HORSES AND BAYONETS

During the third and final presidential debate on October 22, 2012 held in Boca Raton, Florida, President Obama In response to a statement made by Governor Romney, that the United States Navy has less ships then in 1916, responded that the U.S. also has fewer horses and bayonets, alluding to the fact that with multiple innovations the navy is much more compact and yet able to exert more offense than in the past. The president went on to say that the U.S, now has ships on which airplanes can land and ships that can go underwater, so we just don’t count ships.

The mittster did not respond. He has consistently been nit picking about different subjects just to appear to be in tune with the different issues of the day and fell into his own quagmire.

Instead the Mittster began to agree with President Obama’s policy, saying that the sanctions against Iran were working but that we should have done this sooner. His demeanor was different; he wanted to appear calmer, more subdued. He didn’t want to make the same mistakes he had made in the past when in the second debate, he thought that he had caught The President in a lie about Libya and jumped at the chance to destroy him. At that time the Mittster said that president did not label that attack on the consulate in Benghazi an act of terror until 14 days after the attack. The president had said that he mentioned that it was an act of terror the following day. The Mittster asked the president to repeat it and then took a step closer towards the moderator to push his point. The moderator Candy Crawley at this time said, no the president did say the day after the attack that it was an act of terror.

The Mittster was silenced, the crowd clapped, the president said can you repeat that louder Candy? What did this mean to the Mittster, was he caught with his pants on fire? No his supporters, the Fox News stooges instead attacked the moderator, saying she shouldn’t have gotten involved in  instant fact checking, that it was not her job to do that. By misdirecting the emphasis on the moderator instead of the Mittster, he once again escaped unscathed.

That is the reason the Romney that showed up for the third and final debate on foreign policy was not the same combative stumble bum that was there at the second debate. This Mittster was a “me too guy”, agreeing with the president on and all issues, while saying, “but I would have done it better!”

On Afghanistan, the Romney who  criticized  the president for setting a timeline for withdrawal and said he might keep U.S. Troops past NATO’s 2014 deadline, did not show up, instead  he sent the Mittster, who meekly agreed that the troops would be out on 2014.

When the Romney who called for a no fly zone in Syria, and supplying the rebels with arms failed to show up for the debate the Mittster once again said “we don’t want to get drawn into a military conflict” The Mittster then withdrew into his stump speech rhetoric, “I know what it takes to create  12 million new jobs.” Was he talking about in the U.S. or in China?  During the second debate President Obama challenged the Mittster when he said that on day one he would name China a currency mulipulater. The president said Governor Romney would be the last one to take on China, since he has outsourced jobs to China. The mittster returned the challenge saying that he has a blind trust and he doesn’t tell the trust how to invest and then asked the president, you have a pension don’t you? You have a pension don’t you? As if one has control over what a pension invests in. The mittster must have been absent at Harvard Law when they taught the difference between a pension and a blind trust.

During the debate between Romney and Ted Kennedy, when Kennedy said he had a blind trust the Mittster later laughed and said a blind trust is just a ruse, it can be broken at any time.

All the newspapers held the president the victor in both the second and third debate and the Los Angeles Times issues an editorial on Tuesday October 23, 2012, entitled “Romney endorses Obama”.

In the final two weeks of the campaign. Romney has perfected his campaign strategy of speaking out of both sides of his mouth on the same issues. By being pro and con on all subjects who can say that he is wrong, although this reinforces the many reasons to question and distrust his honesty.

In the final two weeks of the campaign, the Mittster is now using a teleprompter for his speeches wanting to avoid any romneys. His spokes people have now finally brought out the race card. John Sununu, a Cochairman of Romney’s campaign made the statement that the only reason Colin Powell endorsed President Obama was because they are the same race. Sara Palin, the Wasilla Alaskan song bird asked the president to cut the “shuck and jive” (as if she knew what that meant) about the attack on the Benghazi Consulate.  The Mittster has not stepped in to prevent the campaign from sliding further into the mud pit.

The Mittster has jettisoned his running mate Paul D. Ryan or “Mini Mitt”. During the first days of the campaign Mini Mitt was getting more applause than Romney and was being described as the new face of the Republican Party. However as the Mittster Etched a Sketched towards the center and bipartisanship, Mini Mitt was demoted. As Mini Mitt was crisscrossing small town in Ohio he was joined by the Mittster whose plans were changed by the hurricane, Sandy that hit the eastern seaboard this past weekend.

The Mittster  quickly praised Mini Mitts budget plan and further praised him for being bipartisan in working with Oregon Democratic Senator, Ron Wyden  on a Medicare Plan,( Wyden long ago disavowed the Medicare plan but both the Mittster and Mini Mitt continue use this as proof of their bipartisanship.

