romney was well aware that this was a no-win situation for him. I won’t vote for Romney, but good for him for going.
Yep, there’s some iron there.
Of course, he also managed to slip in the big lie about Social Security – lumped it in with Medicare to say that both are insolvent. Neither is insolvent at the moment, and Medicare’s problem is rising health care expenses. Repealing Obamacare wouldn’t do much of anything to correct that, besides maybe making it possible to offer Medicare for all some day as an alternative.
You’d think it would make his base more likely to believe him on Obamacare, which might have been the bonus aspect of doing it in the first place.
One of the first initiatives to be fully funded by Obamacare in 2010 was three billion dollars to be awarded to hospitals systems to pay for the cost of developing state of the art e-medicine IT systems. The goal is to have virtually all hospital systems to go on-line with e-medicine tachnology which will allow access to a patients medical records, authorized by the patient, to hospital physicians and specialist who may be located at larger hospitals for consultation with the primary care physicians and the patients and the patients family members.
The e-medicine technolgy reduces healthcare costs, better treatment options and better outcomes:
http://americanmedical.com/2012/03/funding-to-computerize-medical-records/
This initiative is already paying dividends. The Mercy Hospital systems which includes 31 hospitals operating in four midwestern state have gone online funded by the Obamacare initiative. Stroke patients in small rural Mercy hospitals in Oklahoma no longer have to be transported to stroke centers in Oklahoma City, access to medical records and video conferencing between the rural Mercy hospitals and the Oklahoma City stroke centers have cut costs and are able to quickly implement treatment options at the rural Mercy hospitals.
Hard to understand why the Obama campaign is not touting this success story.
I am beginning to wonder about most of you guys…….you seem to take each morsel of daily political news and react as if it is some outcome-defining event.
I know we have a blog to fill up each day, but let’s not lose a grip on reality. The electoral outcome die is cast. Two posts down you gave us the Gallup poll. 2 percent of voters are with “no opinion” as of now.
The NAACP thing is all upside to Romney. He could have told them all to go to hell and not changed his electoral prospects by one vote. However, if his logic gets through to a couple of critical thinkers in the audience, he has 2 more votes than before he went in.
One post down, you all are appalled Republicans are spending big money on ads. So what? Are those ads going to change your mind? More importantly, is one more TV ad going to change the polls that haven’t substantially changed in the last 6 months…..the same 6 months in which ads have already been filling up the airwaves. More money at least allows the Republicans to produce some needed viewer variety. At my Florida house, I saw the exact same Obama ad repeated 4 times in the same one hour show.
Barring some true deus ex machina event, alls that’s left is to chip away at the margins. So calm yourselves, it is never going to be of the consequence your emotional reactions suggest.
His “logic” is without basis in fact. There may be some minds changed there, but it won’t be critical thinkers who are changing.
“if his logic gets through to a couple of critical thinkers in the audience, he has 2 more votes than before he went in.”
That anyone with a functioning brain could utter this absurdly hilarious comment….about mittens and the repugnantklan/teabaggers….BWAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for the laugh, I needed that!
Oh seriously, change the freaking record already. This one got boring a long time ago.
“Anyone with a functioning brain” can figure out that if you have one, you aren’t using it when you post your illiterate, content-free nonsense. Thing is, you are clearly capable of it. So why don’t you give the “imbecilic assmonkey” “republiklan teabagger” etc. retirement papers and move on now, ok?
Personally I think ol’ Mitt went to the wrong African-American venue (although I like that the audience kept it civil which speaks opposite in how some say we are now towards each other today). The NAACP is a political organization first. They are motivated by politics. If Romney would have went to Detroit and invited regular working class blacks in, he wouldn’t have gotten booed as much. If he went to the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, that has a 55% rural black population, he wouldn’t have been booed as much. Etc… Especially if he stayed locked in on jobs, jobs, jobs.
