IF YOU WANT to know why Team Obama has relentlessly hit Mitt Romney on Bain and his taxes, this latest snapshot on the economy gives you the answer.
Declining confidence in the nation’s economic prospects appears to be the most powerful force influencing voters as the presidential election gears up, undercutting key areas of support for President Obama and helping give his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, an advantage on the question of who would better handle the nation’s economic challenges, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
Despite months of negative advertising from Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies seeking to define Mr. Romney as out of touch with the middle class and representative of wealthy interests, the poll shows little evidence of any substantial nationwide shift in attitudes about Mr. Romney.
But with job growth tailing off since spring and the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, wondering aloud whether the labor market is “stuck in the mud,” the poll showed a significant shift in opinion about Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy, with 39 percent now saying they approved and 55 percent saying they disapproved.
Staying away from polls on the economy is impossible now, because with all of the negative advertising and incoming directed at Team Romney, gaging whether it’s working in these snapshot polls is critical, as is assessing if Pres. Obama’s is being dragged down by reality. The economy is certainly an anchor, which doesn’t surprise me, while Romney’s favorability is sagging, which may get worse if his campaign continues down the road of John Sununu and Romney’s latest “foreign” patter. The Bain attacks are working in battleground states, according to recent reports, but we’ll have to see if that continues, as the economic news gets bleaker (which Ben Bernanke isn’t helping).
But a report from Ryan Grimm and Abby Huntsman reveals something else about Mitt Romney, which I recently pointed to, but now we’ve got the quote. That is the fact that Romney never thought he’d be pushed to reveal multiple years of tax returns in the first place. So the constant drumbeat coming from Republicans has got to be nerve-racking.
Mitt Romney has been determined to resist releasing his tax returns at least since his bid for Massachusetts governor in 2002 and has been confident that he will never be forced to do so, several current and former Bain executives tell The Huffington Post. Had he thought otherwise, say the sources based on their longtime understanding of Romney, he never would have gone forward with his run for president.
So, what is Mitt Romney’s plan now? To laugh it off, saying in a local interview in Ohio, “It’s kind of amusing.”
The question is, will he get away with it?
Well right now at least Mitt Romney is proberly not so worried acoording to the new poll released July 18, 2012 from CBS News/New York Times Romney is at 47% and Obama 46% even after all the Bain attacks and people asking for Romney to release his tax returns. And in Virginia the new Quinnipiac University poll has Obama and Romney tied at 44% each. President Obama was five points ahead in June and eight points again in March. So I am not suprised that Romney laughed off the tax returns for now anyway. We will have to see going forward what its going to do to his campaign. Watched alittle bit of Morning Joe this morning and heard about these polls.
What you didn’t hear Morning Joe or Fox and Friends discuss today was the new Fox News poll which covered the same time period and the same number of registered voters that was discussed in the new CBS News/ NY Times poll.
The Fox News Poll found Obama with a four point lead over Romney 45 -41.Rather amusing that Fox and Friends would cherry pick a supposedly Democratic leaning pollster and completly ignore their own in house Fox News Poll that was published the same day:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2012/07/18/fox-news-poll-37-voters-say-are-better-off-than-four-years-ago/
Fox News has a rather puzzling response to poll resujlts. Rasmussen who is now an in house pollster for Fox News and has always shown a GOP bias in all its polls. The Fox News Poll however is conducted by an independant polling organization and has always reported poll results in direct conflict with Rasmussen’s poll results.
Here are the poll results published today on Real Politics:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
As far as Virgiunia is concerned here are the results of all the Virginia polls:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/va/virginia_romney_vs_obama-1774.html
Well, he absolutely shouldn’t get away with it. He is hiding something and no way should he be given the reins to run the country. I’d rather go with the devil we know. In fact, his defiance over this issue has me rethinking my Green Party vote.
Romney’s arrogance on this issue is enough to make me vote for Obama.
I’d rather go with the devil we know. In fact, his defiance over this issue has me rethinking my Green Party vote.
Romney’s arrogance on this issue is enough to make me vote for Obama.
?? Not seeing how the two relate. Romney’s riches make you question your support of the Green Party?
Not his riches, his lack of transparency and dishonesty make me want to ensure sure he doesn’t get elected. Voting Green won’t do that.
ahh… I guess I’m equally disturbed by the same qualities in Obama, though I assume doing my best to promote the Greens won’t be enough to stop him from being reelected…shame about that.
