Is "Anybody But Obama" going to be enough for Romney to win in November?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

My gut feeling is that it won't unless Romney starts to whip up some genuine enthusiasm (ha!) or something goes horribly, horribly wrong with the economy. John Kerry came *close* to unseating George W. Bush in 2004 as an "anti-Bush" but still wasn't able to generate enough enthusiasm to convince enough people to "switch horses" and vote for him over George W. Bush. What does everybody else think?

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. I suspect that ...

is why we're seeing this whole "Fast and Furious" Contempt of Congress thing.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. I think that the Republicans

are throwing as much stuff out there as possible to see if anything sticks. I've not seen any evidence (so far) that F & F is sticking in most people's minds. That may well change but so far it's only Republicans whom are freaking out over this. As long as Dems don't join in, it will (likely) be seen as nothing more than a partisan witch hunt motivated by some fringe conspiracy theorists. Solyndra was supposed to be another major "scandal" that went nowhere as well (because there was, of course, nothing there).

[WI_DEM]

3. If the jobs data from now until November continues to stink--it might be.

[Skittles]

4. yes

they hate Obama more than they hate Mitt

[liberalnationalist]

5. nope

didn't work for Kerry "anybody but Bush"..wont work for Raw Mormon Money

[bigwillq]

6. Possibly

It will depend on how jobs/economy is during the fall, how well each party brings out its base and how the indys swing.
Right now, I think Obama will be re-elected, but there's still too many factors out there that could potentially swing it the other way.

[SoutherDem]

7. Not by itself

If something happens and the economy collapse again, if the F&F issue goes bad, or some other unknown then the Anit-Obama could be enough.

If Romney actually decided to take a stand for something other than what his programmers say, which only caters to the rich white christian men, he might get some traction.

But, under the status quo, I don't see it happening.

[JoePhilly]

8. Have yet to see a single Romney sticker in NC.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. I don't really hear anybody talking about Romney

Mostly crickets here in Indiana. Seen a few Romney stickers but mostly they're some variety of "anti-Obama" stickers.

[JoePhilly]

11. I have a neighbor who has a "NOBAMA" magnet on his car ... well ...

he has it sometimes ... he's clearly not so proud of it, he takes it off the car most of the time, but every once in a while, he's got it on the car .. my guess is he only puts it on when he's going to some GOP/Teaparty type activity.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Wonder why he's not "prouder' of being anti-Obama

Most anti-Obama haters would wear them in box, with a fox, on a train or in the rain, they would wear them here or there, and would wear them anywhere!

[JoePhilly]

25. Its pretty funny

His daughter and my daughter play softball in a local league. We're talking 12-13 year old girls.

The fields are beautiful, much nicer than anything I ever played on.

When he and I see each other at games we usually don't talk politics. But one time he made a statement about how taxes are destroying the country.

And I said, "Yea, I mean ... I can only imagine how much taxes the town has to collect to keep these fields looking so nice, much nicer than anything I played on growing up, at any level. " I thought his jaw would drop right off his face.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

26. Taxes are the price for civilization

All we hear from right-wingers is how we need to get rid of as many taxes as possible yet there is never any definitive explanation as to where the money for things like protection services, infrastructure, etc is going to come from if not through taxes. A lot of people must believe that these kind of things just magically appear or something.

[JoePhilly]

28. It does seem that way.

[Rosanna Lopez]

30. Indiana

Does it look like Indiana is moving away from Obama this year, as many people have predicted?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

31. Havent seen any recent polls

but all indications are that Indiana will go red this year. I really just hope we dont go for Pence!

[Rosanna Lopez]

33. Indiana polls

The Indiana polls this year appear to give Romney a solid lead over Obama.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

36. I doubt the Repubs

want to allow Indiana to go blue again for another 44 years (though who knows where the GOP will be in the next 4-8)

[GoCubsGo]

21. Same here in SC.

A few yard signs in front of houses of some of the dressage horsey types, but nobody wants to put that sticker on their cars. I see a few Ron Paul stickers, and some anti-Obama bullshit, but even here in one of the reddest parts of a red state, there are still more "Obama 2012" stickers than anything. Even the Mormon kid who lives across the street doesn't have any Romney stuff displayed. And, he supported the guy in the 2008 primaries.

[JoePhilly]

29. That's very interesting ...

SC didn't seem to like Romney much during the primary. I can't imagine Romney not winning SC, although there are lots of fundamentalists in SC, and I can imagine many of them staying home ... they won't vote for the Muslim, and they can't vote for the cultist Romney because they risk spending eternity in Hell for doing so.

Safer to just sit this one out.

I can dream ...

[pstokely]

37. I see more anti-Obama than Romney stickers in MO

They hate Obama more than they like Mittens

[blue neen]

10. No.

.

[Aerows]

13. Romney's biggest problem

is "Anybody but Romney". There are more than a few Republicans expressing that opinion here in the South.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. Excellent point

I predict a run on clothespins shortly before Election Day 2012!

[cr8tvlde]

17. Perhaps Anybody but Mitt would be appropriate for the Left

for those disillusioned by Obama. I believe, given not having to be distracted with re-election, he will give the next four years over to some of those liberal issues we hoped for and need to start demanding...loudly.

