October 27, 2012

The Des Moines Register endorses Romney.

"Our discussion repeatedly circled back to the nation’s single most important challenge:"
pulling the economy out of the doldrums, getting more Americans back in the workforce in meaningful jobs with promising futures, and getting the federal government on a track to balance the budget in a bipartisan manner that the country demands.

Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like Obama's vaneer of compitance is worn through and the particle board is in full view.

Ben Morris said...

Can we please get your "How Obama Lost Me" post soon? I'm looking forward to your reasoning.

coketown said...

Okay. Progress, I guess. It's nice to see a newspaper endorse a Republican, even if it is with the most hyper-qualified, equivocating, wishy-washy endorsement imaginable. Compare and contrast this with the NYTs Obama orgasment. I had to smoke a cigarette after that one.

coketown said...

Oh, shiiiiit! It's IOWA! Hahahaha!

edutcher said...

Hey, Barack, isn't this firewall kind of hot?

Don't worry, Joe, it's no BFD.

wyo sis said...

From looking at the photo gallery of past endorsements this doesn't look much like a plus for Romney.

JohnJ said...

As I said in another thread…Unbelievable!

The Register’s editorial staff has been absolutely brutal on Romney & Ryan. The endorsement meeting at the paper had to be a bench clearing brawl.

The obvious and right choice, but a really, really gutsy endorsement, nonetheless.

Chip S. said...

From looking at the photo gallery of past endorsements this doesn't look much like a plus for Romney.

What are you talking about? Every Republican they've endorsed has won every election after 1960!

furious_a said...

Alot more daily papers are endorsing Romney in '12 after endorsing Obama in '08 than Obama in '12 after McCain in '08.

Sammy said...

If the only other Democrat they haven't endorsed in the last 50 years was George McGovern (may he rest in peace), that suggests that they dumped Obama for being too far left, as well as being manifestly incompetent.

wyo sis said...

I was looking more at the win record in general. Not many winners there.

pm317 said...

Good for them!

Saw this elsewhere:

@rorycooper

Des Moines Register endorsed Carter twice. Mondale. Dukakis. Gore. But couldn’t endorse another four years of Obama. Wow.
Retweeted by S.E. Cupp

wyo sis said...

See what a bad political analyst I'd be. Maybe I could get hired by Obama.

Known Unknown said...

I was looking more at the win record in general. Not many winners there.

Because they were democrats.

Anonymous said...

This news will not help. NYT has endorsed Obama. All oxygen will be taken by that. You will hear this on Sun. talk shows and next week on cable.

The night before an exam, you have a nice dinner and sleep early. You relax. Do yoga. Listen to some cello. Etc.

You do not cram. This week is like the nigh before the exam.

Who is more prepared depends on who has the support from media?

Does Romney have that support? (No)
Does Obama have that support? (Yes)
Is anyone going to get a pulitzer for Benghazi like watergate for Nixon (No).

Big Mike said...

Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals?

Let's be fair about this. We don't know for certain that Obama couldn't forge compromises with Republicans in Congress. Since he's never tried to do it, how do we know he can't?

Dr Weevil said...

Comment posted here by 'Sammy' at 9:33pm Central time:

"If the only other Democrat they haven't endorsed in the last 50 years was George McGovern (may he rest in peace), that suggests that they dumped Obama for being too far left, as well as being manifestly incompetent."

Comment posted by me at Ace of Spades (#176 on this thread) an hour and 19 minutes before that (9:14pm Eastern time):

"If the only other Democrat they haven't endorsed in the last 50 years was George McGovern (may he rest in peace), that suggests that they dumped Obama for being too far left, as well as being manifestly incompetent."

'Sammy' is a plagiarizing asshole too stupid to even rewrite a few words for deniability. (But smart enough not to have an identifying info in his profile - or any info at all.)

Seeing Red said...

Barry couldn't forge a budget with Reid!

clint said...

Perhaps the endorsement won't sway any votes, but it certainly seems indicative that Romney will be peeling off *some* moderate democratic votes in Iowa. Probably safe to call Iowa for Romney.

