The 2012 US Election

[River]

But that? What did he think a blatant lie told to the people most likely to already know the truth would achieve??

[N.E. Brigand]

Romney did not mention politics during that brief stop.

It had all the trapping of a campaign event,

In fact, the badges issued to press yesterday referred to it as a campaign rally.

including the biographical video touting Gov. Romney's candidacy,

The same video that was shown at the Republican convention. When reporters asked Romney's campaign manager why that video was shown at yesterday's "relief" event, he said someone on staff pressed "play" by mistake.

the country music performer, the cheering supporters,

Well, to me, neither of these seems inappropriate for a relief event.

and yes, criticism of the president.

I haven't seen any reports about that happening at Kettering. Speaking elsewhere in Ohio for Romney, Sen. McCain did criticize Pres. Obama.

And the donations of boxes of food that he was generating at this event were despite the fact that the Red Cross discourages donations of canned goods and requests money or blood instead.

And this despite the fact that there were prominent signs at the event encouraging support for the Red Cross! Mind you, I'd normally be inclined to ignore this point as a well-meaning mistake on Romney's part, but this is a man who wants to be president, after all.

And then there are his new ads about Chrysler and GM shipping jobs to China.

That both Chrysler and GM have felt necessary to correct.

[N.E. Brigand]

This is the event Freddy worked yesterday. It was in Kettering, Ohio where he is a police officer.

I've been to Kettering many times, and even to a football game at Kettering Fairmount H.S., from which school one of my college roommates was a graduate.

[N.E. Brigand]

Somewhat relevant given Romney's unclear intentions as regards FEMA: I found this article on the sorry state of disaster relief in Russia fascinating.

[Holbytla]

I have no doubt that Romney was being, "opportunistic".
The president was (and is) going to get political mileage out this situation, so Romney acted.
If Romney crawled into the woodwork for a few days while the president was getting face time, that wouldn't have been a good political move with just a week to go before the election. I'm not so sure that what he did was a good move either.

Romney was pretty well doomed either way. While I don't believe the Obama administration was being opportunistic, the storm created an opportunity for them, where it really didn't for Romney.
I have little doubt that whomever was running against whatever incumbent, they too would have done something.

I don't know a lot about voting machines or methods of voting, but it sure does seem odd to me that you can walk into an elections office with a voter registration form, not show any form of ID, then a few weeks later, walk into a polling booth, recite what you wrote on the registration form and be handed a ballot. Or just walk into a polling place (why are churches still used to poll?), give the name and address of someone you know and be handed a ballot.

I don't have a great solution for proving eligibility, nor do I think that elections are largely affected by voter fraud (I'm sure people from both sides do it so it probably ends up a wash), but there has to be a better way.
Heck you need to show an ID to get on a plane, train or bus, to get a beer at Fenway, to get a fishing license or do most things these days.
Not showing an ID or performing some type of meaningful check seems terribly incongruous in today's world.

To be clear, I am not advocating ID's to vote, I just think that it doesn't jive with how things are done today.

[Primula Baggins]

While I don't believe the Obama administration was being opportunistic, the storm created an opportunity for them, where it really didn't for Romney.

This. Obama looked good simply by doing his job as well as he could—which he would have done anyway. Anything Romney did was going to look contrived by comparison. No comment on either candidate's virtue; just reality.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

While I agree that the storm presented an opportunity to the president, it also presented a challenge. If he had not been perceived as showing competent leadership, if he had, for instance, been in close contact with the liberal Democratic Gov. Cuomo of New York but largely given the cold shoulder to the conservative GOP Gov. Christie of New Jersey, or otherwise been seen to have fumbled the response to the crisis (a la President Bush with Kristina), it could have been a political disaster for him. Instead, it appears likely to be a net positive for him politically because he has acted coolly and collectedly and efficiently. In my perception, at least, this is the type of thing that President Obama excels in.

I think it is interesting that many people consider the key moment in the 2008 election to be when Sen. McCain tried to suspend his campaign in response to the financial crisis. The result was that he looked panicky and amateurish, and then Sen. Obama looked much more presidential in comparison. This time, a key moment may turn out to be when Pres. Obama stopped campaigning, and Gov. Romney did not. I'm not saying that Gov. Romney should have disappeared into the woodwork, but going forward with the campaign event, complete with the bio video and such, but calling it a relief event, and most of all collecting canned goods for the Red Cross despite the Red Cross's own warning that that is counter-productive, looks crass and amateurish. It's too soon to say (the election certainly is still way too close to call), but history may well look back at this in a similar way.

As for voter id, I largely agree with you Holby. The system certainly needs to be revamped. But it needs to be done in a way that is demonstrably non-partisan and unbiased. Easier said than done, I know.

[Holbytla]

If Obama had blown this, after what happened and didn't happen during and after Katrina, and the political and racial fallout from it, then I would chalk him up as one of the biggest dunderheads on the planet. Which he clearly is not.

Sure any crisis of this magnitude is extremely challenging and Obama has met that challenge, but you would have to be pretty dumb to make the same mistakes that were made in 2005.

He has handled the situation very well, which is what I expect from every president.