In my opinion, Republicans miss the mark on many black folks simply because they don’t go or go to the wrong venue. Stay away from the mainstream black organizations and engage black folks directly in other ways. That’s how you make in-roads.
There is also the FACT of mittens only JOBS creation being in CHINA.
What complete nonsense! Romney’s support in the black community is in the low single digits, which if you do the math means no matter where he went he would have gotten the same reaction.
You’re quick to say “nonsense” to many things Solo. And that’s part of the reason both sides are firmly damned. They coddle what they are used to and do not friggin’ try! To heck with what you think. Black America, on average, run both conservative and liberal clearly on thoughts, but historically vote Democrat since Republicans have been on the “scare” tour for awhile. And using words like “plantation” doesn’t help either. But if Romney would have done a town hall with regular black folks and kept it on jobs, you watch. You probably wouldn’t have liked it but he would have had much more of a favorable reaction.
I’ve asked many in my classically black family what they thought of Romney. These are hard Obama supporters. You know what words they DO NOT say about him? Racist…. Bigot…. He doesn’t have that stuck to him like some Republicans. All they call him is Mr. CEO. “Typical white businessman”. Rich guy. That in itself gives him some room to talk without a visceral reaction. The NAACP audience booed because they had to. Regular black folks don’t have to.
But ol’ Mitt not going to try some more. Because like his fellow Democrats, they cater to what they are comfortable with. What a bunch of cowards…
How about commenting on what he did and not what reaction he would had gotten “if” he had done this or that? Comment on what he actually did and said! After he comment about if they want free stuff from the government they should vote for the other guy your family will now start using words like bigot and racist. As for your contention that the people in the audience weren’t regular black folks? Silly!
And yet he went and spoke cordially to an audience of people who have virtually zero interest in supporting him. On the other hand, we have a President who knows he’s got them in the palm of his hand (14% unemployment in the black community regardless) and he can’t be bothered to attend. Yet it’s ROMNEY who gets the criticism here?
Spoke cordially? did u see the speech?
I will also give Romney credit on this. He knows he is going to get a very small portion of the African American vote, but he went anyway and I am going to give the audience some credit at the end of his speech they got up and clapped. I know President Obama will get a large majority of the African American vote, but he still should have went at least out of respect. The repeal of Obamacare was for the GOP base. Its not going to happen, but the bill does need fixing. The forced mandate for starters, but neither party is going to touch that. Public Option or Single Payer are the best to fix this.
“but he went anyway and I am going to give the audience some credit at the end of his speech they got up and clapped.”
Yeah, YOU are but if you go to ANY wingnut venue and read their comments, or listen to limpwithnoballs you see EXACTLY what mittens was after, sound bites and photo ops for his and the repugnantklan/teabagging racist base.
Contrary to what some on the crazy right say, the NAACP is not a wingnut organization. And I know some in that audience may have wanted to sit on their hands but the majority didn’t.
Look Sec, even if it was a photo op, it’s a smart photo op that gave him the appearance of inclusion. Now his, as you say, “repugnantklan/teabagging racist base” don’t give a damn one way on the other. They going to twist it however they need. But to the regular folk, it can be interpreted as outreach. The wingnuts don’t give a flip one way or another.
This was much too cynical if you ask me. In this case he is very much like Obama — gutless. This was an easy call to make and an easy group upon which to beat up. Blacks and Latinos are the only two groups Obama dares offend. Sistah Souljah in reverse is correct. Why doesn’t he have the courage to go to a Tea Party convention and talk truth to power? Gutless.
Romney and Obama, they deserve each other.
cjkoblak–Romney has no history of doing anything for people like you. Unless you are a millionaire he could care less what you have to say. Oh, he’ll take your vote and then stab you in the back so quick you won’t know what happened. Even you can’t articulate a reason to vote FOR Romney only a reason to vote AGAINST Obama. Look at Romney’s record in MA. He had a terrible record w/r/t to jobs. So going on that he has nothing to offer either. You obviously don’t realize that I’m not a fan of Obama.
What do you mean? “for the likes of me”?
