Althouse: "What the Hell is Mitt Romney Talking About?"

January 17, 2008

"What the Hell is Mitt Romney Talking About?"

Video.

ADDED: Video disembedded.

23 comments:

hdhouse said...: Frankly that was the lucid thing he has said in weeks.; 1/17/08, 6:57 PM
Simon said...: Makes sense to me unless you sever it from the question. As long as you have that bit of context, it's a charmingly twee new old saying.; 1/17/08, 7:16 PM
Benquo said...: What he apparently meant to say, was "If a Romney drowns in a river, look for the body upstream" -- i.e. assume a struggle against adversity, even when it's hopeless.

It's quoted here in print:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1701395,00.html

Unfortunately, it's a rather delphic saying anyway, and he mangled it a bit further.; 1/17/08, 7:16 PM
George M. Spencer said...: MItt left Mass. floating....

“When Mitt Romney became governor in 2003, subchapter S corporations that were owned by Massachusetts business trusts were taxed at 5.3 percent. (This form of ownership was popular and less burdensome for many small businesses.) By the time Romney left office, the tax rate on these corporations had climbed to 9.8 percent, with Romney declaring the tax increase to be merely "closing loopholes.''….

What will Romney's approach to taxation of small business do for job growth if taken to the national level? Nothing good I fear.

Indeed, when Mitt Romney had to grapple with a deficit as governor, he didn't rely on new revenue just from business. Most of the $700 million he raised in new taxes came from individuals and families. When he raised taxes on employers, he called it ``closing tax loopholes.'' When he looked to families for revenues (marriage licenses, public recreation, real estate transfers), he called them ``fees.''”

--Peter Nicholas
Founder and chairman, Boston Scientific (BSX) Headquarters: Natick, Mass.
$7.8 billion in ’06 revenues
29,000 employees.

January 6, 2008, op-ed, Boston Herald.; 1/17/08, 7:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Letterman rules late night television. I remember his daytime show, which debuted the summer of 1980. Funny, funny guy. His early late night stuff over on the other network was outrageously funny. Missing his show is one of the few regrets I have not having television reception.; 1/17/08, 7:46 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought he was making a self-depricating joke that Romneys are stupid. When one of them drowns in the river, his relatives look upstream (i.e. the wrong way) for the body.; 1/17/08, 7:58 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: "Disneyland is a lard magnet. Fact: Disney cast members are taught to spot and assist corpulent guests so as to avoid embarrasements. Almost all of Disney’s attractions are accessible to the grossly obese, try squeezing Olaf and Mildred from Minnesota’s combined 102 inch waistlines into Magic Mountain rides. I hate Disneyland, nothing’s more disgusting than sitting on a greasy, sweaty seat some shamelessly fat person left behind. Bleech!"----LA Times Op-Ed; 1/17/08, 8:15 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: George said:
When he looked to families for revenues (marriage licenses, public recreation, real estate transfers), he called them ``fees.''”

I thought they only did that in Illinois and Chicago. They call licese plates- a wheel tax- fees now, the city wheel tax is called fees, and a host of other taxes are renamed fees. They never changed the legislation to rename the taxes fees though.

It must be a bipartisan political tactic to call taxes fees. The next time they raise the income tax they may find a way to call it a fee too.; 1/17/08, 8:20 PM
rhhardin said...: What he apparently meant to say, was "If a Romney drowns in a river, look for the body upstream" -- i.e. assume a struggle against adversity, even when it's hopeless.

It's no harder to swim upstream than downstream, as to direction. The water is stationary, to a swimmer ; and it's the landscape that flows by.

It's the same with airplanes and wind. The air is calm, once you're up, and it's the ground that blows by.; 1/17/08, 8:45 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: Valentines less than a month away.

I'm registered, both at Zales, and Kay Jewelers.; 1/17/08, 8:47 PM
Revenant said...: It's no harder to swim upstream than downstream, as to direction.