The Mittster can no long carry Mini Mitt who has become a burden beginning with his budget plan, which will change how Medicare is administered; the many questions about his convention speech, his lying about his time in a marathon and his co-sponsorship of a “personhood” bill with Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, (the same Todd Akin who said women have a way of shutting down a pregnancy in case of rape). Ryan no longer talks about his budget and since his defeat by Vice President Joe Biden during their debate he no longer is anxious to talk about the stimulus bill being a failure, ( During the debate the Vice President brought out the fact that the Mini Mitt, requested and received millions in stimulus funds for his constituents).

Romney continues to distort the facts about his record as the Governor of Massachusetts including his claiming credit for their excellent school system  (Massachusetts had an excellent school system for ten years before he became governor and the school system has remained excellent after he left office. His claim of reaching across the aisle with Democratic legislators is also an outright lie as evidence by the fact that he vetoed over 300 Democratic bills that were subsequently overridden.

The mittster is what he is, what you see is what you’ll get and yet his supporters overlook what they consider small imperfections such as his 47% video which has been quickly forgotten and swept under the rug. His next blunder is overdue; he is unable to go past a week without stumbling over his own feet.

FIST BUMPS

FIRED UP! READY TO GO!

The chant “Fired up, Ready to go!” comes from a campaign trip President Obama made in his 2008 campaign to Greenwood, North Carolina a small town in the middle of nowhere. After an hour and a half drive over country roads the president arrived at the town community center. It was raining, his umbrella quickly collapsed and he was wet and cold as he walked into the building and found twenty people waiting for him. Twenty people after an hour and a half trip. He was disappointed, they seemed disappointed and soon thereafter a lone voice started the chant, Fired up. Ready to go, and kept repeating it. The crowd (twenty people) quickly joined in.  President Obama also joined in while thinking they stole my thunder. This has been his chant and credo since then.

What more can get you fired up, ready to go than an attack on “Big Bird?” Even with the president being extremely low key during his first debate, the Mittster could not resist stepping in it once again. He said that he would reduce the deficit by cancelling public television, including “Big Bird.”  That alone should once again, be an indication of how out of touch Mitt Romney is. The mittster if he had any sense  should have known that to announce that he planned to get rid of Big Bird would not go over well and could not stop himself from saying so.

The budget for PBS is 450 Million dollars a year, which amounts to about 6 hours of defense spending. The Mittster is a big thinker.

This plus his outright lies. In the past I had referred to his lies as misrepresentations but after repeated “misrepresentations” they should now be labeled what they are, outright, unmitigated lies. You can’t even use an “Etch a Sketch”, moment anymore; in fact the term Romney may soon take the place of the adjective, Etch a Sketch Moment, so that it will just be labeled as a Romney.

The Mittmeister has had so many do over’s, or never minds that it is hard to keep track of them and most of his followers believe they are hearing what he is saying for the first time

At one time he said he was for Planned Parenthood and suggested that he would support Row v. Wade since it was the law of the land. But some months later he said that if elected he would appoint conservative Supreme Court justices he hoped would overthrow Roe v Wade.  This past week on October 9^th, he said that he would not pursue any abortion-related legislation if elected president, “there’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I am familiar with that would become part of my agenda.”  Does this sound like a credible statement, especially with his running mate, Paul Ryan who has sponsored 38 Anti- Abortion bills. Several hours later the Mittster’s support staff put out a press release saying Governor Romney is proudly pro life and would be a pro life President.

In that infamous Boca Raton video he said that he would not work towards an Israeli-Palestinian agreement because Palestine was not interested in peace and he would only deal with the issue if it came up. In his foreign policy speech this week he said he would be working towards a settlement between Israel and Palestine. It’s as if you can never count on any of his statements being the final word on the subject.  You can usually expect a correction to be forthcoming from his support staff.

In that same infamous speech in Boca Raton he said 47% of the population pay no federal income tax, believe they are victims entitled to government aid, so it’s not his job to care about them.  They will vote for President Obama and there is nothing he can do about it and will not worry about them because they are not responsible for their own well being.   When the video was revealed by Mother Jones Magazine on September 17, 2012, Romney’s first statement was that he stood by his comments but that they were inelegantly stated.  He told Hannity on October 4, 2012, “well clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and questions and answers, now and then you’re going to say something that doesn’t come out right. “In this case I said something that was just completely wrong.”

Just completely wrong is stating it mildly and it was not just a slip of the tongue, as the campaign now seeks to portray it. The Mittster stepped in it, with both feet, giving a complete explanation of what he thought about those less fortunate than him.  He is now back tracking and saying that he is concerned with 100% of the population, because he has been told that some of the 47%’s who are relying on social security to support themselves, are Republican seniors who were his supporters.

The Mittster touts his ability to be bipartisan and argues that his role as governor of Massachusetts, a blue state is proof of his ability to work with both parties. Once again Mitt exaggerates his one term as governor. He has been described as believing himself to be imperious such as when he called legislative leaders into discuss the budget crisis his sense was “I have been elected governor, I am the CEO here, and you are guys are the board of directors and you monitor the implementation of what I say.” To say he had bipartisan support while governor is a far stretch from the truth. The Mittster vetoed 800 pieces of legislation most of which, the Democratic legislature overrode.

