Quote of the day: 'Romney's MA was 47TH IN JOB CREATION; the only states behind him were hit ...

[ProgressiveEconomist]

Quote of the day: 'Romney's MA was 47TH IN JOB CREATION; the only states behind him were hit by (Hurricane) Katrina.'
--Stephanie Cutter, Deputy Campaign Manager for Obama, on Face the Nation Sunday April 22 2012.

Have you heard all of this before, including the part about only states hit by Katrina doing worse than Massachusetts under Romney?

I'd heard "47th in the nation". but not the Katrina punchline.

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION of this potential campaign slogan?

IMO it's BRILLIANT application of Karl Rove's strategy of going after your political opponent on his perceived strengths, rather than on his weaknesses.

[MADem]

1. He ran on the insistence that he had "buddies" in big biz who would set up

factories in struggling central MA. Of course none of that happened.

Anytime RMoney says Obamacare, the answer is "Well, the President freely admits it is based entirely on Romneycare!" Grrrrrrrrrrr! That infuriates 'em!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

3. I heard also that Romney closed a longstanding State job[development office

tasked with getting manufacturts to relocate to Massachusetts. Do you know anything about that?

[MADem]

4. I don't but I would not be at all surprised.

He line-item vetoed an inspection of bolts in the new Big Dig tunnel because it was recently built.

One of the bolts failed and a huge slab of concrete hit a car, killing a newlywed bride going to the airport to meet family. That cost the state twenty five million plus fees for the lawsuit.

Turned out the glue used to set the bolts was crappy. Had the inspection been done as recommended, the problem would have been repaired by the company building the tunnel, and no one would have died.

The guy is pennywise and pound foolish. He's an idiot-loser.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. "PENNY-WISE AND POUND-FOOLISH" GOVERNOR"

That sounds like another sure-fire Obama campaign attack on Romney.

Your example of the canceled tunnel inspection that led to a horrible "pancake" death is superb.

If the "Closed the state manufacturer recruitment office" factoid pans out, that would be at the top of the list of penny-wise, pound-foolish Romney decisions as Governor.

There must be a long list of other examples.

If anybody can think of another example, please POST IT HERE.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

13. Romney vetoed an increase in the MA minimum wage,

according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governorship_of_Mitt_Romney , which also has a great account of the tunnel collapse MAdem mentioned.

[Botany]

2. I loves me some Stephanie Cutter

Don't bring your weak ass talking points to Ms. Cutter

[ProgressiveEconomist]

12. She sure has the gift of memorable gab

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Romney will use the same excuse that Obama uses

Last edited Sun Apr 22, 2012, 12:54 PM - Edit history (1)

that the other party controlled the legislature.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

8. But wasn't it Gov Romney who hamstrung legislative efforts to kickstart the MA economy?

From http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-massachusetts-governor-romneys-record-on-jobs-was-unremarkable/2012/02/06/gIQABzEfxQ_print.html

"In November 2003, Romney signed a modest stimulus, chiefly designed by the state legislature, that included a one-day sales tax holiday and a tax rebate for companies that created manufacturing jobs in the tech sector.

'He thought it was too big. He was doing what the Republicans usually do, and we were doing what the Democrats usually do,' said a Democratic lawmaker who was in the legislature at the time.

The package, costing about $131 million, was tiny compared with the states total budget then of more than $20 billion."

[freshwest]

6. This will talking point will fail, despite the history. They don't need no stinking facts!

Remember, the GOP has succeeded in running on a fact free reality for years now. And their voters don't care.

The first problem with this talking point is that most people still regard MA as liberal and in the hands of the Democratic Party, although that's not been true when you consider Romney and Brown. The GOP will trot out that the state is the home of the Kennedys, blah, blah.

The second failure will come from the more radical among them, like Freepers, will blame the failure of Romney to acting like a liberal, catering to Democrats, etc. and thus it's still the Democrats' fault.

However, this might work with Independents, but there aren't as many of them as there once were. So tell me why I'm wrong, I need the cheer.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

10. Maybe, but Romney was the last of 4 Republican governors in a row

in Massachusetts, from 1991 to 2007. According to David Axelrod today on MTP, Massachusetts was 37th in job creation under Romney's immediate predecessor Republican Governor Jane Swift. Romney was the Republican Governor who inherited a bad Republican job creation record and made it even worse.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Massachusetts for a complete historical list of Governors of Massachusetts in chronological order.

[Raven]

7. Another importane point: Romney had

a predominently Democratic Legislature to work with that would have supported employment incentives had Romney proposed any. Obama has faced a rabid Congress hell bent on destroying him and his initiatives.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

9. A Washington Post story supports your position. See my Post #8 above

[tk2kewl]

14. Romney, almost as destructive to the economy as a catagory 4 hurricane!

[ProgressiveEconomist]

15. Even better slogan: "vote for 'Hurricane Mitt', and he'll do for national job creation what he did in MA--

Even better slogan: "vote for 'Hurricane Mitt', and he'll do for national job creation what he did in MA--

He took Massachusetts to 47th in job creation from 37th under his Republican predecessor. The only states that had worse job creation than Romney's Massachusetts were those hit by Hurricane Katrina!"