Romney in Mississippi: 'I like grits'
Pascagoula, Mississippi (CNN) - Mitt Romney swept into Mississippi Thursday to make his case in a state where he doesn't expect to win.
The former Massachusetts governor, who has struggled to woo voters in the South and faces a string of upcoming contests below the Mason-Dixon line, appealed to a group of about 120 Mississippians by feeling their pain.
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Romney rattled off three stories of people he had met at campaign events - a father worried about health care costs for his special needs child, another man who wondered how he would pay for his daughter's education and a soldier back from Afghanistan who struggled to find work.
"A lot of people hurting right now," he summed it up, and blamed President Obama for not following through on his campaign promises of economic turnaround from 2008.
"Since this president has been president, the cost of gas has doubled," Romney said. "Not exactly what he might have hoped for, and he says 'well it's not my fault.' By the way, we've gone from 'yes we can' to 'it's not my fault.'"
The re-jiggered lines in Romney's speech come a day after a campaign aide acknowledged the candidate was "working to establish a stronger connection with lower-income voters, with voters who are struggling."
In Ohio's primary, which Romney narrowly won, exit polls showed him trailing rival Rick Santorum among voters who made less than $50,000 a year.
The swath of Southern states that will vote in the upcoming days – Kansas, Mississippi and Alabama – have been hard hit by the economy. In Mississippi, where Romney makes another appearance Friday, the unemployment rate is over 10%.
Faced with an uphill climb in the South, Romney asserted in an interview with radio station WAPI that he hoped to walk away with some delegates in states such as Alabama, where he is not favored to win.
"That's of course what this is all about, getting the delegates necessary to become the nominee," he said, echoing his campaign's relentless focus on a numbers game they say Romney's opponents have no chance of winning.
In Mississippi, Romney did try out some Southern charm, telling his audience he was "an unofficial Southerner."
"I am learning to say y'all and I like grits, and things," he joked. "Strange things are happening to me."
But the ultimate compliment came from Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who endorsed Romney in Pascagoula.
"He just has a warm, comfortable way about him," Bryant told reporters. "I like to see a man when he's holding a baby. And he looks like he's held a baby before."
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Taran
@Rudy, actually a good portion of our dog's diet is chicken gizzards/hearts, and ground beef 80%lean. He gets excited and he runs/spins in a circle. He has become more vocal as he has gotten older. He might be trying to talk, who knows.
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I think that means take me for a walk, "Now, please."
I'll bet his first words will be, "Thank-you for listening to Rudy NYC."
I'm a Hillary Clinton Democrat who did not vote for obama in 2008.. voted Independent .. this time around I will again not vote for obama.. this Democrat will cross party lines and vote for the more qualified candidate (again) , Mitt Romney.
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ROTFLMAO! Funniest post of the day. Still can't accept the fact that the black guy beat Hillary, lol! Just because you're a business man who is able to hide money in the Cayman Islands and who's state was 47th in job creation, does not qualify you to be POTUS! Obama's gonna mop the floor with the "I'll say anything to get elected" Romney!
mitt always sounds like a wind up toy. Is he afraid we won't listen if slows down and sounds like an adult? as for grits he had one of his campaign flunkes run out and buy some so he would know what he was talking about. What a phoney!
Mitt Romney comes to Mississippi and makes the statement: "I like grits!" Don't this man get it? Grits were a bi-product of a straving to death society where that was all there was to eat. For him to make this statement is another ethnocetristic, out-of-touch, screw up on his part. Even if he was eating breakfast here and probably tasting them for the first time, it makes him simply a liar or weird. Nobody likes the taste of those things the first time they try them. It's an aquired cultural taste! The joke: Only Newt and Ron Paul could get away with this statement. Vote for Snoopy in 2012!
Woman In California wrote:
Rudy NYC said,
"He always has an nervous, almost agitated undercurrent of near panic in his demeanor when he is on the stump. You know what I mean?"
Rudy, I have been saying this for months but not quite in such an elequoent manner
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Why, thank you.
But, if you were holding your breathe the entire time, then you would move and act the same way.
Truth and Nothing But the Truth
FLIndependent – Okay, all you Romney supporters that say because you think he's been a successful businessman that he would a great president – why do you want someone that may have business skills, but certainly does NOT have diplomatic skills to be our president and the Leader of the Free World?
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Obama had ZERO skills and experience yet you had no problem with that. What's the issue all of sudden?
Romney couldn't do any worse than Obama has done. I have come to understand why he always wants to lead from behind. It is much easier for him to push our allies under the bus from that position.
