Chilly reception for Mitt in Motor City

POSTED BY: Fremdfirma
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 03:31
VIEWED: 2528
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FREMDFIRMA

Sunday, February 26, 2012 4:41 AM

Alas I am currently in serious pain and still have to pull rounds tonite, so forgive that this'll be a little sparser than usual.

Anyhows, Romney got a rather frigid reception around here.

US election 2012: will the wastelands of Motor City be the end of the road for Mitt Romney?
http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.in/2012/02/us-election-2012-will-waste
lands-of.html

Quote:
Mr Romney, a local boy whose campaign once portrayed him as the "inevitable" candidate to challenge Barack Obama, had intended to shore up his standing on Friday with what was flagged as showpiece address on the economy.

Instead, he produced a clunker in Motown. His delivery was lacklustre, his ideas rehashed from earlier speeches and his venue was a campaign presentation team's nightmare – an audience of 1,200 in a cavernous sports stadium with room for 70,000.

Asked about his prospects of beating President Obama in November, he managed to play down his own hopes. "I don't think I have the best chance, I have the only chance – that may be overstating it a bit," he said, chuckling awkwardly afterwards.

Even his attempts to curry favour with the car industry – whose bail-out under Mr Obama he pointedly opposed – fell flat. The multi-millionaire served up fresh ammunition for critics who portray him as an out-of-touch elitist by listing the many American-made cars in his garages – including his wife Ann's two Cadillacs

And this picture is worth a thousand words, in opposition to no doubt well-zoomed clips from the mainstream media trying to make it look like there was actually support for this punk.

Mitt Romney Just Spoke To An EMPTY Stadium In Detroit
http://www.businessinsider.com/mitt-romney-empty-stadium-rally-2012-2

Romney camp's game plan: Make Ford Field look crowded
http://www.freep.com/article/20120224/NEWS15/202240437

Even the jackboot licking "free" press mocked him - so we're talkin laughed out of town here, folks.

Also laughable was Hermain Cain returning to the Big Sky Diner, local hangout for the maybe forty (total, county-wide) hard-right wackjob jackasses around here, which is just plain silly cause they're the closest thing to the Klan we got and despite marching orders to support GOP candidates still can't seem to choke down the concept that Cain is black, in fact other than the goon guarding his wheels from vandalism, he was the ONLY black guy for blocks, and was all but gritting his teeth about it.

Speakin of funny pictures.... what on earth possessed him to dress like a pimp, around HERE ?
(we're currently in the process of a couple rather ludicrous prostitution stings, which makes it all even funnier)

Herman Cain addresses sexual harassment allegations during stop in Ypsilanti Township
http://www.annarbor.com/news/herman-cain-stops-at-big-sky-diner-in-yps
ilanti-township/

You DO realize that 90% of this "crowd" is actually newsies, right ?
And despite angling the pictures to try to get around it, y'all DO realize the Big Sky Diner is this teeny-tiny itty bitty little place - a puny shitheap of a podunk hangout for the rightwingnut trolls to gather in their mutual circlejerk and whinge about how persecuted they are since they ain't WELCOME no where else around here since everyone despises them, yes ?

So, even better, Cain sleazes back through clinging to Honkey-Hokeys coattails to try to mitigate that whole, yanno, being black thing - in the only venue within fifty miles they won't get rotten vegetables thrown at them.

Pete Hoekstra, Herman Cain return to Ypsilanti Township's Big Sky Diner
http://www.annarbor.com/news/ypsilanti/pete-hoekstra-herman-cain-retur
n-to-ypsilanti-townships-big-sky-diner/

Says much when they can't even secure a decent venue and have to preach to the hate-radio crowd...

I don't have much love for Stabenow, but when their primary opposition to the lady is all about her standing in the way of Corporate America looting this place worse than it already has you ain't gonna find a whole lot of support for it unl

PHOENIXSHIP

Sunday, February 26, 2012 7:08 AM

If that was sparse, I'd love to see the full version!

"Why're you arguin' what's already been decided?"
Mal to Jayne, "Jaynestown"

BYTEMITE

Sunday, February 26, 2012 7:16 AM

Ha, thought this might happen.

SIGNYM

Sunday, February 26, 2012 7:43 AM

Too bad Ron Paul isn't getting a bigger hearing.

Seems as if right wingers for the most part spend their time sucking up to one authority or another. If it isn't Jehaysus it's the corporations.

KWICKO

Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:14 PM

A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:21 PM

saw a piece over on CNN.com the other day by James Carville about how the "grown-ups" in the Republican Party want to make the kids behave while they hunt up a new candidate.

