Haven't written a diary in a while so forgive me if I'm not up on all the bells & whistles. I saw this article on MSNBC about Romney just now. Romney's comments have been diaried previously & were on the front page earlier but the focus was on Romney's comment that corporations are people too.
But I think that we missed something there.
From the article:
One questioner asked the GOP presidential candidate what he would do to strengthen Social Security. The voter didn't like Romney's pledge not to raise taxes, and interrupted him.
The point here isn't that the question was asked. We've been asking that for ages it seems. But this question was asked at the Iowa State Fair at (I imagine -- don't know for sure) a primarily Republican political rally. Most importantly, Romney's answer didn't go over all that well.
But wait, there's more:
Some members in the crowd urged Romney to tax wealthy individuals and corporations to ensure solvency for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Again, we've been saying this for ages so it's hardly new. And maybe the fact that this political rally happened at the Iowa State Fair brought out some of our left o'center brothers & sisters & they're the ones making the fuss rather than the Republican primary electorate. But, pressure is pressure. & it's good to see that the message is not only getting out but is being used to challenge the platforms & policies of at least one of the Republican presidential candidates.
More importantly, from a political perspective (since that is what we're focused on at daily kos, pie fights apart), is the idea that economic populism can win politically. We already know that this is a winner & that at heart, it is not only populist but progressive as well. & some of us have been suggesting that the dems in office get behind it in more force. But to get a probably Republican crowd at a probably Republican political rally to challenge a Republican presidential contender i think underscores how powerful this line of messaging truly can be.
What we need to do next is to figure out how to get this more play. I would like to see other people ask the other candidates for the Republican Presidential nomination get asked these questions. I would actually like to see current congressional office holders (both Democrats & Republicans) get asked these questions. I want these two questions to be at the forefront of everyone's minds when Congress reconvenes after the break.
What do you think? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Or is this an indication that we're starting to get some traction?