Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2023 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Top Ten Pieces of Bad News for Romney on Eve of Convention

Juan Cole 08/27/2012

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

1. Ron Paul declined the opportunity to speak at the Republican Convention because he does not “fully support” Mr. Romney. Paul as the leader of the Libertarian wing of the party and as someone who appeals to youth may just have done some damage, fomenting division at Tampa in Republican ranks.

2. Romney staffers were hoping for a bounce in Florida because the GOP convention is being held in Tampa. But former Republican governor of Florida Charlie Crist has come out for President Obama.

3. Some 60% of likely voters say Obama is in tune with the problems of women. Only 30% say that about Romney.

4. Romney is so tone deaf that he keeps talking about his Swiss and Cayman Islands secret bank accounts. His complaint that he is not going to manipulate his life by closing them reminds me of the BP chairman’s complaint that the Gulf oil spill was making his life miserable.

5. A new poll of likely voters gives Obama a 9-point lead in Pennsylvania. Romney is way behind in electoral college delegates and would need to shift a major state like Pennsylvania into the red column if he is going to win. But that strategy may not be feasible for him.

6. Romney’s relationship to Bain Capital and the continued tax benefits he received from it at a time he says he had already left, may reemerge as campaign issues.

7. The specter of Todd Akin of “legitimate rape” notoriety haunts Tampa. Mike Huckabee, who will address the convention, may be planning to defend the Missouri senate candidate who said women can’t get pregnant from being raped. Romney has been running hard away from Akin even as the GOP platform has adopted the “no exceptions” Akin plank in opposition to abortion. See number 3 above.

8. 53% of voters say that Obama “cares about the needs of people;” Romney? Only 39% say that about him.

9. The American public likes Federal services and does not want to give them up for the sake of tax cuts for billionaires. Romney’s plan? Cut Federal services so as to give his rich cronies tax breaks.

10. Romney had hoped for the undivided attention of the press and the public at Tampa, so as to launch himself into the last phase of the campaign. But he may well have to compete with Hurricane Isaac, especially if it gathers strength in the Gulf and slams into the coast.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.

Twitter

Follow Juan Cole @jricole or Informed Comment @infcomment on Twitter

Facebook



Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2023 All Rights Reserved

Posting....