I know!-- they could put "Deadeye Dick" Cheney in charge of the search! Remember how hard he worked last time, looking for a VP candidate, before he made his EXCELLENT choice!

Let's see-- " Cheney & Jeb in 2012." Brilliant! Promote the guy with the experience, and bring in the SMART son.

AURAPTOR

Sunday, February 26, 2012 2:23 PM

The audience must have been down the street, smoking dope and drinking shots in the liquor store parking lot.

Actually, that's probably a fair representation of those NOT on govt assistance, in the Detroit area.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

NIKI2

Sunday, February 26, 2012 5:09 PM

Hey, NewOld (happy to see 'ya!), I posted the Carville article in its entirety (thread title: "This is Cute")...was a good giggle, wasn't it? Any "adults" left in the GOP have got to be crying in their beer at the desperation of the situation, poor guys! Even Coulter has spoken about it, not to mention Jeb Bush and many, many others.

And by the way, I dunno about the mainstream media, but it's been covered and the photos are up all over the internet, and CNN covered it. Supposedly the venue they originally had wasn't big enough for the expected crowd (which many seem to miss), so they moved it there. Of course THERE, it looked pretty pathetic. And the Mittster, as usual, fumbled the ball.

KWICKO

Sunday, February 26, 2012 6:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
The audience must have been down the street, smoking dope and drinking shots in the liquor store parking lot.

Actually, that's probably a fair representation of those NOT on govt assistance, in the Detroit area.

What was in your heart when you posted this?

AURAPTOR

Sunday, February 26, 2012 6:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
The audience must have been down the street, smoking dope and drinking shots in the liquor store parking lot.

Actually, that's probably a fair representation of those NOT on govt assistance, in the Detroit area.

What was in your heart when you posted this?

Unlike you, I'll answer, because I'm NOT a coward.

My first thought was the image of those *Chrysler Jeep workers,racing down to the liquor store at their lunch break, then going to a local park to guzzle down liquor and smoke some weed, before heading back to the assembly line to make more fine American cars.

And then the 2nd thought was that lady caught on tape, being interviewed while she was standing in line for her " Obama money ". That also was in Detroit. Which is why I made the remark I did, on those NOT on federal assistance are shown in the Romney pic.

* WJBK Fox 2 News in Detroit caught dozens of Chrysler auto workers drinking alcohol and smoking what appear to be joints during their shifts at the automaker's Jefferson North auto plant in Detroit. )

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

GEEZER

Sunday, February 26, 2012 7:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.

What it doesn't show that the Romney speech was to the Detroit Economic Club. With a total membership of around 3,000, getting 1,000-1,200 to show up isn't too bad. Choice of venue might have been better.
http://www.econclub.org/Membership/

So comparing the pictures is the best kind of propaganda. You're not really lying, just not telling the whole truth.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

NIKI2

Sunday, February 26, 2012 8:24 PM

Geezer, that's absolutely correct. As I heard and reported, there was originally another venue planned, but it wasn't big enough so they moved it. In other words, more people wanted to attend than they originally anticipated. Maybe nothing else was available. Comparing it to the other event is reeeeely reaching, there's no question about that.

FREMDFIRMA

Monday, February 27, 2012 12:40 AM

Uh huh, supposedly "popular" politician shows up and can't even get but half his target audience to show up, and no one ELSE shows up - or at least no one else they were willing to let anywhere near the pampered little prince, and what does that tell you ?

See, point is, that just as it's always been through history, despite all the pretenses which have prior to now successfully hidden it - these wackjobs and their supporters are a teeny TINY minority, albeit a very vocal one which has excellent propaganda and the ability to convincingly pretend there's actual support for them.

There ain't, never was, never will be - and that's true in a lesser degree of the other side as well, cause most folk don't "support" them so much as they stand AGAINST these nutters and that's kind of the only way to effectively do so in our screwed up political system.

And if you wanna speak of political manipulation and half-truths, then lets talk about how Occupy gets minimized or suppressed, or how Clear Channel distorted their own footage, or the abundant Yellow Journalism of the mainstream media in general pushing for a war nobody sane wants and fronting for candidates who ought to be in a fucking asylum somewhere instead of political office and yes that includes Obama though he's nowhere NEAR as nuts as these rightwingnut crazies hell bent on starting WWIII or another Civil War right here...

Who do not have even 1/8th of the support they are pretending to have and use nefarious means to make it look otherwise.