The New York Times reported on October 14, 2012, that during his one four year term in office as governor of Massachusetts, the Mittster cumulatively spent part or all of 417 days out of the state. More than 70 % of this time was spent according to a review of his schedule on personal or political trips unrelated to his job.  The citizens of Massachusetts now view Mitt as a phony who sought the governorship only as a stepping stone in his pursuit of the presidency. That maybe a reason why he is more than 20% behind in the polls and is not contesting the state.

The Mittster makes outlandish statements not realizing or caring that fact checkers are out there attempting to verify his every utterance and he has kept them extremely busy. He takes credit for Massachusetts having the best schools in the nation while governor. Massachusetts had had excellent schools for a decade before the Mittster became governor and have continued to have excellent schools since he left the governorship. The school system receives state aid under a law called Chapter 70. Romney budgeted more chapter 70 money then the legislature agreed on.  Mitt’s plan would have robbed Peter to pay Paul, cutting other state aid to municipalities to fund his largess to education.

This is what he plans with Obamacare. He would repeal it and use the funds to pay down the deficit caused by his 20% overall tax cuts for the wealthy. The repeal of Obamacare would add add 109 billion to the deficit.

When the Miitster reverses his position he doesn’t explain his earlier statements and makes it appear that this is the first statement on the issue and is able to do this with a straight face without any apologies. It’s as if he believes his audience was not aware of his prior statements or positions.  His stone cold ability to do this without guilt or conscious borders on a socio-pathic personality.  Amazingly enough, his supporters accept whatever he says without questioning him.  They support him in lock step, not necessarily because they endorse his philosophy but because of their dislike for the president. If the mittster was to suddenly sprout horns and a tail, his supporters would not bat an eye and say, we can always cut them off later.

The Mittster is in charge of his own campaign and the campaign reveals only what he intends to do in order to win, not what he will do once he’s won.  In the midst of the world’s economic and foreign affairs crisis, can we afford to entrust the office of the presidency to an imperious candidate who can’t be trusted to keep his word?

 

FIST BUMP!

 

 

DEBATE JUNCTION, ROUND ONE

Governor Romney’s animation and aggressiveness may have won him the first debate but it may have also lost him the battle.  He jettisoned his right wing conservative alliance by steering towards the center on President Obama’s health care plan and moderate regulation of the financial industry. He questioned Dodds-Franks and said he would repeal portions of it, but which portions he had not as yet decided.

Those viewing the debate may not have been closely following the campaign and may have been hearing about the complexities of the issues for the first time and therefore confused style over substance and credited Governor with the win.  The Governor was at his best Etch a Sketch moment however when he denied that he planned to reduce taxes for the wealthy or reduce benefits for present day Obamacare recipients when he has repeatedly promised that he would repeal Obamacare on day one of his administration. Romney has proposed cutting all marginal personal income tax rates  by one fifth, with the top rate coming down to 28% from 35 % and making up the huge revenue loss by  eliminating loopholes and tax breaks, but of course he has not said which tax loophole and tax breaks he would eliminate. He has said that the taxes for the wealthy would not be diminished and at the same time the taxes for the middle income would also not rise.  For some reason the Mittster used the words middle income instead of the word middle class.  In the October 4th article in the Los Angeles Times article by Michael Hiltzik, the simple math of this program does not add up according to the Tax Policy Center operated by the Brookings Institute and the Urban Institute

 The Mittster reverted to his campaign speeches by attacking the President, changing the topics to the topic he wanted to discuss, and the moderator, Jim Leher was much too polite and allowed the mittster to run rough shod over him.  Mitt knowing his information was a total fabrication attacked the President on cutting $716 billion dollars from Medicare to bolster Obamacare when he knows that his running mate’s budget also calls for the same cuts, $ 716 billion but that this money will instead not be used to bolster Obamacare but to reduce the deficit caused by the tax cuts for the rich.

President Obama mainted a presidential demeanor throughout the campaign, using some sarcasm from time to time but it was so subtle that it might not have been noticed by the general public.

CNN immediately put out the results of a poll that found that 67% of registered voters found that the Mittster had won, vs. 25% for the president. Information from CNN revealed that the voters polled numbered more republicans than democrats. History of presidential debates has shown that many incumbent presidents have lost the first debate. John Kerry handily won the first debate and in fact may have won all three debates against George W and still lost the election.

The issues of the 47% video, Women’s Rights,  abortion, legitimate rape, contraception, the auto industry, Bain Capital, Romney ‘s taxes , and his Swiss  and Cayman Island bank accounts  as well as foreign policy ,have yet to be discussed.  The continued   repetition of his stump speeches will be of little value in the subsequent debates.

FIST BUMP