What could he be hiding? That he has a lot of money? That he made investments in other countries? So what? Good for him. He made a lot of money. I could care less about his tax returns from 10 years ago. My money’s on Romney.
But, if we are going to make him do it, then we should get all of the Senate and House to release their’s too. I would love to see Pelosi’s, Reids, Kerrry’s, and all the other wealthy liberals’ tax returns from the past 10 years. Bet it wouldn’t be such an issue is this was requirement for all.
If all he has to hide is that he is rich, then what’s the big deal? We already know that. So it will be just more of the same and most people will get over it by the election.
Other Presidential Candidates have released their tax returns quite willingly. And I would be OK, fine for ALL of Congress to release their returns, including John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, along with Pelosi, Reid…
No, he must have done something illegal or shady if he is so afraid to let the American People, to whom Ann recently referred as YOU PEOPLE in telling us “Mitt has given YOU PEOPLE all you need to know. Now go eat some cake!!! HARUMPH!!!” We have no time to trifle with the peasants.
Romney’s response is an echo of Leona Hemsley’s response when she was being investigated for her tax returns she filed jointly with her billionaire real estate developer husband.
Leoona famously said ‘Only the little people pay taxes’.
Isn’t that what Timmy Geitner said too?
I’d say that you’re naive to think that politicians act for the good of the ‘people’ rather than merely to get elected or reelected. Getting elected or reelected is their only goal, it’s just that Democrats and Republicans take a different approach towards that goal.
Voting your conscience is equally naive as opposed to voting for your own self interest, but, to each his own.
Well, at least Ann used the word “people” in addressing a concern of certain pesky peasants. As regards your reference to the “go eat some cake,” I was thinking that Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy were all born wealthy. Yet something weird happened in their upbrining as they were led to believe that their wealth placed them in a position of responsibility to their nation as a whole.
Romney is amused at this tax return business because unlike those mentioned above, he believes that what he acquired (not earned) is his and his alone….and it’s none of your damned business. Herbert Hoover himself once said, “The only problem with capitalism is capitalists. They’re too damned greedy.” That assessment is truer today than it was 80 years ago.
What is most sad is that we can determine rather easily what a weiner Mitt Romney is. Yet if one believes in a capitalism that benefits all in a society then it’s hard to explain Barack Obama. My humble opinion is that whether one votes for the Green Party or Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, they are voting their concience. Which is a commodity that is invisible in the two main parties. As is knowing the difference between bread and cake.
And it is NOT amusing.
The only return year for which Romney has not already disclosed the punchline is 2009. 2008 and prior were submitted to McCain’s camp during the initial VP vetting. 2010 and 2011 have been disclosed as to effective tax rate.
In 2009, there are two scenarios that would have the press and the lefty bloggers trying to make hay. One is that he took realized cap losses post-market crash to the extent he reported a net taxable loss for the year or two, 2009 was also the year you could repatriate Swiss account funds under tax amnesty.
As to the polling, it is now almost undeniable that this election is only about what Romney does or doesn’t do. Obama’s campaign advertising money should be returned to George Clooney so it could be donated to farm aid and actually accomplish something. Nothing, nada, zilch has had an impact on the overall polling for the last six months. 40-45% are in Obama’s camp come hell or high water for him. 40-45% want Romney regardless. The remainder have resisted declaring for Obama despite Seamus the dog, Ann Romney’s Cadillacs, Romney’s foreign, immigration, tax or domestic policy positions and every single gaffe real or not. What I make of this is that group of voters who will actually decide the election are not being influenced by any anti-Romney stuff from either Obama or his blogger surrogates. They are so starved for real leadership that they will wait until the eleventh hour for Romney to win them over. They so much don’t want to cast their vote for Obama that hey are cutting Romney considerable slack.
The Bain Capital scandal is working in the rust belt states most directly impacted by out sourcing manfufacturing jobs to China, India and Mexico. The rust belt will decide who wins and in the rust belt states Obama has leads over Romney that may not be reflected in national head to head matchups
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/oh/ohio_romney_vs_obama-1860.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/pa/pennsylvania_romney_vs_obama-1891.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/wi/wisconsin_romney_vs_obama-1871.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/mi/michigan_romney_vs_obama-1811.html
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/ia/iowa_romney_vs_obama-1922.html
Bain are not working so well mittens and crew are squealing like a bunch of stuck piglets!!! THEN the Marie Antuamittens comes out with her YOU PEOPLE GOLD mine for the Dems.!!!! This is turning out to be a pretty entertaining election!!