That's not true. It is no harder to swim with the current than against the current, if that's what you meant, but it is a good deal harder to swim upstream (i.e., so that your finishing position is upstream from your starting position) than it is to swim downstream. All you have to do to swim downstream, after all, is tread water. :)

Anyway, understood what he meant, but I had to listen to it three times to understand what he had *said*. "A Romney drowns" sounded like "around me drowns".; 1/17/08, 9:01 PM
Brian Doyle said...: Mitt strikes me as more of a downstream kind of guy. Running for Governor? Pro-choice. Running for the Republican nomination? Pro-life. Seeing Barack Obama finding success with his mantra of "Change"? Let the Mittster get in on that! He's gonna go ahead and talk about change too, even ripping off the graphic design of Obama's campaign signs.

You can use a live Romney to detect the subtlest shift in the current.; 1/17/08, 9:13 PM
hdhouse said...: does "up the creek without a paddle" spring to mind?; 1/17/08, 9:47 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Maxine Weiss said...
Valentines less than a month away.

I'm registered, both at Zales, and Kay Jewelers.

But are you availible?; 1/17/08, 10:03 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: Well, I'm semi-taken. In other words, you won't find me home on a Saturday night, ever.

Embarrassing.

I've always got someone to share a movie and a milkshake with.

Valentines doesn't fall on a Saturday, this year, though.; 1/17/08, 10:36 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Apparently streams don't carry away dead bodies in Romney's adages. Now, a person would not naturally drown in such a slowly moving stream so we can immediately suspect foul play and any foul play involving a drowned Romney can safely assume dead bodies upstream hung up in branches, he reasoned circularly in order to interpret the clip.; 1/17/08, 11:11 PM
James said...: The latest Romneyism I found amusing, though not in the same way as this one:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Republican Mitt Romney said Thursday he could govern in the country's best interest because "I don't have lobbyists running my campaign," although Washington insiders are on his senior staff and registered lobbyists are top advisers.

(Sorry, I'm not good with the linking, it was an AP article)

The article then went on to list some of the lobbyists who are, as you may put it, "running his campaign."

Beyond the fact that it is another example of what I have always thought, that Romney is running as a caricature of the stereotypical slimy politician, wasn't that an Edwards line from a few weeks ago? Now he's aping Edwards in South Carolina??? Is there still any doubt that this man will literally say anything to get you to vote for him? He makes Hillary look sincere, heartfelt, and spontaneous.; 1/18/08, 2:10 AM
John Stodder said...: America is not falling in love with Mitt Romney.

My reaction was like Letterman's. Complete incomprehension, even though I heard every word. If this is a new expression, it really doesn't make sense. Does the body keep fighting upstream after it drowns? Why? How? And if you're still alive, but drowning, shouldn't you be fighting to get to the river bank? Upstream, there's just more water. Why should I be impressed to have found a man drowned "upstream?" And for that matter, how would we know? Does he leave a note saying he was swimming upstream? If he's drowned, whatever progress he was making isn't going to be apparent anymore. Unless he filmed himself drowning. But then, that would indicate suicide.

Okay, now I get it. If a Romney drowns in a river, they were probably trying to commit suicide, but changed their minds, and then irrationally swam upstream, thinking they would be saved because they'd had this stupid expression drummed into their heads that swimming upstream was a good thing to do, even though it's not.; 1/18/08, 4:33 AM
goesh said...: "America is not falling love with Mitt Romney" - J.Stodder
A big fat Amen! to that....; 1/18/08, 6:34 AM
KCFleming said...: There is some serious fawning over Obama. Not so much for Lewinsky's old boyfriend's wife, though.; 1/18/08, 7:18 AM
MadisonMan said...: Nothing kills a joke like having to explain it.; 1/18/08, 7:35 AM
paul a'barge said...: Maxine, you forgot to take your meds again.

Be a good girl and go to the medicine cabinet and take your meds, oK?; 1/18/08, 8:45 AM
knox said...: I used to like Letterman. Now he gets on my nerves. Well, I say "now" but it's been since the late 90s. What used to seem charmingly smart-assy now comes across as asshole-y.; 1/18/08, 9:30 AM