Mitt Romney does have a big problem. So does the GOP in general. And it's too bad that he got it wrong in that Mother Jones video that I'm sure we'll all be talking about for weeks to come (and maybe even in a few months, as the straw that broke the camel's back and marked the end of Romney's campaign).
Romney, and the GOP, have a 22% problem. To paraphrase Romney:
"There are 22 percent of the people who will vote for the GOP no matter what. There are 22 percent who believe in low taxes and special laws for the richest 1%, and fundamentalist Christian ideals dictating law for everyone else. And they will vote for the GOP no matter what... These are the people making it impossible for reasonable people of all parties to actually govern this country."
Mitt Romney and his campaign are doing their damnedest to drive this point home.
More after the break.
We know he's lost the African-American vote: 0% according to that NBC/WSJ poll last month.
We know he's lost the Hispanic vote: 26% overall and only 21% of Hispanic women going off to this recent poll.
And we know he isn't doing well with women or independents, behind by 12% and 11% respectively, based on this poll from last Thursday.
So that leaves white men as the last bastion of Mitt Romney and the GOP. And even there, I think comments like his video today are going to rub a lot of people the wrong way. While I doubt he will actually get as low as 22% (a number I got from George W. Bush's lowest approval rating, as he left office), I think that serves as a good reminder of what may one day soon come to pass. The GOP will be marginalized as a regional party with support only from the 1% robber barons and the American Taliban. And all Mitt Romney has to do is spend the next 2 months hammering home in his vague, awkward, flip-flopping, salesman-like way that these two groups are the current GOP's driving factors. If you aren't part of those two groups, you aren't worth pandering to.
And lest you think this is just pie-in-the-sky hoping (which I admit, it may be), similar thoughts were just passed along by the very conservative Bryan Fischer this week at the Values Voter Summit.
We've had the facts on our side for years. With Romney basically calling half the country lazy losers who don't earn their keep, we should have emotion on our side too! Let's spend the next 2 months reminding the average American who the GOP are really for and to stop voting against their own interests.