Peter Hoh said...

Which candidate could get Congress to stop playing chicken when raising the debt ceiling comes up again?

Peter Hoh said...

We don't know for certain that Obama couldn't forge compromises with Republicans in Congress.

Yep, a stimulus that was one-third tax cuts, the extension of the Bush tax cuts, and a health care plan modeled on Romney's.

What a radical commie. That explains why the stock market has tanked.

Chip S. said...

Which candidate could get Congress to stop playing chicken...

It's only "chicken" when both sides are playing it. When one side stops, it's called "concession".

Obama had a deal and lost it by trying to get more at the last minute. Let's not rewrite history.

Peter Hoh said...

Should Romney be elected, congressional Republicans will raise no objections next time they have to raise the debt ceiling.

Chip S. said...

Should Romney be elected, congressional Republicans will raise no objections next time they have to raise the debt ceiling.

Only if Romney submits a budget that truly cuts spending.

Which he will, so you'll be right, but not for the reason you're implying.

Seeing Red said...

1/3rd tax cuts? I hope you're not including raiding SS which was supposedly covered by being clipped a wee bit in one's mortgage, but instead of putting it back into SS, that money is going into the general fund.

Peter Hoh said...

Only if Romney submits a budget that truly cuts spending.

Twelve years in the future, or right away?

Romney can't cut current spending enough to offset the increases he wants in defense spending.

Voting for Romney to tackle the debt is like voting for Obama to promote racial healing.

Seeing Red said...

Who says Romney's gonna get everything he wants?

Peter Hoh said...

Yeah, you're right. Romney will probably get the increased defense spending without getting the spending cuts that he wants.

Chip S. said...

Voting for Romney to tackle the debt is like voting for Obama to promote racial healing.

And voting for Obama to tackle the debt would be a clear indication of insanity.

Now what?

I have no idea what point you're trying to make here, other than to bitch about stuff from the past that you don't entirely have a handle on.

Obama tried demand-side stimulus, which failed completely. Romney's promising supply-side stimulus, which at least isn't just more of what's been tried and found wanting.

If you'll take a look at some historical stats, you'll discover that the outstanding debt of the federal government almost never is reduced--even the WW2 debt. What has always happened is that the economy has grown fast enough to reduce the debt-to-gdp ratio.

That's what I expect Romney to accomplish. Obama has no chance of doing that.

Conserve Liberty said...

Heh. Someone at Ace postulates the hand of Bill Clinton RE: DMR endorsement.

Seeing Red said...

Upping Defense spending means we have to make stuff. The EPA frowns on US making stuff.

Chuck66 said...

I may occasional trips to Iowa and have to say that the Des Moines Register is quite liberal. Like Minneapolis Star-Tribune liberal. Well, not that far left, but in the same neighborhood.

So for them to endorse Romney....I say it is not so much pro-Romney, but perhaps they figure that the affirmative action President is not good for the long-term prospects of the Democrat party.

Chuck66 said...

The Duluth News-Tribune endorsed Romney? Wow. This is the newspaper whose publisher said that they have a liberal bias because most of the people of the Duluth area are Democrats, so they tilt the paper leftwing to increase readership.

Unknown said...

Yeah, I saw this. Amazing, really.

jfm said...

Two weeks ago, I was in Ames, IA on a business trip. I spent three full days in Ames and drove and walked around the city.

Ames is home to Iowa State, which has 30,000 students. Ames itself has a population of 60,000.

During my stay I saw exactly one Obama bumper sticker on a beat-up Subaru. I saw no Obama lawn signs.

In 2008, Obama carried Story County (the county in which Ames is located) by 54% of the vote.

Titus said...

Normally I don't think Newspaper editorials mean anything but this one is huge and definitely a game changer.

alan markus said...

Preference Cascade, much?

Anonymous said...

Not what I would call a "ringing endorsement," in any event.

McTriumph said...

All four of the major Iowa newspapers endorsed Romney this week.

Julie said...

Hell hath no fury like a paper scorned?!?!