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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Mitt Romney not to blame for GOP distress as election nears -- Policies that turn off women, Hispanics were not his creation

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Mitt Romney not to blame for GOP distress as election nears -- Policies that turn off women, Hispanics were not his creation

Posted on Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 08:57 AM

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Mitt Romney

Don’t blame Mitt Romney for the dire prospects for the GOP in the November election.

Blame the GOP.

Romney has been saddled with a bunch of positions that make it increasingly difficult for him to be elected.

Consider the swing state of Virginia.

Romney trails with women there by a massive 18 points and eight points overall according to a Washington Post poll.

Was it something he said?

No, it was something that state GOP politicians did ----they passed a law insisting that every woman even considering having an abortion have a transvaginal ultrasound done.

The procedure is described as “a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced.”

You didn’t have to be in favor of abortion to understand, if you are a woman in Virginia that such a procedure is a horrific invasion of privacy by the government in what is a very difficult time for any woman.

Then there was leading candidate Rick Santorum who stated he was against contraception when he was running, reflecting a large group in his own party.

Little wonder women everywhere, but especially in Virginia, are fleeing the GOP in droves.

Consider Hispanics, where Romney trails by a massive margin, 74 to 26 in one recent poll.

Back in 2004 George W. Bush won 46 per cent of the Hispanic vote.

That was before the GOP mounted massive anti-immigrant campaigns across the US, turning huge amounts of Hispanics against them.

So don’t blame Romney for that either.

Peggy Noonan and others are laying into the Romney campaign saying it is amateurish and ill-prepared.

But the GOP vehicle that Romney is travelling in already has two flat tires marked Hispanics and women.

The slew to the right is not Romney’s doing, he’s a moderate centrist in GOP terms.

But he is saddled with positions he cannot possibly defend.

Therein as Brutus remarked lies the fault, ”not in the stars but in ourselves” if the GOP looked properly at it.

Blaming Romney is just passing the buck; the GOP presidential candidate is gradually becoming unelectable as much for what his party is doing and standing for as his own lackluster campaign.

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Mairin67 | Sep 25, 2012, 04:54 PM EDT

It may be the GOP standard but Romney plays into it very well (as he plays into everything very well, hence all the flip flopping). The GOP has got to get in touch with the times.

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KatieMurphy | Sep 24, 2012, 04:38 PM EDT

this sounds like the scene where a priest tried to blame the kids for the molestation. Sorry Mr Romney - if you were decent about it you could well force the issue?.............Or has the tea party gone so extreme they'd rather lose the election rather be shown up for the extremists they are.

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sam maurice | Sep 24, 2012, 12:38 PM EDT

Mormonism believes woman are inferior to men intectually,spiritually and positionally. They forbid woman to come to the Temple with their husbands because they are not part of the Priesthood..so they are shuffled to the back of the Temple.

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NYCsheridan | Sep 24, 2012, 11:16 AM EDT

Seanomelb, LOL!

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NYCsheridan | Sep 24, 2012, 11:15 AM EDT

Saddled with positions? He embraced every one of them, pandered to the idiots with teabags on their hats, just to win the primaries. Never mind that he flip-flopped and lied about it every single time. This is going to be one rude wake-up call for the self-proclaimed "Patriots" and the rest of us (The Silent Majority) are loving every minute of it. Obama 2012. Hillary 2016.

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seanomelb | Sep 23, 2012, 07:27 PM EDT

Romney's figures are so bad that if he were still leading Bain Capital he would shut himself down and sack his staff.LOL

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The Commentator | Sep 23, 2012, 12:24 PM EDT