And then I get bitched at for pointing that out, yeah, sure, whatever.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

GEEZER

Monday, February 27, 2012 3:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Uh huh, supposedly "popular" politician shows up and can't even get but half his target audience to show up, and no one ELSE shows up - or at least no one else they were willing to let anywhere near the pampered little prince, and what does that tell you ?

I don't know. Frem.

Romney invited 3000 and got 1000-1200, depending on who you ask.

Obama invited anyone who'd show up from most of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and got 16,000.

Not really equivalent.

And no matter how you or I feel about it, there were enough folks voting Republican out there to take the House - and a lot of state governments - in 2010, and they probably haven't changed their minds in the last couple of years.

About the best we can hope for is gridlock.

"Keep the Shiny side up"

FREMDFIRMA

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 6:47 PM

Allow me to counterpoint with this one.

Ron Paul packed the friggin venue, there were folks outside gathered round the building cause there weren't ROOM for em all.

Mind you that still doesn't change my position on the guy, as I have gone into detail here about before, but there's just no comparison here.

Mitt invited what shoulda been rabid supporters since they are all part of the pack of corporate predators bleeding my state dry, couldn't get even half of em to show up and got a barely lukewarm reception even from those...

Ron Paul just throws the doors open and it's like a friggin Aerosmith concert, that even took ME aback a little, I knew there was quite a bit of support for the guy here but wow.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

NIKI2

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 9:34 PM

Quote:
And no matter how you or I feel about it, there were enough folks voting Republican out there to take the House - and a lot of state governments - in 2010, and they probably haven't changed their minds in the last couple of years.

Only time will tell, but if you look at the Republican governors swept into power in 2010, you might find you're wrong:

Quote:
The other shoe in the saga of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting crusade dropped last week, and it landed with a ton-and-a-half thud. That's the literal weight of the more than 1 million signatures in favor of Walker's recall that progressive activists gathered over a 60-day window.

That's more than 16,000 signatures collected per day. It's nearly as many people as voted for Walker in his 2010 election (1.1 million) and roughly the same number that voted for his opponent. Roughly one in every three registered Wisconsin voters signed up. And since the threshold for a recall election is 540,000 signatures, it virtually guarantees Walker will face the voters this year.

But its significance extends beyond the fate of one right-wing zealot. Walker is the best known of a class of freshmen GOP governors whose conservative power grab might be Barack Obama's not-so-secret re-election weapon.

Walker, you will recall, ran for governor with nary a word about breaking the backs of the state's public unions and then made it a key part of his signature administration policy, an action he later compared to dropping "the bomb." He sparked a backlash that initially took the form of mass protests, with tens of thousands of enraged Wisconsinites occupying the state capitol before "occupy" became a movement.

The 1 million signatures should send a chill up the back of Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich or whoever the GOP taps to bear its standard. Wisconsin is a key swing state and the progressive movement just flexed some awfully strong organizational muscle there, sparked by Walker's ham-fisted overreach. The recall election, likely to occur in the late spring or early summer, will serve as a perfect progressive dry run for the Obama re-election in the fall.

And Wisconsin is not an isolated example. The Cook Political Report lists 10 states, with 142 electoral votes, as toss-ups. In that group, with 73 total electoral votes, are four states, including Wisconsin, where first-term Republican governors are foundering in the polls after their excessive policies spurred the kind of grass-roots movements that can be a huge boon to a presidential campaign.

Take Walker's neighboring colleague, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. With the help of a GOP-controlled legislature, Snyder enacted a law that allows him to appoint "emergency financial managers" in financially troubled cities and school districts. These appointed individuals would have the power to fire actual elected officials, void union contracts, terminate services, sell off assets—even eliminate whole cities or school districts. And these localized tyrants could take these actions without any public input.

It's no wonder that Michigan State University's "State of the State" poll, released in early December, found that only 19 percent of Wolverine State residents rate Snyder's performance as excellent or good (down from 31.5 percent in the spring). Critics of the law have already collected nearly 200,000 signatures for a November referendum on the law.

Snyder's neighbor to the south, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whose approval rating languishes in the mid-30s, received his stinging rebuke from the public last November. By 62 to 38 percent, voters repealed his legislative centerpiece, a Wisconsin-like law that barred public sector strikes, curtailed collective bargaining rights for public workers, and terminated binding arbitration of management-labor disputes. Opponents collected more than 1 million signatures (there's that number again) to g

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 10:45 PM

Wow. Talk about silly and a complete misrepresentation of the facts.

Look at the set up of the FORD field chairs / podium. It's clear that they didn't even intend for there to be much more show up than those who did... man, talk about COMPARISON FAIL.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

KWICKO

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 11:46 PM

So, because they knew he's rather unpopular in the state and that they'd get a low turnout, it's unfair to note that they had a low turnout and couldn't fill a fiftieth of the venue?