What has Obama done for me? I had been laid off for 10 months, 3/09 to 1/10. My insurance had gone up since Obummer care was put in place and so did my husbands, plus, the benefits went down. Food prices have gone up. Gas has gone up.
Our national debt is much higher with nothing to show for it. He lied about the mandate not being a tax. He wasted tons of money on so called Green jobs and energy, not to mention doing nothing for over 40 days regarding the oil spill that happened. I could go on and on.
These are the facts, Sugar.
Are you a millionaire? I”m assuming you’re not since you’re posting on this blog. To Romney “people like you” are people to be screwed over.
Once again, you can offer no reason to vote FOR Romney, only talking why you are AGAINST Obama. Do you really think that a full blown return to trickle down failed economics that Romney proposes is a solution? Obama has done trickle down “light” and that’s why it does not work. It never worked and never is going to work no matter who’s name is attached to that failed policy.
And I have to laugh anytime a conservative talks about spending. They seem to have amnesia when it comes to the Bush Administration and their record of spending.
No amnesia here. One of the things about Bush that I didn’t like is that he did that bailout. You just are not making any points with your opinion. The fact that Obama isn’t working is a good enough reason to vote for Romney. If something is broke, I fix it. Do you really want 4 more years of this?? are yu the type of person who keeps doing the same thing over and over, even it is killing you? Not me. I make a change.
I agree with Romney on several issues, not all, but, several.
and I always have to laugh at you liberals, because, the economy really turned down after the democrats took control of the house and senate in 2007. Talk about someone having amnesia.
Voting for Romney is voting for a return to the failed policies of Bush but I guess some people have to make the same mistake over and over again. The fact of the matter is I would like four years of NEITHER of them.
Oh, boy, once again making more apologia for the GOP. So things are bad now due to the GOP winning in 2010 according to your logic. You guys never take responsibility for any of the messes you create.
Romney elected to speak to the NAACP to work for the Black vote.
As casualobserver said if he gets 2 votes it will be 2 more than he had when he went in.
I respect him for showing inclusive leadership.
Obama has 95% of the Black vote and has decided to send Biden in his place.
Obama reminds me of the man who makes regular late night booty calls to his ex-girlfriend…
…until that one night she doesn’t answer because she has decided to go out with her new man Romney who told her instead of paying your rent, car note, etc., I am going to help you get a job so that you will no longer have to depend on ANY man to take care of you.
His message was received by some.
You can believe that.
“His message was received by some.
You can believe that.”
ONLY the repugnantklan/teabagging racist base this visit was done to provide sound bites and photo opps for. NO ONE at that gathering that’s for damned sure.
You are sooooo wrong Sec.
I saw many warm thanks on Facebook and Twitter.
At the end of his speech Romney received personal thanks and appreciation for taking the time to share his vision.
Romney may not have to pull as many votes as some may think.
I personally believe that while there are many Black voters who are disappointed in the President Black and may switch their vote, we cannot ignore the deafening silence of those who will just not vote at all.
The Black voting block is not as monolithic as the media would like for you to believe. *wink*
OMG! I’ve been saying that FOREVER. My grandparents are social conservatives yet vote hard Democrat. But let me tell you, they do throw some support at local Republicans who speaking what they want to hear from a social aspect. And you right Sasha, I’m willing to bet dessert for the year that less black folks vote this time than in ’08.
Hard partisans just a missing the mark. To ignore a segment is just dumb. Even if it seems out of reach. If I was Obama, I would visit a tea party town hall (sponsored by some conservative blogs and orgs) and let them hurl as many insults they want at me. Just take it all. After they are done, I would then start talking with the audience about jobs. If they want to hurl more insults, fine. Take it like a grown-up. But keep talking. Don’t quit. Keep going. You watch what happens eventually. They’ll get tired and grumble. Then you can start talking. And that’s how you start getting things on track. Even if they won’t vote for you. You take away the demon. Now deal with what I’m saying.