If Mitt Romney is not a Republican, why is he running for the Republican Party? If he walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, he's probably a duck. Saying it's not Romney's fault is moot. He has said many things that appeal to his elitist, arrogant, egotistical, very rich white and wannabe white cronies. His total disregard and disdain for others less fortunate than his buddies who change laws to benefit themselves is shameful. Taking advantage of the poor, paying minimum wages to them and then blaming the poor and disadvantaged for the economic woes of the country is despicable. The goal of Romney, Ryan and the Republican Party is to ensure the tax laws benefit them by taxing their income at lower rates and allowing them to move money to other countries and escape income tax. Their other goal is to ensure the working poor and disadvantaged remain in that position so they do not have to pay reasonable wages. In cases where they cannot escape the wages, they move industries to other countries that have even lower wages. Hopefully the 98% will someday get a conscience and reject the Republican Party, instead of hoping they will become one of the 2%. The Republican moral compass is way off course with their seemingly religious followings, but when it comes right down to it, it's the money cost of the procedures the unfortunate people need that is at the crux of the argument. VOTE FOR OBAMA

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BigDaddy | Sep 23, 2012, 10:13 AM EDT

Niall, I did not invent spousal abuse but if I spoke in favor of it to get people to vote for me that would be a character flaw, don't you agree? I realize that someone in a position to benefit from Romney being president might try a weak argument like this and given that the candidate is weak, who can blame you? Thumbs up to sean for seeing the issue is not Obama. It is the weakness of the GOP as a political party. Unfortunately, the rich in America own the media, the SCOTUS and the rest of government and if they decide we get stuck with a man who makes Bush look charismatic, then that is what will happen. Democracy be damned.

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Cherball | Sep 23, 2012, 10:04 AM EDT

We could reelect Oblamyou, if we as Americans want to give up are freedoms so freely. That my ancestors work so hard to get, I know God is on his return trip to call US home. So lets not bow to the Muslim brotherhood anymore, RYAN/ROMNEY 2012

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1661996usmc | Sep 23, 2012, 08:16 AM EDT

Mitt was the best of a bad crowd of candidates for the Republican nomination. Is he the best they can offer? The Republican party is controlled by "Right Wing Tea Baggers".

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seanomelb | Sep 22, 2012, 07:25 PM EDT

Romney's accepted these positions making him just as culpable as the teabaggers.This is what happens when you "shake hands with the devil" you have to live with the consequences.

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SCVMalcolm | Sep 22, 2012, 06:30 PM EDT

Gimme a freakin' break, Piper Mac. ROMNEY'S 2011 RETURN IS written so that it can be amended and of his charitable deductions they were given to his Moron (OOPS, did I drop an "m"?) and to his Foundation which gives ALL of its $$$ to his Church (which funded the conspiracy to pass Prop. H8 in CA in 2008. The current Administration is simply trying to clean up the horrific mess that Bush left when he was evicted from the White House. BTW, the Mormon Church has ABSOLUTELY NO BASIS IN CHRISTIANITY, whatsoever, despite their use of JESUS CHRIST in their Church name as a sales and marketing ploy. I am voting for our current (and Christian) President! BTW, what about the so-called Christian terrorists who bimb abortion clinics, kill doctors, damned near killed Congressperson Gilford, etc.? Spreading hate is NOT a "family value"!

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Cyn | Sep 22, 2012, 06:29 PM EDT

PiperMac52 could not be more wrong, and apparently has not done his homework with actual data before shooting off his mouth. Romney is a puppet just like George Bush II. And he is going to lose because of underestimating the ability of poor people, women and non white people to read and learn for themselves without being told to believe lies.

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PiperMac52 | Sep 22, 2012, 05:37 PM EDT

The so-called war against women, Immigrants, Minorities, Gays...is a figment of the imagination of Democrats who love to create controversy to cover for their failed policies which left unchecked will bankrupt this nation. Romney released his 201q1 taxes showing that he paid over a million in taxes as well as giving about 30% of his income to charity. Of course now the Dems are spinning that as Harry Reid now claims Romney fudged the returns! Give me a break! Romney is a good charitable and caring man who many verify has gone out of his way to help others. The real war against those mentioned groups is committed by Islamists who practice Sharia law, which by the way they wish to bring to all Western nations. The media however goes out of the way to defend the barbarisms committed on a daily basis by Islam. Go figure....

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WoundedKnee | Sep 22, 2012, 03:06 PM EDT

There is no evidence that I am aware of that Hispanic citizens of the US favor unlimited immigration. On a related issue, there IS strong evidence that Hispanic citizens of the US do NOT favor so-called bilingual education. They want their children to learn English fast.

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