Also, it bodes well for 2016. As we learned from GWB, money and power cover up a lot of insanity and buy large numbers of votes and are capable of providing 8 unfettered years.

[Aerows]

22. Ignore it from the Right

Because that is where it comes from. Republicans have totally messed this up, but I'm sitting back smiling. You couldn't drag an ancient Southern Baptist to the poll to vote for a Mormon, and there are a hell of a lot of them in the South.

You can try, but you need to realize that "Obama is black" is better than "Romney is a Mormon". That won't drag people to the polls, and Baptists won't preach it in the pulpits which is a conventionally safe place for Republicans to get votes.

Start naming Southern Baptists that endorse Romney on religious grounds.

[JNelson6563]

15. It didn't work for Dems in '04.

Just sayin'.

[polichick]

16. That's what voter suppression is for - to provide that little bit extra...

Watch 2000 happen all over again. Why not, nobody paid a price for corruption last time.

[RZM]

18. Probably not. Usually it isn't enough

Saying 'I'm not the other guy' can take you pretty far. But in order to get over the finish line, you need to make some sort of positive case. In order to win you need at least some of your support to be from people who genuinely like you. And Romney doesn't have many of those types of supporters.

As was pointed out above, 2004 was the very definition of this type of campaign. And while Kerry came close, he didn't quite make it.

[Carolina]

19. YES

because you have the virulently racist, the truly ignorant and the willfilly ignorant who will most assuredly vote for anybody but BHO!

As for Kerry v Bush. Kerry blew it by voting for IWR and then twisting himself and his meandering words in knots to justify and rationalize his vote during the campaign. Plus he didn't stand up to the purple heart mockers, the swiftboaters, etc. No fight!

Even before 2004, I remember thinking how there was no way that Bush would defeat Gore in 2000. Surely Gore would demolish GWB in the debates. Wrong. Yes, the repukes stole it but only because it was so ridiculously close to begin with. That should never have been the case. Joe Lieberman was awful VP pick and I do not say that from the perspective of knowing what we all know about that weasel now. I thought and said so at the time. Never liked that showboating SOB who helped found the DLC, but his Senate floor condemnation of Clinton for the Lewinsky BS sealed the deal for me! Ever heard him say anything bad -- before or after --about a repuke?!

Face it, Dems just don't fight hard enough for themselves much less for us, as in We, the People. Gone are the days -- and likes -- of FDR, Truman, JFK and LBJ.

And so yes, Rmoney could easily win simply by being anybody ...

[sofa king]

20. Not even close.

The machinery in Congress is already cranking up, and over the next six weeks we will see Republicans have to block an extension of the middle class tax cuts in order to preserve the tax cuts for the rich.

It is a little sad that it has come to this, leveraging the naked self-interest of a huge sector of terrible voters against their party, but President Obama and Senate Dems have long since gamed the table so that in a couple of months, every Republican is going to have this simple thought bouncing around his mind:

If I stay home and don't vote at all, I can pay myself up to $2000.

We have leveraged the greed of our most ignorant and amoral voters against the people who control them. It's over, and now I'm wondering if the Republican Party will survive to the next general election in 2016.

Jeb Bush and Ron Paul might just be the founders of a new mafia that ditches all the assholes who aren't useful to them anymore: racists, zealots, and nutjobs... but not the criminals, warmongers, or rich people.

[hrmjustin]

23. i hope iot does not work. n/t

[DCBob]

24. That gets Romney about 40% of the vote.

It will take something else for him to have enough to win.

[Rosanna Lopez]

32. McCain got 46% in 2008

The fact that the Republicans are still able to get between 40-50% of the vote in America is what is disturbing. In no other Western country could such a backwards, prejudiced and vile party be able to get so much support.

Remember, even in what was a BAD year for the Republicans in 2008, McCain STILL got 46% of the vote after Americans went through 8 years of Bush and witnessed the Republicans destroy the economy.

[DCBob]

34. I dont think all of McCain's votes were anti-Obama.

Some voted for him because they actually liked the guy.

No doubt it will be a challenge but I dont think 46% of the US voters plan to vote for Romney as a vote against the President. The polling doesnt show that. If that were the case we would be in serious trouble.

[gkhouston]

27. For the backwash, yes.

For swing voters, probably not. IMO, Romney just doesn't give off any "I'm one of you" vibes to ordinary people, and his attempts to be "just folks" only emphasize the gulf between him and us.

[Sky Masterson]

35. Only if it makes it close enough to steal.

Kerry was a shitty candidate whose campaign was very terribly organized.
I went to a Kerry/Edwards rally in Missouri and it sucked. You can't properly rally people if you are late coming on stage and you leave a hot crowd sweating in the sun without constant entertainment or speakers. They probably aren't going to feel that enthused.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

38. Romney is running the Seinfeld Show of political campaigns

So far it's a campaign about nothing.

[politicasista]

40. Interesting

Last edited Tue Jul 3, 2012, 10:20 PM - Edit history (1)

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