Notorious dog-owner Mitt Romney has advice for people who — remembering 9/11 — think it's wrong for him to compare US Senators to Osama Bin Laden (or, if you prefer, for him to fail to condemn those of his supporters who glory in the comparison): “Lighten Up”.
Recent Bluessky Posts- Jotwell Int'l & Comp: Erin F. Delaney, Litigation in the Shadows of Empires, JOTWELL (May 28, 2026) (reviewing Trevor T. W. Wan, Globetrotting Advocates: Foreign Barristers in Hong Kong Courts, 73 Am. J. Comp. L. 872 (2025)), intl.jotwell.com/litigation-i.... May 28, 2026 Jotwell
- Having some trouble detecting my choices here for how they share my data. May 27, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- I think Qui Tam is unquestionably constitutional if only because of its ancient pedigree, and for many other reasons too. But the Supreme Court has flirted with saying that qui tam relators do not have standing, and Scalia & Co came close to doing it in the Lujan case. Justice Kennedy prevented it. May 27, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- Isn't assaulting a Senator a federal crime? Not that our craven US Attorneys would prosecute... May 27, 2026 Michael Froomkin
- This sort of well-funded sham support to undermine Democrats by promoting terrible candidates in primaries is just poisoning the (already rather polluted) well of democracy. It's a pity shame is on life support. OTOH, given Paxton, it seems as if the GOP can shoot itself without help. May 27, 2026 Michael Froomkin
Huffington Post has a pic of Romney holding up a sign that says no to “Obama and Osama”. The names are placed one on top of the other so that there can be mistaking the attempt to make a fusion. Romney is grinning gleefully, obviously having a whale of a time. Apparently if you happen to be a black man seeking entry to the white boys (plus ‘girl’) club of Presidential campaigning you have take this type of crap. Given other instances of commentary and attitudes aimed in Obama’s direction, I think the guy has conducted himself with a hell of a lot of class.
Read “no mistaking” above – pardon moi.
On behalf of all Romney supporters, let me say ‘lighten up slightly’ will ya! For Pete’s sake, that sign could just as well be interpreted as opposition to all three of those ppl w/o any comparison intended, meaning, ‘I don’t want Obama, I don’t want Osama, and I certainly don’t want Chelsea’s Mama!’ Or even more cynically thinking, ‘I don’t want Obama or Chelsea’s Mama, and either of them in office would mean more Osama!’
BUT NO…. You lefties pick the lamest and farfetched interpretations, as if the rest of the country is on board with this idea that Romney actually approves of ‘comparisons’ between Osama, Obama, and Hillary. PLEASE… have you no better criticisms of Romney than to wait for some opportune moment like this to pounce?? As a Romeny supporter even I can think of more substantive issues to hit him on than this.
Given the long-running campaign on Fox and by leading right-wing attack figures to equate Obama with terrorism — either by mis-stating his first name, or by making a big deal of his middle name — I am afraid that I find the “lighten up” remark to be either uninformed or disingenuous, whoever makes it.
Seconded Michael.
Oh and arriving at that opinion has nothing to do with being “a leftie” and everything to do with disliking gutter politics.
Criticism of this sad spectacle is not cheap opportunism at all. Romney’s “lighten up” remark and claims that he didn’t know what was on the sign is the most pathetic cop out imaginable for a politician at this level. He was waving the sign in the lens of the camera. If he didn’t know what he was waving at the country then he doesn’t deserve to be president. What type of candidate in a race at this level and with this amount of media exposure is going to ‘blindly’ wave signs at a phalanx of flashing cameras with knowing what the hell was on it? Only a moron.
The tacky sign also included a reference to “Chelsea’s mom”. Chelsea Clinton has nothing to do with this, and it was poor taste for Romney to be associated with a sign that casts an underhanded aspersion on Hillary Clinton by making a snide reference to her daughter.
Argue the issues. Take a shot at character flaws of opponents if and when appropriate. But don’t endorse sneak racist slurs and tacky insinuations. Also don’t box your Irish setter on the roof of your damn car for long drives. For most candidates this is simply common sense stuff – not apparently for Romney, and that’s why people balk when he merely shrugs and says “lighten up”.
It leaves you wondering what the hell is wrong with him.
Romney was happy to autograph a copy of the photo of him with the sign. As the blogger who posted the photo said,
QED