American Election 2012 - Some Lighter Moments

The site
http://www.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/gallery/presidential-primaries.html?curPhoto=1

has some "dumbest moments of the 2012 election".

Here are my favourites:

Ad Accuses Mitt Romney Of "Killing" Woman
In one of the most brutal attack ads of the season, a steelworker addresses the camera and said that after Bain Capital shut down his plant, his family lost their health insurance and his wife died of cancer. The ad was produced by a pro-Obama SuperPAC, and its message is clear: don't vote for Romney or he might kill your wife, too. Stop him, BEFORE HE KILLS AGAIN.

Bachmann & Santorum's "Slavery" Pledge
Some activists ask their candidates sign "pledges," mainly to ensure elected officials make good on their promises. Even dumber than the "pledges" themselves was the one Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum signed, supposedly to support straights-only marriage. "Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families," read the pledge, "yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President." After a public outcry, the offending passage was removed.

Romney: "Corporations are people, my friend."
At a visit to the Iowa State Fair, a heckler confronted Romney's assertion that he "didn't want to raise taxes on people," by suggesting that corporations, who benefit from loopholes in the tax code, could have their taxes raised. "Corporations are people, my friend," Romney replied. "Everything corporations earn ultimately go to people. Where do you think it goes?" While technically an accurate statement, a politician with Romney's experience should know that delivering his opponents a sound bite as potent as "corporations are people" wasn't a brilliant idea.

Rick Perry's Michigan Brain Freeze
When Rick Perry rode into the GOP race with great fanfare in mid-August, 2011 he was an overnight frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for President. A series of gaffes and political missteps followed his entry, none worse than what happened in a debate in Michigan. Challenged to actually name the three agencies he said he would cut, the Texas governor stammered: "The third agency of government... I would do away with the Education, the um, Commerce, and let's see. I can't think of the third one. I can't. Sorry. Oops." He later dropped out of the race.

Herman Cain's Female Problem
In October 2011, Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain was the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, largely based on the strength of his business background and marketable "999" tax plan. He was riding so high that when it came out that two women had received money not to talk about incidents of Cain's alleged sexual harassment, his campaign seemed strong enough to endure the scandal. But as more women emerged, including one who claimed she had had an affair with Cain for over a decade, Cain announced: "I am suspending my Presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt . . . on me, on my family...."

Newt Gingrich's moon base
The Presidential ambitions of Newt Gingrich reached a high point after the conservative wing of the Republican party, looking for an alternative to Romney, led him to a first place finish in the South Carolina primary. But later, in Florida, comedians rejoiced when Newt said: "By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American."

Romney: Paul Ryan Is "The Next President of the United States."
When Mitt Romney stepped to the podium on the USS Wisconsin to announce his running mate, he said "Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan!" He did correct himself moments later, saying "Every now and then, I'm known to make a mistake." As to whether Romney actually did make a mistake with the Ryan pick, only time will tell.

Romney Bashes London
During the Olympics, Mitt Romney managed to put his foot in his mouth several times while criticizing the British for their Olympic preparations. Oddly, he suggested that he wouldn't even watch his wife's horse perform in the Olympics, then insulted Palestinians by claiming that Israel has a superior culture. Neither comment seemed too offensive on its own, but when combined, they did not paint a picture of a leader who was comfortable abroad.

Romney-Hood Vs. Obamaloney
First, President Obama made a comment at a fundraiser suggesting that Romney wanted to take money from the poor and give it to the rich, and that he was the opposite of Robin Hood, or "Romney-Hood." Mitt responded with his own quip, saying that the President's statement was "Obamaloney." It's hard to believe that in this economic climate, the speechwriters who penned both of those hokey lines still have jobs at all.