This one deserves its own thread I think outside of birther candidates. Romney's son went there.



I know I'm as cynical as the day is long, but does anybody believe he was really "off message"? I don't. I think that was a calculated move on the Romneys' part to get a jab at the President out there but pretend it was a goof by the "dumbest Romney". Remember how Peter Tork always had to play the dumb one on the Monkees?
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/12/mitt-romneys-son-obama-should-release-birth-certificate-grades.php?ref=fpb

I seriously doubt it was calculated. Here's the transcript, as was posted in another thread:



When the older brother interrupts to say "My dad did not say that!", and then hijacks the discussion back to talking about finances, I think that shows just how likely it was that that was scripted.

Plus: planning a birther soundbite by planting it in the mouth of Romney's son? That's a stretch.

It's right there in your quote! Matt heard someone suggest it. Maybe not his Dad, but someone in the campaign. Who else would "someone" be? You can bet your boots they've talked about it. Don't be naive.

He's on the campaign trail. Talking to voters. Voters who include people like the woman who Gingrich shot down yesterday.

Do you seriously think the only people he hears on a given day are members of his father's campaign team?

Also, unless you want to take his use of "heard" very literally, it's also possible that Matt Romney may be familiar with this 'internet' thing we're using.

I agree with Kimba and disagree with Loren. I think this stuff has been discussed at campaign meetings and Matt (is his first name Millard?) put it out there to obfuscate. And he's got a brother named "Tagg"? Did these people teach Sarah and Tawd how to name children?

Jeebus.

It's short for 'Taggart.'

the birther stuff made a laughing stock out of the Donald, does Mitt want some of that pie?

Make the son's name "Taggart." He is the oldest of the sons. I would also call myself "Tagg."

There is the Taggart Hall Visitor Center in Romney, West Virginia, built in 1790 by Francis Taggart, a Quaker. The town was named for a British city in Kent. There never was and is not now a Mormon stake in Romney. The name might have appealed to the Romney's, however.

A more likely explanation involves a distant ancestor. Somebody who pays ancestry.com for access might be able to track this down. Note that the grandfather and great-grandfather were both polygamists, so this might be a formidable task.

The Taggarts are all over Utah. The Student Union Building at USU is the Taggart Center, there is a town named Taggart.

It's Mormon for "Dog on the roof".

Taggert? As in Dagney Taggert of Taggert Transcontinental? From Atlas Shrugged? MY GOD!! It's a sekrit siganal to the objectivists! The robot conspiracy goes back to at least 1970!

That implies an ancestral connection is possible.

I don't know if the Romneys need a dog on the roof. It would not be pleasant duty in Massachusetts (or D.C., for that matter). On the other hand, we are not due for snow, freezing rain, sleet, and ice until January 8.

And just like that, I get a fundraising appeal from Jim Messina/OFA:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/3 ... irther-Son

.

This is the kind of name no feeling parent would name a child in this day and age. Because of its phonetic resemblance to a certain other word popular among juvenile hooligans, it would certainly result in a lot of taunting at the playground.

Mormons should not attempt humor when there are hundreds of unemployed clowns across the nation.

Orly's so f'g stooopid...

http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=29843

Director of health Fuddy will have to show Obama’s original

Posted on | December 30, 2011 | No Comments

WTF?



Click here: Romney’s son makes Obama birth certificate joke – POLITICO.com

That's more of an ANTI-birther joke.

The video of the birther moment is here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/30/romneys-son-jokes-about-obamas-birth-certificate/

Frankly, I think seeing the context of how he says "someone suggested" and "sort of a long list of things", it's at least more than likely he heard this suggesting and long list in a strategy discussion about how to continue to avoid releasing Willard's tax returns as long as possible. If I were Romney right now, I'd already know I'm the likely challenger to Obama and I'd be getting tired of wasting my stuff on the other Republican candidates who are all fakes or unelectable. I'm ready to take it to Obama. I'd know I'm going to have to release my returns sometime, but I'd want to time it to avoid giving Team Obama too much time to figure out a way to jam me with them, but at the same time, have a dig that tosses the attention back to Obama. Young Romney spilled the beans.

I think sending family members out like this in the era of everyone having a video recorder in their phone is a big mistake unless you're sure everybody is totally on message. In 2008, people were frustrated when they heard "go to the website", "it's at the website" from Obama phone-bankers and canvassers, but that's how Team Obama controls the message.

IIRC, Donald Trump made the same 'joke' when asked about releasing his tax returns. Of course, many thought that Trump was puffing up his net worth instead of trying to hide it.

Romney has to share the stage with a group all blathering about their poor and humble beginnings and he has to admit that he was raised in a wealthy household with all the advantages. It is obvious that Romney does not enjoy campaigning and is not comfortable with being around common folk. Romney just cannot do 'folksy.' G.W. Bush could get away with it, but Romney starts to sweat when he's among the common everyday people telling them he knows what is good for them.

FDR and JFK had the same privileged upbringing that Romney did. But unlike Romney, FDR and JFK spent their lives in public service and were able to relate to the common man and tried to expand and protect the middle class.

Romney is just an oligarch who knows and cares nothing of the plight of the middle class. Whether the Republicans can pull it off and elect another politician who doesn't give a shit about anyone except those in the moneyed class (think Reagan and the Bushes for recent examples) is still to be seen. If it happens it will be because the working poor were complicit.

To paraphrase the late great Ann Richards, Mitt Romney is just another in a long line of Republican politicians to have been born with a silver foot in his mouth.

I think Matt was trying to make a joke to distract from the tax return issue. Some in the crowd did laugh when Matt made that comment, and the Romney camp knows that Obama has released his BC. Romney has said flat out that he believes that Obama was born in the US and is a NBC and is eligible for the office of POTUS.



Romney said this on April 12, 2011 before the LFBC was released. He said this in response to Trump's BS. Video at the linky.

I think that Matt made an attempt at humor and EPIC FAILED.

Perhaps Matt needs to be reminded that he may not know his ancestry very well. Possibly even who his daddy really is. He might not be an NBC himself. I've *heard* how certain sects of those Mormons are.

I agree LMK. I think that sometimes we tend to over analyse.
Regards ...............Dick

I respectfully disagree. Obama doesn't look like anybody the Romneys went to school or church with, or lived next door to, or employed, or even have in their campaign. They are white Mormons, they employ white Mormons (except when they need Protestants to appeal to the fundies), and anyone who isn't a white Mormon just doesn't belong in the Romney clan. They made an exception, once, and hired a lawn care company that hired illegals, but Romney can't have that, for Jeebus' sake, while he's running for President.

As for Obama, since he looks different you have to treat him like an other, and question his background, even if it's only as a "joke." If you can exclude him and obfuscate the failure of your Father to release an obviously embarrassing tax return (which will show that as an unemployed person he only made $25 million last year), well then you've got a twofer.

This is a calculated attempt by a Utah oligarchical Mormon family to skim as close to racism as they can. I'm not amused.

True, Stern. You have to remember that Mitt was raised with this version of the BOM. It's more than just a little bit hard for one to unload the baggage they festooned upon them when they where young and impressionable.