Thursday, October 06, 2011

The Mittster reenacts dad's "brainwashing" moment --- "Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney on Tuesday compared the current anti-Wall Street protests to 'class warfare.' 'I think it's dangerous, this class warfare,' Romney said to an audience of about 50 people in response to a question about the protests over such issues as high unemployment, home foreclosures and the 2008 corporate bailouts."

photo from here

For younger readers (or others not wholly politicized or sentient in the '70's), read of father George's gaff reported by Time. The apple did not fall far from the tree (and the tree was neighboring third base where others get by hitting triples).

The headline quote is from Sarah Boxer reporting for CBS news.

click the thumbnail to enlarge and read

ABC news reporting here, (with the above screencapture), on the Wall Street hate-in - poor people in numbers, dangerous numbers some might say, but not too poor to lack air and local transit fare. But in numbers, Mittster, get that, chew on it.

This Google on young Mitt's defining moment. This one on George, decades ago.

The Wall Street protest appears short of a Tahir Square sized crowd, but things grow.

And while protesters were nonviolent Bloomberg's finest were not inactive bystanders, per the ABC photo caption.

The nonviolent tone of things probably is what disoriented young Mitt into making his gaff, since as Governor of Massacheusetts, he doubltessly knows the anything but nonviolent state motto, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" - ( By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty). His mind probably imagined crowds of that size (of non-elite people), alll assembled, and dangerously chanting in unison, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem!!" Over and over again. With a double exclamation point to make it all seem yet more dangerous, even evil if viewed from third base.

Mittster imagining what beyond that, we can only guess, but "class warfare" is his chosen characterization. It after all is the refrain his people always chant, (in unison but restrained and without exclamation marks), whenever somebody says "Why are those rich dudes getting a free pass?" It is knee-jerk schooling from early pre-school home happenings, reinforced through the prep school loop, and onward to where charging "class warfare" against those wondering what kind of tide they experience that is not raising their boats, becomes a bare, naked, but enjoyable instinctctual elitist reactionary mantra:




Doubtlessly young Romney has had his elite advisor corps, minions that represent the best money can buy, none of which will publicly stand forward to take credit for the class warfare characterization by declaring, "I programmed the mechanical stock broker to talk that way," etc. But we can imagine a few words from the elite and swift "Corporations are People" advisor pool.


Finally, for Mitt to gain a perspective on people collectively expressing discontent, there is this.

One image from that Google, here - from Tahir Square:


Roughly translated, that sign says, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem." Massachusetts style.

_____________UPDATE______________
More of the same, with a different riff, tidbits after the opening excerpt from here:

Republican presidential candidate and former Godfather’s CEO Herman Cain joined former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on Wednesday, criticizing a series of protests taking place across the nation.

Speaking Wednesday, Mr. Cain, who continues to skyrocket in recent polls, slammed the protest movement, saying their criticism of Wall Street was misplaced. The Georgia Republican said, instead, that protesters should blame themselves.


“Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” Mr. Cain said. “It is not a person’s fault because they succeeded, it is a person’s fault if they failed. And so this is why I don’t understand these demonstrations and what is it that they’re looking for.”

The former businessman joined Mr. Romney in criticizing the movement. Speaking earlier in the day, Mr. Romney said the protester were engaged in “class warfare,” adding that the movement is “dangerous.”

Asked Wednesday whether President Obama supports or opposes the movement, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the administration “understands” why people are frustrated.

With the Republican presidential field likely set, polls continue to show Mr. Romney and Mr. Cain among the leaders. Texas Republican governor Rick Perry remains well ahead of Mr. Cain, however, a series of straw polls continue to show support for the Georgia Republican.

Meanwhile, Democrats slammed Mr. Romney and Mr. Cain, saying the statements were indicative of how a Republican administration would handle the economy.

“In New York and across the country, thousands of Americans have taken to the streets, certain of the morality of their message: bringing fairness to Main Street,” Rep. John Larson, the House Democratic Caucus Chairman, said in a statement. “The silent masses aren’t so silent anymore. They are fighting to give voice to the struggles that everyday Americans are going through.

The movement, which has called on Wall Street to create jobs and put people back to work, has slowly spread across the nation. In a sign that it is shifting from a loose-knit fringe group to a bloc that could draw in mainstream America, the movement added thousands of people to the streets of New York on Wednesday after major labor unions gave their backing to its anti-greed message.

So, now do we have a new litmus test? Never mind the poor embryos, will we have Santorum and Bachmann next in line saying, "Shame on you, you're poor and foreclosed and not knowing how to cope. I got mine, what's your problem?"

With "prosperty gospel" mongerer Mac Hammond on board her campaign train, can a Bachmann moment be far away?

And what I've missed seeing, is Perry's public reaction to Romney's comment, and to the protest effort of the downtrodden and disadvantaged. The longer he takes, the phonier his response will sound. He wants to say, what? So what's stopping him?

Two other signs of campaign season upon us as the leaves fall a year before the general election.

Same outlet as supplied that extended quote, an item headlined, "Elizabeth Warren to Scott Brown: ‘I Kept My Clothes on’." I will leave interested readers to pursue the item, this link.

Finally -- POP GOES THE WEASEL: Coleman endorses, schmoozes up unctuously to Romney - pick your reading from this Google. How about that for a ticket? The mechanical stock broker and the Kazeminy Deep Marine oil slick?

Mitt's fine with me. With us.
Let me recount the reasons ...


_________________FURTHER UPDATE_______________
Minnesota nice meets the voicing of despair and disdain from the downtrodden and disadvantaged, first planned for nearby the Mpls. Fed, scaled back to a different venue, but wherever it happens, be there or be square? This link. Here, here and here.

Gotta say it.

It is looking more and more like the Tea Party infiltrators at the town hall meetings during the healthcare theatrics.

Puppets and hidden-from-sight string pullers. Probably an event worth taking in, from a psycho-sociological student's perspective if for nothing else.

Free beer, and I'd go, but so far no such luck.

Astroturf is as astroturf does, and grassroots is something discernibly different. We wait. We see.