Romney Campaign, Spoiled Billionaire Donors Actually Believed They Would Win
Posted: November 8, 2012 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, racism, U.S. Politics, War on Women | Tags: African American voters, Andrew Cohen, Banksters, GOTV, Instagram, John Sununu, Kevin Roose, Nate Silver, occupy Wall Street, Peter Brandt II, Politico, private equity, race baiting, spoiled billionaires, turnout models, voter enthusiasm, voter suppression, Wall Street 59 Comments
Mitt Romney with billionaire donor Sheldon Adelson
I’ve been reading some of post-election articles in which the Village pundits try to explain why Mitt Romney lost the election. Apparently Romney and his campaign staff really did think they were going to win. They were even planning an 8-minute fireworks display over Boston Harbor after Romney won!
While the rest of us were absorbing Nate Silver’s predictions and his logical, math-based explanations of the polls, Republicans were making fun of Silver and convincing themselves that Romney voters were more enthusiastic than Obama voters, that polls were sampling the wrong kinds of voters, and that some magical “Romney wave” would sweep them into power.
At the same time, they didn’t understand that their constant race-baiting, their campaign to suppress Democratic voters, and their war on women’s reproductive rights might arouse some anger among the groups they disrespected–anger that could turn into a steely determination to get out and vote no matter how difficult it turned out to be.
In Politico’s summing up, “Romneyworld reckoning begins,” I read these striking paragraphs:
Multiple Romney sources buzzed about one number in particular: 15 percent. According to exit polls, that’s the share of African-Americans who voted in Ohio this year. In 2008, the black percentage of the electorate was 11 percent. In Virginia and Florida, exit polls showed the same share of African-Americans turned out as four years ago, something that GOP turnout models did not anticipate.
“We didn’t think they’d turn out more of their base vote than they did in 2008, but they smoked us,” said one Romney operative. “It’s unbelievable that that they turned out more from the African-American community than in 2008. Somehow they got ‘em to vote.”
Gee, maybe African Americans aren’t as dumb, lazy, and shiftless as John Sununu thinks! Maybe they didn’t appreciate Mitt Romney’s repeated dog whistles and his disrespect toward President Obama.
Andrew Cohen at the Atlantic thinks the voter suppression campaign is the main reason Romney lost. Cohen writes:
May I suggest instead a simple, elegant overriding theory on why we won’t have a Romney Administration in 2013? No serious political party in America — no legitimate party in any viable democracy — can win an election by suppressing votes. So long as the Republican Party endorses (and enacts) voting laws designed to make it harder for registered voters to vote, so long as Republican officials like Ohio’s Jon Husted contort themselves to interpret those laws in a restrictive fashion, the Republicans will continue to play a loser’s game.
That’s my theory, anyway, and I’m sticking to it. Having covered for the past two years the voting rights front in this epic election cycle, I have come to believe that the Republicans will begin to win presidential elections again only when they start competing for votes with the substance of their ideas.
At Balloon Juice, Dennis G. reacted to the same section of the Politico article that struck me as so stupid; and he offers anecdotal evidence to support voter suppression reaction argument:
Here is the thing that Team Mitt and Team Wingnut failed to understand: that when you insult folks and dismiss them, they tend to get mad and they tend to want to kick your ass.
Mitt and the Wingnuts have run a four-year campaign that is only a blond hair’s width away from calling the President a nigger every single day. They are focused like a laser beam on promoting white rage and using every dog whistle they can think of to get the message across. White folks heard them and so did people of color. Team Mitt is surprised that African-American turnout increased over 2008, but that is only because they are incapable of thinking of these folks as people.
As I knocked on door after door in a black neighborhood in Columbus, it was clear that folks heard the Mitt/wingnut code-talking and that it pissed them off. They heard the endless disrespect of the President and the general contempt for anybody who is not white that has become the core message of the modern conservative movement. They heard it and they decided to kick Mitt’s ass in the voting booth.
Hey, I’m an old white woman and I was so angered by the race baiting that I was determined to vote against the guy who did it and encouraged it!
Take a look at what happened in Philadelphia:
In a city where President Obama received more than 85 percent of the votes, in some places he received almost every one. In 13 Philadelphia wards, Obama received 99 percent of the vote or more.
