Romney Plays The Racist Card

The Republicans' internal polling must not be too good. Romney is starting to already show the behaviors of a politician whose campaign is failing and flailing. He's gone so far as to play the racist card on at least two occasions.

While campaigning in Michigan, Romney joined the birther movement when he said thia:



In case you missed it, he said:

“I love being home, in this place where Ann and I were raised, where but the both of us were born,” Romney said after introducing his wife, fellow Michigan native Ann Romney. “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place where we were born and raised.”

Now, I'll admit that I thought at first he was just trying to pander to the birthers and insinuating that Obama wasn't American. It's depressing just how many people actually still believe this nonsense.

But it did provoke some biting and hilarious comebacks by the Twitterati.

But then James Rowen points out this article from the New York Times with this telling passage:

Image courtesy of FDL 

Many of those voters are economically disaffected, and the Romney campaign has been trying to reach them with appeals built around an assertion that Mr. Obama is making it easier for welfare recipients to avoid work. The Romney campaign is airing an advertisement falsely charging that Mr. Obama has “quietly announced” plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries, a message Mr. Romney’s aides said resonates with working-class voters who see government as doing nothing for them.

The moves reflect a campaign infused with a sharper edge and overtones of class and race. On Friday, Mr. Romney said at a rally that no one had ever had to ask him about his birth certificate, and Mr. Ryan invoked his Catholicism and love of hunting. Democrats angrily said Mr. Romney’s remark associated him with the fringe “birther” camp seeking falsely to portray Mr. Obama as not American.

Rowen calls it race baiting. Indeed, it is reminiscent of Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen" attack.

I'm not sure which bothers me more: The fact that a national campaign will still stoop to this level in 2012 or the large amount of people that actually do eat up this kind of racist crap.