On “Meet the Press” today, former Secretary Of State Colin Powell condemned comments made by former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu as evidence of what he called “a dark vein of intolerance” in the Republican Party:
There’s also a dark— a dark vein of intolerance in some parts of the Party. What I do mean by that? I mean by that is they still sort of look down on minorities. How can I evidence that? When I see a former governor say that the president is shuckin’ and jivin’, that’s a racial era slave term.
When I see another former governor after the president’s first debate where he didn’t do very well, says that the president was lazy. He didn’t say he was slow, he was tired, he didn’t do well, he said he was lazy. Now, it may not mean anything to most Americans but to those of us who are African-Americans, the second word is shiftless and then there’s a third word that goes along with it
Powell was referring to comments Sununu made on MSNBC following the first presidential debate. “What people saw last night, I think, was a president that revealed his incompetence, how lazy and detached he is,” he said.
This week, former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu parroted Mitt Romney’s earlier comments disparaging 47% of the American public and declaring the president won re-election because of “gifts” he gave to his Democratic base:
Former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu has been described as Mitt Romney’s pit bull. As any skilled dog handler knows, you can train your dog to heel, attack, roll over and play dead. And of course you can use the ultimate weapon of control, if you choose to: You can muzzle your beast.
Sununu is not a statesman, he is not sought out for his knowledge and political skill. He is an old dog, mindlessly loyal, obedient, trainable and vicious on command. Once again Romney proves to be an irresponsible dog owner. Now the media must act responsibly and call the pound, every time Sununu approaches a microphone or a podium.
— Arnie Arnesen, on Romney campaign co-chair John H. Sununu
When conservative establishment icon Peggy Noonan blasted the Romney campaign as a “rolling calamity,” former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu went on the attack. “I wouldn’t hire Peggy Noonan to run a campaign,” he fired back.
This was too much for the staff at Conservative HQ, led by arch-conservative Tea party Richard Viguerie, who responded saying they wouldn’t hire John Sununu, “the failed White House Chief of Staff who arrogantly abused the public trust by flying around to stamp shows on the taxpayer dime.”
[A]s a judge of who should and shouldn’t run campaigns, it is worth noting that Governor Sununu managed to run President George H.W. Bush’s brand into the ground when he was White House Chief of Staff.
Perhaps a big part of the reason Mitt’s campaign is floundering is because he is getting – and taking – the same kind of Sununu advice that led Bush 41 to abandon his “no new taxes” pledge and do a host of other things to disabuse conservative voters of the idea that a Bush presidency would be the third term of Ronald Reagan.
My take is that you’re missing the big story, which is this is in response to a president, the first president in my lifetime, who’s decided to run a campaign on class warfare and it’s Obama who has opened up the class warfare issue.
— Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu, defending Mitt Romney’s claim that 47% of Americans are freeloaders who don’t pay taxes and think government should take care of them.
The man whose arrogance knows no bounds leads the effort to declaw the Ron Paul wing of the GOP, in a particularly demeaning, sarcastic, and on one occasion, gutless way. Now he says he’s not worried about ticking off the Paul voters because, essentially, they’ve got nowhere else to go but Mitt Romney. Maybe he’s fixing to be Romney’s Chief of Protocol.
— Jeff Feingold, New Hampshire Business Review editor, on former Gov. John H. Sununu, who served as chairman of the Republican National Convention Rules Committee.
Last month, former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu was forced to apologize after telling reporters, “I wish this President would learn how to be an American.”
“Frankly, I made a mistake,” he confessed to CNN’s Wolfe Blitzer. “I shouldn’t have used those words, and I apologize for using those words.”
This week he apologized for the apology, telling New York Times reporter Ashley Parker that he doesn’t think he’s ever gone too far.
“Even when I had to apologize for the comment about President Obama needing to learn how to be an American, that was in the context of the American formula for job creation.
“If there wasn’t such paranoia, both in the Obama White House and the Romney campaign, about the birther issue, I wouldn’t have had to apologize.
“But I didn’t want to be misconstrued as being related to that, so I did apologize and moved on to the most important subject which was we’ve got to create jobs.”
“John H. Sununu has already helped divide the Republican convention by trying to stomp out the voices and opinions of Ron Paul’s delegates. Now Sununu has nominated for the Presidency Mitt Romney, who wants to stomp out the rights of women to make their own health care choices; to stomp out Medicare; and to stomp on middle-class families with a new tax hike, even as wealthy families get another tax cut.”
— Ray Buckley, New Hampshire Democratic Party chair, on former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu nominating Mitt Romney to be the Republican presidential candidate.
The Sununu connection adds a curious element to this latest turn: what is it, exactly, about New Hampshire campaign surrogates talking drugs? Apparently the Live Free or Die state’s live and let live ethos makes an exception for campaign gambits at moments of slowly mounting desperation.
— Alec MacGillis, on comments by former Gov. John H. Sununu this week, and Billy Shaheen in 2007, regarding President Obama’s acknowledged drug use as a young man.
Luke Johnson describes today’s over-the-top meltdown by former New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu:
In the span of one morning, top Mitt Romney surrogate John Sununu referred to President Obama as dumb and stupid, called the Chicago political culture from which he came “corrupt,” brought up Obama’s admitted use of marijuana as a kid in Hawaii, resurfaced the name of Tony Rezko — the jailed financier with ties to Obama — and then questioned the president’s Americanness.
“The Romney campaign has officially gone off the deep end. The question is what else they’ll pull to avoid answering serious questions about Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital and investments in foreign tax havens and offshore accounts. This meltdown and over-the-top rhetoric won’t make things better — it only calls attention to how desperate they are to change the conversation.”
Projected Democratic seats: 190