Those wards, many with large African American populations, also swung heavily for Obama over John McCain in 2008. But the difficult economy seemed destined to dampen that enthusiasm four years later.
Not to worry. Ward leaders and voters said they were just as motivated this time.
“In this election, you had to point out to the people what was at stake. And in many cases, they felt that the Romney doctrine was not going to favor the working man,” said Edgar “Sonny” Campbell.
No kidding. But I’d be shocked if a lot of the motivation didn’t come from the poorly disguised racism emanating from Romney and Ryan and their surrogates.
And now let’s turn to those whiny billionaires who thought they could buy the White House and failed miserably. Kevin Roose writes at New York Magazine about a conversation he overheard:
Two months ago, in a dimly lit corner banquette at an exclusive club in the meatpacking district, two well-known billionaires sat down — at a table well within earshot of mine — to have a good bitch about the state of the union.
“The last four years have been a disaster,” said one man, a hedge fund manager who supported President Obama’s 2008 campaign but decided to sit this election out. The primary reason for his disillusionment, he said, was that the country under Obama had grown hostile to wealth, and to those who had accumulated vast amounts of it.
“People work their asses off to get where they are, and they get punished,” he said. “I wanted to fly my friend to Davos this year, and people were like, you’re not going to fly the jet to Davos, are you? How will that look to the Occupy people? I’m like, what the fuck are you talking about? I worked hard for this!”
“It’s a scary reality,” said the other billionaire, once a prominent Democratic donor.
Of course President Obama was extremely friendly to Wall Street during his first term, and the banksters did extremely well while most Americans bore the brunt of the Great Recession that Wall Street caused. But the banksters’ tender feelings were hurt when the President referred to them as “fat cats” and held them responsible for hurting middle- and working-class people.
According to Roose,
Wall Street turned very quickly against Obama, and it made a massive bet that they could put a private equity guy in the White House. The bet turned out to be risky and unhedged — the equivalent of wagering a billion dollars on an exotic derivative that would either triple in value or become totally worthless, with no possible results in the middle….
Backing Romney was a tactical decision, but it was also a psychological one. Under a Romney administration, these donors believed, no longer would they need to hang their heads, hide their jets, and apologize for their success. The social order would be restored, and they could walk proud once more.
What could be more pathetic? These Wall Street titans gambled billions on Romney and got absolutely nothing back. In fact they’ve now lost their leverage over Obama, leaving him free to be even more dismissive of their concerns. Bwaaaaahahahahahahaha!!
Do you ever wonder what effect these self-pitying and self-involved billionaires have on their ultra-privileged offspring? One of them, Peter Brandt II, put on quite a display on election night. The Grio reports that Brandt,
the 18-year-old son of billionaire publisher Peter Brant Sr. and former Victoria’s Secret supermodel Stephanie Seymour [reacted to Obama’s reelection by threatening to kill President Obama].
In a series of text messages to his friend Andrew Warren, which were reprinted by Jezebel, Warren whined about how a second Obama term would make him “poor.” Brant II then claimed, “I have a contingency plan. Kill Obama hahaha.”
Brandt was so proud of his “joke,” that he posted the entire text exchange on Instagram.
Here’s a little more of Brandt’s brand [pun intended] of humor, including this delightful tweet:
Harry & Peter Brant@HarryPeterBrant
H:yay Obama and all, but am i the only person who is DYING for Hill DOG to run in 2016! that stylish mullet needs to be in the oval office.
7 Nov 12
Thank goodness the assholes lost this time.
peej
Carissa
ecocatwoman
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mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
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Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Personally, I never had a doubt that Obama would prevail. I don’t know how anyone with a passing knowledge of the electoral college, and how the polling was going in the battleground states could seriously think Romney had a chance. He could have won the popular vote; I wouldn’t bet against that, but not the election itself. Nate Silver was calling it all along, with the only variation being in how high the high degree of certainty was that Obama would win. But you know Republicans. Their hold on reality is tenuous at best.
I agree. I keep reading where the Republicans were shocked at this loss and I am befuddled as to how that could be. Unless your only source of information is the MSM, but presumably these people have better info than that. I know someone who works for a giant financial institution which told its executives in a meeting six months ago that they already had done the math and knew that Obama was going to win the election. These are people who need to know and need to trust their arithmetic and they knew. I realize that the MSM had to keep making it seem like the election was going to be close so that people would keep watching and keep making the MSM richer, but to now see people who were on the inside who didn’t understand the reality of the election makes me feel even better that we kept them out of power.
