Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Arizona Daily Star today has this report from Connie Cass of the AP, Who's who? Obama, Romney are projecting mirror images. Ms. Cass says "For all their liberal-vs.-conservative differences, when the two presidential contenders describe each other, they sound like they're ragging on the same flawed guy. Or mirror images of that guy."
Ms. Cass misdiagnoses what she observes. Numerous other reporters have been reporting on Willard "Mittens" Romney's campaign of psychological projection, the "I'm rubber, you're glue" or "I know you are, but what what am I" phenomenon for several weeks now, which I posted about over a month ago.
So to help Ms. Cass get caught up to where every other reporter in the country is already well out ahead of her on, I will repost it here.
Repost: Willard 'Mittens' Romney: 'I'm Rubber, You're Glue'
It has been incontrovertibly established that Willard 'Mittens' Romney is a pathological liar.
But Mittens suffers from another disorder frequently associated with pathological lying, psychological projection, a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which he then ascribes to another person. This is the old schoolyard taunt, "I'm rubber, you're glue - whatever you say (about me) bounces off of me and sticks to you."
Mitten's psychological projection disorder is receiving a lot of media attention this week. Here is just a quick sampling. Paul Werdel writes at TalkingPointsMemo I’m Rubber, You’re Glue or "I know you are, but what am I?":
Call it the “I’m rubber, you’re glue” election.
Running President Bush’s campaigns, Karl Rove became famous for taking his opponent’s single biggest strength and turning it into his biggest weakness. Mitt Romney is laying out another approach: taking his own top vulnerabilities and projecting them onto his opponent.
As Romney begins to settle into the role of presumptive nominee, he is deploying the strategy more and more.
* * *
The “I know you are, but what am I?” dynamic is clear, if contradictory. Obama says I won’t lay out my real plans for Medicare cuts? Obama won’t lay out his plan. Obama says I want to end Medicare? Obama wants to end Medicare.
Even in his choice of stock phrases, Romney has raised eyebrows in recent days for using his opponent’s favorite lines. Twice in his Tuesday night victory speech in Wisconsin, he referred to Obama as “out of touch,” re-appropriating what is easily Democrats’ favorite descriptor for Romney in myriad press releases accusing him of being too wealthy and removed from average Americans to understand their problems.
The question now is whether Romney’s ju jitsu will insulate him from future hits on his well-established reputation for political opportunism — or merely serve to highlight his problems further.
Steve Benen writes at The Maddow Blog - The rubber-glue phenomenon:
[Rachel Maddow] called it the "I'm rubber, you're glue; whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you" technique.
It's a basic idea we've all seen many times. A politician and his or her team identify their biggest weaknesses and then start accusing their rival of being guilty of that same thing.
Mitt Romney seems eager to perfect this technique.
Romney's most glaring policy problem is his abysmal jobs record -- he failed in Massachusetts and orchestrated mass layoffs at his vulture-capital firm -- so he accuses President Obama of failing to create jobs. Romney intends to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher scheme, so he accuses Obama of undermining Medicare. Romney favors European-style austerity and spent several years in France, so he accuses Obama of wanting to turn the U.S. into Europe.
* * *
[Romney's] new line is that Obama is "out of touch."
Why? Probably because he knows how vulnerable he is on this, so he's trying to muddy the waters. Maybe, the thinking goes, if voters can be convinced that both major party candidates are "out of touch," Romney won't suffer too much.
The Rachel Maddow Show has aired two devastating segments this week on Mitten's psychological projection disorder. (h/t graphic Rachel Maddow blog).
The question remains, as always, whether the feckless mainstream corporate media will allow Romney to get away with his projection and pathological lying. By all rights, this seriously flawed candidate should not be this close to wrapping up the nomination of the Republican Party. America deserves better than this.
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