And how is it "a complete misrepresentation of the facts" to show two pictures of events that actually happened?

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

ANTHONYT

Tuesday, February 28, 2012 11:58 PM

Hello,

I don't much care for Romney. I do like Ron Paul and have been impressed with how his message resonates with the masses. I'm not a huge fan of Auraptor.

In this case, however, I have to concede that Raptor's cry of Foul is accurate.

There is no question that the Romney camp made a P.R. blunder in moving a small gathering to a large venue.

But that's the beginning and end of what we can say about this.

When Romney, by design, invites the wide world to an event at a large venue, you'll be able to make a fair comparison to others who have done so. Until then, this is just comedy night fodder without much substance.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

AURAPTOR

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 1:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
So, because they knew he's rather unpopular in the state and that they'd get a low turnout, it's unfair to note that they had a low turnout and couldn't fill a fiftieth of the venue?

They didn't expect more than 3,000. Tops. About 1/2 of that showed up. The blunder was over reserving space they'd never need in the first place.

Quote:
And how is it "a complete misrepresentation of the facts" to show two pictures of events that actually happened?

For the reasons mentioned above. And look at the photo. The back drop, podium, speakers of the Romney event, are located at 1 end of the field. Seats set up only extend to the end zone Clearly, they expected only a small portion of the stadium floor, not the entire stadium, to be used.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

OONJERAH

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 2:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,

I don't much care for Romney. I do like Ron Paul and have been impressed with how his message resonates with the masses. I'm not a huge fan of Auraptor.

In this case, however, I have to concede that Raptor's cry of Foul is accurate.

There is no question that the Romney camp made a P.R. blunder in moving a small gathering to a large venue.

But that's the beginning and end of what we can say about this.

When Romney, by design, invites the wide world to an event at a large venue, you'll be able to make a fair comparison to others who have done so. Until then, this is just comedy night fodder without much substance.

--Anthony

Anthony, are you saying that Romney's day at Ford Field wasn't a regular campaign stop, one that everyone knows about
and is welcome to attend? Most area Republicans didn't even know about it? The Detroit Economic Club only was invited?

And the folks making fun of him knew it?

Personal responsibility is the Truth.
Self determination triumphs over reaction.

ANTHONYT

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 2:25 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:
Quote:
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
Hello,

I don't much care for Romney. I do like Ron Paul and have been impressed with how his message resonates with the masses. I'm not a huge fan of Auraptor.

In this case, however, I have to concede that Raptor's cry of Foul is accurate.

There is no question that the Romney camp made a P.R. blunder in moving a small gathering to a large venue.

But that's the beginning and end of what we can say about this.

When Romney, by design, invites the wide world to an event at a large venue, you'll be able to make a fair comparison to others who have done so. Until then, this is just comedy night fodder without much substance.

--Anthony

Anthony, are you saying that Romney's day at Ford Field wasn't a regular campaign stop, one that everyone knows about
and is welcome to attend? Most area Republicans didn't even know about it? The Detroit Economic Club only was invited?

And the folks making fun of him knew it?

Personal responsibility is the Truth.
Self determination triumphs over reaction.

Hello,

Those are the facts as I understand them.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

FREMDFIRMA

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 3:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:
Anthony, are you saying that Romney's day at Ford Field wasn't a regular campaign stop, one that everyone knows about
and is welcome to attend? Most area Republicans didn't even know about it? The Detroit Economic Club only was invited?

And the folks making fun of him knew it?

That's not how I understand it, nor how it was billed locally - the DEC had primacy in the arrangement but as far as I understand the matter it was open to the public, just none of em cared or wanted to hear anything he said - they did chase off a couple packs of protestors, but there were damn few even of them, I suspect that's also in part due to a critical failure to communicate the time/date/venue properly by his campaign staff.

Also interesting is that as a smack in the face to the GOP I've seen hordes of Democrats charging the polls of the open GOP primary to vote for Santorum (effectively political trolling) to wind up the GOP and stick them with a nomination here for the stupidest wackjob possible making them look more insane than they already are...

I disagreed with this, vehemently so - if you're going to bother to vote for someone on the other side as a kick in the teeth to Romney, at least vote for someone like Ron Paul fer cryin out loud, cause you flood the polls for a nutjob you risk pulling this...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpringtimeForHitler
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoneHorriblyRight

Of course it's all a dog and pony show anyway given the proven chicanery and manipulation already involved in said primary, but still this mocks the very pretense of democracy and I don't care for it.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.