[Frelga]

Well, he could have followed through on a campaign promise to cut FEMA and turn disaster relief completely over to the states, and we would get to see just how well that idea worked. OK, that was Romney, but hey, it's not the last storm. We still might see a demonstration if he is elected.

So I went to look up Christie's remarks. Well done him. Whatever element of political calculation entered into it, I'd like to think that other considerations played a role. Like common sense and common decency. Quite refreshing, in a time when partisanship often trumps those two qualities.

Also looked up Mitt's actual FEMA remarks. They will certainly haunt him this Halloween.

[N.E. Brigand]

Heck you need to show an ID to get on a plane, train or bus, to get a beer at Fenway, to get a fishing license or do most things these days. Not showing an ID or performing some type of meaningful check seems terribly incongruous in today's world.
To be clear, I am not advocating ID's to vote, I just think that it doesn't jive with how things are done today.

I would be fine with requiring photo identification to vote, if everyone was issued free photo ID.

[JewelSong]

All politicians contradict themselves at times. All politicians tailor their message to their audience. All politicians modify their stance depending on which way the wind is blowing.

However, most of the time, one can get at least a general idea of where any particular politician stands on the important issues...waffling aside.

I have to say that with Romney, I really, honestly have no idea where he stand on most issues. I have no idea what he would actually do or try to do as President. He seems not to merely waffle, but completely change his stripes on any given day. Sometimes I wonder if even HE knows how he feels or thinks about various issues.

My fear is that if he does get elected, he will be vulnerable to being pushed towards the far (crazy) right...complete with the "rape victims don't get pregnant" and "cut FEMA and give it to the states" oh and, "cut PBS to save money and balance the budget."

People whom I know are voting for him tell me that they are voting for him because they "don't really think he'll do" the far (crazy) right things he (sometimes) SAYS he will do. They are banking on the notion that somehow, an elected Romney will be more of a true moderate and they like the businessman aspect of him.

But...he is so inconsistent...nobody really knows.

[Holbytla]

OK hold on.

The reality is, is that each state, especially in the well to do Northeast, has their own fully equipped emergency management team, state militia (which can and was activated at the Governor's behest), staff and supplies.

What they count on the feds for is reimbursements of funds, supplies in cases of long lasting events and overarching support if the emergency is beyond state control, and clean-up after the fact.

FEMA is rarely directly involved more than state agencies at the onset or before the situation is past its worst point.
That may not be true for the less populated or less well-to-do states, but it certainly is true for the Northeast.

Hell Governor Patrick was pulling a Dukakis a couple of days ago when he appeared in the emergency bunker, all decked out in his "hurricane vest" a-la Dukakis and his "blizzard sweater". These are state issues first and foremost, and have been for eons. The Feds come in when it is time to pony up the dollars.

[River]

Romney's a bit of a weathervane. He would scare me less if I believed we'd have a Congress that wouldn't blow him towards extremism.

As far as responding to disaster goes, I'm not sure there's any good way for a challenger to a sitting president to play it that's not going to look a little stupid. Unless, of course, the sitting president completely fouls it up. But it looks like the Sandy response is being handled by competent people from the local level on up. Lots of lessons were learned from Katrina, I'm sure.

[anthriel]

Lots of lessons were learned from Katrina, I'm sure.

That's the most encouraging thing I've read in this thread, I think.

[JewelSong]

Romney's a bit of a weathervane. He would scare me less if I believed we'd have a Congress that wouldn't blow him towards extremism. .

Exactly.

[Holbytla]

edited for posterity reasons

I'll leave it at this;

Goodness, whatever happened to the days of bumper stickers that proclaimed "Question Authority"?

[Frelga]

Now Romney responded to Christie's critics by saying that the governor and the president are both doing their jobs.

Headline news - politicians not being total @$$h0!e$, voters extatic.

Kinda a fan of Christie right now. He looked pretty livid when asked about Romney touring the area with him.

Poor Mitt. An incumbent who appears to do something well has an advantage over the challenger who can only talk. Otoh, if the incumbent muffs it, the challenger gets to look good without doing a thing. Since Obama seems to handle this crisis pretty well, does it mean Romney can't find some gain here? Well, maybe he could if he stopped to think what would be the most helpful thing he can do.

Meanwhile, Trump did his share by extending the offer of 5mil to the charity of Obama's choice. I think Obama should auction his records. Maybe someone will offer more.

[yovargas]

edited for posterity reasons

I'll leave it at this;

Goodness, whatever happened to the days of bumper stickers that proclaimed "Question Authority"?

Really? I feel like people in general have become pretty damn cynical.

[axordil]

Clean-up after the fact is, historically, the largest expense for disasters of this scale, often by an order of magnitude. The reason is exactly what Holby states: the people who handle emergency response are, for the most part, in place. The people who come in and make millions of downed trees and boxcar loads of moldy drywall go away aren't.

I love the Mennonites, but they only go so far (and I donate to their relief fund every time something like this happens which they respond to en masse).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Silver now has the president's chances up to 79%. It is interesting to see how much vitriol there is out there against him, primarily from conservatives. It's not like he is the only one indicating that the president's chances are good. Anyone can look at the state polls and see that they suggest that he is likely to win, whatever Gallup says about the national race. In fact, other places that do no more than aggregate polls give the president a higher chance of winning than 538 does.