I have to say the hedge fund guy saying “worked your ass off” really made me see red. How does his hard work compare to that of a coal miner, a steel worker, a waitress working double shifts, a soldier in a war zone? The self worth of these guys truly pisses me off.
Personally, I think more than anything else it was the encompassing voter suppression that pushed this election to the Dems. Yes, the message spread throughout the AA community, especially through the pulpits, but it didn’t stop there. MLK & those who marched alongside him are not just recent history to the AA community but to any person in our country who actually believes in freedom & believes that all of us are created equal. The blatant efforts to lock us out caused people to rise up & exercise their right to vote as if it were a sacrament. Even I, as an agnostic, view the right – not the privilege – to vote as sacred and damn close to a religious duty. I vote to honor those who came before me, the ones – women & African Americans – who were disenfranchised & made sacrifices so that one day I would have the opportunity to vote.
Yes, I agree, and said as much in my post. The racism in this campaign made me sick. I’m sure that drove a lot of the people who stood in line for hours in Florida, Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
“I vote to honor those who came before me, the ones – women & African Americans – who were disenfranchised & made sacrifices so that one day I would have the opportunity to vote.”
Ditto that.
I have to say the hedge fund guy saying “worked your ass off” really made me see red. How does his hard work compare to that of a coal miner, a steel worker, a waitress working double shifts, a soldier in a war zone? The self worth of these guys truly pisses me off.
I couldn’t have said it better.
And although we are talking about it here, the media needs to call Rove out on “voter suppression” comment. I’m also pissed the media is running with the no mandate shit.
332 Biotch! 🙂
Funnies
http://crooksandliars.com/node/63209/print
I couldn’t have said it better. I view voting as a duty; I have a responsibility to voice my opinion by voting, and to respect those before me that fought for that right.
More Schadenfreude: The Last Days of Romneyland
bwahwhwhahhahhahahah
that’s what happens when you work for a greedo
Priceless! Basking in the glow of post election elation at the continuing kneecapping of these jerks.
If those jerks weren’t part of his “transition”, their cards would have probably been cancelled anyway. They are only The Help. 🙂
I love that Mittens and Lady Ann were so cheap, one of their sons, Tag, Mag, Gag whatever their names are, drove them away in his little car,after they were off the government dole. 🙂
Ralph, you mean one of “you people”
Just a fabulous post BB. The self importance and sense of privilege and entitlement that many of these plutocrats feel is sickening. They need to be knocked down a few notches.
Thanks, Mouse.
What Mouse typed. Ditto.
Yes, this post rocks! Thank you BB!
bb, you got my vote too.
Ditto 2!
Ditto 3!
They basically declared war on women, blacks, hispanics, muppets, unions, working people, any one needing health care or public help and they expected that many people NOT to fight back at all ? Morooonnnnns!
Evidently Asian Americans got the message too:
The GOP’s Asian erosion
http://www.politico.com/blogs/charlie-mahtesian/2012/11/the-gops-asian-erosion-149083.html
“They basically declared war on women, blacks, hispanics, muppets”
Muppets……ROTFLMAO
You must not, cannot ever pick on Muppets. Of course their absolute disgust with anyone not in their own neighbourhood didn’t help either.
My personal favorite, Elmo. would make a better president than Romney. Elmo has a heart!!!
While I love Elmo – Miss Piggy is my favourite. That girl takes no shit from anyone.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/nov/08/nate-sliver-predict-us-election?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2
How did Nate Silver predict the US election?
Nate is so damn smart, he might be Extraterrestrial.
He was on Jon Stewart last night & Jon practically worshiped at his feet. His was a great interview. The King of Arithmetic.
Stewart was also great taking apart Bullshit Mountain and Rove!
For what it’s worth, I think it was one of, if not the best show he’s ever done. His delight in the Faux News people & their trained nitwits cracked me up. Is that math you tell yourself as a Republican? Jon thinks that’s better than their current motto, “Fair & Balanced.”
I’m watching Rachel talking about the topic of this post. Poor Republicans are so in denial!!!
