2012-10-02

Romney vs The Garbage Man


Have you seen the latest video from Obama?

Richard Hayes is Romney's garbage man lamenting that mean old Mitt doesn't come out to hug him, give him some Gatorade, etc.




Richard also laments that picking up 15-16 tons of garbage is taking a toll on his body.  Seems to me that could be a bit high.  Maybe Romney and his neighbors have heavy garbage.  But I know my trash bags are never as heavy as the 35 lb salt bags for my water softener.  But let's say the average is 35lb.  Let's assume a working 8 hours (that is 8 hours of work, no breaks, just work).   You have to pick up 914 bags or a bag every 31 seconds.  That seems like some mighty fast collecting.  How long does it take to get from stop to stop?  You'd have to subtract that from the 31 seconds.

But the most interesting part of the video is? 

Something is wrong here.  Did they fake something here?  Doesn't seem like those could be the trucks that Richard uses to pick up Mitt's garbage.  Why?  Because those trucks are the kind that does that automatically.  No manual bag pickup.  Look at the beginning of the video again.  Around the 7 second mark.   At the 9 second mark you can clearly see that arm that wraps around the trash can silhouetted against the sky.  So what's the story here Richard?



But maybe Richard isn't getting those hugs because Mitt is spending all his time hugging Joan Raymond.  I mean she says she picks up his trash too.



I think Richard needs to try harder for those hugs.  My first suggestion is: shave the beard.  I mean maybe I'm just a sucker for blonds, but Joan is more appealing to me.

I wonder if Barry has run out of the oval office to make sure he can claim he hugs his trash man?  Just asking.

Oh, and Mitt might have some idea.  From his book,  No Apology; The Case for American Greatness:

During my campaign for governor, I decided to spend a day every few weeks doing the jobs of other people in Massachusetts.  Among other jobs, I cooked sausages at Fenway Park, worked on asphalt paving crew, stacked bales of hay on a farm,
. . .
One day I gathered trash as a garbage collector. I stood on that little platform at the back of the truck, holding on as the driver navigated his way through the narrow streets of Boston. As we pulled up to traffic lights, I noticed that the shoppers and businesspeople who were standing only a few feet from me didn’t even see me. It was as if I was invisible. Perhaps it was because a lot of us don’t think garbage men are worthy of notice; I disagree – anyone who works that hard deserves our respect. - I wasn’t a particularly good garbage collector: at one point, after filling the trough at the back of the truck, I pulled the wrong hydraulic lever. Instead of pushing the load into the truck, I dumped it onto the street. Maybe the suits didn’t notice me, but the guys at the construction site sure did…

No, it wasn't a career, but then how many others have done that much?