So you would vote for a man that has five sons who avoided military service . What do you call leading from behind , Mitt Romney ?
Ace - Has there ever been a phonier person than Romney?
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yes, Obama! Thanks for asking.
I can see it now, Romney Grits!
Seriously, though. Here's what probably motivated Mitt Romney to remark about the grits. In the upper midwest, they do eat grits. It is not just a southern thing. But, they like to put milk and sugar in their grits as if it were farina.
To put cheese in the grits, and eat "things" [probably eggs and some pork product] together with the grits is strange. An even stranger way to serve grits to most midwesterners is "grits and gravy". Psst, roasted garlic grits and some of that leftover Thanksgiving gravy with generous turkey chunks in it is the bomb. Don't forget the scrambled eggs.
@Rudy NYC, actually you are right. Most of the time his spinning/circling means he wants to go for a walk or give me one of my toys, or get out the flashlight so I can chase the light (depends on the location in the house he is spinning). When he just needs to go out, he stands by the back door and looks at you like, "do I look like I have a thumb to open the door myself?"
I like my grits simple, butter, sugar and a little milk.
Truth asked:
Obama had ZERO skills and experience yet you had no problem with that. What's the issue all of sudden?
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Barack Obama didn't come to the table pretending nor claiming that he had decades of experience. That's the difference.
Your trees are just the right NASCAR grits! Where am I now? bzzztfst malfunction! malfunction!
Nothing like mocking those you want to vote for you,by perpetuating a stereotype in their face.
Ya'll ? Be it true or false a stereotype, I'm glad to know he thinks everyone there talks that way. Why not tell them you're fixin' ta learn tah play the banjo and spit tabbaca ?
In coveralls instead of jeans while you're at it !
Taran wrote:
I like my grits simple, butter, sugar and a little milk.
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That's called baby food, my friend. Nothing wrong with it, though. But, it's still baby food.
Mitt Romney understans my pain, some how I doubt that.
A Democrat is a Democrat, and if you didn't vote for the President because he beat Hillary, you weren't a real Democrat in the first place. Had Hilary beat President Obama, I would have still voted Democrat, even though I don't think I will ever want a female as President. And yes, I am a female myself. Sorry ladies I don't want a premenstrual President.
OBAMA 2012!
It was a joke but he's a Republican so I guess according to liberals and CNN he isn't allowed to do so. Lol I find it funny that this is trending?
@Rudy, might be why I don't eat grits very often, usually when I'm sick.
Austin wrote:
It was a joke but he's a Republican so I guess according to liberals and CNN he isn't allowed to do so. Lol I find it funny that this is trending?
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Try reading the remarks. A whole lot of them are jokes about grits.
Thomas
Obama had ZERO skills and experience yet you had no problem with that. What's the issue all of sudden?
Romney couldn't do any worse than Obama has done. I have come to understand why he always wants to lead from behind. It is much easier for him to push our allies under the bus from that position.
So you would vote for a man that has five sons who avoided military service . What do you call leading from behind , Mitt Romney ?
March 9, 2012 03:11 pm at 3:11 pm |
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So if Mitt was in we can add an additional 1million+ to the 750k in jobs we were shedding PER MONTH in Jan 09' when Obama took over for W. No ? We alreadyb know what he would have done to GM.
Despite fighting the GOP tooth and nail on the deficit, the DOw has manage to reached the high 12k,breaking 13k very briefly.
Gas is high,due to tensions with Iran...yet people like you are READY to jump in the mess with Israel and tank gas prices even higher. For the record, gas broke the $4 mark under W. Still haven't seen that with Obama.
Not only are you ready to jump into a fight with Israel over Iran , you all SCREAM for the president top bring the troops home. And in the same sentence bust the guys &^%$ for not sending them into a potential Nuclear conflict with Iran ?
While we're talking about that,what do you think is going to happen to our economy and gas prices in event of an war there ? How much do you think it will cost and where are we going to get the moey to back an ally in an all out war over there ?
Please Thomas, from your point of view as someone who supports the GOP, where will we get the money ? Knowing that you are in favor of reducing the defict and gas prices, why do you think the President should blindly back an ally and go right BACK to war ? Same thing with North Korea ?
I thought conservatives were all about cleaning up the deficit ?
It would be great to hear what you think of that Thomas.
The same snarking, patronizing "I don't care about the poor" "I'm unemployed too, my friend" self serving narcissist he's always been but now he wants your vote so he can one-up his father, a far better man.
to Mitt, the only good grit is one that's republican.
"Romney couldn't do any worse than Obama has done. "
Two words: First strike