Those poor ratfuckers, priding themselves that they didn’t need to be statisticians to tell that Nate Silver was wrong.
Denial. It’s a helluva drug.
Be still my beating heart 😉 Looks like there is some support for making them the New Whigs.
Raw Story: Herman Cain: Break up the Republican Party to ‘save the country’
Probably the only bright idea Herman Cain has ever had!
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-cries-as-he-thanks-campaign-staff-after
Thanks Ralph.
Bet he didn’t cancel their credit cards when the polls closed, either!
Have ya’ll checked out Charles Pierce’s piece on the Republican Party? Here’s the link: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/republican-problem-14582852
That’s a really great post. Another Pierce classic!
I forgot to look at Pierce today, thanks ecocatwoman!
Did you see this about the transition site? Mitt Romney Transition Website Draft Uncovered
You’ll love this one!
My 7 yr old granddaughter called me tonight and after a few words she said “Ann Romney wants to talk to you.” What!
They live in Reading which is not too far from the Romney home in Belmont and for a minute there I was speechless.
Come to find out what she said was “My Mommy wants to talk to you.” Close.
I may need a hearing test.
Nah, that isn’t a hearing problem, that is just what is left of the Romney bullshit that gave you PAD. (Didn’t you know hearing voices that say “you people” or mistaking words for Romneys and Ryans is a symptom of PAD? If it last longer than 24 hours, you should get medical help immediately.)
That would be scary. Perfectly understandable though, considering the near trauma they have put us through. 🙂
I Love You WOMEN!!!!!!!!! 🙂
Betcha she was going to berate you for your thoughtlessness in voting for Mitt’s opponent.
If Obama play his hand right, Democrats could do really well on the policy front. Good policy is good politics in the end.
Bloomberg Businessweek: Obama’s Holding the Cards
Mitt Romney lost because Mitt Romney “stunk” to high heaven. The GoP primary voters never wanted him in the first place and apparently there are not enough “Obama haters” out there willing to stay home.
Mitt Romney lost because he was a serial liar. A man unable to keep his positions straight from one event to another, it does have a habit of catching up after awhile. Especially considering that his finger would be on the red button that could overshadow climate change and send us all to Kingdom Come.
Mitt Romney lost because he showed that in order to mine that last vote out there he was unwilling to challenge his party for its stance on social issues, women’s rights, and his arrogance that had him presume he would be making an acceptance speech along with a fireworks display despite meaningful polls that proved to be true.
Mitt Romney lost because he continued to run a false ad in Ohio even when the auto industry execs fought back. He lost because he frightened those people in this industry whose jobs he claimed would be lost to China when he knew this to be untrue.
Mitt Romney lost because he stood for a platform that promised to punish rather than aid those unable to care for themselves. Wounded vets, children, seniors, handicapped and low income women who look to government to ease their plight.
Mitt Romney lost because he was Mitt Romey. And empty shell focused on saying and doing anything for the chance to enter a room to the sounds of “Pomp and Circumstance”. This was all that he desired and the public refused to “play his song”.
Mitt Romney lost. It may be to the nation’s gain. Behind the pressed jeans, lacquered hair, the ever present smirky smile, it did not take long to identify the “no there there” he worked to hard to hide.
Let’s hope we never see the likes of him again. A stiff, belligerent, self satisfied oligarch who would have driven this nation into a bigger ditch than we find ourselves in now.
Good riddance!
Chances are we won’t see another like him before 2016 anyway. I checked on the Klown and those ratfuckers have moved from completely shocked anger to denial. Now it must have been voter fraud all across the nation. It’s pretty pathetic.
Don’t they mean “not enough voter fraud?” Their ranks appear to be thinning. Wonder why?
Reality’s tough.
Amen Pat! Great rant.
Hey Dak, it isn’t just the secession talk that is getting attention, check this out: Secret Service Investigating Turlock Woman’s Facebook Post | KTXL FOX40
these Secret Service folks are going to be busy for sure…
She should STFU. The Secret Service take their job seriously.
OMG! That stupid woman. She doesn’t think she did anything wrong. My ears and eyes hurt.
The article also says that despite the woman using the n word and calling for Obama’s assassination, she says she is not racist.
Nice. Thank the deities we don’t have a President from the same party that woman belongs to.